> Will You Keep My Secret?
>  by xCobaltRainx
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Secret
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Will You Keep My Secret?

Chapter One
The Secret


The serene midday weather that enveloped the town called Ponyville could lift anyone's spirits. It usually did. But on this particular day, a lonely orange pegasus filly wheeled down the side paths on the outskirts of town.

This peculiar filly does something no other pony ever does: She uses her wings to propel herself forward on a scooter. But on this day, she kept her wings snapped shut at her sides, not even wanting to look at them. She rolled her way around using her legs, occasionally lowering one down to push on the ground. She was, at this time, just like everyone else; it was something she didn't normally experience. She kept her head hung, surveying the ground and each individual pebble that disappeared underneath her blue scooter.

She had kept this swaying motion that propelled her forward for what could quite possibly have been hours. This motion was the only thing that she could focus on other than her thoughts. The lump in her throat grew larger as she again recalled the events from earlier that day.

Back at school, Diamond Tiara had reached new heights, or rather lows, for her bullying. She had actually recruited their entire class to take part in the act. The assembled mob created a wall of themselves in front of the filly, and trapped her from behind by one of the outside walls of the school.

They taunted her, called her names, and teased her with words that conveyed a simple message: She could not fly. She could not fly and she should be ashamed to call herself a pegasus for it. What kind of pegasus can't fly? A pegasus baby, of course, you must be a baby! These pounding words rebounded and ricocheted off the filly's own self-destructive thoughts held regrettably true in her mind, making the barbarism all the more effective. The bell to come in from recess was the only thing that did, or could, stop the onslaught.

Once the others had left, the only thought that flowed through the filly's mind was escape. Get out of this hostile place and find somewhere safe to hide. That is what she was focused on now, but a few hours had passed since she left. She was now riding around aimlessly, zombified in her movements. She didn't really care if anyone was around; she was too busy with her thoughts.

While immersed in the great, swelling sea of her psyche, she failed to notice a certain cyan mare hovering above her. She had been that way for a few moments now, simply watching the orange filly go. The mare decided to speak up to snap the filly out of her trance. With a smooth flap of her wings, she propelled herself and the cloud down close to the ground.

"Hey Squirt, whatcha doin'?" were the simple words spoken, but they were quite enough to catch her attention. Scootaloo yelped and leapt into the air, landing back on the gravel with a rough thud. The young pony rubbed her bottom and looked up.

"Eh, hi, Rainbow Dash," she said. She hadn't the energy to muster a more enthusiastic response. Normally she would answer to Dash's greetings with a mindless string of words, shakily woven together in the moment. Her weak reply was met with a worried look from Dash.

"What's the matter, Scootaloo? Normally when I say 'hi' to you, you bounce off the walls. Everything okay?" asked Rainbow with a wry smile.

"Huh?" asked Scootaloo, relieved to hear her name accompanied with compassionate words. It had only been a short time since they had become honorary sisters during their camping trip. "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing is wrong," said Scootaloo, truly trying her best to wear a smile. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for Rainbow.

"You think I was born yesterday?" she said. "I may not be an egg-head, but I'm not stupid. I know when a pony is having a tough time, so out with it."

Scootaloo sighed in resignation. She recounted in her mind the events of the day. "Some of the other fillies at school were making fun of me for not being able to fly." Scootaloo clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her scooter. "And they didn't stop until I couldn't hear myself think."

"What?" Rainbow started as she felt the fur on her nape stand up. "Who was saying that to you? Was it that stupid Diamond Crown... whoever, again?"

"Well, it was kind of everypony, but she started it." Scootaloo could feel the lump reforming in her throat.

"But..." Dash started, exasperated, "where were your friends?"

Scootaloo lightly shrugged. "Well, they weren't there. Apple Bloom's been out sick and Sweetie Belle is with Rarity in Canterlot for a vacation. Normally they back me up, but..." she trailed off as she began wiping her nose. "I just want to fly, Rainbow Dash, so I can prove them wrong and show them that I'm… I'm not some worthless baby."

Rainbow furrowed her brow. With a swift motion, she wrapped a wing around the small pony and pulled her in. "Kiddo, you can't just let those rotten fillies get to you. I got bullied when I was your age, did you know that?" Scootaloo shook her head. "Well it's true. Do you know where I'd be if I let my bullies get to me?" Again, Scootaloo shook her head. "If I listened to the bad ponies that called me names, I wouldn't be the death-defying, cloud-busting, Sonic Rainboom-ing pegasus I am today." Rainbow poked the filly in the head, eliciting a small giggle from her.

Scootaloo sighed once more, her smile slowly fading and herself again becoming crestfallen. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash."

The elder pony cocked her eyebrow. "For what?"

Scootaloo rubbed her shoulder. "You know, for making you get all sappy-like for me."

Rainbow chuckled. "Don't worry about that, Squirt. Everypony has a bad day sometimes," she said as she squeezed the small pony in her wing. "Besides, that's what big sisters are supposed to be for, right?" Scootaloo giggled once more.

"Thanks Rainbow Dash."

The wind softly picked up, granting the pair a moment of serene quietness. 

"So…you still can't fly, huh?" Rainbow said, breaking the quiet air.

"Nuh-uh," responded Scootaloo.

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. "Aren't your parents teaching you or anything?" she asked. Scootaloo's face flushed. She looked up and met the slanted gaze of her big sister.

"N-No... uh, they, aren't. I mean, they can't, y-you know?" she stammered. "They d-don't have time to… to teach me how, so... I'm kinda on my own right now. I mean, I'm figuring it out on my own... heh." Scootaloo finished and gave the most convincing smile she could muster.

Rainbow, however, was in no way convinced. "What do you mean they don't have time for you? Learning to fly for pegasi is as important as learning how to walk. No, it's more important. Why don't they have the time?"

Scootaloo nervously scratched her ear. "Look, they're uh... always super busy, okay? And they're like... never home at the same time, so..."

For a moment, Rainbow considered chasing the issue further. She knew a smokescreen when she heard one. However, it seemed a touchy subject, so she decided to leave it for the time being. "Hmm," she began, "so for one reason or another, your parents can't teach you how to fly?"

The filly responded with a nod and a sniffle. "Mm-hmm."

Rainbow raised her hoof to her chin again. "Well why haven't you asked if I could?"

Scootaloo beamed in excitement. "Really? You mean, you'd teach me how to fly?" she said as she leapt in front of Rainbow out of her wing.

"Sure. That's the kind of thing you wanted me to do, right?" asked Dash.

"Well yeah, since forever!"

"Good! We'll do coaching, exercises, everything. Trust me, we'll get you flying in no time!"  

Scootaloo was beside herself in glee. There was not a trace of the dejected filly from a moment ago.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "But, there's just one thing I need before I can teach you how to fly," she started. Scootaloo stopped hopping in circles around Rainbow. "I need your parent's permission."

Scootaloo's eye's widened. "Wh-What? Why do you need my parent's permission to teach me something?" she asked.

"Because, it's part of the Pegasus Code, duh," Rainbow lied. 

Scootaloo cocked her head to the side. "What? No way, there's no such thing."

Rainbow smirked. "Yes, there totally is. Pegasus Code dictates that it's a parent's duty to teach their fillies how to fly. Fortunately, there can be an exception. If a parent is unable to teach their filly how to fly, then they can give somepony permission to do it."

"Well, we don't really need to do that, do we? I mean, I'm sure they'd be okay with it." Scootaloo bit her lip in apprehension.

"We have to follow it," Rainbow said. "The Unicorns and the Earth Ponies have their codes, and they follow them. So we have to follow ours." She didn't feel very noble for lying, but Scootaloo's behavior had her concerned.

"W-well I don't think they can give permission right now, they're way too busy with all their stuff. I-In fact neither of them are home right now," Scootaloo lied, further entrenching herself and hoping Dash would just give up. She began kicking the rocks under her hooves. "Please can you just teach me to fly?"

Rainbow was relentless, and was getting tired of Scootaloo's obvious dishonesty. She had had enough and decided to finish it. With slight, real hesitation, she turned her back to the filly. "I'm sorry, but If your parents can't teach you, or give me permission to teach you, then I guess you're on your own." She spread her wings, and motioned to take off. Rainbow was stalling herself to give Scootaloo as much time as she could.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" called Scootaloo as Rainbow began flapping her wings. "Don't go..."

The mare glanced back and found the small filly, her hoof outstretched, looking so helpless. She felt a twinge in her chest at the sight, and it was at that instant that she regretted her actions. With relief, however, Rainbow folded her wings back in and trotted back to Scootaloo.

The young pony cast her gaze down to the grass. "Do you promise not to tell anypony if I tell you why?" asked Scootaloo. 

Rainbow sat herself down in front of the filly. "Why do I need to promise you not tell anypony? What's this big secret?" asked Dash, now concerned for her safety.

"Just promise me, and then I'll tell you," responded Scootaloo.

Rainbow pursed her lips. "Okay, fine, I promise not to tell anypony your secret." She realized a bit too late her rushed tone.

Scootaloo's eyes narrowed, she would need more than that. "Pinkie promise not to tell".

The mare sighed and straightened herself up. "Okay, I promise not to tell anypony your secret. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She gave and expectant look to the filly.

Scootaloo held her sister's gaze for another moment before releasing the tension in her shoulders and sitting back down. "Okay," she began as she cleared her throat. "The reason... the reason my parents can't teach me, or give you permission to teach me is... is because…" Scootaloo paused to clear her throat. "See it's just that I... I mean I don't..." she exhaled and tried to collect herself. The truth was right there, right at the bottom of her throat. The thought was formed and the words were ready, but they were too big to force out. "I... I don't..."

It was no use, the lump that quickly formed in her throat completely cut her off. Scootaloo could only sit there, thinking of the rest of the sentence she was trying to finish. The final words didn't seem to want to come out.

"Scoot," Rainbow interrupted. She reached forward and placed her hoof on the filly's shoulder. "Scoot, it's okay to tell me what's going on, I won't tell anyone."

Scootaloo shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I-I can't say it. Rainbow Dash, I can't tell you that I don't-" she cut herself off.

"You don't..." Rainbow began. After a moment's thought, it suddenly became clear. Scootaloo's apprehension, her nervousness, it was hiding her ugly truth. The mere thought of the reality of her young sister's situation made Rainbow's heart sink. "Scootaloo, you don't have any parents, do you?" Rainbow said, hoping to be wrong.

The young filly's face twisted into a pained grimace. It was torture to hear the ugly words spoken by her idol, her role-model, the very essence of the pony she aspired to be. Scootaloo felt the emotion crashing into her like a coursing river into a dam. Breathing only became more and more difficult with the dense pocket of sadness in her throat. It took everything she had to keep it in.

Rainbow looked at the grass and recalled everything she knew about the young pony. The pieces fell into place at that moment, and everything made sense. She looked back up and found the despondent filly struggling to keep herself together. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo."

Rainbow wracked her mind, trying to think of what to do. She was ill prepared to deal with a matter with such a deep significance. The mare imagined what her other big sister friends would do. Failing to think of any other solution, she decided to do the one thing she thought she could in her position. Once she collected herself, Rainbow reached back out with her wings, dragging Scootaloo deep into her chest.

The feeling of being pulled into such a deep embrace took a moment to properly register for Scootaloo. It was almost foreign. It was unlike anything she had felt before. Though it was unfamiliar, and unexpected, she couldn't help herself but to wrap her arms around Rainbow's waist. At that moment, how she appeared didn't ever cross Scootaloo's mind. The dam had broken, years of pain letting itself out into her sister's chest fur.

Rainbow Dash never would have been able to anticipate the events of her day thus far, but something deep down told her that whatever she was doing, she was doing the right thing. The mare buried her face into Scootaloo's purple mane as she rubbed her back. "It's alright, kiddo, you go ahead."

Somewhere in this pony's life, she had been hurt more deeply than any pony ever deserves. And Rainbow Dash felt determined to put an end to her pain.
> The Lesson
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Two
The Lesson



"Alright, kiddo, I guess we better get started," said Dash. The filly in her arms nodded. "The sooner we get going the sooner you fly. This sort of thing takes perseverance. You won't just wake up one day and fly, you need to practice."

Dash set Scootaloo down and motioned for her to follow into the field. "Let's start with you showing me how long you can stay airborne."

Scootaloo slowly unfolded her wings as she joined Dash. The small appendages had been kept shut for hours, so they were a bit stiff. the filly shook her wings to get the kinks out, then began beating them fiercely like a hummingbird. Scootaloo jumped in the air and stayed there for just over three seconds before feeling her hooves touch back down onto the grass. She looked down and let out a sniff at yet another failed attempt.

"Hmm, you should be able to stay in the air for longer than that at your age," said Dash, provoking a distressed look from Scootaloo. "Here, let me see your wings".

"Wh-What? What's wrong with my wings?" asked Scootaloo, fearing the worst. She lifted her left wing, and Dash took it in her hooves. She inspected it for a moment before finding an abnormality.

"Oh, yeah, I see the problem," said Dash causing Scootaloo's eyes to shoot to the small orange wing.

"What's wrong… are they broken?!"

"Well, no, they aren't exactly broken, it's just that the muscles in your wings are developing wrong. Kinda... oppositely to what they should be." Dash let go of the wing and took the other, finding the same problem inverted. "See here, these muscles," she pointed to the front underside of her wing, "they're really small. The same thing is on the other side too. And here, look at these ones," she pointed to the back underside of the wing, "these are wicked strong. Both of these muscle sets need to be pretty much the opposite of what they are now." While the filly continued inspecting her wing, Dash took a moment to ponder what could have caused these strange deformities . One look at the blue scooter still lying on the gravel path gave her the solution.

"Oh... I think I know why," said Dash as the realization dawned on her.

"What… what?! Why are my wings like this?" demanded Scootaloo.

Dash sighed as she formed the sentence. "It's because of your scooter. You've grown your muscles for scootering, not flying." Dash noticed that this news looked to be a bit much for Scootaloo.

"Wh-What does that mean, though?" asked Scootaloo.

"It means that riding your scooter all the time has grown your wings for it," said Dash. "You haven't allowed your wings to grow naturally. They're not really built for flying anymore; the muscles needed to get off the ground are mostly unused. Instead the muscles for scootering are strong. Here's another thing, try turning your wings forward." Dash turned her wings as she said this, only able to point the top side down a little bit before it caused her pain.

Scootaloo followed suit, and found that she could point the top side down almost all the way. 

This surprised Dash; she hadn't known just how much Scootaloo's wings had adapted for her scooter. "Woah. Yeah, you see? There's another thing. You shouldn't be able to do that. See how I have mine? I can't turn them that far." Worried looks hung on both of their faces. "Here, I want to see something else" She flew over to the little blue scooter, picked it up, and set it down in front of Scootaloo. "Okay, now what I want you to do is get into a starting position, okay?" requested Dash.

Scootaloo climbed on and got into position. The filly put her front legs up onto the handle bars, and pointed her wings the way she normally has them. She never noticed that her body, almost fully upright, was parallel with her wings being pointed all the way behind her. Fully conceptualizing her handicap, Scootaloo reluctantly let a single tear streak down her face. She turned away from her sister so as not to reveal her distress. 

Dash saw how Scootaloo had her body positioned, along with the tear. It made her mad to see her this way. "Hey," she called to get the filly's attention, "this is something we are trying to fix, and we haven't even started fixing it yet. There're going to be contrasts from here to the end. So with that in mind, stay strong and we'll get there, okay?" Dash wrapped her hoof around the filly for comfort.

Scootaloo regarded the mare's words and narrowed her eyes. "Okay, Rainbow Dash, I'll be strong. Let's just get this done, okay?"

Dash was surprised with how easy that was. She was proud of herself in the way she was able to calm her sister. It was a well-known fact among the residents of Ponyville, and to Dash, that she will never be the touchy-feely, compassionate one in any group sample. The idea of her being able to set her sister at ease filled Dash's heart with pride.

"Alright then, let's do this. You start going on your scooter, and I'll hold on like this so you don't go anywhere," said Dash, casually wrapping her hoof around the front end of the scooter. Scootaloo nodded, and began beating her wings as hard as she could.

Dash severely underestimated Scootaloo's strength. Before she knew it they were five yards away, with Rainbow Dash still holding onto the scooter. She grunted as she slowly got up and dusted herself off.

"Ohmygosh! Rainbow Dash, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" apologized Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash laughed it off, and winced as she touched a sore area on her foreleg.

"It's okay, I've been through worse. Besides, that was my fault, I should have held on harder." Dash winced again as she touched another spot. After propping the scooter up against a tree, Scootaloo joined Dash in sitting in the shade underneath a tree. The former sat with a slump.

"Hey, that wasn't a failure, you know," began Dash. "See, now we know where all of your wing power is going. My guess is that if you never even touched a scooter you'd be flying almost as fast as me by now. Well, almost as fast." Dash chuckled as her signature ego resurfaced.

Scootaloo turned her face back up at the concept. Her wings weren't broken; they were just… misused. She felt disappointed in herself for deforming her wings and, through using this odd technique as a pass-time, further exacerbating the problem. When she found the scooter, she wasn't that fast as she simply used her legs. Yearning for higher speeds, the filly improvised and began using her wings. Riding her scooter in this manner granted the adrenaline-filled, high velocity rush that she desired. Scootaloo rode this way nearly every single day since then, and she was mad at herself for doing so.

Something else was amiss, and it took Scootaloo a minute to figure out what it was. "Rainbow Dash, how come you know so much about flight training?" she asked.

"Oh, that?" started Dash. "It's nothing. I was just a coach at a flight camp for a few years before I moved to Ponyville."

Scootaloo's expression shifted to deflated sorrow. She now knew that, for one, Dash had the tools needed for teaching her how to fly this whole time. But what upset Scootaloo the most was the fact that she was not the first of Dash's students. "Oh," mumbled Scootaloo. "Ho-how many have you trained?"

"Oh, too many to count," started Dash. She picked up on the filly's real question, and answered it as well. "But don't worry, none of them matter as much to me as you do."

Scootaloo's looked up hopefully into the pegasus' eyes. Dash reached over and playfully tousled the magenta mane. She was really getting the hang of this comforting thing, feeling that at this point that she could calm any emotional storm.

"Okay," started Dash. "We're down to a tough decision. I can't remember what the word was, but basically you have to decide between two things, and you can't have both." Dash inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, preparing herself for the decision she was about to force Scootaloo to make. "You can either stop riding your scooter altogether and learn to fly, or you can keep riding it and most likely never fly."

Scootaloo's world was shattered. Before today, she didn't know that the thing she loved doing most was keeping her from doing the thing she wanted to do most. Momentarily losing her voice, Scootaloo weighed her options.

"I…I…I don't know which one to choose. Riding my scooter is just what I do, I can't just stop!" Scootaloo then stared blankly as she made a harrowing realization. "It's the only thing that I…that I'm…good at…"

Dash scooted over to the downcast filly and wrapped her wing around her. She noticed small drips of water disturbing the grass below the filly. "We're not scheduled for rain today." thought Dash to herself. She looked up to the sun-lit sky to find it empty save for a few wisps of cirrus scattered about. After understanding where the drops of water were coming from, she lifted her wing and slid her foreleg around the weeping filly as well.

"But at the same time," Scootaloo began in a croaky voice. "I want to fly, up in the clouds, and be free. An-and I want to fly with you, and learn all of your awesome tricks." Scootaloo looked up at the pegasus above her. "I can't have both?" She really hoped she could, but she knew she couldn't.

"I'm sorry Scootaloo," apologized Dash. "You can't have both. In order to start flying, you need to grow the muscles needed for it. And since they'll be in the way, you're gonna have to shrink the muscles you use for your scooter. I'm really sorry Scootaloo, but you have to decide between one or the other." Rainbow Dash looked at the upset filly and saw the amount of turmoil she was going through.

"I…I don't know what to do," said Scootaloo. "I want to fly so bad, but riding my scooter is what I'm good at."

Scootaloo knew that this was going to be one of the hardest decisions she will ever have to make, but she was happy that Rainbow Dash was there to help her every step of the way. The filly pressed the side of her head into Dash, who wrapped her free hoof around Scootaloo's now weeping form.

The mare decided that two hooves and a wing weren't enough. She pulled Scootaloo back onto her lap and rested her head in the middle of the purple mane. Dash squeezed tightly, but not enough to harm. "Jeez... this kid," she thought to herself. "It's been tough, I know, but trust me, it'll get better."

The two sat in the grass for quite a while. Every single time Dash looked at the sun, she could tell that it had moved. In the absence of conversation, the mare found time to go over what she had felt earlier. When Scootaloo accused her of lying that night, it had actually hurt. Her throat had clenched, and her jaw had stiffened. "Am I getting... soft?" she thought to herself. Dash thought about how she had felt, what words she had used when talking to Scootaloo, and how she was holding her shuddering frame now.

"I am."

In her mind, Dash wanted to release the filly, fly home, and punch a wall to regain dignity. Yet, one look at Scootaloo's actions, her undeniable need of someone in Dash's position, made her rethink.

In place of a shrug, she sighed and tightened her grip. "Meh, nopony's looking."
> The Sleep-Over
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Three
The Sleep-Over


A blood-red sky streaked with small, distant wisps of cloud hung over the land. One the edge of a field, next to a path, two pegasi held each other in a tight embrace. Rainbow Dash looked up from burying her face in Scootaloo's purple mane and saw Celestia's sun beginning to set. She let loose a deep yawn and stared at the horizon. The filly in her arms had long since stopped crying and was now breathing softly, albeit shakily. Dash gave one more stroke on the purple mane and spoke. 

"Feel a little better?" she asked. After a moment the mare felt Scootaloo nod under her chin. "Well kiddo, it's gettin' pretty late, I'm gonna call it a day. We'll pick this up where we left off tomorrow when you've had a chance to sleep on it, okay?" The cyan mare mussed the filly's purple mane again.

The two retracted their limbs from their hug, and the filly began to depart. "Alright, I'll think about it tonight." She paused for a moment to sniff. "Thanks for the flight lesson Rainbow Dash. See ya." Scootaloo then grabbed her helmet, donned it, and hopped onto her scooter. She was about to start going when Dash placed a hoof on the front end of it. It was obvious with the way she held there that she was not about to make the mistake again.

"Hey before you go, I have a question," started Dash. Scootaloo looked up with tacit inquiry. "I was just wondering, do you have to ask for permission from one of the matrons to have a sleep-over or something at somepony else's house?" asked Dash, having a little fun with her proposition.

"Uh…normally, yeah, but they sort of make an exception with me. I have sleepovers with the other Crusaders like every other day, so I guess they kinda just got used to me not showing up for curfew." Scootaloo pondered Dash's motives for her question. "Why do you ask?"

The smile on Dash's face only grew larger, hurting a bit as it went. "Well in that case, why don't you come and stay with me tonight?" asked Dash. "That way you can decide and tell me what it is you want to do as soon as possible. If you pick flight, I'd need to put a training regimen together. It's been a while since I've made one, so I might need some time."

"R-Really? A s-sleep-over at…at y-your house!?" asked Scootaloo. She supposed she should just get used to Rainbow Dash doing this sort of thing; she would only be continually amazed by this willingness to get closer.

"Sure, it'd be fun! All I have is Tank to keep me company, so it'd be a nice to have somepony else in my house for a change." Dash smiled as she thought of another way to test the young pegasus. "Why don't we race there? It's just a straight shot that way." She raised a hoof and pointed in the direction of her house.

Scootaloo put on a challenging smile and got into her starting position. Dash got into hers, then gave a quick look at the primed pegasus next to her. All vestiges of her sadness had been shed and replaced with playful determination. On the count of three, the two were off. Again, Dash severely underestimated the filly's wing power, and was soon literally left in the dust. The gush of wind from the filly's starting beats had knocked Dash onto the ground. That was definitely something Scootaloo needs to learn to control. Dash promptly got up and took off after her.

Scootaloo might be fast, but Rainbow Dash was much faster, rapidly closing the distance between the two. She could see her floating house in the distance, and quickened the pace. Scootaloo saw it too, and did the same.

Dash closed in on the speeding orange bullet, but made sure not to pass her too quickly; she didn't want to show her up. But then again, Dash didn't want to lose. As the two racing pegasi were almost to the cloud home, Dash tackled Scootaloo off of her scooter, forcing the two to land in a pile with the blue scooter off to the side.

They were both completely out of breath, so it was a mystery as to how they were both laughing and giggling the way they were. They got up off of each other and dusted themselves off. The two walked to a nearby tree, set the scooter up against it, and hung the purple helmet on the handlebars. As they were re-approaching the house, the mare grabbed her companion and shot up to her front porch.

Dash was about to set the filly down when she latched onto the cyan mare's neck. "Wait, Rainbow Dash! I can't fly!" exclaimed Scootaloo, hooves wrapped around and held together on the mare's nape. Rainbow Dash pried her off and set her down. To Scootaloo's surprise, she stayed on the cloud. It was a strange feeling, something she'd never felt before. The cloud underneath her hooves gave a little, but stayed firm. She tested the cloud a bit and found that it was a bit springy.

"Just because you can't fly doesn't mean you aren't a pegasus. Do you think newborn pegasi that can't fly need to be held all the time?" joked Dash, taking Scootaloo's concern lightly. The younger filly giggled and smiled as she took her first actual step forward on a cloud.

"This is amazing! It's like walking on a super bouncy bed!" exclaimed Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash giggled at her friend's elation as she passed by.

"Yeah, I've kinda gotten used to it, so I don't really notice how awesome clouds are to live on anymore," said Dash, walking to the front door and opening it. She looked back to find that Scootaloo was absentmindedly bouncing on the cloud beneath her, a distant look in her eye. Dash whistled sharply, which snapped the filly out of her trance. Scootaloo giggled sheepishly and followed the mare through the door.

The two entered the house to find what looked like the site of an explosion.

Entire chunks of cloud were missing from nearly every wall. One of the drapes was half chewed away, and the other was completely gone. What looked like a couch cut in half was on its side against the wall, with another clump of cloud in the form of the missing half stuck to the ceiling. The countertops were mushed to the floor, and a lame excuse for a coffee table looked like it was close to collapsing. An innocent-looking, lone green rock lied in the corner, completely oblivious to the world.

"TAAAANK!" yelled Dash, her eyes ablaze "What did you do?! I just barely fixed all of this last week when you tore it up!" The cyan mare walked over to the green rock that now had a head poking out one of the holes and picked it up. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you?"

Scootaloo snickered, barely able to contain a fit of the giggles.

"What's so funny?" asked Dash, eyeing the filly with a challenging gaze.

"Nothing it's just…" started Scootaloo, barely able to enunciate her words. "It's just that you're talking to a turtle that messed up your house!"

"He's a tortoise," grumbled Dash. However, she couldn't keep her passiveness up forever. The mare soon fell victim to the contagious laughter. After a few minutes of the two cackling uncontrollably, the mare finally straightened up enough to form a few sentences.

"Just shut up and help me clean up this mess, okay?" said Dash. Scootaloo straightened up with a salute. The two chortled for a few seconds more before beginning their clean-up of the ransacked living room.

After a few minutes of "Where does this go?", "Where did that go?", and "What did that used to be?" the two were finished. Dash jocularly shot Tank a death glare that set the two pegasi off again. The tortoise simply blinked; seemingly unaware of anything that happened around him as usual.

"Alright, now that we have my house sorted, how about I go grab some pizza? You okay with keeping Tank company for a few minutes?" asked Dash, walking to her front door.

"I want extra cheese on my pizza!" replied Scootaloo who had climbed up on top of Tank's shell and was riding him around.

Dash giggled again at the sight, and bid farewell. She closed the front door, leaving the pony and the tortoise alone. Scootaloo decided to go for her own tour of her idol's house. She knew she shouldn't be snooping around, but she was curious and bored.

She returned to the living room after wandering about for a few minutes to find Tank in exactly the same position he was in when she left. He blinked his eyes at her, and she rolled her eyes at him. She went back to sitting on the newly formed couch and put together a mental map of Rainbow Dash's house.

After surveying the home, she was surprised to find that, while the outside of Rainbow Dash's house was quite extravagant, the inside was simple, and looked as though it was nothing more than an ordinary one bedroom apartment.

At that moment the smell of freshly baked pizza wafted in from seemingly all directions. Rainbow Dash burst through the door and struck one of her signature poses.

"Dinner is served!" proclaimed Dash, setting the single cardboard box of pizza on the coffee table and opening it "Hope Tank wasn't too much trouble," she joked, plopping down on the couch next to Scootaloo.

"Not really, in fact he barely moved," said Scootaloo with a chuckle, grabbing a slice of pizza. The two chewed in silence for the next few minutes. After almost finishing the crust of her slice, Scootaloo turned to Dash who was finishing up her second.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?" asked Scootaloo.

"Hrmm?" responded Dash, her mouth filled with the last bit of her second slice. She chewed a few more times before she swallowed. "What is it?"

"Uhmm, I just wanted to say…" now it was time for Scootaloo to be touchy-feely. "I just wanted to say…thank you. Thank you for being like my big sister"

Rainbow Dash's eyes perked as she was perplexed by the "tough" filly's affection. Before this moment, Dash was feeling a slight pang of dread as she kept reminding herself that she'd have to foalsit this pony. But after Scootaloo's words of gratitude, Dash's outlook on the rest of the night seemed to shift from regret to anticipation. If you told her that a simple orange filly she only really knew for a week and a half could impact her mood like that, she might have laughed like you had told the funniest joke she'd ever hear. But now she looked upon the little ball of orange fur she could call a sister and smiled.

She reached over with her wing and pulled Scootaloo in close. "Don't mention it, Squirt." Scootaloo leaned in and wrapped her arms around the mare's waist, sighing softly. Dash returned the gesture by curling her wing around the filly. They held this embrace for a few moments before releasing each other. Once they pulled apart, Scootaloo popped the last bite of her pizza in her mouth.

Dash yawned as she reached over and closed the box. She then scooped it up, carried it over to her cloud-powered refrigerator, and stuffed it inside. "Well, Scoot, Whaddya wanna do? We have another couple of hours before bed-time," said Dash as she strolled back to the filly.

"I dunno, what is there to do?" she replied.

"Well, I have a few board games if you're interested."

"Sure, I like board games. What do you have?"

"Okay, let's see. I have Sugarland, Scraddle, Monopony..."

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna play Monopony!" said Scootaloo as she jumped up and down with her wings buzzing.

"You sure? I mean Sugarland might be better for a filly your age. Monopony is hard to get a hoof on."

"Blech..." said Scootaloo as she stuck her tongue out, "Sugarland is for babies. Besides, I love playing Monopony!"

"Alright then..." Dash said as she turned to her closet in the hallway. She rummaged around inside before pulling out the correct box. A top-hatted and mustachioed pony was sticking out of the "O" in the middle of the "Monopony" title with his hooves outstretched. Dash chuckled to herself as she thought about how badly she was going to beat Scootaloo at this game. A pony Scootaloo's age has no chance at winning against a pony of Dash's age...right?

After the mare set the whole game up, she began rummaging through the small bag full of silver pieces for her favorite one. Once she came up empty, Dash spoke up. "Hey, where's the horseshoe? I'm always the horseshoe." 

"I uh uh." Scootaloo sounded. Dash looked up to find the horseshoe firmly clamped in Scootaloo's teeth. The filly dropped the silver piece into her hoof. "Not fast enough!" 

Dash squinted her eyes at the smirking orange pony. Bubbling rage seethed out between her grinding teeth. "Are you kidding me? I set this game up that you picked to play and you cheat at getting my piece!? For the love of..." Dash cut herself off before she swore at the foal. She was definitely too young to hear such language. She looked down at the stupid greenish board and clenched her jaw for a moment to calm herself.

From the corner of Dash's vision she saw a glinting piece of silver held in a small orange hoof push its way through her aura of anger. Scootaloo was stretching the piece out to offer it to Dash. The cyan mare slowly put her hoof out to accept the game piece.

"Sorry," mumbled Scootaloo. The filly looked away after relinquishing the piece. Her stomach clenched as she feared getting kicked back out onto the porch. She regretted ever fooling this pony, for ever even asking about a possible sisterhood.

After a moment of the filly's sniffling, Dash gave up. "Damnit, Rainbow," she thought. Before she even realized it, Dash felt herself release the horseshoe, and subsequently heard the patting sound of the piece tumble across the board. The young pony looked back at her elder with a somber expression. "Here," started Dash, "you can use it. I'll just be the wheelbarrow." Dash admitted a soft smile that soon spread to her companion.

The feeling of relief washed over Scootaloo's mind and trickled down her body to calm the churning in her gut. "Thanks," she was finally able to say. "Sorry if I upset you." Scootaloo sheepishly rubbed her shoulder and turned away.

"You're fine," Dash dismissed. "I guess I'm just not used to having somepony else around." After a moment of thought, Dash scrunched her face into anger again. However, this time it was directed towards herself. "You okay?" she said to Scootaloo's cheek.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Scootaloo replied.

Dash humphed and continued. "Alright then, let the games begin!"

Though Scootaloo tried to not express herself, she was unable to resist the contagious cheer. A few giggles escaped her lips as she turned back towards the board.

The next few hours played out in friendly, heated battle with mock bitterness. Dash quickly gained the lead by frivolously purchasing every property she landed on, but as soon as she was out of money she had to resort to hoping that Scootaloo would land on one of her owned spaces. Eventually though, Dash was outplayed and bankrupt after she landed on a double-stabled Boardwalk for the second time. She was baffled at her loss, but she realized in hindsight that she should have seen this coming when Scootaloo was able to take on the role of the banker. She was about to erupt in anger when she handed over her last few plastic, multicolored bits, but after finding such joy on Scootaloo's face the mare's anger oddly dissipated and she fell prey to the filly's infections smile. 

After settling down and putting the game away, the two sat down on the couch. Scootaloo seemed to gravitate towards Dash and leaned her head on the cyan shoulder. The mare actually started to like the pressure there. She could feel the filly's0 small heartbeat; it was slow and calm.

"Whelp, Scoots," she began, "it's gettin' even more late. You have a lot to think about tonight, and you have school tomorrow, so it'd be a good idea to get some shut-eye. D'ja get enough to eat?" The mare got back down onto her hooves.

Scootaloo nodded and followed Dash off the couch. After leading a short distance, Dash turned her head back to the filly. "Since I don't have a guest room or anything, you're gonna have to crash with me in my bed, that okay?"

Scootaloo nodded and followed the pegasus into the bedroom. Luckily the door was closed, so Tank wasn't able to tear it apart. Dash hopped up onto her bed and motioned for Scootaloo to join her. The young filly played it cool on the outside, but on the inside her mind exploded with elation. She was actually going to sleep in the Rainbow Dash's bed!

If a week and a half ago you would have told Scootaloo that she was going to have a sleep-over at her idol's house, she would have laughed like you had told her the funniest joke she'd ever hear. Yet there she was settling in under Dash's covers. Soon though, the rush subsided and she let herself sink into the pillowy bed. "Goodnight, Rainbow Dash," sighed Scootaloo, already asleep as the last few words floated out between her lips.

"Goodnight, Scootaloo," responded Dash who reached over and stroked Scootaloo's mane. Rainbow Dash silently hoped the filly would pick flight; she really wanted a flying buddy. The mare dug herself into the cloud mattress, then drifted off to sleep.
> The Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Four
The Nightmares



The beautifully gloomy night partially illuminated by Princess Luna's moon was breathtaking. The gigantic, shining pearl cast its magical rays upon a particular cluster of clouds that hung in the sky. The two pegasi inside slumbered next to each other, enveloped in a thick layer of blankets, and an even thicker layer of dreams.

The visions in the mare's mind swirled into focus. She was galloping through a large field filled with a myriad of swaying flowers in bloom. Dash was then joined to the side by an orange, bounding ball of joy. The two pegasi looked at each other, keeping neck and neck on this hoof-race, then they both unfurled their wings and took to the golden sky, claiming it as theirs.

It was just the two of them, enjoying the beautiful shining sun, both doing their own aerial stunts in the sky while smashing through clouds, popping them, turning them into meager puffs. The cheers of their seven friends down on the ground lifted the pegasi's spirits higher. The mare felt as though she was floating in a sea of warm caramel, and didn't want it to end.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo landed on the last cloud in the sky and claimed a moment to themselves. Dash engaged with her companion in a tickle fight. She relentlessly attacked the soft orange belly while its owner fought to breathe. Scootaloo kept trying to block Dash's attempts, but the quick mare swiftly found an uncovered spot as soon as it opened up. The unending barrage of tickling continued until even Dash was breathless.

Then, out of nowhere, the orange filly stopped giggling, smacked the blue hoof off, and got up in one motion with tears already streaking down her grief-twisted face. "I thought you liked me!" screamed Scootaloo, the noise of her cries piercing the veil of bliss that shrouded Dash. "It's all your fault! Why didn't you just do it?!" Heavy rumbling and vibrating tremors shook the very foundation of Dash's mind with every one of Scootaloo's thunderous syllables. The next time Dash looked the filly over, the orange coat lost its luster. Her eyes sunk, and her shoulders drooped. It appeared as though whatever was keeping her alive was fading fast; Scootaloo's legs wobbled and her wings fell to the sides.

"I never want to see you again!" the filly bitterly screeched against her condition. Dash lunged forward through the hysteria and attempted an embrace, but her arms simply passed through Scootaloo. The filly then turned her bloodshot eyes away and slinked off of the cloud. The heart-broken mare ran over and peered off the side, but couldn't see any orange or purple, just a black hole in the middle of the field. Her head shot over to her sinking friends who stared at Dash as if she had committed a heinous crime. One by one they were swallowed by the widening abyss.

She tried asking what was going on, but even she couldn't hear her own voice. She was completely mute, and could only watch as her friends fell away. Dash curled into a fetal position, sobbing from her overwhelming confusion. The cloud underneath her vibrated and burst, and she began to fall to the ground below. She tried to flap her wings, but soon any semblance of strength. Dash, totally limp, could only feel the air rush past her face and watch the event horizon as it approached faster and faster.

Just as she passed through the surface of the mile-wide hole, Dash bolted upright in her bed. She cradled herself, rocking back and forth, taking short, shaky breathsas the dream ebbed and finally ceased to affect her in a physical manner The doorknob held her gaze for what felt like years as she sat there, not volunteering any movement.

Eventually she calmed down enough to regain control of her body. She looked down at the filly lying next to her. Luckily, she was still fast asleep with a comforting smile on her face. Clouds fortunately didn't carry much energy around, so it wasn't surprising that Scootaloo remained in her dreams.

Dash slowly lied back down next to the younger pony and pulled her in close. To her delight, her hooves made firm contact with her sister's soft orange fur. Her forelegs wrapped themselves around the filly's lower back, and her wings followed suit. Dash wanted Scootaloo to be as close to her heart as possible, never to leave again. After lying there, feeling the two distinctive heart beats pulse throughout their bodies, and the warm breaths disturbing the fur on her chest, she finally was able to settle back to a shaky form of sleep.

She didn't dream this time, and was thankful for it. She didn't want to go through something like that again.





The clock on the wall tick-tocked as it counted the minutes going by. The large hand had done little more than a full rotation since Dash woke up from her dream when, out of nowhere, Scootaloo shot out of hers. She took short, sharp breaths like her sister did an hour before. Her head and eyes swiveled about, taking note of her surroundings. After remembering that she was having a sleep-over at Rainbow Dash's house, she calmed down a bit; but only slightly.

Her close proximity to Dash woke her up. The mare trudged out of her half sleep, and sat up with the filly, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down.

"Scoot-… Scootaloo? What happened? Are you okay?" she asked. The panic and exhaustion from Dash's own dream ran alongside her words, giving it an extra croaky texture. 

Scootaloo only sat there, taking those familiar small, shaky breaths. After a few minutes of Dash's hoof rubbing her back, the filly was able to calm down enough to let go of her knees.

"You okay?" Dash asked after a moment of Scootaloo's breathing normally.

Scootaloo looked up from her mindless stare. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." She sniffed loudly - not what one could expect from someone who was "fine."

"Kid, don't lie to me. Something's up. D'ja have a bad dream?"

Scootaloo hiccuped a few more times and sniffled a bit before nodding. 

"Wanna talk about it?" Dash asked.

The filly shrugged her shoulders.

"It might make you feel better."

Scootaloo took another moment. She wiped her nose on her hoof before beginning. "Well... it started out with us just laying in your bed, talking, an-and laughing. It was a lot of fun." She paused for a minute to recall the horrific hallucinations. "Then you wrapped your arms and your wings around me, and pulled me in close! W-we just laid there for a minute, and then… and then you just… just pushed me off the bed…" The filly looked away from Dash to hide another tear. It was swiftly and discreetly wiped away before she returned.

Dash just sat there, her hoof on her sister's back, motionless. Listening to the story go from blissful to heart-rending made her feel as though nothing she had problems with even mattered. She listened on. "Y-y-you got up a-and said 'come here'. I-I looked up and you were walking out of the room, and your smile was gone. I f-followed you and we walked out the front door, and then we were looking over the edge of your porch. You pointed down and said 'see that?' I asked what you were talking about and you said 'the ground, you see it?' I said yes and then…and then…" Scootaloo turned away as voice escaped her, as if defending her from possibly angering the mare again. She felt another hoof touch her turned shoulder, trying to pull her back.

"Scootaloo, please tell me," said Dash.  "I want to help you, so just tell me what happened."

The filly turned back again with her muzzle scrunched. "We were looking over the edge, and you said 'you see the ground'. I said yes and you…" She stopped again to regain her bearings. Dash had better not be lying... "You got up and told me 'you belong there'." Dash's ears perked instantly. Scootaloo's nightmare was peaking in intensity, but plugging the hole now would only serve to exacerbate the filly's troubles. Therefore, Dash simply listened on.

"Y-you said that I belong on the ground," resumed Scootaloo with her face turned towards her lap. "And then you… you just... kicked me off the edge." The filly looked into the mare's eyes and saw the sheer disbelief that was present. She had almost lost herself to surprise before snapping her eyes back away. "I-I was f-falling, and s-screaming, and crying, and I looked up at you and you were just… just watching me fall. I hit the ground, and then, well, that was it."

At this point, Rainbow Dash was stunned still and silent, more than she had been. Scootaloo sniffled and hiccupped some more. Then, Dash did something that surprised even herself, looking back. She slowly reached forward and scooped Scootaloo into her lap, holding her there like a mother would for a newborn. After rocking Scootaloo back and forth for what could have been several hours, Dash kept the filly where she was even when she began pushing away.

"Scootaloo, I want you to know something," said Dash, her words shaky. "I will never, ever, ever do that, you hear me? Ever." She tightened her grip with the last word. "That is about the worst thing I've ever heard, and I would never do that."

Dash didn't care at all if she was being mushy or girly or anything of the sort. Her sister's sense of security was in shambles, and she was the only one with the means to fix it. She told herself that the cradling was for Scootaloo, but it had really been for her own. It seemed that both of their dreams were trying to pry them apart. But Dash wouldn't allow that to happen.

"I-I don't think you will, Rainbow Dash," said Scootaloo. "It was just.... kinda scary to watch it happen." 

Rainbow Dash looked down and carefully chose her words. "Hey, Scoot?" she said. Scootaloo blinked her response. "I think I know what might make you feel better."

Scootaloo gave the pony a puzzled look. "What?"

"How about I tell you one of my secrets? Would that make it even?" Dash gave a weak, yet comforting smile. Scootaloo looked at her, answering not with her voice but with her eyes. Dash inhaled deeply. Similarly to how Scootaloo hadn't told her secret, Dash hadn't told anyone the secret she was thinking of either. After a few moments of mental preparation, the unshakably strong-willed and confident-to-the-core daredevil began.

"So I'm basically like your only family, right?" asked Dash. Scootaloo nodded. "Well...you're kinda my only family too."

Scootaloo's ears perked and her eyes widened. "Wh-what do you mean I'm your only family?"

"I…I..." she croaked. The syllables seemed to elude Dash. The mare tried to gather her thoughs, but they slipped from her grip like greased snakes. She finally pulled the sentence from her mind, and spat it out like a piece of rotten apple.

"I don't have parents either..."

Simply uttering the phrase and branding her as an orphan to Scootaloo seemed to surprise herself more than it had surprised the filly. Scootaloo could only stare on in disbelief. After deafening silence in a brief eternity, Dash continued digging the knife into the deepest, most repressed part of her mind.

"I spent a lot of my life in an orphanage too..."

"You... you did?" she asked as she climbed out of the mares arms and onto the bed, sitting in front of her.

Dash nodded. The life-blood that kept the secret a secret had been spilled, and with its continuous flow, the negativity and sorrow that came with it subsided. After noticing something, she began again. "But what makes me different from you is that I knew my parents."

Scootaloo's eyes widened even more. She thought she had it bad with not knowing any of her family, but here was Rainbow Dash who remembers hers.

"And don't start to think that they died or something noble," Dash continued, her pitiable tone replaced with a more serious, yet just as shaky one. "I'm pretty sure they're still alive, and happy without me. My parents were cruel ponies. They never appreciated me, or my attempts at flying. They probably never even loved me at all. They were always judging me for not being an early flier like either of them."

Dash paused; the recurring acknowledgements of her abandonment and life as a failure continued to dig the knife deeper into her side. Each sentence caused the pain from her years of loneliness and heartache to become more intense. However, she pushed on. The young pony in her grasp was tough with getting her secret out, so she needed to be tough as well.

"The only thing they did for me that was any bit nice in the beginning was taking me to a Wonderbolt Derby for my sixth birthday." Dash smiled weakly before she continued. "You know, I really thought that they were going to like me from then on, and be real parents. But no. As we were heading home - walking home - my dad asked me if I saw the Wonderbolts. I told him I did, and that they were awesome. Then he said something that's stayed with me forever." She took a deep breath before forming contextually the worst sentence she'd ever had said to her. "'That's what flying looks like'." The final jab taken, Dash felt a weight she wasn't aware of lift from her shoulders.

Scootaloo's mouth hung agape. She hadn't known that Dash wasn't a very good flier, even at six years old. Dash's "Number-One Fan" hadn't known any of this information prior to this bonding experience. She suddenly felt a twinge of happiness stem from this moment. It felt as though they had grown even closer. Earlier, it really did feel as though Dash was being a big sister. But deep underneath the surface, it didn't really seem that way. Her behavior suggested to Scootaloo that Dash was just being nice to a wayward filly. But now, with her and Dash sitting on the infinitely comfortable bed, sharing their secrets, she felt like they really were connecting as family. And the feeling was exactly mutual for the other party.

"The next day," Dash continued. "They just dropped me off at the Manehattan Orphanage. You shoulda seen the looks in the matrons' eyes. I wondered why they took me to the surface for a while before I figured out that they did it so I couldn't come home. Once I figured out how to fly on my own, I realized that I didn't want to go home. Then when I got old enough, I moved back to Cloudsdale in my own house, and I made sure to avoid my parents' area."

A single tear streaked down her cheek, and was promptly wiped away. "Great, now I'm crying because of it," moaned Dash. She sighed deeply before admitting another truth to herself. "They're right, I am a…a worthless weakling." The barrier of egotistical brashness and self-pity protecting her emotion had been sliced away, both honing and dulling her realizations' sharp edge.

Angered, Scootaloo lifted herself up and hugged the mare around the neck. Dash slowly, gratefully, and lovingly returned it. It was Scootaloo's turn to be comforting.

"Rainbow Dash, you aren't worthless. I wouldn't call you my sister if you were worthless," said Scootaloo, using the same words Dash mere hours earlier.

"Heh, thanks, Kiddo," the older pony said as her mind slowed its processes. The filly's words had had a strange and extremely poignant effect on Dash. In the absence of her sorrow cast away by this filly came the warm, gushing feeling of profound happiness. She let what little emotion she could out on Scootaloo's shoulder. They both could feel that their relationship had reached entirely new levels. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo held their embrace for the next few seconds before pulling away. Dash looked down for a moment before she spoke again. "Hey, Scoot."

"Yeah?"

"I had a nightmare too. It was about you."

"What happened?"

"Well," she began, "it started out with us racing each other on hoof. Then apparently you could fly, because we started doing that. We were zipping around and having fun, busting clouds, basically doing what we want." Scootaloo cocked her head at this notion, and Dash smiled. "Then we got onto a cloud and we started wrestling. Then..." She trailed off.

Scootaloo furrowed her brow at the tell-tale sign of the beginning of the nightmare. Whatever was keeping Dash from continuing the story must be awful, she thought.

"Then we stopped. You started crying, and you said you hated me, and you never want to see me again." Dash's voice cracked at the last syllable. "I tried to grab you and calm you down, but you just...you just melted through my hooves. You jumped off the cloud and disappeared. Our friends who were watching looked like they hated me too, and then they vanished as well. Then the cloud I was on poofed away, then I fell, then when I fell into this weird hole, I woke up."

Scootaloo sat there, listening to the story. After a moment of thought, Scootaloo spoke again. "Rainbow Dash, you know that I'd never hate you." The particular emotion in her next words passed no barriers in her mind. "I... I love you too much."

Dash's heart seemed to stop. It gave a flutter before resuming pumping her heated blood through her still body. Or so she imagined. She looked at the smiling filly in front of her through rapidly watering eyes and reached for her. Dash pulled Scootaloo as close to her body as she could, buried her face into her mane, and breathed a heavy sigh through the magenta strands of hair. Dash could feel Scootaloo affectionately nuzzle deeper into her chest. The mare contemplated her next move. She decided that this would be the last milestone before the ponies' bond was set in stone.

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on Scootaloo's chin, lifted it, pursed her lips, and planted a kiss sweeter than apple cider on the filly's forehead. "I love you too, Scootaloo."

Words were lost for the two, and their exhaustion from their emotional trials had drained what little energy they had. They simultaneously lied back down, and Scootaloo shuffled up closer in Dash's wings. The filly was about to drift into unconsciousness when she heard her sister, rather tiredly, speak. 

"If you tell anypony that I just cried like that, there won't be anything you can do to stop the vicious tickling I'll give you." Dash raised her hoof in front of her sister's face and waved it around slowly as if to cast an incantation, but more likely to ward off bad behavior. Scootaloo giggled, and nestled into her sister's soft chest.

"Well, if you do that to me, then they'd probably have a tough time finding your body," she challenged through lidded, innocent eyes. Rainbow Dash's face twisted momentarily before letting a breath of laughter slip. She again buried her face into Scootaloo's mane. 

"You'll be there underneath it."

They were soon off to peaceful dreams; their worries laid to rest - the real ones, anyway.
> The Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Five
The Decision



The golden sunlight from Celestia's morning sun peeked through the window and lifted the drapes to reach the two faces in the room. , Rainbow Dash's eyelids slowly peeled open after some movement from the tired eyes beneath them. However, when the painful light crossed her eyes, she screwed them shut again and shunned the beams. Her eyes eventually adjusted, the piercing rays losing their effect, though they had achieved their purpose. Dash simply lied there for a while, half asleep. She breathed slowly, thought slowly, and woke slowly. 

Dash shook her head as the sounds of her sister's cries, still fresh in her memory, surfaced in her thinking. She grumbled as she lifted her head groggily, showing a wide yawn to the now fully risen yellow sun. She was never a morning pony, and this morning in particular was dreadfully slow in starting. Dash hadn't had much sleep the previous night, only getting about four peaceful, healthy hours of it.

Rainbow Dash looked down to Scootaloo, still firmly nestled in the blue chest fur. The mare's wings were stretched out, wrapping around her sister, creating a shield from the evil of their nightmares. She unwrapped and folded them back in, slightly wincing as her muscles were finally allowed to relax after being stretched out for so long.

After getting her wings comfortable, she gently shook her sister in an attempt to wake her. "Come on Scootaloo, time to get up, you have school today," she said, breaking through the thick cloak of sleep that enveloped the filly.

"Nngh, come on Rainbow Dash, five more minutes…" fussed Scootaloo, turning over in dissent. Dash gave a wry smile and exhaled sharply. Her sister was going to get up whether she liked it or not. After some struggling, Dash was able to get the adorably limp ball of orange lead securely on her back.

Dash strode out into her kitchen area and flopped her sister down onto a chair. Scootaloo was now more awake, but her longing for the infinitely comfortable and soothingly warm bed she had just been in was outwardly apparent in her eyes being only half open. She stood up in her chair and turned around to speak with her sister.

"Hey Rainbow Dash?" she began with a soft, tired voice that was cut off from a yawn. Dash turned around with a box of "Pony 'O's" in her mouth which she retrieved from the pantry.

"Hrmm?" she replied.

"I think I know what I want to do," said Scootaloo.

Dash was in the middle of pouring cereal into two bowls when she heard this. She set the box down, left the bowls, and walked over to an adjacent chair to hear the decision. If Dash had fingers, they'd be crossed.

"Umm, I gave it some thought, and I decided," started Scootaloo. This was a big decision, possibly the biggest in her life. "I've decided that I want to fly."

On the inside, Dash was overjoyed. However, she kept a calm outward appearance. The only indication of her approval was a small, happy smile. "Oh yeah? What makes you want to give up scootering?" she inquired.

"Because flying is what pegasus ponies are meant to do. I mean, what kind of pegasus pony would I be if I stayed on the ground, riding around on a slow little scooter? I don't think it's that practical compared to flying. I know it's what I do, and what lets me pass the time, but if you think about it, flying is so much cooler! Plus, I kind of get made fun of for it now, imagine what I'd get when I'm older." Scootaloo chuckled a bit at her last notion. She was upholding her tough attitude, but in her mind she was suffering from the knowledge that she would have to give up her hobby. "And also," added Scootaloo, "I had that dream again."

Dash's eyes and ears perked. "Darn it, Luna, why did she have to go through that again?" she wondered. The esteemed princess wasn't present in her own dream either, which angered Dash.

"But don't worry. This time, when I was kicked off," started Scootaloo, "I flew." She twisted her face upward into a big smile, and continued. "I flew high above the clouds, zipping around and having fun, and being free."

Dash winced when Scootaloo said "kicked off," but she was happy to know that her dream turned from a heart-wrenching nightmare to a blissful state of joy. Dash reached over and tousled Scootaloo's mane. "Well kiddo, if that's what you want, then that's what we'll do." She got up, and returned to pouring the two bowls of cereal.

After pouring the milk, she grabbed one bowl and set it down in front of her sister who began to slurp at it hungrily. Dash grabbed her own and sat back down in her seat.

She made sure she had Scootaloo's attention before shooting her a challenging look. The two ponies' eyes narrowed as the idea for a food race crystalized in their minds.

At the sound of an imaginary whistle, the two began digging in ferociously, spraying milk and cereal about. Once they had emptied the bowls of the sugary solids, they lifted them to drink, or rather drain the last of the milk. After thoroughly making a mess of the fur on their faces, they both brought their empty bowls down onto the table at the same time. They held each other's menacing gaze, then their façades began to break down. The pegasi began laughing and giggling uncontrollably. After calming a bit, they got up and set their bowls in the sink.

The two walked out to the front porch, where Dash turned to her sister. "Alright Squirt, ready to go down?"

"Yeah let's hurry, I might be late if we don't leave now," replied Scootaloo.

Dash nodded, grabbed her, and fluttered down to the earth below. The surface was foggy, so it was difficult to make things out. Dash watched the filly search around out of the corner of her eye as she herself looked for the small scooter. Oddly, even though she could barely see the trees that were a stone's throw away, Dash was able to pinpoint her sister with absolute clarity as the filly searched around behind them. The mare shrugged it off, and blamed her bright colors. After searching a bit, Scootaloo found the tree that had the blue scooter propped up against it. Scootaloo hopped onto her most prized possession, and rode it back to Dash with a sullen look on her face.

The mare noted Scootaloo's manner. "You sure about flying? Like, is that your final decision?" she asked. Scootaloo nodded and looked up at her sister; the mare had not an exactly surprising expression, but to Scootaloo it was rather unexpected and heartwarming. Rainbow Dash was looking down at the filly with the face of somepony who wanted to look out for her. To...to love her, and... actually care about her as an individual. Scootaloo was beginning to like this side of Dash. Her sister was acting more compassionate towards her, compared to how she acted beyond two weeks prior.

Following her very brief bout of thought, Scootaloo returned. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm gonna miss my scooter, that's for sure, but I guess we all have to grow up sometime, right?"

"Well," started Dash. "If flying is your final decision, then this is the last day you should ride that thing. We want your muscles to balance out as soon as possible, so keeping the problem ones immobile for the most part is probably a good idea. Come on, let's head into town, you're gonna be late."

The pair started out slow, but one look at each other made them put on another challenging face. Then they were off like rockets. They soon faded into blurs resembling their colors, and Dash made sure they were neck and neck the whole way.

The sisters eventually reached town, where they immediately began to stir a commotion. They narrowly missed several pedestrians on the way to the school house on multiple occasions, but they miraculously made it without anyone getting hurt.

The two skidded to a stop in front of the school house, and they immediately yelled "I WIN!" simultaneously. After holding another gaze, they relaxed and giggled to each other.

It was then that Scootaloo realized that she has had more bouts of laughter in the past several hours than she would have normally had in an entire week. She was really enjoying this new aspect of her life. 

Scootaloo looked around. "Sweet, I'm early! Thanks Rainbow Dash!"

Dash reached over and tousled the filly's mane. "Any time, Squirt."

After saying their good-byes, Scootaloo went into the large red building, and Dash took to the skies. She had some work to do.
> The Realization
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Six
The Realization


After launching from a well-paved walkway, Rainbow Dash soared through the skies at brisk speeds. She had always enjoyed her flying sessions: having the warm sun on her back while twisting and banking about in the air without a care in the world. These times was always very pleasurable. However, she could not stay airborne forever; there was work to be done.

The cyan mare headed home after dropping the filly off at school to put a regimen together. She slammed the front door closed and took in the sweet scent of her home. Dash strode over to her closet and, after sifting through the mess inside, retrieved an old clipboard from her coaching days.

She saw all of the marks and dents from the years of use, and abuse, and smiled as the memories played in her mind. She then thought of the lesson she gave Scootaloo the previous day. Dash chuckled at an image of the little filly's beaming face that appeared in front of her. The mare stared at this apparition with its golden aura surrounding it. She shrugged, then ambled over to her couch with a pencil, and began devising their lesson plan.

Pondering their moves, Dash decided that the best thing to do now was to show Scootaloo stretches and exercises that would strengthen some muscles, and atrophy others. After they were finished setting the wings straight, and Scootaloo's wing muscles were properly proportioned, they'd go on to stage two. Simply put, she'd do more exercises until her wings are strong enough to grant flight. And finally, maneuvering and navigation in midair as part of stage three.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she put the clipboard down on her kitchen counter. She hadn't been at it for more than a half hour before she was finished.

"I forgot how fast I was at writing these," said Dash to herself with a chuckle.

In terms of her weather job, it was going to become quite boring in the near future. Ponyville was entering that scheduled season that didn't require a lot of cloud busting. Since busting was her specialty, she wasn't normally tasked with cloud placing.

She paced around her house looking for something to do. Dash finally gave up the search for something to do in her entertainment-devoid home. What she needed to do is go out for a little fly around town, and find a good cloud to nap on.

After closing her front door with a harsh kick, she cantered off the edge of her porch and entered a nose dive. As she started to fall, the image of falling in her dream the previous night flashed in her eyes and transported her back to that place in reality. Luckily, she was able to pull up at the last minute. She shook her head clear of the mirage and kept flying.

Something was nagging her in the back of her head, but she couldn't quite place a hoof on it. It was like she was remembering something, but nothing was there. All of these visions of her memories were fogging up her mind, and somehow clearing it at the same time.

Dash floated shakily about until she reached town.  After a slow sigh and a quick shake of her head, she began to search for a good cloud to nap on.

This was hopeless. All of the clouds in sight were either too small or too thin to support Dash's weight. She decided to join a few together to create a platform large enough to hold her. After wrangling together a few wisps of cloud, she clambered upon the new formation.

Something about this cloud made her think of something. Suddenly a vision of her bawling sister appeared facing Dash. She yelped loudly and buried her head in the cloud as she realized that this cloud made her think of the one her and Scootaloo had been on in her dream.

The nagging feeling in the back of her head started to get more intense. It was as if there was something she had forgotten to do, yet there was nothing she could think of. She scanned over an imaginary to-do list in her head for a good fifteen minutes, but found nothing. Her list was empty as of this moment; the only thing she could think of was to go pick up Scootaloo from school for the real beginning of her lessons. However, that was several hours away.

Dash buried her head deeper into the cloud in an attempt to stifle the memories and thoughts, but it didn't work. She groaned, and shot off of the cloud which spun until it eventually popped. She descended and went for a slow flight over Ponyville.

Today was like most days. The market-place was filled with kindly merchant ponies selling their produce. After flying for a bit, she noticed Applejack dealing with a male Earth Pony customer at her apple stand. The haggling pony finally took his hoof off of his chin, deciding on the fairness of the deal. He tossed the coins on the counter and swept the apples into his saddlebag. He trotted off, leaving the farm pony free to speak.

"Hey AJ," called Dash while approaching her friend. "Whatcha doin?"

Applejack dropped the finally-earned bits in her wallet and turned to her friend. "Oh nothin'," she said. "Jus' sittin' here sellin' some of mah apple products."

"Oh," said Dash. Another thought popped into her head. "Hey, how's your little sis'? Scootaloo told me that Apple Bloom had to stay home because she was sick."

"Oh yeah," replied Applejack with a weak smile. "We got some medicine in her, and this mornin' she said she felt good enough to go to school."

Dash sighed with relief. "Oh good. See Scootaloo got bullied at school yesterday, and her friends weren't there to back her up."

"She's bein' bullied at school?" inquired Applejack with an angry glare.

"It's fine, I took care of it," replied Dash. "Plus, I don't think she'll be messed with again with Apple Bloom there."

Applejack sighed. "Them young'ns are so violent nowadays," she said with a shake of her head. "Glad you took care of it. You an' that filly seem to be gettin' real close now, huh."

"Yeah," replied Dash with a smirk. "She's something alright. Makes you wonder why nopony else wants to, you know?"

Applejack raised her left eyebrow. "What, get close tah her? Whad'ya mean by that?"

Dash was lucky to keep her reaction in check. "Er, never mind." She giggled awkwardly.

Applejack stared at her friend. "Somethin' you wanna tell me?"

"No," blurted Dash. "I mean," she took a breath. "Don't worry, it's nothing. Just kinda tired. I had a sleep-over with her last night, and we stayed up really late watching movies."

"Okay..." Applejack decided to leave the subject alone for the time being. "Yah know, ever since you told me an' Rarity what happened that night campin', Ah thought that maybe the little filly was just gettin' her hopes up. But it sounds to me that she made the right choice in chosin' who her sister should be. Er, no offense, 'course."

"S'alright," Dash said, "I understand. Just wish I could have been around sooner, you know? I feel like she would have had good days more often than she did if she had a sister, heck, maybe her whole life."

"Yeah, Ah know what you feel. When Apple Bloom was younger Ah didn't really like bein' around her. She cried a lot, she was always gettin' into mah stuff, an' she was just a downright brat all the time! But one evenin' Ah decided that Ah had had enough. Ah invited her into mah room, somethin' Ah never did, and Ah had a talk with her. Ah spoke calmly, and told her the facts. She was mah sister, and as such we shouldn't be fightin' all the darn time."

Applejack took a moment to reminisce. "Then me an' her spent the entire night together. We watched movies, did each other's manes, an' overall had a good time. After that night, Ah regretted not gettin' to know her better. Now, we're closer than dadgum bark on a tree."

"Can't wait to be like that with Scootaloo. We already had a fun night, so now I guess all that's left is to grow together." Rainbow Dash and Applejack sighed and began gazing around the courtyard.

"So what brings yah here?" asked the orange mare.

Dash thought about it for a moment. She realized that she had forgotten her reasons for this confrontation. Strange, it was just there. "Oh, just bored, I guess. There's nothing to do right now," she fabricated.

"Well, ya could help me at mah apple stand here," suggested Applejack. Dash raised her eyebrows. Her friend should know her better than that.

"Sorry AJ, but that sounds even more boring than having nothing to do," replied Dash.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Oh," she said.

"Yeah well, see ya!" Dash bid. She grabbed an apple in her mouth before taking to the sky once more. Applejack just shook her head again. Of course Dash wouldn't be able to sit still for the job. At least it seemed as though she'd have the patience for her new little sister.





Dash flew around for another while. These visions she had been seeing were really starting to get to her. She wasn't schizophrenic, as far as she knew. But the images and sounds in her head were vivid, and they seemed so real.

"Okay, Rainbow Dash," she thought to herself. "Just keep flapping your wings, fly faster, and keep your head clear of everything else."

She tried focusing on her favorite pass-time, but she couldn't keep her mind on it. Somewhat against her will, all of her attention was focused on thoughts of her sister. She was beginning to feel that nagging thing in her head throb, and it pulsed with every heartbeat.

Dash was now feeling a small migraine, and as a result of it she couldn't focus on keeping flight patterns in a straight line. She narrowly avoided smashing three vendor carts to pieces.

After careening about, Dash gave up. She shakily flew to a meadow to gather her thoughts. She landed on the tall, soft grass, and began to walk about in it. Something was here, something significant.

At that moment, Dash saw a vision of her sister running about with that gold mist shimmering in ribbons behind it. Scootaloo was mouthing the words "Run with me!" Dash shook her head of this mirage. These little visions were getting annoying, on top of them being slightly disturbing.

After walking about for a bit, she decided to lie down in an especially thick portion of the grass. Her biggest reason for resting was that her head was now pounding. What was that thing that she thought she remembered?

Dash began to hear her sister in her head. It began as whispers, but slowly increased in volume until they were full on shouts.

"Rainbow Dash, look!" She'd hear in her head. "Thanks for being my sister. Extra cheese! Horrible dream. Goodnight, Rainbow Dash. Wanna race?"

These voices were besieging Dash's peace, and made her head spin. Some kind of shimmering, golden dust seemed to float around her. More and more of her sister's utterances flooded her murky mind.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash! I Win! Are they broken? Somewhere else. All alone. Your house is cool! Talking to a turtle. No parents. I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash's eyes flew open. When the filly had said this the previous night, she hadn't imagined it to be much of a big deal. However, with each syllable of those lovely words echoing around her skull, the mare began to fully understand their meaning. The chanting continued, but began to lose its randomness.

"Really? A sleep-over with you? Somewhere else. No parents. No family. All alone. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. SOMEWHERE ELSE...I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash took in a deep, sharp breath. That was what the nagging feeling was. At that moment of silent and serene mental clarity and epiphany, the cyan pony knew what she needed to do.





Diamond Tiara wasn't in school that day, which set Scootaloo's nerves at ease. She was glad that the self-proclaimed queen of the school couldn't terrorize her classmates, at least for today. She was also delighted that Apple Bloom was back.

"Hey Apple Bloom!" called Scootaloo to her yellow coated friend "How are you feeling?"

Apple Bloom gave a weak smile. "Well," she began, "ah ain't doin' the greatest, but Ah'm definitely a lot better than ah was a coupla' days ago."

"Ah," replied Scootaloo. She was more relieved that her friend was back than she thought she'd be. "Well, I hope feel all the way better soon. Hey, have you heard anything from Sweetie Belle?"

"Nope," replied Apple Bloom. "Haven't heard a thing. She's all the way in Canterlot right now, so Ah don't think we should expect much from her for a while longer."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Scootaloo, saddened that Apple Bloom hadn't heard anything from the third crusader either.

"So what did Ah miss yesterday?" inquired Apple Bloom as the students were claiming their seats.

"Uhh…" replied Scootaloo. She decided to suck it up and tell the truth. "I sorta…left early yesterday. Diamond Tiara got really annoying, and I couldn't listen to her stupid voice anymore, so I just left."

Apple Bloom's face softened. "What did she do this time?" she asked as the two friends sat down at their usual desks. Even though they were missing a filly, the spot to Scootaloo's right was left vacant by their classmates.

"She…she…" started Scootaloo. It was still difficult to admit her weaknesses to anyone, but a thought towards her sister's encouraging words made her stiffen her spine. "She made fun of me because I can't fly yet."

Apple Bloom's eyes and ears perked. "Oh Scootaloo, don't lissin' to her, she don't know what she's talkin' about. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon." Apple Bloom placed a hoof on her friends back.

Scootaloo smiled as she thought of her situation. "Oh, don't worry about me, I can take it," she boasted. "Besides, Rainbow Dash said she'd teach me how to fly!"

"Wow, really?" Apple Bloom beamed.

"Yep! So I guess you could say she did take me under her wing and is going to be like my big sister, huh?" Scootaloo began playfully inspecting her hooves for dirt.

"Yeah, Ah guess she did," said Apple Bloom, defeated. The yellow filly hadn't placed much trust in that new relationship, accounting for the cyan pony's infamous laziness. However, it seemed as though the bond was already strong.

"You know what else?" continued Scootaloo. "Guess where I slept last night."

"…Where," replied Apple Bloom, not understanding her friend's motives for her question.

"Rainbow Dash's house," she gloated.

"Wow, really?" said Apple Bloom. "Your parents were okay with you spendin' the night there?"

Scootaloo's stomach tingled from the tiny adrenaline surge, and she panicked for an infinitesimally small time before returning to her calm demeanor. "Yeah, uh, they were totally fine with it...heheh."	

Apple Bloom leaned back, surprised at the level the relationship was already at. "You two must be gettin' real close now!"

"I know!" admired Scootaloo, biting her lip in anticipation for what her sister had to teach her next. "I can't wait until we can do more flying lessons!"

The rest of the day dragged on. As usual, Scootaloo didn't pay attention to Cheerilee's lesson. She just looked out the window the entire time, day-dreaming of drifting among the clouds.

"Okay class, that wraps up today's lesson," concluded Cheerilee as the bell rang to go home. "And remember, my little ponies, next week there will be a quiz on what we've been talking about these past few days, so study up!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. She had more important lessons to get to.

"Oh Scootaloo, may I speak with you?" asked Cheerilee as the orange filly passed by her desk.

"Uh, sure," replied Scootaloo, just knowing it was going to be about her behavior or something boring like that.

"You didn't come in after recess yesterday, would you like to explain your truancy?" she grilled sternly.

Scootaloo wasn't expecting that question, though it was obvious that she would ask it. She decided to swallow her pride just one more time for the day.

"Oh uh, well you see, yesterday Diamond Tiara made fun of me for not being able to fly at recess, and she got all of the other kids to do it too. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren't there, so I was all alone," admitted Scootaloo meekly. The filly cast her eyes to the ground.

"Oh my," replied Cheerilee, her tough resolve dissipating. "Well, I'll have this injustice corrected, alright? Now you run along home, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo waved as she left. Cheerilee watched her go and heaved a heavy sigh as she realized that had to endure Diamond Tiara's parents yet again, wherever she may be.

Scootaloo climbed aboard her scooter, and was about to take off with her wings when she remembered her sister's words. She figured that she needed to get it back to the place she called home, so she just used her legs like she did the day before.

As she was turning off toward her home, a cherished voice piped up.

"Hey Squirt, where ya goin'? I thought we were doing lesson number two today," sounded a familiar, raspy voice. Scootaloo's face beamed again as she turned to see her sister's positive expression.

"Lesson two? Already?" Scootaloo asked. If her sister was going to schedule lessons every day, her heart might give out before she flies.

"Don't worry, we're not doing anything too serious right now, I'm just going to show you some stretches and exercises that will, well, fix your wings," she said, to Scootaloo's relief. "One thing though, was that bully Diamond-whatever in school today?"

Scootaloo giggled. "Heh, no she wasn't. Why?"

"Well, let's just say that somepony had a talk with another pony's parents." Dash reached over and ruffled Scootaloo's mane. 

"You...told her parents about what she did?" Scootaloo's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and shimmered like stars.

"Gotta look out for my little sis, don't I? Yeah, I told them right before I went home to make our lesson plan."

"Wow. Th-thanks, Rainbow Dash!" said Scootaloo as she leaned forward to hug her sister's left foreleg. Dash reached down and wrapped her free hoof around the filly before speaking again.

"I don't think she's coming out of her room for a while. Heck, who knows? She probably wont mess with you again after I told her what's up with us now."

Scootaloo nuzzled the leg she clung to and mumbled another "Thank you."

Rainbow Dash then picked the happy filly up and flew her to the middle of a field. After a bit of stretching, Dash deemed the two fit for exercise.

"Okay, now what I want you to do is put your wings down on the ground like this." Dash then pushed her wings into the grass. "Then, when you have your weight supported, you can..." The cyan pony slowly lifted her legs and folded them close to her chest, "...do something called a wing-up!" Dash began lowering and lifting herself on just the strength of her wings. After showing a few, she put her forelegs back on the ground and folded her wings in. She then indicated for Scootaloo to try.

The filly did her best, but was only able to pull off eleven before she devolved from full, proper, nose-to-the-ground wing-ups to barely moving at all. Eventually, she simply kept her burning wings locked, supported only by the bones.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I can't do any more," she said as she collapsed onto the grass. She sniffled for a moment before she felt the tip of a blue wing lift her chin up. Scootaloo reluctantly looked into her sister's eyes, expecting to find disappointed anger. However, the filly saw only a pair of soft eyes above a warm, forgiving smile.

"Don't worry, kiddo, you'll get better with time. All it takes is perseverance, remember? Just keep practicing and you'll get there."

Slowly, Scootaloo got to her hooves with the help of her sister. "C...can I be done with those?" she asked. "You said we weren't going to do anything serious yet."

Dash laughed for a moment before finally answering. "Hehe, of course we can't quit now! And besides, that wasn't anything serious. Come on, lets see if you can top your record!"

After a couple of hours of these painful exercises, the two called it a day. They hugged, and Scootaloo thanked Rainbow Dash for the lesson, although she didn't feel as though any form of gratitude was due for the small, numb wings that dangled at her sides.

Scootaloo turned off onto the road on her scooter after waving goodbye, and headed back to the orphanage. She never truly enjoyed going there, but it was where she resided for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, back at the place where the filly departed, Dash watched her leave. "Promising effort, kid. You won't be going that direction to get home for long. As soon as we get you flying, there'll be nothing standing in my way." The cyan pony ended her proud and wistful statement with an assuring nod of her head, and turned away towards her cloud home.
> The Leaving
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Seven
The Leaving


It was yet another dreadful day for Scootaloo at school. For one, the detestable pink Earth Pony filly had returned for the first time since her stunt was revealed to her father last week. Fortunately though, she seemed to be keeping to herself; and she wasn't even wearing her infamous tiara. "Thank goodness," thought Scootaloo. Spending the past seven or so days incarcerated in her lavish bedroom to mull over her ideals seemed to make Diamond Tiara less willing to test her fellow classmates, at least the winged orange one. However, the pink filly still offered a menacing glare towards Scootaloo every now and then. The orange filly simply smirked at Diamond's pseudo-threatening looks. There was no way she was going to mess with her now that Rainbow Dash was practically at Scootaloo's beck and call.

Turning back towards Cheerilee after suffering yet another one of Diamond Tiara's glares, Scootaloo began paying attention to the lesson. Under normal circumstances, the filly would have quite possibly never known that the teacher had even started her lesson. But Scootaloo had exhausted all of her daydream material, so she was up for something new.

The mauve pony at the front of the classroom was pointing her "learning wand," as she liked to call it, at the notepad that rested on her easel. The paper depicted a map of Equestria. However, the lines were drawn differently than Scootaloo remembered. Three distinct areas existed in the Equestrian landmass: one in the mountains, one in the land, and another covered in clouds. After some deductive reasoning, Scootaloo figured that Cheerilee was teaching the class about the era in which the three pony races were divided, and united racially against the other two.

Scootaloo had first heard of this point in time from the play that the Elements acted in. Similarly to how she did when she first watched the play, she giggled as "Chancellor Puddinghead" nearly named her land "Dirtville." The filly then thought about "Unicornia," and finally "Pegasusopolis" with "Commander Hurricane." Scootaloo smiled briefly as she remembered Rainbow Dash playing as that vital role.

There it was.

Scootaloo's mind toured again the daydream land as she thought about her "honorary big sister." The filly shook her head as she realized that at this point there was no need for that introductory title. The two were as much sisters as anyone, and everyone knew it.

As for the filly's training, it was not necessarily a requirement for Rainbow Dash to be there. Scootaloo's diligence has already granted nearly painless exercising, and she was progressing very quickly towards properly balanced wing muscles. The muscles we're still around 35/65, but the wings' proportions are still better than her previous measly 25/75.

Scootaloo thought about the way Dash had been acting since that first sleep over. The more days that passed, the harder the mare was pushing Scootaloo in her exercises. It seemed like Dash really wanted Scootaloo to fly as soon as possible.

If she could just work a bit harder, then maybe she could-

"Alright class, that wraps up today's lesson. I will see you all tomorrow."

Class was over already? Scootaloo shrugged and walked out the door. She passed Diamond Tiara on the way, who mouthed the words "Blank Flank." The orange filly acted as though the soundless words had truly affected her. Her mouth hung open, she started breathing heavily, she clutched her hoof to her chest, and finally she snickered as she ignored the powerless threats. Outside, Scootaloo began conversing with her two friends.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" she asked.

Apple Bloom gave an apologetic frown. "Sorry, Scootaloo, Ah gotta help Applejack harvest part of the west field. Can't do any crusadin' today. We can do some tomorrow, though!"

"Oh, alright." Scootaloo turned to the third crusader, who had returned from Canterlot the previous day. "How about you, Sweetie Belle? Got anything fun in mind?"

The white filly too was downcast. "Sorry, but Rarity got a huge order of fancy dresses while we were in Canterlot, and she needs my help. I'm not going to be able to do any crusading for like a week."

"Oh," the orange filly replied, "well, okay then. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then, right?"

Apple Bloom put her hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "'Course. Now, Ah gotta jet or Applejack'll have mah behind."

"Me too. Rarity is so strict about punctulity."

"It's 'punctuality,' Sweetie Belle," corrected Apple Bloom.

"Ugh, you sound just like my sister with your scolding!"

"Yah, and Ah'll sound like mah sister if Ah don't git goin'!"

Unfortunately for the two arguing fillies, they hadn't noticed that their orange friend had departed until she was long gone.

The now lonely filly trudged along the cobble paths with her head slightly hung in frustrated thought. "Well great. Now what am I supposed to do? Can't ride my scooter, and I can't play with my friends." Scootaloo continued to grumble as she passed underneath the trees. As she reached a clearing, she decided to begin some more exercises. She commenced her daily ritual with a bit of stretching, then got into position for some wing-ups.

Scootaloo was feeling proud of herself. Thirty-five whole wing-ups without breaking a sweat. She trotted over to a nearby low-hanging tree branch, latched her wings to it, and began doing pull-ups. Again, she topped her record, fifteen proper pull-ups. Before she dropped to the grass below, she got an idea. Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around the tree branch and began fiercely beating her wings. To her elation, she began rising. The more she flapped, the higher she went. When she was high enough, she let go of the branch, and screwed her eyes shut. Nothing happened; she stayed afloat. Slowly, as though seeing herself was a sin, Scootaloo opened her eyes.

She was halfway up the tree, and the branch she had clung to was no longer in reach. Excitement surged, and as a result her wings sputtered and began to lose synchronization. Luckily, she managed to grab that branch before she fell all the way to the ground. 

She wanted to try again, but at this point she was feeling the pangs of fatigue. She dropped down onto the grass after a defeated sigh, sat down, and began preening.

The act of preening was still difficult and somewhat foreign to Scootaloo. Prior to Rainbow Dash instructing her after their "second lesson," Scootaloo had never preened in her life. It was messy, slow-going, and downright frustrating, but she eventually managed to  fix her feathers. She looked down at her work, frowning as she noticed that it paled in comparison to how good Dash had done it for her the previous night.

It was a magical evening for the filly. A couple movies, a free preening, and another sleepover at her sister's house. Scootaloo shivered as she recalled being nestled into Dash's warm wing as the mare worked at the small orange ones in front of her. The filly had nearly fallen asleep in the middle of the preening, but a few ticklish jabs into her soft belly kept her awake throughout. Such a nice night had left Scootaloo with the confidence she had had when dealing with her bully earlier today.

From nowhere, Scootaloo began hearing some kind of chanting sound. The noise was getting louder, too. It was like someone was repeating a sentence while quickly closing the gap between them and the filly. Suddenly, she felt someone plow into her side and lift her into the air. Finally, she could understand the words that were being chanted.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" yelled Rainbow Dash as she carried the surprised and fluffy object in her hooves to another nearby clearing. The ball of ponies impacted onto the soft grass, and the blue part sprang up and began jumping in a circle around the still prone orange one. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" she continued chanting.

"What is it?" asked Scootaloo.

"I'm gonna get an invitation to join the Wonderbolts!"

"You are?" Scootaloo too sprang up and beamed with pride.

"Yeah! Well no. Well, kinda. See, the Wonderbolts were accepting applications to join the cadet training squad, and I sent one in. They have to accept me. They just have to!"

"So, you're going to join the Wonderbolts?"

"Yeah! And sorry, kiddo, but as soon as I get the letter I'll have to leave. You'll know if got it when you don't see me."

"L...leave? But," protested the filly, "but what about our flying lessons?"

"I trust you to do them on your own. That was what you were doing a minute ago, right?"

"Well yeah, but what if you need to teach me a new exercise or something? Or what if I forget how to do one, and I end up messing my wings up more? And what if-" Scootaloo was cut off by a blue hoof being pushed into her face.

"Scootaloo, I've already taught you all of the stretches and stuff that you need to do. Now all that's left is to do them until your wings are fixed. And the exercises I taught you aren't that hard. There's no way a filly as awesome as you could get them wrong."

Scootaloo looked down at the grass that covered her hooves. "So you're just leaving then?"

Dash cocked an eyebrow. "Y...yeah. I'm sorry, Squirt, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And don't worry, I'll be back."

"But..." she began. She cut herself off.

"But what?" Dash prodded.

"N-nothing." Scootaloo shied away.

"Kiddo, we've been over this. You know why I can't accept that. Just tell me what's wrong."

Scootaloo swallowed. A small lump refused to go down. She spoke in a small voice that hadn't any strength, but was nonetheless the most powerful thing she had said to someone, and was asking the most she had ever asked. "I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here."

"S-" Dash began. She immediately stopped and thought about her words. The mare took a deep breath, and began. "Scootaloo, I told you; I'll be back right afterwards. I just need to do this one thing for a couple of weeks, then I'll be home. I can bring you a signed Wonderbolt poster, would that make you feel better?"

Scootaloo looked into her "sister's" eyes. She looked for long enough to draw worry from their owner. 

"So you can't just stay?"

Dash was beginning to lose her temper. Unbeknownst to the mare, her voice gained a sharp edge. "No, I can't just stay. This is the only time I'm going to be able to do this, so I have to. I'm sorry that you feel like this, but there are other things I have to do besides our time together." Dash folded her arms. "That's just the way things have to be sometimes."

The filly's lip quivered for a brief moment, then she turned away. Scootaloo stood up, and began walking to her "home."

"I can't believe I let myself get tricked like this," she said mostly to herself.

"Tr-" Dash began. "Tricked?" Whatever infinitesimally small amount of anger she felt was gone, replaced with more powerful, worried curiosity.

Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and turned slowly.

"Yeah, tricked. Why would somepony like you ever want to get dragged down by a flightless blank-flank like me? I was stupid to think that you would. Now you want to get rid of me, just like everypony else."

"Everypony el- what are you talking about? Kiddo, it doesn't matter whether or not you can fly, or what kind of symbol is painted on your butt, just as long as you're the awesome little filly that I call my sister. And I would never want to get rid of you, I can't think of any reason why anypony would."

"Oh, whatever, Rainbow Dash. Sister's don't just leave like this!" Scootaloo's voice cracked at the last syllable, and she turned before the mare could see the incriminating tear forming in her eye. The filly took a moment to breathe.

"I bet Fluttershy or Applejack told you to do all this stuff, huh?"

"What?" Dash couldn't believe what Scootaloo was saying. "Of course not! I do all the stuff I do with you because I want to! Why are you saying that I don't?"

Scootaloo scrunched her face as hard as she could, then admitted a truth to herself.

"Because nopony ever loves me! Ever! So why should I believe that the coolest and most awesome pony in all of Equestria does?!

Scootaloo held the gaze, then turned around and began walking again. "Just leave," said the now secretly crying filly.

Rainbow Dash just sat there, a bewildered twist in her brow, and a disbelieving angle in her lips. She watched her walk before her voice returned. "Scootaloo, wait!" she called. But a field of ignorance had already shrouded the filly. It wasn't until the orange dot had made it over the third hill that Dash sighed and left in the opposite direction. She took to the sky with considerably less enthusiasm than when she had left it.

"What did I do wrong?" she thought out loud. "I always do a bunch of fun things with her, and tell her that she's THE best. So why doesn't she believe that I...that I love her?" The mare kept asking herself the golden question until she happened upon a lone white unicorn with a rather extravagant sunhat walking through the park. The unicorn looked up through her sunglasses when Dash's shadow sliced overhead. She waved, and Dash decided that she needed to talk to someone. At least Rarity would know what it's like to have a sister.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash." greeted Rarity as she fanned herself from a sudden strange rise in temperature.

"Hey, Rarity," Dash said with a downtrodden drawl. "What's goin' on with you?" 

"Oh," sighed the mare as she gazed around the field, "just getting some outdoor inspiration for a new dress order. Have you received that letter yet?"

It took Dash a second to register the question. "N-no, not yet," she stuttered.

"Whatever is the matter?"

The two ducked into she shade to avoid the overbearing heat. "Well, it kinda has to do with the letter. See, I told Scootaloo about it, and she got really upset."

"Oh my, she's sad that you're leaving?"

"Ye-" Dash began, "-yeah. How did you know?"

"Well," said Rarity with a short titter, "it's not that difficult to deduce that that is the problem. Of course she's upset about you leaving."

Rarity resumed her leisurely stroll, and Dash followed with dragging hooves.

"I mean, the filly absolutely adores you, and she thinks that the feeling is mutual. And here you are just leaving after you two are starting to get close."

"But I'm not just leaving. I'll be back soon. I even offered to bring her a signed Wonderbolt poster when I get back."

The unicorn turned to her winged friend with shock as obvious as her eyeliner. "What do you mean you even offered to bring her a poster? Is that really the best you can do?"

Dash shied away from the question with a guilty lowering of her head. She flicked her eyes back to Rarity when she was sure that there was enough distance between the two ponies.

Rarity adopted a tone that was akin to a scolding mother. "Rainbow Dash, how dare you. Do you have any idea what she's going through? You spent the last week getting to know her, learning who she is, and having fun with her; and she was doing the same to you. And now, in her eyes, you're leaving at the drop of a hat for Celestia knows how long!"

"Well..." fought Dash, "...it's only for four weeks..."

Rarity cocked her eyebrow. "Only?"

Dash sighed. "Okay fine. I'm sorry for handling this like an idiot, Okay?" The mare shook her head before continuing. "I just wish I was as good of a sister as you or AJ."

That made Rarity laugh. "Me, a good sister? Oh, heavens no. Adequate, maybe, but not wholly good. And Rainbow Dash," the unicorn made sure she had her friend's eyes, "you aren't an idiot. You're just...inexperienced, is all. This is just one of the frequent bumps your relationship with her is going to take. The only thing that you can do about them is learn from them, and make sure nopony is hurt."

Dash smirked her gratitude. "So, then what do I do about this? I can handle small problems, but this is big. I don't know what I could say to make it alright."

"Well don't look at me. I'm usually fairly dreadful with handling sensitive sisterly problems as well. All I can really say is that you'll know what to say when you need to say it. Speaking of which, what sort of things did you say to each other?"

"Well," Dash started. What the two had said to each other couldn't have been that bad...right? "Well, after I told her, she kept asking if I could just stay. And, you know I can't, so I told her that. Then, she told me that she...she didn't believe that I could love her; apparently, since 'nopony ever loves her, there's no possibility that somepony like me could.' After that, she just left."

Throughout Dash's explanation, she kept her eyes forward, and away from Rarity's. When she turned, however, she caught a glimpse of a white object approaching her face. Dash wasn't fast enough. She caught the full force Rarity's slap with her cheek, and it left a red mark in the shape of a hoof.

"RAINBOW DASH YOU GO SPEAK WITH HER THIS INSTANT!" the unicorn screamed. The blue mare rubbed her cheek with innocence. "This is far more grave than I thought! I have many questions, like why nopony loves her, but none of them are more important than you making things right with that filly as soon as possible!"

"Okay," said Dash with an uncharacteristically timid voice, similar to that of a foal. She was in shock both by the fact that her typically elegant and generally non-violent fashion pony friend could slap her like that, and the realization that this was more of a problem than she had imagined. Since Dash already knew her sister's living condition, she hadn't given much thought to the fact that, though terrible, not very many ponies actually loved Scootaloo. But now, she understood how awful the concept was.

"NOW!"

"Okay!"

Rainbow Dash took off with as much force as possible. She didn't know how she was going to mend the injury in this relationship, but by Celestia as her witness, she was going to try. Dash just wished she knew what to say.
> The Reconciliation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Eight
The Reconciliation


Rainbow Dash rocketed past the clouds, and every pump of her wings increasing her determination. The buildings she passed over zoomed by, and instantly lost any significance. Dash kept her blinding speed until she spotted the large wooden building in the distance. Quickening her pace, she soon reached the front door.

The mare took a moment to catch her breath, for more reasons than physical exhaustion. She was actually panicking. What would she say? After such a dramatic display by Scootaloo, Dash was feeling sick to her stomach from imagining what the filly might say or do next.

Snap out of it. She was Rainbow Dash, the unshakable pony with a passion for danger. So why was she feeling this way? Dash hadn't felt like this since she had been in the Best Young Flier competition some months ago.

Dash took a few deep breaths, and gained control of her nerves. She lifted her hoof, and pulled the glass door open.

The foyer greeted Dash with a gush of cool air carrying a scent of lavender, which was nice as it relieved her of the mysterious heat. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dimmer light. Inside, an aged Earth Pony mare was kneeling on the ground and hugging a small light gray-coated unicorn colt. They were whispering things to each other, as indicated by the subtle movements in their lips. The embracing duo was standing in front of two new, proud-looking parents, of which were both Unicorns as well. 

Dash looked back to the hugging pair and resumed waiting. For longer than Dash cared to count, they stayed hugging, savoring the moment. The blue mare began wondering how long the hug was going to last; extremely important matters needed tending to, and here she was just standing there. She began rocking back and forth on her hooves, waiting for someone to acknowledge her presence in the room.

The blue mare began gazing around the space and spotted a line of portraits adorning the walls. The portraits on one side looked more old-fashioned that those on the other. Her eyes eventually landed at the end of the row and saw one that resembled the pony in front of her. Obviously, from the large amount of pictures depicting presumably previous head matrons, this building has been around for a long time.

The deep-yellow Earth Pony mare finally released her loving hoof from the colt's nape and took a step back to survey the new family. As the trio departed, she waved goodbye, and turned to Dash. She spoke in the warm, soothing voice that typically belonged a mother.

"Why, hello there. My name is Nurse Kindheart, and welcome to the Oak Side Orphanage! Can I help you with anything?"

Dash briefly looked back and watched the three Unicorns leave. "Yeah, I uh, I'm looking for a filly named Scootaloo."

The aged mare beamed with excitement. "Are you looking to adopt?"

"Ehrm," choked Dash, "n-no, that's not what I'm here for. I just need to talk to her."

The mare deflated. "Oh, alright then. Although, before I allow any form of visitation I must acquire some basic information." 

"Basic information?" Dash was beginning to feel like searching for the filly by herself outside through the windows might be faster.

"Yes. As you may be able to imagine, I cannot simply allow anypony to waltz in and wander of their own accord." Kindheart then assumed a more somber tone. "A foal-napping might occur, something of which happened underneath the supervision of my nearest predecessor. I aim to ensure the safety of every one of the foals that reside in this building."

Dash's expression took the form of tired attitude. "I'm the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, one of the six Elements of Harmony. Does that count as 'basic information?'"

Kindheart cocked her head. "Element of Harmony, hmm? Well that might prove some degree of assurance, but one cannot be too certain of security. I'm afraid I'll still need a few more details."

Dash was beginning to loathe every aspect of this pony, chiefly her intentional eloquence. Nevertheless, she gave her name, age, address, her relationship to the specified filly, and everything from even allergies to blood type. Kindheart finally finished jotting down the words and pulled a chain necklace out of a drawer behind the counter. She threw it onto Dash, who lifted the small card pinned to it to read it. The word "Visitor" was scrawled in black ink on the purple slip of paper. Her skin started to itch from the numbing boredom, her natural impatience, and the stupidity of this necklace.

"Her room is 12-B, same as always. Just go up the stairs there, then take a right. Second door from the last on the right."

Dash furrowed her brow. "Thanks," she said over her shoulder as she quickly walked to the staricase.

The pegasus mare climbed the stairs three steps at a time, then, like the pony she is, took a left. After looking at every door in the left side of the hallway, she found that none said 12-B. The mare thought about going back to clarify, but shook her head. She had had enough of that mare, and was going to find her own way.

As she walked, she passed by both closed and open dry, wooden doors. In the ones that were open, she found fillies and colts of every age but Scootaloo's. They played together in the rooms with various kinds of toys, dolls, and games. Each room was different, but exactly the same; just foals playing and waiting.

It struck Dash with the way the older fillies were playing. They each expressed an underwhelming scale of interest in the act of board game-playing or wrestling or whatnot. At first Dash imagined that these displays of indifference were a cause of some kind of oppressive atmosphere, of which she wasn't inclined to believe even existed; as annoying as the head matron was, she clearly loved the foals she supervised. Something deep in her heart told her that there was more to the cause of their disinterest. Shrugging after the fifth example, she walked off and kept her eyes forward.

A few more turned corners and she spotted up ahead the staircase she had entered the floor from. After her absentminded mistake with directions earlier, she thought about the logistics of her location for a moment and quickly found the room she was looking for on her left. "12-B" was embossed onto a golden plate near the top of the shut door. Dash reached up and pulled off the stupid chain necklace that had slapped against her front with every step. She threw it to the ground, then slowly reached for the handle. Suddenly, she stopped.

Noises could be heard coming from inside the room. She pressed her ear against the wood to try to hear it better, whatever it was. The mare quickly identified as small, rhythmic sniffling. Dash quickly put her hoof to the handle, but opened it with as much care as possible.

Inside, she found a shivering lump underneath the green covers of one of the three beds. The lone filly under the blanket didn't hear the greased, soundless hinges allowing entrance to a worried mare.

"Scootaloo?" Dash called.

The lump under the covers jumped as her solitude was disturbed. Cautiously, the orange filly pulled the covers off of her head to find her distraught older sister. She scrunched her face.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Dash retracted one of her front hooves off of the dry carpet to defend against the biting words. "Came to see how you were doing. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Scootaloo as she again retreated underneath the plaid green blanket. Dash walked over to the defiant lump on the bed and sat next to it.

"Doesn't look like it," said Dash as she carefully analyzed the situation.

"Why do you care?" the filly said with a muffled voice.

Dash was hurt by the sentence, and it somewhat weakened her resolve. However, she pushed on. "Because I'm your sister, silly. It's my job to care about you."

The lump shifted in its place. "Then why are you leaving me?"

"I'm not leaving you. I'd just be gone for a little while, then I'd be back. Why can't you understand that?"

Scootaloo sunk herself further into the thin mattress. "'Cause everypony says they'll be back, and then they never show up again." The croaky pitch to her sentence struck Dash like a crate full of bricks. She felt a tightness in her throat.

"Scootaloo, I'm not going anywhere. I have way too many things keeping me in Ponyville." Dash rubbed her sister's defined hind leg hiding under the blanket. The filly squirmed and shuffled to pull the covers back down off of her worried face.

"But what if you get accepted into the Wonderbolts, and then you never come back?"

Dash laughed. "Trust me, kiddo, they're not going to do any accepting right away. Unless, of course, I dazzle them so much that they sign me in right after I land." Dash then took on a more heartfelt and serious tone. "But honestly, I don't think that's gonna happen. I'm good, but not that good. Besides, even if I do get into the Wonderbolts, I'll always make time for my lil' sis." Dash reached over and ruffled the filly's mane.

Scootaloo let a breath of laughter slip at both her sister's genuine offer and surprising humility. "Come on, Rainbow Dash, they'll probably come meet you at your house and give you your uniform tonight."

The mare smiled. "Now that'd be the day." The two then laughed softly together, absorbing the moment. 

After their giggling subsided, Dash scooted over to her sister and wrapped her in hooves and wings. "But seriously, though, I'm not gonna be leaving my home any time soon."

Scootaloo looked into Dash's eyes. "Promise?" 

"I promise that no matter what, you'll always stay as one of the most important parts of my life. I am the Element of Loyalty, right?"

"I guess so..."

Dash humphed. "So are you still gonna freak out about me leaving?"

Scootaloo thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "No."

Dash sat more upright, satisfied. "Good, the-"

"But I don't want you to leave, at all," Scootaloo piped up.

The blue mare sighed; still more consoling to do. "Kiddo, I have to. Why are you so hung up on me leaving? You know I'd be coming back."

"Yeah, I know, but I don't like it when ponies leave." The filly then buried her face into Dash's soft chest fur.

At that moment, everything clicked in Dash's mind. The cause of Scootaloo's fear of abandonment was revealed to her, and was clearer than the skies she brought. She realized that it stemmed from, basically, her lifestyle. The filly's parents had abandoned her at an extremely young age, possibly mere days after birth. The matrons, whom to someone like Scootaloo are the closest things to parents, regularly leave and are replaced; the large amount of portraits in the foyer show that even the head matron is often succeeded. In addition, the other orphans that live in this building haven't a guaranteed stay. Dash supposed that Scootaloo is forced to constantly make new friends here, as the friends she makes usually leave with their new families. The other orphans' slight indifference was made clear to Dash as well.

This life of frequent loss has caused Scootaloo to have a negative attitude when faced with abandonment. As Dash realized this, she slowly tightened her grip around the distraught filly.

"Scootaloo, having ponies leave you is just a part of life. You don't think I know what it feels like? I spent more than half of my childhood in an orphanage too, remember? It sucked when my friends left after they were adopted. But I realized that it's natural; it just happens." She paused for a moment. "It takes a strong pony to be able to deal with it."

"But, Rainbow Dash," started Scootaloo, "I'm not strong."

Dash pulled her head back from the embrace. "What makes you think you're not strong?"

"Well, you said that it takes a strong pony to be able to deal with it. And I can't. So then I'm...I'm not s-strong."

Dash felt offended by her sister's words. "Scootaloo, you are the strongest filly I know, and don't let anypony tell you that you're not. You know you're tough, so don't say you aren't. I told you this at our first sleep-over, remember? It's still as true right now as it was the minute I said it."

Scootaloo smiled that kind of smile you can only form when you are offered praise and admiration, something the filly can't experience often, Dash supposed. This concept felt like only a drop in the bucket to Dash for reasons why Scootaloo deserves a better life than this.

"You really think I'm tough?"

"'Course I do, kiddo."

Dash began giving Scootaloo a noogie. The filly instantly brought her hooves up to defend her mane against the attacking blue hoof. The two struggled and grunted for a moment, then Dash gave Scootaloo the upper hand. She purposely fell backwards and allowed the filly to administer a noogie. They play-fought for what seemed like hours, then Dash decided that enough was enough. She brought the two into the air with a few flaps of her wings.

"Hehe, you're tough Squirt," Dash said as she pinned Scootaloo's arms against her sides. "But not as tough as me!"

Scootaloo struggled in vain to free herself from the vise-like grip of Rainbow Dash. Finally, the mare softened her squeeze just enough to allow the filly some extra air. Too much. The filly burst free from Dash's hold, completely pushing the mare's hooves away. Then, something extraordinary happened. 

The filly's wings flapped, and pushed their owner towards Dash with enough force to both catch her by surprise and bring them both down onto one of the other beds. Scootaloo gathered Dash's arms and pinned them against her side.

"Hah! Who's the tougher pony now, huh?"

Dash could barely even resist the younger pony's pin, as her mind was abuzz with thought. After analyzing all of the information, she came to the conclusion that, though extremely briefly, Scootaloo had flown. The mare decided that it couldn't be enough to actually classify as flight, but it was definitely a start. The strangest part was that Scootaloo seemed to be completely unaware of her feat.

The mare finally returned to her senses and nodded her surrender. "Heh, ya got me, kiddo." She lied there looking at the proud filly sitting on her stomach with a proud smirk. "Whaddaya say we go get ice cream at Sugarcube Corner?"

Scootaloo beamed with excitement. "Yeah. That sounds fun!" The filly slid down off of Dash's stomach and allowed her to breathe. Rainbow Dash pulled herself off the bed and let Scootaloo climb onto her back, then the mare exited the room with Scootaloo astride. Luckily, Dash remembered to pick that necklace up off the floor so she could return it.

The blue mare startled Nurse Kindheart as she tossed the necklace back onto the counter.

"I'm takin' her out for ice cream, then bringing her back."

"Alright then," said the mare as she returned to chipping away at a rather large stack of papers on her desk.

Dash pushed the door open and leaped into the warm midday air. After gliding for a while, she heard a small voice pipe up behind her.

"Rainbow Dash?" said Scootaloo.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry for all that stuff I said to you earlier."

Dash craned her neck backwards to look at the apologetic filly. "Don't worry, kiddo, I understand why you were upset. It's not easy to deal with the fact that somepony's leaving, for whatever amount of time they're gone."

Scootaloo smiled and buried her face into the soft prismatic mane flitting about in the wind.

Dash turned her head back to focus on flying. The mare drifted towards her destination feeling satisfied that Scootaloo was no longer upset about her more-than-possible leaving. At some point in the flight, she began feeling tugging at her neck from Scootaloo's hooves. She turned her head the farthest she could without raising suspicion and strained her eyes so that she could see what her sister was doing. She found that Scootaloo had her wings outstretched, and was gliding on her own; the only parts touching the mare were her hooves. The mare looked back forward and smiled proudly.

The two coasted down the last several yards and landed in front of the large pink building that resembled a gingerbread house. They strolled inside and were hit with the scent of frosting and baked bread. A pink pony greeted them as they entered through the doors.

"Hiya Rainbow! Hiya Scoot!"

"Hey Pinkie," the two pegasi said simultaneously. They gave each other a glance, smiled, then turned back.

"We're here to get some sundaes," said Dash.

"Ooooh, yummy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. The scent of frosting and sugar was predominant in her breath. 

"Smells like she's been hitting the cupcakes," Dash thought with a smile.

"I'll have chocolate, caramel syrup, and whipped cream," said Dash. "With a cherry, of course. Oh, and sprinkles." The two mares then looked to a pondering Scootaloo.

"Uhh," she began.

Dash nudged her. "What's the matter, never had a sundae before?" she said. The blue mare immediately regretted her words the second the sentence slipped out. Scootaloo cast her eyes to the ground. Luckily, Pinkie is quite adept at dealing with sad foals. She deftly hopped to the filly's eye level.

"Don't worry, Scootaloo, Auntie Pinkie will make you a surprise one!"

The filly looked up into the pony's light blue eyes and smiled. "Thank you, Pinkie Pie."

"No problemo!" she said. Pinkie looked to a apologetic-looking Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Rainbow, I think I'll need your help with making hers. Can you meet me in the kitchen?"

"Sure, Pin-" said Dash as Pinkie Pie disappeared, with a cloud resembling the hyperactive pink mare floating where she once was. "-kie..." 

Dash stepped through the cloud of odd dust and walked to the kitchen doors. Inside, Pinkie was standing with a transformed expression. As opposed to her cheerful earlier demeanor, an angry look hung on her face.

"Uhh," started Dash, "everything alright, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie then acted as though the words offended her. "Alright? ALRIGHT? You think everything is ALRIGHT?"

"Well, obviously not..."

"Of course everything isn't alright! What kind of filly hasn't ever had a sundae before?!"

"Uhh..." Dash began nervously looking around the room. Unfortunately, Pinkie caught on.

"Wait, you know why, don't you?"

"N-no."

Pinkie nearly pounced on Rainbow Dash. "TELL ME!"

Dash pushed the pink mare slightly away. "Nothing is going on, Pink.' She's just never had a sundae before, okay?"

Pinkie studied Dash's face. She decided to leave this for another time. "Fine then. I'm gonna make her the best first sundae ever made!"

The blue mare turned and began walking towards the door. "Have fun, then," said Dash over her shoulder. As she exited the doors, pots and utensils began clattering around behind her. She decided that Pinkie could be trusted to make the most spectacular sundae possible.

Dash walked back out into the main hall to find Scootaloo sitting at one of the tables. The mare sighed as she joined her.

"Sorry about that, kiddo."

"About what?"

"Well, about what I said. I should have realized that you don't normally go for special sundaes."

"Oh, that's okay. I don't think Pinkie Pie caught onto it." Scootaloo smiled and rested her head against Dash's shoulder. The blue mare wrapped her wing around the filly, propped her head up on her hooves on the table, and sighed. 

"I'm really going to have to keep a leash on my tongue," she thought.
> The Reasoning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Nine
The Reasoning


The cool nighttime air, accompanied by its signature ball of white light, enveloped the land as two pegasus ponies soared through it. Similarly to how she did earlier, Scootaloo was holding onto Rainbow Dash's neck and gliding on her own. The two sisters had spent a lovely three and a half hours at Ponyville's bakery shop, Sugarcube Corner, awaiting a certain pink pony's acclaimed sundae. However, the wait was worth the extremely well organized mound of ice cream, chocolate, candy, brownies, fudge, cherries, bananas, and, most importantly, rainbow sprinkles.

"D'ja enjoy your super...starter-sundae..." Rainbow Dash began, "uhh, do you remember..."

"Super-Special-Starter-Sundae-Spectacular," finished Scootaloo.

"Yeah! That's it," said Dash. "Did you like it?"

"Heh, did I ever!" Scootaloo's eyes widened and her mouth watered as she recalled the ingredients in the special sundae that Pinkie Pie made for her.

"Does she go over the top or what?" she asked, obviously choosing the former.

"Yeah..." At this point Scootaloo slipped into an unresponsive trance as she thought about the extra-sized dessert that she had just feasted on.

Dash felt something drip onto her nape. "Hey," she called, "quit your droolin' before I make it rain on you!"

As Scootaloo didn't respond, Dash decided to begin some nighttime flight practice. Without warning, the mare did a barrel roll. The filly instantly grabbed hold of her sister's neck to keep from falling. Dash leveled out and felt Scootaloo's panicked body shaking.

"Awake now, kiddo?" she giggled.

"Y...yeah," the filly managed between sharp breaths.

"Was the sundae good?"

"Heck yeah..."

Dash broke into laughter. "What was your favorite part?" she finally said.

"I can't really say, everything was amazing..." Scootaloo again slipped into a near catatonic state. 

Dash scrunched her face and hinted at a second barrel roll. However, she stopped when the filly immediately clenched up around the mare's neck. Dash couldn't tell what hurt worse; the crushing squeeze from Scootaloo's hooves on her neck or the crushing squeeze from her own muscle spasms on her poor sides. Her laughing nearly caused the roll to happen, but luckily she collected her senses before the filly went overboard.

"That's not funny, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo hollered into her sister's ear.

"It is for me, hehe..." said the mare through her giggles. Scootaloo grumbled enough to make Dash stop. "Sorry, kiddo, it's just so funny to watch ponies' reaction to Pinkie's sundaes."

"What, it was just so good!" the filly exclaimed.

"Yeah, they sure are." Dash thought about the filly's over-the-top sundae, and it's equally flamboyant presentation. "Do you think  the sparklers she stuck in the brownies might have been a bit much?"

"No," the filly quickly concurred. "Everything was perfect!"

Dash reached up and mussed Scootaloo's mane. "That's good to hear."

In the distance, the large wooden building appeared behind a layer of cloud. Dash began her descent, and soon touched down onto the cobble path that lead to the entrance. She thought about simply flying the filly up to her room through the window, but decided against it. Perhaps another time. The mare pulled open the glass door and entered the lit room.

The climate inside the building had shifted. When Dash had first walked into it earlier in the day, she had entered a cooled haven from the hot sun. However, now that the outside temperature had dropped some, the orphanage's heating system kicked into gear to warm the rooms. A large furnace in the cellar was used to heat the home, and through the multitude of vents it kept the foals in a constant state of comfort. This design was wildly new and innovative when the building was first constructed, but has since been improved upon for more contemporary homes.

Dash nodded to Kindheart as she passed, then climbed the stairs. Making sure not to make the same mistake in directions again, she walked to Scootaloo's room seamlessly, as if she this route was the only one she'd ever taken. However, unbeknownst to the filly, quite the opposite was true. Luckily, the quick-witted mare had used the mishap as an advantage and made a mental map of the building during her travels. The Oak Side Orphanage was actually quite large. Huge expanses of crossing hallways with a myriad of rooms ensured that each and every foal would have a nice place to stay.

The mare stopped in front of the only door she cared about and let Scootaloo slide off her back. After the filly was firmly on the ground, Dash lowered her head to her eye level.

"So, Scoot, are you still mad at me for leaving...maybe?"

Scootaloo shook her head. "No, I know that you have to, and you'll be right back afterward. Plus, you're bringing me a signed poster from the Wonderbolts themselves, so I don't know how I'll be able to stay mad at you after that."

Dash laughed as quietly as she could. She ruffled the filly's mane again before turning the metal door handle in front of her. She pushed the door open, and again the well-greased hinges soundlessly allowed entrance. Inside, the room was exactly the way the duo had left it. There was nary a heartbeat, save the two that were in the doorway. Dash looked around the room.

"Does anypony else sleep in here?" she asked.

"Not anymore," Scootaloo replied with a yawn. She walked over to the once-made bed they had messed up in their earlier wrestling match. She began tucking the corners of the green blanket under the mattress. "A filly named Fuchsia slept here. She came here when she was three after her parents were arrested. They were bad ponies: drug dealers. We moved into these two beds together when we were five, and she slept here since then, but she got adopted like two months ago. 

"Then a pegasus filly named Hot Streak slept in that one over there." Scootaloo pointed her hoof at the bed at the far wall. "She was 15, the oldest filly I've ever seen here. She never met her dad, and her mom abandoned her when she was just a few weeks old. She lived here until... huh, three weeks ago?" Scootaloo scratched her head and continued. "Anyway, Streak doesn't remember a whole lot about her mom, but she remembers enough to know that her mom 'never loved her,' that she abandoned Streak because she'd only keep her mom from 'finding her dream.''' After Scootaloo climbed into her own bed, she looked around the room. "And nopony's needed these other two beds, so I've just slept alone in here since Streak left."

The filly let a small breath of laughter slip as she reminisced. "I'll tell you what though, those guys were fun. Fuchsia was always nice to everypony, and she always followed the rules. Hot Streak never listened to any rules, but she was nice when you got to know her." She again yawned greatly, and lied down onto the pillow.

The mare walked over to the middle bed and offered a compassionate and apologetic smile. She lifted the covers over Scootaloo, and began pushing the fringes under the filly. After fully tucking her sister in, she gave her a kiss on the forehead. The filly let out another yawn as her reply.

"Goodnight, kiddo," she said softly as she nuzzled the filly's cheek.

"Goodnight, Big Sis'," she responded quietly as she nuzzled right back.

The mare once again gave Scootaloo a kiss, then slowly backed away towards the door. She looked back, and found that her sister had already closed her eyes; she was likely already asleep. Dash let a breath of laughter slip, and turned towards the door.

Her heart leaped into her throat.

The silhouette of a pony stood in the doorway, with the glowing florescent light casting its shadow into the room. Luckily, Dash hadn't made a sound. She let go of her breath as Nurse Kindheart's features became easier to make out. The mare looked back and saw that Scootaloo was still sound asleep.

Kindheart realized how eerie she might seem in her situation, and offered her apology. Dash accepted it, but still cursed the older pony under her breath. The blue mare walked out of the room and closed the door as quietly as she could. The nurse motioned for Dash to follow her.

"Well, hello again, Miss Dash," said Kindheart.

"Hey," she replied.

Kindheart looked at Dash with an accusing smirk. "You said you did not wish to adopt that filly. Yet here you are tucking her into bed."

"Of course I want to adopt her!" Dash rather suddenly retorted, a little more aggressively than she had anticipated. She immediately reeled her tone in. "I just...can't yet."

"You can't?" the nurse asked. "What possible reason exists that's keeping you from instantly improving the filly's life? I try to maintain a healthy, loving environment here, but, if you ask me, it just doesn't compare to sleeping in your own bed, in your own room, in your own home."

Dash thought about it for a moment. "Well," she began, "a couple reasons. For one, I'm probably going to be leaving for a few weeks sometime in the next couple of days, so I don't think it'd be very nice to adopt her, then turn around and leave for a whole month. Plus, I live in a house made of clouds."

Kindheart looked at the mare that walked beside her. "Why would that matter?"

"Because she can't fly yet, duh."

"My question still stands, Miss Dash," the nurse replied with an bemused chortle.

Dash paused for a moment to glare at the pony two hoofsteps in front of her. "It doesn't sound practical have me carry her to and from my front porch. If it's her home, then she should be able to come and go when she wants, not when I can take her."

The older mare shook her head. "I'm not sure that's the best policy, Miss Dash. She could be adopted at any time. We've been having an odd increase in adoptions of fillies and colts of older age lately, and she's currently one of the oldest fillies here. What's this big event you're expecting to go to?"

"The Wonderbolt Academy," Dash said matter-of-fact-ly.

The pair reached the stairs, and began descending. "So that's what you're planning on doing before you give that filly a family? That seems a bit irresponsible, don't you think?"

Dash looked at the mare in front of her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean Miss Dash, is that giving her a home should be your top priority! It's as if you don't even care."

As the two reached the ground floor, Dash spun Kindheart around and pressed her muzzle into hers. "She is my top priority, so don't you stand there and tell me I don't care!"

The mares' eyes stayed locked for what felt like an eternity before Dash broke the contact and walked out the door.

Nurse Kindheart stayed looking at the door for a while before turning away. "I'm not certain of the fact, Miss Dash," she said, saying the mare's name like it was poison. She finally sighed to herself after an eon of thought. The two mares may have different ways of showing love, but it was still apparent to the nurse that Dash loved the filly deeply, and would do anything to ensure her happiness.

"Eventually..." the mare said to herself before continuing her work.





"Stupid matron!" shouted Dash to her living room as she entered through the front door. "What does she know? She is my top priority, and I'm completely responsible!"

The mare took a moment to try calming herself. Without Kindheart's smug face in Dash's eyes, she was able focus on what was in front of her. The first thing she saw was the absolute pile of pizza boxes on the table in front of her couch, some of which hadn't been emptied the night they were purchased. The mare winced after looking to Tank's normal sleeping spot. She could just about see the lines wafting upwards from it's smell.

The kitchen wasn't the cleanest either. Beneath the stacks of dishes probably sat the two bowls that she and Scootaloo used that first morning. "Ugh," she groaned to herself. The word "responsible" floated up from somewhere in her mind. She could laugh it weren't so ironic.

"Maybe," she said at the beginning of the thought, "maybe I'm not responsible enough." Dash slumped against a wall opposite the couch and thought about all of the times she had been irresponsible. She stopped after realizing that she'd be up all night thinking of everything.

"No," Dash said as she struck the floor with her hoof. "I'm not gonna be this way. I can't if Scootaloo's gonna stay here." The mare got up and began cleaning the area. She'd show that nurse what responsibility was. She'd shove it in her face and show her what Scootaloo meant to her.
> The Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Ten
The Departure






Two Days Later




Rainbow Dash’s eyes slid open as the piercing sunlight crept into her room. She sat up, rolled off her bed, and stumbled into the bathroom to douse her sweat-caked coat and mane in cool rainwater. Dash stood there, letting the rain bounce off her face and down onto the floor. Today was the day she was going to learn of her fate. After fully washing her body, she climbed out and shook herself violently to dry. The mare stood and looked at herself in the mirror. Nice and clean. 

Dash lumbered into the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. She noticed while pulling out the carton of milk that her pitcher of specially-made iced tea was nearly empty.

“Guess I’ll have to make a pit-stop at Fluttershy’s soon,” she said to herself. Dash glanced over and spotted her pet tortoise, Tank, eyeing her from the corner of the adjacent living room. With the blinking green rock came an idea.

“Well, I gotta drop you off at her house anyway, I could pick some up while I’m there.”

She poured her cereal and toasted her bread, both of which she inhaled. Dash picked Tank up after putting the breakfast remnants away and strapped the helicopter harness onto his shell. The mare carried the tortoise to her front porch, and with a sly twist in her face, tossed him over. She only lost sight of him for a moment before he slowly rose back into view, the blades of his harness magically whirring.

Dash walked over to the hovering tortoise and raised her hoof. "Nice recovery," she said as Tank used his head to return his master's hoofbump. He smiled as wide as his rigid face would allow, and followed Dash as she jumped off the edge.

Master and beast traveled to the edge of the Everfree Forest and arrived at a small cottage where master and beasts lived. Dash rapped on the door, and shouted to the timid mare inside.

"Hey, Fluttershy, open up! It's me, Rainbow Dash!"

Slowly, after a few minutes, the door creaked open, revealing a light yellow mare with a long pink mane. "Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash," she said quietly. "What brings you here?"

"Well," started Dash, "I thought I'd drop Tank off before I get my acceptance letter."

"Oh," Fluttershy mumbled. "I suppose that makes sense. But, Rainbow, how do you know it will be an acceptance letter?"

"Are you kidding?" said Dash as her face instantly shifted to amused disbelief. She vanished from Fluttershy's sight with a flap of her wings, and reappeared behind the yellow mare. "I'm getting in there, for sure."

"I guess so," said Fluttershy after a yelp.

"Also," Dash continued, "I'm gonna have a little thing today while I wait for my letter. I'm inviting all five of you guys. If you wanna come, then swing by around noon. The letter should be delivered by like, one."

"Five of us?" questioned Fluttershy, "what about Scootaloo? Isn't she coming?"

Dash's face drooped. "No, she has school." The mare pulled her lips upward to simulate a smile. "Besides, I already said goodbye to her last night." 

"Oh," Fluttershy thought for a moment. "I don't mean to be a bother, but I'd imagine that this could be a big enough event that she'd be able to get off of school, at least an hour earlier. Did you ask her parents?"

Dash repeatedly said to herself one sentence: don't say anything! She quickly gulped, and began. "Uhh, yeah. I asked her, uh, her parents, and they didn't go for it. They said that uh, that she shouldn't miss school for something like that."

Fluttershy looked to her hooves. "Don't they know how much you mean to her? It's not my place to say anything, but that seems a bit...a bit mean, don't you think?"

"Look, Fluttershy," said Dash before she would inevitably let anything slip, "it's complicated. All you gotta know is that Scootaloo is okay with me leaving."

"Oh," the timid mare replied, "okay then. I'll see you at noon, then."

"Later," said Dash as she took off for another of her friends' house, possibly Rarity. After putting enough distance between herself and the cottage, she took a moment to think. Outwardly, she sighed, and inwardly she said, "Good, didn't say anything." It wasn't until she couldn't even see the cottage anymore that she had forgotten all about the iced tea. She grumbled, and kept flying.

She began running some errands with mild annoyance while she waited for noon to roll around.





Scootaloo sat in her little wooden desk with her head in her hooves. She truly wanted to be right there when her sister left, but she couldn't disobey Nurse Kindheart's edict. She will go to school, and until something higher happens between the two pegasi, Dash will not be allowed to simply take Scootaloo whenever she wanted.

The filly stared at the clock on the wall as the minutes crawled along. Each flick of her eyes towards it seemed to slow time further. As the hour hand finally reached one, Scootaloo looked out the window towards Rainbow Dash's house. She silently hoped, wished, plead, and prayed to anyone that might be listening that Dash didn't receive the letter until the school day ended. Scootaloo knew that no amount of hoping would make the letter come any more slowly, but nevertheless she continued with the inward pleas.

To the filly's disappointment, as the minute hand passed the three, she saw a rainbow streak slice through the sky, not to come down again. She sighed, and put her head down on the desk. To her right, her friend Apple Bloom glanced over and saw the dismayed filly. The yellow filly reached over and put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder.

"Hey, Scoot, what's the matter?"

The filly looked up at her friend with droopy eyes. "Oh, nothin'. I just wish I could have been there when Rainbow Dash got the letter accepting her into the Wonderbolt Academy."

"Oh. Well, won't she be back?"

Scootaloo sighed and put her head in her hooves again. "In four weeks, yeah. But I wanted to be there to see her off, y'know?"

"Ya did say goodbye to her, though, right?"

"Yeah, last night."

"Well," piped Sweetie Belle as she overheard the situation, "at least you got some time to practice flying!"

The orange filly looked up. "Yeah...I could do that. Show her what I'm made of!" Scootaloo felt something in her heart change. No longer was she going to sit and wait for her to get back, now she was going to work until she gets back.

"It'll be like a game!" declared Apple Bloom, "See how far you can get before Rainbow Dash gets back!"

Scootaloo scrunched her face in determination. "Yeah, I'm gonna do that-"

"Alright class," announced Cheerilee, "it's one-thirty, class is dismissed." The mare then headed to the door to bid farewell to her students as they bolted out.

"-right now!" Scootaloo proclaimed as she shot past her teacher.

The filly sprinted to her usual workout spot, and stood. She took in everything around her. The knee-high grass tickled her fur as it brushed by, the birds chirped in tune with the rustling trees and the blowing wind, the sun's warmth blanketed her back and gave her a sense of comfort. The sky was simply glowing with it's blue light, and could do nothing but remind Scootaloo of the mare who inspired her: Rainbow Dash.

Without even thinking about what she was doing, Scootaloo lowered herself onto her wings. She subconsciously began counting the reps as she performed them. One, two, three, four, five. Slowly, she began increasing the speed and completeness of the wing-ups. Nine, ten, eleven. Faster, better, stronger. Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Soon, the filly reached what could only be described as her terminal velocity. Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven.

"I'll show you, Rainbow Dash," she said through a clenched jaw. Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four. "I'll show you what I can do!" Forty-one, forty-two, forty-three. Scootaloo began feeling the burning in her wings intensify. Fifty, fifty-one. The pain from her tingling muscles told her to stop, Fifty-six, fifty-seven, but she continued with grinding molars and a sweaty brow. Sixty-three, sixty-four...sixty...sixty-five!

Scootaloo looked at the horizon between the trees. She was going to make it there, through pain and struggle, through loneliness and loss, and through love and family. Determination was her motto, and she repeated it after every single rep.

"I'm gonna show you," she said as she passed seventy-nine. As she was lowering herself for number eighty, she collapsed onto the cool grass. She buried her face into the green blades, and tried to pretend that they were soft, cyan, and warm. 

"I'm gonna make you proud..."

> The Wings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Eleven
The Wings


Rainbow Dash packed her belongings into her saddlebag as quickly as she could. No more waiting, no more delaying, no more procrastinating. The time had long since come for her to bring that filly home. As she packed, other Wonderbolt Trainees idly talked with one another in other sections of the barracks. Dash ignored the majority of them. She had made some acquaintances, and maybe a couple of friends, but she had no interest in getting to know them further. After stuffing her goggles into her bag, she threw it on and walked out into the main hall. However, before she could leave the building, a vastly intimidating voice called to her.

"Cadet Rainbow Dash, hold for a moment."

The mare stopped in her tracks. Dash recognized it to be the drill instructor and Wonderbolt Captain, Spitfire. She had gotten to know, fear, hate, and respect that voice over the past few weeks. Slowly, she turned to meet the captain's large amber eyes. Instantly, she stood at attention. "Yes ma'am?"

Spitfire ushered the cyan pegasus into her nearby office. Once inside, the captain motioned for Dash to sit, while she herself took her spot in the worn leather chair behind the desk. "So," Spitfire began, "how did you like it here, 'Best Young Flier?'"

Inwardly, the cadet cocked her eyebrow. However, she remained in her official manner. "I apologize ma'am, but I don't follow."

Spitfire dismissed the unneeded formality with a wave of her hoof. "Don't worry about being like that right now, you've more than earned the right to chill out around me."

The cyan mare relaxed a bit, but stayed on edge. "It was okay here, besides that idiot, Lightning Dust. Sorry, ma'am, but I really should be going." Dash began stirring in her seat. 

It was Spitfire's turn for confusion. "What for?" She then gave her voice a more grave tone. "You didn't plant a bomb or anything, right?" she joked.

The mare froze. "Uh, no ma'am..."

The captain laughed. "Then what is it?"

Dash rubbed her shoulder. "I don't wanna to drag you into my personal life, but there's an orphaned filly I care about, and I had to wait until after I was done here to adopt her."

Spitfire's relaxed mind shifted with the new information. "Y-you wanna adopt somepony?"

"Yeah. She's the most awesome filly I've ever met, and she deserves so much more than to be without a family."

"Huh," said Spitfire as she withdrew inwardly. "And is she at the place in your town, Ponyville?"

Dash looked back up to her superior. "Yeah, why?"

Spitfire looked down at her desk, ignoring the question she'd never answer. "What's her name?" she finally asked.

"Scootaloo. She's a pegasus with an orange coat and purple-ish mane."

The captain chuckled to herself. As if she'd have such luck, she thought. "Well, in that case you better be off, then."

Dash vaulted off the chair and started for the door. "Thank you ma'am," she said over her shoulder as she walked back into the hall.

The lone mare still sitting in the leather seat sighed longingly, and buried her head in her hooves. After rubbing her eyes, she reached into the folds of her uniform and pulled out a small golden locket. She clicked it open, and smiled. Maybe someday...





Dash bid her farewells to the friends she had made at the academy, and gracefully lifted off the tarmac. After casually flying off into the distance, away from the place where she usually kept a calm and dominant demeanor, she kicked it into high gear and frantically shot home; she didn't want to keep her sister waiting.

After flying at a brisk pace for a couple of hours, she finally saw her home, Ponyville, just over the horizon. Knowing her hyper-active pink friend would be throwing some kind of party, Dash decided to take it slow when approaching her cloud home. She landed her hooves onto her front porch, and contemplated her moves. She finally resigned, and decided to blindly walk through the front door.

She was expecting her friends to jump out and say "Welcome back!", but nothing could prepare her for the overwhelming amount of sensory information that was shoved in her face.

First, there were her friends and the Crusaders screaming "Surprise! Welcome back, Dashie!", then there was her entire living room festooned with all kinds of party decorations. Streamers, banners, confetti, balloons, and a cake the size of her couch was set upon the coffee table.

But most importantly, a small orange filly was galloping at full speed towards the returning pegasus. Scootaloo leaped the final few feet and tackled Dash to the ground, giving her the biggest hug her little forelegs could muster.

Dash returned the hug, and they remained in their embrace for a few moments before the two let go and stood up.

"I'm glad you're back, Rainbow Dash," sighed Scootaloo

"Me too Squirt, me too," said Dash. She tousled her sister's mane. The seven assorted ponies were staring at the two pegasi with accusing smirks.

"What?" asked Dash. The other ponies just giggled and rolled their eyes as Dash closed the front door. They all knew Scootaloo was something special to the rainbow-maned mare.

The next few hours played out like most Welcome Home parties. Dash was asked a multitude of questions, and she tried answering them to the best of her ability. She was a bit exhausted after her flight, but, after being hardened by a lifetime of athletic exertion, she knew she could keep going for hours if needed.

As the sun set, the once mountainous cake had been devoured and reduced to crumbs. Most of it was put away by the sugar filled tornado of pure energy known as Pinkie Pie, and the punch bowl was taken from until dry, along with the other three containers.

With the passing of the party, serene silence showed itself inside. Only Dash and Scootaloo remained in the sunset-lit home. They were both lying on the couch lazily, looking at the meter wide cake tin that was still set on the coffee table.

After sitting there for a while just listening to each other's slow breaths, the older mare broke the silence.

"So Squirt, how have you been getting along with your flying?" Dash asked.

"Uh, pretty good," replied Scootaloo, snapping out of her daze. "I've been doing all of my exercises and everything every day since you showed me them, and I really think I'm making progress."

"That's awesome!" said Dash "Here, let's see your wings"

The two heaved their cake filled bodies off of the couch, and Scootaloo raised her left wing to show Dash. Remarkably, her muscle sets were already how they were supposed to be.

"Wow," said Dash with a very impressed tone. "You really have been doing them, huh?" Dash tried turning the orange wing forward and evoked a pained response from her sister when she got them pointed downwards just the tiniest bit.

"Ow," squeaked Scootaloo. "Yeah, I have. You told me that this sort of thing takes perseverance, so the exercises were pretty much the only thing I've been doing besides school, sleeping, crusading, and eating. And I can't ride my scooter anymore, so it wasn't like I had anything better to do, right?"

Dash let go of her sister's wing and looked her in the eye. There was just something about Scootaloo that made Dash proud to call this filly her sister.

"Humph," said Dash. "Well, since you have your wings how they should be already, I guess we can go on to actual flight training, and seeing about getting you off the ground." Dash tousled the purple mane again. After a short yawn and a glance at the setting sun, she continued.

"I'm bushed after that trip home." She smiled at her next thought. "How about you stay here tonight? My return is a special occasion, after all." The mare then turned to head to her room with the thoughts of her comfortable, soft, warm bed swirling around her mind. Unfortunately, the aged face of that annoying nurse appeared in the back of her mind. She decided that she was going to break a rule one last time before cutting the other mare off.

"Wait hold on," piped Scootaloo. "Could we do one more thing before bed?"

Dash turned back to her sister. "Uh sure," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "What do you wanna do?"

"Umm, I was just thinking that, you know before the sun sets and all, we could go out for a short flight maybe? I wanna know what going really fast feels like, so I can know what I'm aiming for."

Dash wasn't sure if she could muster the energy, but the look on her sister's face sealed her fate. "Why not?"

The two sisters strolled out onto the front porch, and Dash motioned for Scootaloo to climb on her back. After getting a good hold of her sister, Scootaloo was ready. Dash took off slowly; she didn't want Scootaloo falling off.

"Oh come on, Rainbow Dash, let's go fast!" challenged Scootaloo.

"You sure?" asked Dash "You might fall off-"

"I'll be okay, I'll hold on tight. Just go fast, please," plead Scootaloo.

"Okaayy…" replied Dash. She wasn't sure if she could keep her sister on her back at high speeds, but she was being issued a challenge, so she went with it. Dash began to accelerate slowly at the beginning, but a rumbling groan from her sister was the last straw. She then rocketed away, creating that signature rainbow trail behind her.

After continuous acceleration, they were approaching the kind of speed that granted a Sonic Rainboom. "What am I doing?!" said Dash to herself. She then stopped accelerating, and kept a constant speed.

The rainbow streak sliced through the air at blinding speeds, flashing by behind layers of cloud. Then, things started to go wrong. Scootaloo was beginning to lose her grip. Dash could feel the tiny hooves slipping, but she was too late. Before she had had a chance to slow down, the orange filly vanished as she was swept away by the intense winds.

Dash flared her wings out, slowing to a hover in seconds. The feeling of her sister's absence from her back sent chills down her spine. She scanned the surrounding area, below, all around her. After finding no orange or purple, just white, Dash began to worry. She realized that Scootaloo's colors would just make her blend in with the twilight sky.

"SCOOTALOO!" she shouted into the clouds. She began to turn fiercely, focusing on portions of the clouds surrounding her, then quickly darting her eyes to focus on another portion of the sky.

"SCOOTALOO, WHERE ARE YOU?!" She was now feeling the deep, icy claws of dread shred their way through her heart. Her sister had probably already hit the ground, her life ending just as it was beginning to get better.

Images of her sister's twisted body lying motionless on the blood-spattered grass began to flood Dash's mind. There's no way her sister could be gone. Dash began to feel her mind slipping, but something pulled her back into consciousness.

"Told ya I'd be okay."

What? Was Scootaloo's voice now haunting Dash? No, it couldn't be, the sentence was so clear. Dash looked around on the clouds adjacent to her, but found no orange fillies. Dash was starting to think that she was schizophrenic.

A strange buzzing noise added to her confusion, but couldn't pinpoint its source. Dash looked in all directions for this strangely familiar new noise, but couldn't find it.

"What's the matter, Rainbow Dash?"

There it was again. This time Dash could tell from where it was coming. She slowly lifted her head to look above her, and found the source of the voices and the buzzing noise.

There was that special orange filly, floating above Dash with her hind legs crossed, forelegs behind her head, and wings buzzing like a hummingbird.

Dash could only stare, dumbstruck and unbelieving of what her eyes were telling her.

"You okay, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked, releasing her relaxed demeanor. Dash was silent, her eyes just staring blankly at Scootaloo.

"Uhhh…Rainbow Dash? You there?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yo…you're…" stuttered Dash, finding a shred of her voice. "You're f-flying!"

"Yep!" responded Scootaloo, relieved to see her sister was okay again. "Check it out! I've been persevering as much as I can, and look at what I have to show for it! This…is…so…awesome!" Scootaloo did a couple of spins in midair.

Dash could only stare; over-encumbered from relief, shock, and her ebbing fear. The mare, seemingly in a trance, ascended to the filly's level. She slowly and carefully wrapped her forelegs around Scootaloo, preventing her smaller wings from moving.

"Don't you ever do that again…" she croaked into her sister's mane. "Ever."

"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo breathed.

"I thought you died…" The mare was on the verge of sobbing.

The filly was downcast. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

Dash began heaving, and nearly forgot to keep her wings flapping. Luckily, a quick jolt from Scootaloo woke her up. The filly's statement was finally given a response.

"No, no, it's okay," comforted Dash. After another moment of shuddering, she continued. "Just don't do anything like that again. I…I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Scootaloo looked up from burying her face into Dash's chest and into her bright, watery eyes. As much as it pained her to admit it, Scootaloo never really had someone feel this way about her before. "I'm sorry," she half whispered, half sobbed. "I shouldn't have tricked you like that."

"No, Scoot, it's fine. You just surprised me, is all." The two pulled away, and both stayed floating. Dash marveled at the sight of Scootaloo flying on her own. She realized something as she gazed upon the proud filly; something she was afraid to know the answer to. "How, uh, how long have you been flying? I've been gone for four weeks, so I haven't been here to, uh, mark your progress, you know?."

"Actually, I figured it out just this morning. I mean, what kind of timing is that?" the filly nervously giggled.

That was a relief. At least Dash could still be there the day Scootaloo started flying, but somehow she felt empty inside. To her, it still felt like she missed out on a huge milestone in her sister's life. She supposed that this was somewhere near how Scootaloo felt when she had left a month ago.

"Well, I…I guess we don't really need to do anymore flight lessons, huh?" said Dash "Now we can just get on with teaching you some cool tricks."

Scootaloo gasped. "Yes!" she exclaimed while doing a backflip "When can we start, tomorrow?"

"Sorry Scoots, not tomorrow," apologized Dash. "I have way too much stuff to get caught up on. First I gotta unpack, then check back in with the Ponyville weather team, and pick Tank up…just a lot of things that need doing. Sorry Squirt, maybe next time."

Scootaloo's face fell. She really wanted to spend more time with her sister, but she understood that there were other things that needed doing. She heaved a great sigh, and sat on a nearby cloud.

Dash fluttered over to her to do yet more consoling. "Hey listen, as soon as I have everything back in order, I'll be able teach you some tricks, okay?"

Scootaloo sniffed, and looked up at her sister. "Okay…" she said.

"Alright, now come on," started Dash. "Let's get to bed, I'm really tired."

The two got up off the cloud. Their heads slowly swiveled and their eyes met. The familiar look in each other's eyes foreshadowed coming events. Two pairs of wings shot up, and they were off.

Scootaloo, having only been able to fly for a few hours, was pretty slow. Dash knew this, so she just kept a steady pace with her. After zipping about in the sky, bursting clouds and twisting in midair, the mare imagined herself back in her dream. However, she left out the second half. As the sun disappeared behind the mountains, the two arrived at the beautiful cloud home.

Dash walked through the front door, followed by a panting Scootaloo. "Don't worry, you'll get faster. But not as fast as me!" boasted Dash after closing the front door.

Scootaloo giggled between her huge breaths. The two walked through Dash's bedroom door and jumped onto the bed. The filly didn't think she'd need to sidle up into Dash's arms, she wasn't sad or anything; but the older mare reached over and pulled her in close.

Though night had fallen, their thoughts kept them awake. Secretly, neither fell asleep. They just listened to each other's breathing.

Dash looked down at her sister and thought about their situation. Now, she had no reason not to bring her into her home. Their home.
> The Confrontation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Twelve
The Confrontation


The cool Friday morning sky glowed red with the rising sun. Bulky, drifting clouds cast their shadows about the land as they hung before the giant ball of life-giving energy. One shadow in particular formed the shape of the home where Rainbow Dash and her sister, Scootaloo, were slumbering.

Like the previous occasion where Scootaloo had stayed the night, she was nestled up close in the arms and wings of her older sister. She didn't think she would ever get tired of the feeling of Dash's body enveloping her own.

The morning sun's rays slowly found the two dreaming, peaceful faces, and lit them up. The cyan coated pegasus began to stir. She didn't like the sun being in her eyes on an average day, but she absolutely loathed it in the morning.

After casting away the last tatters of her dream, Dash lifted her head and showed the sun a great yawn, and an even greater grimace. She laid her head back down, but she couldn't fall back asleep. Too many thoughts began swirling around her mind. The mare couldn't keep thinking about what she had done. 

Had it really been a good idea for her to leave for four weeks? Obviously Scootaloo hadn't been adopted, so should she even worry? But what would she do if someone had taken her in? She raised her wrist to her mouth and bit it. Dash clamped down hard enough to both leave a mark and stop the invisible one-sided argument, yet not enough to draw blood. No, Dash had finally taken an actual step towards becoming a Wonderbolt. She had done what she had set out to do in the first place: impress the hay out of the coaches and overseers. Therefore, she could not be condemned for her choice. However, despite her inner argument, she couldn't help but feel like she had somehow wronged her sister in postponing her life's betterment.

The mare pulled her mind out of her silent struggle with her conscience and lifted her head off of the pillow. She slowly lifted her wing, revealing a dreaming filly. Dash smiled at her sister, and placed a kiss in the middle of the magenta mane. After thinking about it a moment, she reeled back. This was strange. Dash normally had to think about her actions when showing affection or love toward her sister, or anyone for that matter. But the kiss she just gave was completely without thought.

Dash didn't quite know what to think about this new development. She normally hated anything that was touchy-feely and mushy in nature, only making an exception for the few occasions with her sister because of the absolute need for it. She was a bit disappointed in herself for being "weak," but at the same time, she was overjoyed to know that she was still capable of showing love. Dash now realized how important Scootaloo is to her; it isn't easy to break all of the layers of brash boldness that surrounded Dash's affectionate side.

The rainbow mare simply watched her sister breathe. The two pegasi simply lay there; the older awake the entire time. Before she realized it, the sun had fully risen. Dash snapped out of her daze. One look at the clock on the wall made her heart sink. She shook her sister violently.

"Scootaloo, wake up! You're gonna be late for school!" she yelled.

Scootaloo, upon hearing these words, bolted upright.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "Not again! Cheerilee said that if I'm tardy one more time, I'll be sent to detention!"

Scootaloo then clambered out of the giant cloud bed and rushed out the door with Dash in pursuit. They strode out into the living room, and Scootaloo stopped in front of the front door.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash? Is it alright if I fly to school? I wanna see if I can get there fast enough. Plus, you said it yourself: if you don't push yourself, then you can't improve."

Dash thought back to one of their lessons. She fondly remembered uttering that phrase. "Sure," she responded. "But wait, don't you need your saddlebag?"

Scootaloo grinned and pulled her blue bag out from behind the couch. "I came straight here from school to help set everything up."

"Well," Dash said, "that shaves a few minutes off. Wanna race there?"

Scootaloo thought about it for a moment.

"When don't we race?" she asked

"Good point," replied Dash as she unfurled her wings and got into a starting position. Scootaloo mimicked the pose, and soon they were off.

The two sisters flew high and low, between trees, and through clouds, speeding along the whole way. After playfully flying about, searching for the school, the final stretch became visible. They both kicked into high gear and dashed for the finish line.

Several schoolfillies were meandering about in the front of the school, and occasionally one or two headed inside for their lessons. One grey, bespectacled filly noticed two fast looking projectiles heading right for the school.

"Who are those two?" asked Silver Spoon, pointing in the direction of the racing pegasi. Five other fillies, along with Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, looked up at the two blurs.

"Whoever they are," replied Diamond Tiara, "they look stupid. Racing to get to school is what babies do."

As they were approaching the school, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo flared their wings and jammed their hooves into the earth and mud, spattering both the grey and pink fillies with muck.

"I WIN!" the two pegasi yelled simultaneously, mimicking their previous race to the school. They held yet another gaze and then giggled again like before.

"Alright," said Dash after regaining her composure, "see ya later, Squirt!"

Scootaloo waved goodbye, then looked over at the two slack-jawed brown lumps with glaring eyes poking out the fronts. The infamous accessories barely visible underneath the layer of wet earth made Scootaloo realize who she had humiliated, and subsequently started giggling again.

"Sorry guys, I guess I was flying too fast!" boasted Scootaloo as she walked past the gaping mouths of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Unfortunately for the grey filly, a particularly large gob of mud hung too low on her snout. She took a breath, and pulled the drop of mud onto her tongue. Silver Spoon began hacking, coughing, and gagging to get the gritty dirt out. She looked to her companion for help, but Diamond Tiara had already begun slinking over to a nearby hose.

Scootaloo then trotted over to her friends who were in a similar state of shock.

"That was you?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Y'all can fly?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Yep and yep!" replied Scootaloo. She loved every moment of shared amazement by the onlookers.

"Jeez, and this is all from Rainbow Dash teaching you?" asked Sweetie Belle, "I gotta get Rarity to show me how to use magic."

The three Crusaders giggled as they walked into the classroom. Dash watched Scootaloo go and took note of the personality type the two pegasi shared. The mare stood for a moment to let it linger, then took to the sky.

"I guess it's time," she said to herself.

She was fully aware of impending stressful complications, but her mind was surprisingly clear. She really hadn't the slightest clue as to how to even begin the adoption process, but she would do everything in her power to get the job done.

Rainbow Dash touched down in front of Oakside Orphanage with set determination in her expression. The mare began her march toward the glass doors. This was it. No more of her waiting, procrastinating, and putting it off. Today was the day she was going to bring that filly home, like she had said to herself when leaving the academy. She pulled the doors open, and a draft of warm air caught her mane, making it fly in the wind.  Dash walked to the desk where Nurse Kindheart sat reading a magazine; the issue of which Dash didn’t care. She put her hooves on the counter, and spoke firmly, almost harshly.

“Alright, nurse, give me the papers. I’m adopting Scootaloo.”

An amused chuckle escaped Kindheart’s lips. Dash interpreted it to be a tacit “Finally.” Kindheart doggy-eared the page in her magazine and set it onto her desk. “Well, well, looks like that filly is finally getting her wish.”

Dash drew back. “Her wish? What, to be adopted?”

“Well,” began the nurse, “more than that. Ever since she met you she has told me that, if given the choice, she’d pick you to be her guardian.”

The pegasus’ expression softened. “That’s not surprising.” Though her heart gave a flutter, this new piece of information didn’t pull her from her goal. “Well, let’s grant it.”

“Gladly,” the nurse responded. She pulled out a paper-clipped stack of papers from her drawer, and slid them to Dash. The mare quickly scanned them, and found issues.

“Wait, wait, wait, what?” Dash read the lines and boxes again. 

Kindheart responded with a bemused chortle. “Miss Dash, is there a problem?”

“Uh,” replied the mare, “kinda. I mean, what does all of this mean? Guardian evaluation, stable home, and…” The next word and its implications slid off her tongue like a wad of grease. “Five references?”

“Well, we need to make sure she’s going to a good home,” said Kindheart. “You need to show your devotion, have ready someplace for her to sleep, and a few outside sources of recommendation. I’m sorry, Miss Dash, but Element of Loyalty or not, there are rules to be followed.”

“Ugh,” groaned Dash as she rubbed the back of her neck, “thanks…” The mare walked out of the building with the documents nestled in her wing. She transferred them to her mouth before flying off to her home. After entering, she spat the papers down onto her counter. With a grumble, she threw herself down onto her couch.

Five references. Five whole entire full references from other ponies who very well could judge her for softening up enough to become something as compassionate as a parent. Although she felt ready for the title, she was still wary of being one in the eyes of others. The only five candidates she could think of at this moment were her fellow Elements. Yet, those five were the last ones she’d like to reveal this to. In addition, she’d have to break her sister’s promise.

Dash lifted her face off of her couch slowly. With droopy eyes, she looked around her living room. The other two requirements, evaluation and home stability, were of course less difficult. She could easily build a room for the filly, and could probably pass a test of some sort which evaluated just how much she loved Scootaloo. But the last one…

“Damnit!” Dash shouted as she brought her hoof into the couch cushion. She was completely, utterly, metaphorically trapped. Break the promise and admit softness, or doom the filly to a life of loneliness and deny her wish.

If only Tank were here, he’d know what to do.

“Ugh,” Dash groaned again as she buried her face into the cushion once more. “He’s just a stupid, silent tortoise! He’s not gonna talk back!” she thought. Nevertheless, she looked around the room for something to talk to. What she needed was a conversation of any length. Turning on her back, Dash began looking at her uneven ceiling. She recognized a face that bore an uncanny and eerie resemblance to her sister, mane and all.

“What do I do, Squirt?” she said to the formation. “If I adopt you, then I’ll hurt you in the process, but if I don’t, then I won’t hurt you…directly.”

Suddenly, as if it were a dream, the formation opened its eyes, with a golden glow shining from them. “Do what you feel is right, Rainbow Dash. I’ll always love you, remember?” she said with a silky, ethereal voice, her mouth emitting the same beams her eyes were.

After a pang of positive sadness and a clenching in her throat, Dash shook her head violently and screwed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the formation was gone; mixed into the rest of the ceiling. She rubbed her head and sat up. 

That’s right. Scootaloo had said that on the night of their first sleepover. “Yeah,” Dash said to herself, “y-you’re right! You…you’ll always love me. An-and I’ll always love you!” She wiped her nose and continued. “To hell with that stupid promise! And to hell with your secret! If it’s gonna keep me from adopting you, then it can kiss my flank!”

Rainbow Dash flew out the door at record speeds. She travelled to each and every one of her friends’ houses and invited them for a meeting in the field under her own.

The blue mare sat expectantly in the large patch of grass. The overconfidence and the rush she experienced had subsided, and worry set in. “I’m really gonna tell her secret?!” Dash began contemplating cancelling the meeting, that is until the quintet rose over the hill. Dash waved them over, to which the assorted ponies began trotting faster. She waited until they were all seated around her to begin. “Too late now.”

“Hey, girls, thanks for meeting me,” Dash started.

“Of course, Rainbow Dash, what did you need?” said Twilight.

“Well…” The blue pegasus said before stopping. Until now, she hadn’t really thought of how she was going to tell her friends, well, everything. Eventually, she picked a starting point. “It’s about Scootaloo.”

A collective “Oh” came from the five others.

“So,” Applejack started, “y’all finally gonna tell us what’s been goin’ on with her?”

Dash paused. “What d’you mean?”

“Oh come, now,” said Rarity, “you’ve made it clear to all of us that she’s having trouble at home.”

“N-no,” Dash said back.

“Y’all told me that nopony wants tah get close tah her,” accused the hatted mare.

“You told me that nopony loves her!” declared Rarity.

“Well, you also, um, kind of told me that it’s, well, complicated…um, that’s not a good sign,” said Fluttershy.

“And you told me that her parents never take her to get sundaes!” Pinkie revealed, much to the faux-astonishment of the others.

To any of these questions, Dash had no answer. She had forgotten about these details she had so deftly and unintentionally inserted into her friends’ minds. “Uh, I uh…” Dash stammered.

“Alright,” shouted Twilight, “what the hay is everypony talking about?!”

The arguing mares turned their heads in unison towards the uninformed purple unicorn. It occurred to Dash that she was the only one out of the five that she hadn’t let anything slip to; chiefly due to the fact that private interaction between the two since Scootaloo told her secret had been minimal at best. Without warning, Applejack piped up.

“Scootaloo’s bein’ abused by her parents, and Rainbow Dash knows all about it!” The other three accusing mares barked a swift “yeah!” in unison.

“What?!” Dash and Twilight said simultaneously.

“Yes! It’s pretty obvious!” Rarity began. “While you were away, Rainbow Dash, we decided to figure the situation out for ourselves. Unfortunately, every time we tried following her home, she gave us the slip.”

“When we offered tah take her home, she plain refused!”

“When we asked about her parents, she, well, just kind of dodged the question. Three times.”

“Woah, Scootaloo’s parents are abusing her!” declared Twilight.

“I know! It’s super bad!” Pinkie added.

“ENOUGH!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Scootaloo’s parent’s aren’t abusing her!”

“Oh really,” said Applejack sarcastically. “Then what in the hay are they doing?”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sat back on her haunches. Five sets of expectant eyes were centered on her. “Nothing,” she said. “They aren’t doing anything.”

“Wha- yeah they are!” the orange mare argued back.

“I mean,” said Dash immediately, “they’re not doing anything because…she…doesn’t have parents.” Each head drew back slowly. “She’s lived at Ponyville’s Oakside Orphanage for pretty much all her life.”

Something about the blue mare’s posture screamed truthfulness, for everyone in the group believed her.

“Ah, Ah had no idea…”

“The poor thing…”

“I hope she’s okay…”

“I want to make a super-er, n-no special-er… better sundae than the last!”

Twilight, the one not to say anything, walked to the seated mare in the middle of the group. “I’m assuming you’re taking steps to fix that?” she said with a soft smile.

Dash slowly nodded and stood. “That’s really the reason why I asked all of you here.” Without another word, the mare shot up to her home, swiftly grabbed the papers still sitting on her counter, and returned to her friends.

“In order to, well, adopt her,” she began, the word sounding foreign and strange being spoken to her friends, “I need a couple of things. One of those things is a written reference from five individual ponies.” Dash set the paper with proper box-placement for the signatures, along with identification, onto a nearby tree stump.

With as much sappiness as her brain would allow, she formed her plea. “I’d be honored if you guys’d be those five ponies.” Silently, Dash let her bangs fall over her eyes and waited for her friends’ responses. After listening to a few sniffles, she felt five warm bodies press themselves against her own. She didn’t need to look up to know that it was a group hug, as sappy as can be.

Applejack, close to Dash’s ear, gave a reply to which the others nodded in assent. “And we’d be honored tah be those ponies. This is a mighty good thing y’all’re doing here.”

“Thanks, girls,” Dash responded. The others got off of each other and formed a single file line in front of the tree stump. With her handy-dandy, ever-present quill she keeps tucked safely in her mane, Twilight at the front of the line signed in the first box. Dash knew she could count on her to bring a writing utensil.

One by one, the Elements signed away at the page. Once the final spot was filled by Rarity, Dash took it and quickly flew it up to her house. After landing again, Dash was surrounded by her friends in one last, tight group hug. They separated and, after two departed, bidding good fortune and farewell, Dash began.

“Twi, I’m probably gonna need some of your egg-head magic to figure out how much she’s gonna cost. I’d do it myself, but we all know how bad I am at numbers.” Twilight nodded in agreement; the cause was more than enough to warrant professional help. The purple mare trotted away to begin helping her friend’s finances which, most likely, are horrendously in need of it.

Dash turned to her pink friend. “Pinkie, I know you’re probably tired from the last party you planned, but I’m gonna need your skills for planning another Welcome Home party, for Scootaloo. Think you can handle it?”

Pinkie stood stock-still while her eyelids briefly fluttered. “Yep, already done!” She began hopping away to the local supplies shop, which hopefully had a new shipment after she had raided it a few days ago.

Finally, Dash turned to her remaining friend with a smile. “Flutters, I’m gonna need your help for probably the most important part.”

“What is it?” the yellow mare responded.

“We’re gonna build Scoots a room.”
> The Kindling
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Thirteen
The Kindling


In the living room of a massive cloud mansion on a cold Saturday night sat a lone purple unicorn who busied herself with going over what used to be a rather messy stack of documents. However, the papers were messy and scattered no more; they had long since been sorted. A candle sat atop the coffee table, illuminating the pages and the unicorn's face. Her her eyes constantly performed erratic twitches, taking in all of the information on the documents. The unicorn the eyes belonged to had her purple magic wrapped around a pencil that seemed to be moving on its own, jotting down several calculations per second on a scratch piece of paper.

After pausing for a moment and looking over the papers, the unicorn breathed a sigh, and put the pencil with smoke rising from the tip down onto the table.

"Okay then," Twilight Sparkle said alongside her exhausted sigh as she collected her cyan friend's documents into one neat stack. She now shouted so the two pegasi in the neighboring room could hear her. "That should be all of it! After going through what few bills you have I can see that you'll just barely be making enough with your current weather job to support a filly and yourself."

Rainbow Dash strode out into the living room of her cloud home with her yellow coated friend in tow. Both pegasi were covered in small tufts of cloud.

Dash grinned at the good news. "Well that's a relief, there's no way I'd able to take a second job with my super busy schedule."

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, you mean your daily twelve hour shift at the Dream Factory?"

"Exactly. Pretty lucky that I get to keep it."

Dash stood staring at the manila folder. She snapped out of her stare and turned back to the hall she had previously entered from. "Well, Fluttershy and I just finished the new room, would you like to see?"

"Of course!" replied Twilight as she set the folder down. The three ponies walked back to the newly created bedroom; its door opposite that of Rainbow Dash's.

Fluttershy placed a yellow hoof on the grayish purple door and pushed it open to reveal a bright spectacle of a very lucky filly's new sanctuary. Not unlike Dash's room, Wonderbolt posters adorned the walls; catching and holding firmly onto the eyes of the viewer. Vibrant purple wallpaper covered every inch of the room that wasn't already occupied by a poster. A small dresser made of compacted-cloud sat against the wall next to a walk-in closet, and opposite the dresser sat Scootaloo's new bed. Nothing was out of the ordinary for this bed, save for the wonderful material the mattress, bedspread, blanket, and comforter were made of.

Flanking the bed on both sides stood two nightstands of the same material as the dresser. Atop one nightstand sat a lamp surrounded by framed pictures of the new family. On the other sat a clock that read "1:26 a.m.", and it was accompanied by yet more pictures.

"WELCOME HOME SCOOTALOO!" was written on a banner hung over the wall just above the bed, and it dazzled the room with its glitter and sequin-composed font.

An extremely large window with dark purple drapes nearly took up one entire wall. Dash opened the curtains to reveal the Princess of the Night's moon shining brilliantly in the midnight sky.

Though she wouldn't admit it, tears were nearly brought to Rainbow Dash's eyes at the sight of her special little filly's new room. 

The three ponies heaved a sigh, then stood in silence as they imagined the new life laid out for Scootaloo.

"Well Rainbow Dash," piped up Fluttershy after several moments of silence, "this was truly a feat. I think that if you've made it this far, you'll surely make a great parent."

"I agree," corroborated Twilight. "Normally if something proved to be difficult, you'd shy away and quit." Rainbow Dash scoffed at the statement. Twilight continued unfazed. "But you've stuck through this, and are seeing it to the end."

"I think little Scootaloo is going to have a great life here with you," commented Fluttershy. "Where is she by the way?"

Dash scrunched her face in thought. "Well, she's probably in her old room at the orphanage. I just gotta show the officers in charge this room, then she can come home!"

Twilight looked at the clock and yawned. "Well, you know what they say. Early to bed, early to rise. Don't want to keep her waiting while you sleep in, do you Rainbow?"

The blue mare let out her own yawn and nodded her head. "Thanks again, guys," said Dash. Her two friends gathered close to give a group hug that Dash believed was unneeded. Dash stood with wings of yellow and hooves of purple wrapped about her body for longer than she thought was necessary. Dash finally resigned, and wrapped her own wings around her friends.

As her two friends nuzzled into Dash, she stared out the window and gazed upon the moon. After looking at the ball of light for a few minutes, she noticed something strange. The moon was starting to get covered by clouds eerily quickly. The clouds seemed to behave like…smoke, from a fire.

"Somepony out camping somewhere?" asked Dash, causing her friends to look out the window.

"Who would be having a campfire in the middle of Ponyville?" countered Twilight.

Fluttershy cowered away. "I-Is that d-d-dragon ba-ack?"

"No, it's not coming from a mountain," assured Dash.

The three ponies' gaze followed the plume of smoke from where it was covering part of Luna's moon down to the surface where its source would be found. Walking up close to the window, the three followed further to find that a building on the edge of Ponyville was alight. Even from across town, and being up in the air, the three ponies could make out individual licks of flame from the intense house fire.

"Oh no," gasped Fluttershy, "somepony's house is on fire!"

"Ooh, I do hope the weather team puts it out before somepony is hurt!" said Twilight.

As if in a trance, Dash began walking forward towards the window, mouth agape.

Twilight called to Rainbow, but the sounds seemed to bounce off of the mare's ears. She continued walking until her snout touched the glass. Another, softer call came from Dash's left side; Fluttershy. Again, Dash didn't pay attention. All of her focus was being put into recognizing the building ablaze.

"What the... No…" whispered Dash before jumping away from the window, "No! No! No!"

Dash bolted out the room leaving her two befuddled friends behind.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" called Twilight, but it was too late. Dash was already rocketing out the front door, quickly closing the distance between herself and the burning building.

Panic was setting in for the supposed unshakable pony. Tightening the muscles of her body and fiercely flapping her wings, Dash began to descend even faster than before. She had to get there. She just had to. The closer she got to the building, the more her suspicions were confirmed.

Dash landed roughly in front of the burning building; her hooves fell out from under her from the panic and the force of the drop. She quickly rolled back to a stand and lifted her head. Without committing anything she saw to hard memory, she took in the scene splayed out around her.

Weather ponies dotted the sky as they kicked water from gray, rainwater-filled clouds onto the large wooden home. Several fillies and colts were sitting on the grass a great distance from the fire with a multitude of mares shielding them from seeing their home burn to the ground.

Out of the windows licked angry fire, with only a few being doused by cold water. Smoldering pieces of wood were scattered about around the building, forever scarring the cobble paths and foundation where they had landed.

Dash bolted to the large crowd and looked upon the ash-covered faces of the fillies. The infinitely small ponies were gathered in a tight circle, and Dash inspected them all. She could hardly make out any colors due to the soot covering each from ear tip to tail. She looked at them all at least ten times each. Although it was difficult to differentiate between individuals, she knew the one she was looking for wasn't in the group.

One thought occupied Dash's mind and tore her gut to shreds: Ponyville's Oakside Orphanage was on fire, and Scootaloo was nowhere to be found.
	
	
> The Burning Will
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Fourteen
The Burning Will


Red flames licked high into the sky as they poured out of shattered windows. Breaking glass chimed and burning wood creaked as fire engulfed the wooden building. Weather ponies pounded cold rainwater out of engorged clouds in an attempt to control the infinitely hungry flames.

Off to the side, fillies and colts along with their caretakers were wailing at the loss of the only place they could call home. Unfortunately, they were missing a few.

Rainbow Dash galloped over to Nurse Kindheart who sat next to her colleagues nearby. The aged earth pony was cradling a newborn, and crying softly. The cyan mare panted heavily as she approached, even though she had only ran a few yards.

"Where is she?!" Dash plead. The matron took a second recognize her face, and realized instantly who she was talking about.

"I'm sorry Miss Dash, I'm so sorry," sobbed the matron, "I do not know where she is."

Dash's heart sunk. Her lip quivered and her eyes watered. Anger then sparked, soon consuming her whole body faster than the roaring fire next to the group could consume three more inches of wood.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Dash screamed. She couldn't believe all of what was happening around her. Tears began flowing down her cheeks, quickly drying from the intense heat. "IT'S YOUR JOB TO LOOK AFTER HER, AND YOU LOSE HER IN A FIRE?!"

Another matron with a pink coat and blonde mane had perked up across the group and slowly walked up to the rainbow maned pegasus. "Miss Dash, is it?" she asked. Dash looked at the younger pony. "I'm so...so sorry but, i-it was just happening so fast…" she trailed off.

Dash jumped at and nearly grabbed this pony. "What are you talking about?!" she demanded.

The mare's whole body was shaking uncontrollably. "Scootaloo, sh-she was right behind me," she stammered out. Dash's eyes widened as she listened on. "I had gathered all the fillies from her hall and was leading them away from the fire. I kept looking back, an-and she was there every time. We heard a creaking noise, then a crack, and we ran. I looked back again, and she wasn't there! I was about to go back for her, but fire had already blocked the way." At this point, the matron's voice had grown shrill and full of emotion. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't go back for her...those stupid dry carpets!"

The pony looked down at her hooves; her eyes were trembling more violently than her body. Rainbow Dash looked at the faces of these matrons with the utmost disgust. "You…" she choked out, "you just LEFT HER THERE?!" Dash was screaming at the top of her lungs in pure disbelief and hatred.

"E-even we were lucky to get out!" rebutted the mare. "The foyer nearly came down on top of us as we went out the front door!" She pointed a pink hoof at the building. Dash turned to follow the hoof and found that she was telling the truth. All Dash could see through what remained of the front door were flames and collapsed beams.

Dash knew what she had to do. The pegasus left the group behind and started trotting towards the burning building. Quickening her pace, she transitioned into a full gallop. She spread her wings after gaining enough speed and lifted off the ground. Spotting a room that didn't appear to be on fire, she shot through its window, smashing it open. Nothing would stand in her way.

Smoke instantly filled her lungs, quickly making her head spin. Coughing and hacking in the haze, she found the door, opened it, and walked out into the even hazier hallway. Crouching down low to find fresher air, Dash crept her way through the building. The heat and haziness from the smoke was almost unbearable, but Dash had no intention of letting a little fire keep her from finding her sister.

Although she had a bit of the building committed to memory, the pressure Dash felt and the hazy halls made navigation impossible. The building seemed as though it were a maze, with traps of fire lurking around every other corner.

In her foggy state of mind, she imagined herself back at the Canterlot Hedge Maze where she and her five friends were searching for their Elements of Harmony that the God of Chaos had hidden. Dash kept expecting to turn a corner and see Discord lounging about with his strange blue and red-lensed glasses and popcorn, simply watching as what he'd describe as "beautiful chaos" ensued.

After creeping along in smoky agony, Dash began to hear small rasping coughs. She then quickened her crawling pace to find the source. Dash began pressing her ear against doors, searching for the pony the coughs belonged to.

Several doors later, Dash finally found the one containing life. She reached up to the door handle, turned it, and opened the door. The room was dark, but she was able to make out a small heaving figure huddled up in the corner.

With hopeful eyes Dash crept closer to the filly. The cyan and soot coated mare placed a hoof on the shoulder of this filly, and turned it to reveal her sister's face.

No, Dash was just imagining things. 

This filly didn't even have wings. Dash breathed a heavy sigh as she was happy she had found a survivor, but was unhappy that it wasn't Scootaloo.

Dash stood up, gathered this half-conscious filly, and placed her on her ash-laden back. She then crouched back to the floor and crept out of the room with her survivor to continue the search.

The filly stirred and wheezed, but Dash didn't pay much attention to the movement. She was focusing all of her consciousness in looking for that filly that had changed her life for the better. After crawling around some more, she began to hear coughing that wasn't being emitted by the filly on her back.

Following the noise in a similar fashion to before, she eventually located the source. Pushing another door open, Dash crawled inside. This room was darker than the last, and she couldn't see the pony.

The cyan mare called out in a raspy voice. "Hello? Anypony in here?"

"H-help…" whispered a small, hoarse voice that came from the corner. Her eyes still adjusting to the dark room, Dash began to make out the form of a small pony curled up in the corner. Small appendages fluttered about. A pegasus! Dash crept faster.

After turning the shoulder of this second form, she found it to be that of a pegasus colt, not a filly, with a blue coat and snow white mane. Dash sighed again and placed the young colt on her back next to the filly, and crept out the room.

"Too heavy…" thought Dash. She stood up, opened a scalding hot window, and jumped out. Fresh air graced her desert-dry esophagus and seemed to clear her mind. She landed on the grass next to the matrons, who then gratefully lifted the filly and colt off of her back and sat down with them.

Dash began to gallop back to the building when a weather pony landed and raised his hoof to stop her.

"Wait, stop!" bellowed the dark black pegasus. "You can't go in there! That building is going to come down any minute!"

Dash fought to get the hoof off of her, to no avail. "Ergh…Let me..." She stopped when she saw who was holding her there. "Thunderlane! Why didn't any of you come get me?!"

Thunderlane backed away a little, but kept his hoof on the other pegasus. "I... I don't know, Dash. There just wasn't any time. There were kids in there for Celestia's sake! We had to get them out! The fastest of us were busy gathering clouds. They had no time to even think!" His strength faltered as he felt a pang of guilt. Without Dash around, he had taken control, and now it seemed that he had failed. Thunderlane's arm softened enough for Dash the push it away and run off.

"Wait!" he called.

Dash stopped in midair. He had all of five seconds to say something.

"That house if falling apart! You can't go in there!" Thunderlane said as he stomped his hoof.

Dash's face melted into scornful defiance. "Watch me!" she yelled before diving back through the window.

Now back in the hallway, Dash crawled her way further through the burning orphanage with a single lungful of air. The smoke was burning her eyes even worse than before, and she couldn't hold her breath any longer. After exhaling sharply, she sucked in smoky air and coughed it back out.

Ignoring the pain, Dash pressed on. The creaking of the floor started to get louder and louder until Dash imagined each step to be loud enough that it could wake the dead. The pain in her eyes, nose, throat, and lungs began to itch intensely.

Wheezing and hacking all the while, Dash continued to search for a signature magenta colored mane that belonged to her special filly.

To her short-lived delight, Rainbow Dash rounded a corner and found it, along with the body it belonged to, in a strange position. Though the white walls reflected the orange light from the ever present fire, there was no mistaking the filly's identity this time. Dash smiled, but then recoiled as she made a harrowing discovery.

Scootaloo had been pinned underneath a giant, smoldering wooden beam.

The sight of her sister made Dash let out a shrilling cry that further scarred her throat. Ignoring the smoke, she galloped down the hall at full speed to meet her sister's seemingly lifeless body. Dash caressed Scootaloo's face, neck, and front hooves as they were the only things she could actually touch. The rest of the filly's body was pinned and blocked by an especially heavy looking beam, not even moving a centimeter as Scootaloo's small, pained breaths struggled against it.

The cyan mare's face became streaked with tears, washing away soot and ash in straight lines. Dash got up, wrapped her hooves under the beam, and heaved.

After tugging and pulling, she felt a small hoof press against her hind leg. Dash looked down through tightly clenched eyes and found Scootaloo looking up at her.

"Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?" she asked in a raspy whisper.

Dash grunted, and gritted her teeth from the tugging she was doing. "I'm…getting…you…out!" each syllable was punctuated by an individual heave on the beam. It didn't even budge. She looked to the side and found that the beam had fallen through the wall, and was pinned as well.

"No, Rainbow Dash don't. Please, get out of here. You'll die too." As Scootaloo whispered, her breathing became more short and ragged.

"If I leave you here and survive…then I'll be dead anyway!" Dash retaliated.

"No…it's okay. Please go..." she said. Dash held off tugging while Scootaloo gathered a few more breaths. "Rainbow Dash, I just wanna say...thank you." The mare continued looking at the prone filly, eyes watering. "Thank you for being a sister to me. You're the best family I ever had..." Scootaloo paused for another moment. "So go. Please! Just go!"

Dash started crying more profusely than before. "I WILL NOT LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!" She looked down to find that Scootaloo had succumbed and unconsciousness had taken her.

"No, don't! Stay with me, kid! I NEED YOU!" cried Dash. She tugged, heaved, yanked, and pulled on the beam with every ounce of strength her oxygen-deprived body had. Dash began to hear the wall holding the beam crack away.

With one final heft, the beam began to lift slowly. A rumbling roar that could be heard over the growling of the fire emanated from Dash's burnt throat as she lifted the beam higher and higher. After getting enough space, she quickly shifted and got her body underneath the crushing length of wood.

Dash could tell Scootaloo was breathing easier, even with the crackling from the flames that were encroaching on their position. The creaking and groaning coming from the frames of the house that threatened to collapse were getting more frequent. Clenching from the pain, Dash called to her sister.

"Eraagh, come on Scoot…get up. We gotta get you outta here!"

Scootaloo didn't move a muscle except those that kept on making her chest rise and fall. Dash heaved a single sob, then extended her wings to scoop her sister up. After securing the limp body close to her chest with her wings wrapped tightly around, Dash slowly let the beam slip off her back.

The heated wood, along with it's splinters, scratched and burned her skin as it slid from her spine down off of her body. As it rode over her shoulder, she gasped in pain. Wincing and grimacing, Dash let the beam drop down with a dull thud. The force of the wood hitting the floor broke it and a burning hole revealing the first floor formed where Dash had been standing seconds before.

After retreating quickly, Dash walked as quickly as she dared to the nearest window. However, before she could make it, fire shot up from the dry rug that sat underneath it as flames began rounding the corner.

Panicking, the rainbow maned pegasus backed away from the rug that was completely alight. Dash turned around and found yet more fire infringing closely upon safe territory.

Trading the use of her wings for her hooves, Dash lifted her and Scootaloo up towards the ceiling. The pain and heat from the fire was intense, and the smoke that came from it started to blur Dash's vision.

"No…I can't pass out now!" thought Dash, slightly regaining part of her consciousness through sheer willpower. Dash looked down at her sister, then back at that window. Flames licked high in front of it, and threatened to come closer.

Dash scrunched her face as she was determined to get her sister out of the orphanage…permanently. Taking a few breaths of smoky air, she rose slightly, and rocketed away towards the window.

Farther and faster they flew. The flames they briefly passed over seemed to lash out intentionally and violently as the ponies soared overhead. After one final flap, she brought her wings to her body and prepared for impact.

CRASH!

The ash-blackened pony tightly wrapped around a near lifeless filly smashed through the heat-twisted window, and hurtled towards the earth at an alarming speed. Tucking and rolling, Rainbow Dash hit the ground, hard, and bounced several times before coming to a very painful stop on the cool grass.

Rainbow Dash's whole body ached. Blood seeped from a few cuts she'd received from the window and her muscles refused to move when Dash tried getting up. The cyan mare was vaguely aware of sounds coming from seemingly every direction.

First there was a sickening snapping noise, followed by a multitude of others that eventually blended together to form a single ghastly chorus of collapsing building. This deafening noise was accompanied by a fresh wave of heat to which Dash squeezed her sister tighter.

Second, the stomping of hooves and flapping of wings coalesced into one rumbling noise that were joined by voices shouting and wheels squeaking.

"Go, hurry!" she heard

"Did you see that?"

*gasp* "It's Scootaloo! Rainbow Dash found her!"

"Get an ambulance ready! We have two very injured ponies!"

Dash tuned these unwanted utterances out. All she was focused on now was the unconscious filly that lied almost motionless in her blue wings.

Dash placed her singed head next to Scootaloo's mouth. She felt rhythmic and extremely weak breaths tickling the hairs in her ear.

The cyan mare relaxed slightly. Soon the noises of stomping hooves grew louder and could no longer be ignored. Dash heard the sound of a gurney being unfolded and eventually felt hooves wrapping around her body, lifting her up onto cool cloths.

Dash gazed upwards and caught sight of the moon before it was removed from view as she was pushed into the ambulance. The gurney's wheels were locked, and the cart was soon on it's way to Ponyville Hospital.

The entire ride there, Dash inspected her sister. She found that the tips of her magenta mane and tail were singed black, and the orange feathers on both wings were burnt black as well. Dash ran a hoof along Scootaloo's left wing until she met a strange-feeling part around where the wing met her body.

Weakly, Scootaloo began to stir and murmur, pulling away from Dash's hoof. The cyan mare was about to re-venture the area, but was scared to find any more things wrong with her sister.

After feeling the cart shake, wheels creak, and hooves stomp for several minutes, Dash felt the ride come to an end.

The wheels of the gurney supporting the burnt pegasi were unlocked, and they turned round and round as the gurney was being taken out of the ambulance. The next few minutes went by in a blur. Doctors and nurses shouted to each other, doors were smashed through, and lights were shined in Dash's eyes.

Finally, the second portion of the journey ended when the gurney came to a stop next to a bed. After feeling the wheels lock, Dash slowly lifted her head and met the eyes of the doctors and nurses standing around her. The cyan mare wished they would all just blow off and leave her alone with her sister, but rational thought pushed that wish away.

"Miss?" asked a vaguely familiar brown coated doctor. "Would you please open your wings so we can help your friend?"

Friend? Don't they know who this is? This is one of the precious few ponies that had ever been capable of truly making Dash happy in her entire life. Sure she loved her friends to pieces, but the bond between her and her sister was an untouchable connection that no other pony had ever come close to creating with her before. This pony was more than just a friend, and these doctors should be ashamed of themselves for titling Scootaloo with such a relatively bland word.

After more rational thought, Dash resigned and lifted her wing. She revealed the blackened and hurt filly.

Two sets of hooves slid between Dash's wing and Scootaloo, lifting the filly from the gurney to the bed. Two more ponies split off from the group surrounding the two ponies, and they started tending to Scootaloo's wounds.

Suddenly the wheels unlocked as the gurney was wheeled out of the room with Dash still on it.

"Wait, where are you taking me?" asked Dash, her hoarse voice almost inaudible.

"Sorry Miss, but you're not exactly healthy yourself and you need tending to as well," stated a dark gray unicorn nurse who had a beautifully curly cerulean mane.

Dash did admit, she was pretty beaten up. Her body was covered in scrapes, bruises, and singed hair. However she wasn't worrying about any of her problems right now. All that she cared about was whether or not her special little filly was going to be alright.

"I-is she gonna be okay?" whispered Dash. The nurse looked at Dash and saw all of the pain both physically and emotionally the cyan pegasus had just gone through.

"Yes," replied the gray nurse with a smile. "She's going to be just fine."

Dash truly hoped so; there was no way she was going to be able to live with herself knowing she hadn't been fast enough.
> The Mending
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Fifteen
The Mending


Rainbow Dash always hated the lemony scent that accompanied hospitals. Especially now since the smoke and ash from the fire had burnt her nostrils. Wheeling down the hallway on the gurney she and her sister arrived there in, and ignoring the pain in her nose, Rainbow Dash took in what she saw.

Florescent lights passed by overhead and shined in Dash's eyes periodically. A light brown stallion had his front hooves on the gurney, and was pushing it along at a brisk pace. Next to him trotted the dark gray unicorn nurse, who had a pen and clipboard held in her magic, jotting down notes.

Throughout nearly the entire journey to a destination unbeknownst to Dash, the unicorn asked questions about her.

"May I please have your name?" asked the unicorn.

"Rainb-" 

Dash was suddenly interrupted by a massive upheave in her chest. She coughed for a while, further scarring her throat. Finally she regained control of her breathing, and spat out something awful tasting in her mouth. She looked down and found her spittle to be a grayish black. Turning back to the nurse, she answered the question.

"Rainbow Dash"

"Thank you. Age?"

"Nineteen"

"Thank you. And your friend back there, what it her information? I'd imagine from how you were clutching her that she's close to you."

"Yeah, her name is Scootaloo, and she's ten."

The nurse then went on to ask questions about things like allergies that afflicted the two ponies, to which Dash replied they had none that they knew of. The cyan mare didn't pay full attention to rest of the questions; she just answered without thinking.

After a ride that seemed to be going on forever, the pony pushing the gurney along slowed to a stop in front of a door, and allowed the gray nurse to use her magic to open it. Dash was wheeled inside the room, and the stallion left without a word.

This room was much different that the one she left Scootaloo in. There was a smattering of other afflicted ponies occupying other corners of the large room. It was obvious to Dash that she wasn't about to get the same treatment her sister is now receiving.

The gray nurse then busied herself with tending to Dash's wounds. Using her magic to levitate a flurry of bandages, some spools of string, needles, and a few tubes of ointment towards her, the nurse began to mend the few cuts that still glistened with fresh blood.

Dash just watched the nurse work silently. Wincing slightly as ointment was pressed against open wounds, and as needles slid through her damaged skin, Dash observed the pony gracefully stitch the pegasus up.

As she watched, Dash could realize what shape her body was in. Thin gashes ran the lengths of her barrel and flanks; her feathers were ruffled, burnt, and unkempt; and shed blood was drying on a few parts of her body.

The nurse worked tirelessly, and before Dash had realized she had even started, the unicorn was nearly finished. "I should get her onto that quilt Granny Smith and her cousins have been working on that AJ told me about," Dash mused to herself in her exhausted mind.

Tying up the last of the stitches, the nurse set about applying bandaging. After covering everything, she took out a tongue depressor and looked at Dash.

"Alright, Miss Dash, open your mouth and say 'ah'."

Dash did as she was told.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh."

The nurse used the tongue depressor to look deeper into Dash's throat. The nurse studied the blackened esophagus, let out a "humph", and removed the depressor. Dash then coughed dryly, hacking up what little moisture there was in her throat.

"I'll be right back, Miss Dash," said the nurse as she exited the room. The cyan mare watched her go, and then sighed deeply as she inspected her body.

"Ugh, look at my wings!" thought Dash as she painfully lifted her right wing to inspect it. There wasn't a feather in place. The cyan pegasus surveyed the unkempt wing, and decided that it would be too much work to preen right now, as she was too tired to do anything.

After waiting for what seemed like hours, Dash began to fall asleep. As she was slipping away, she heard the door begin to open. The dark gray nurse walked in with a small white spritzer bottle and two cups, one large and one small. The three objects were being held by the dark blue magic.

The nurse went to the sink and poured water into the large cup until it was full. Extending it to Dash, she took it, and before lifting it to her mouth, she was interrupted by a hoof on the glass.

"Don't drink yet, simply take a mouthful and gargle it around to get the gunk out."

Once again, Dash did as she was told. Taking a large swig in her mouth, she sucked in nearly half of the water. She swished it around and gargled for a bit, and after she deemed it ready to spit out, she leaned over to the small cup to vacate the contents of her mouth.

Black flakes floated around in the grayish water, to Dash's disgust. She wiped her muzzle with a hoof, and looked at the glass thirstily.

"Go ahead," said the nurse.

Dash repositioned both hooves on the glass, lifted it to her mouth, and took a few large gulps. Finishing off the water, Dash handed it back to the nurse who refilled it. Again downing the entire drink, the pony sated her thirst. She set it down on a nearby metal tray and looked at the spritzer bottle being held in the unicorn's magic.

"Open wide, like before," said the nurse.

Dash closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and said "ah". She heard a spritzing noise followed by moisture and a foul cherry-like taste coat her mouth and run down her throat. The spray had caught her by surprise more than it should have, which caused her to wheeze and choke uncontrollably.

Dash opened her eyes after a few seconds of wheezing to find the nurse leaving, and her spot being quickly taken up by two very familiar and very worried ponies.

"Oh my goodness!" cried Fluttershy as she bolted towards Dash. "Are you okay?"

"Sweet Celestia, Rainbow Dash, you look- er, not-so-awesome..."

Dash grunted in pain as the yellow pony squeezed the air out of her lungs. Although it seemed like Fluttershy had somehow gotten stronger, Dash knew that her exhaustion was to blame instead. 

"Yeah," the mare said after a moment of silence, "I'm fine."

Once she saw that she was hurting the blue pony, Fluttershy released her grip and backed off, although still remaining mere inches away.

"We were so worried and confused after you flew out the door," admitted Twilight, "that is until we saw what building was on fire..."

Dash blinked a stray tear away and looked at the adjacent wall. "Yeah, it was the place where Scootaloo stayed."

Fluttershy turned her gaze towards the floor. "We asked about her, and they said that she should be okay."

Dash smiled weakly at the news.

"However," started Twilight. Dash's ears perked at the turn. "The preliminaries show that there might be some damage to her left wing."

"Wha-" Dash said, "what do you mean?"

"Well, the doctors hadn't done much more than clean her up a bit and give her a one-over by the time we asked. Fluttershy and I got here just minutes after you two did."

Any bit of calm Rainbow Dash had felt melted, or rather shattered, at the notion of serious harm that had come to her sister. The mare started to get up, but was quickly pushed back down by her friends.

"Get outta my way. I have to see her!"

"If you're talking about Scootaloo, then you're just going to have to wait," said the nurse that had re-entered. "She's currently fighting her way through fifteen to twenty minutes straight of smoke inhalation." The nurse thought about the state Dash was in. She looked to the two other mares before speaking again. "I'm assuming you told her what I told you two?"

Twilight and Fluttershy nodded, which the nurse took as a sign to continue. "Yes, Miss Dash, unfortunately there were signs that damage was sustained by her left wing. The bruising and swelling around the base of the humerus, where the wing connects to the body, are indicating a Proximal fracture, but it's still too early to be sure. We'd sedate her and investigate, but there's too much of a risk of her slipping away."

"...Huh," said Dash she thought. The only words she pulled from the nurse's speech were "damage," "wing," "fracture," and "risk of slipping away."

"Well, Miss Dash," said the nurse after a moment of silence, "you're free to go home. Don't worry, we'll look after her." The nurse closed with a smile, and walked out the door.





Rainbow Dash pushed herself deeper into her seat as she grappled with her thoughts. The meek, ineffective-in-comforting scent of lemon seeping from the waiting room walls was bothering Dash, mostly because nearly anything could bother her at this time. The itching from the stitches, the dry feeling in her nose, the pounding headache from the intense pressure and heat she had felt earlier, the pangs of dread soaking her mind, and the knowledge that she can do absolutely nothing about her sister's condition, of which was still a mystery, had made her quite irritable. The sink bath she had taken, which at the time had been refreshing, made her fur wet. She understood the inevitability, but nevertheless was annoyed that the dampness in her fur wouldn't go away.

For probably the fourteenth time, she looked around the room. A mid-sized table separated two rows of cushioned chairs in a rectangular area next to a few windows. One of which was open and gave the room fresh air. A few steps behind the row of chairs facing the window was a desk where a young, upstart assistant busied himself with stacks of paperwork. To the right were a set of large double doors, and next to it on the adjacent wall was a normal door that could swing freely.

Grumbling from the boredom, she got up and walked over to the open window. Looking out, she could see the glow of Luna's moon still illuminating a neighboring field. Dash sniffed, and noticed that she could still detect the unmistakable smell of burning wood lingering in the nighttime air. The thought of her now probable aversion to campfires, or fire in general, quickly crossed her mind; though, it was quickly swept away by the rapid flow of thinking she was experiencing. Try as she might, she could not get the tidal wave of analyzing, memories, or pent up emotion to subside. It was almost agonizing. She couldn't focus on anything; nothing stuck in her mind for more than a second or two before another, slightly similar thought assumed the position.

The mare shunted her thoughts and turned her neck towards the guest-help desk. After noticing Dash's staring, the nurse offered a smile and nodded his head. Dash returned the gesture, then turned back to the window. She gazed at the drifting clouds aloft in the star-marked sky. She thought about how they must feel not having to deal with anything at all. They just get to hang around and rain on stuff all day.

Almost immediately, her mind shifted to another thought: How ponies feel knowing they are the masters of these floating layabouts. Then, it was about flying around up there. Then she thought about the act of flying itself. She looked at her own wings and saw how they were still in pretty bad shape. Next, she connected the two thoughts. The image of Scootaloo's twisted, unusable wing flashed through her mind. Dash yelped and grabbed at the windowsill, which caused the nurse at the desk to direct attention to her.

"Miss, are you okay?" he asked.

Dash awkwardly giggled and nodded. She turned back towards the window with a sigh. The image, slightly different this time, flashed briefly in her mind again. She lightly closed her eyes and started breathing deliberately. Luckily, the thought of her sister's injury ceased its haunting of her mind. With the leaving of this thought went various others. She was winning the battle with herself by dumping everything she didn't want to think about. She began smiling as her mind cleared. Once she thought herself to be rid of her annoying thinking, a new thought crept up on her from behind and took her by force. It was a piece of truth she had known the entire time, but hadn't been able to think about it until now.

This was all her fault.

If Dash would have just adopted the filly right when she found out she could, Scootaloo would have been much happier much sooner. She definitely wouldn't have a broken wing, and she definitely wouldn't have even been in the fire. 

This realization made Dash want to scream. She loathed herself now more than she ever had in her entire life. The mare put her hoof in her mouth and bit down hard.

Scootaloo's left wing had been broken.

Dash sobbed as she bit her hoof. She hoped and plead and prayed to whoever was listening that whatever happened to Scootaloo's wing wasn't disabling. After wallowing in self-hatred, Dash slumped down onto the nearest chair. She sat there for a short while until the day caught up with her. Tears still drying, the rainbow-maned pegasus fell into a shakier sleep than the one she had fallen into during her sister's sleep-over.





Rainbow Dash violently jerked upright in the chair covered in a thin film of sweat. She looked and saw the sun had climbed halfway over the mountain. She yawned longer than she could remember, then slid off the seat and onto her hooves.

Her activities from a few hours ago, coupled with her awkward sitting position, caused her joints to ache and her muscles to cramp. She looked over to the desk and saw that the space was empty. The mare walked up to the counter and rang the bell. A moment later, a black maned, olive green coated nurse with the figure of Mrs. Cake sauntered out of the office. 

"How can I help ya,' hon?'" she asked in a gruff cajun voice, practically opposite that of the grey nurse's 

"Uh, I was wondering how Scootaloo is doing. She's a ten-year-old pegasus with an orange coat." Dash's voice was gritty and tired, which caused her to stutter in the beginning of her sentence. The voice that came from her throat seemed otherworldly, and it scared her.

"Ah'll go check on her fo' ya.' Just sit tight, Ah'll be back"

As the nurse walked away, Dash spotted a wall clock and saw that it was five minutes after seven. As she waited, she decided to squirt some more of that foul medicine into her throat. The taste was horrendous, but she could already feel the last dose taking effect. She ignored the dosage rules and spritzed her throat. Her aim was off, but it still got the job done. Dash sat down and decided to at least give it a look. There was mostly garbled wording, symbols, and letters scattered around the label, but eventually Dash found that she was supposed to do it every six hours. She shrugged her shoulders. "Close enough."

Soon Dash heard the door behind her open. The pony that walked in carried saddlebags and the most grateful smile Dash had ever seen.

"Hello, Miss Dash," said Nurse Kindheart.

The blue mare was getting tired of being called that. She wanted the world to hurry itself up so things could go back to being normal. "Hey," she replied.

Kindheart shuffled her hooves. "I uh, was expecting you to be angrier." 

"Too tired for that, nurse. Whadd'ya need?"

"Uhm," she started before pausing for a long moment. "I just wanted to give you my thanks for rescuing everypony. Because of you, all the fillies were accounted for. The fire claimed not a single life thanks to your bravery. Blasted furnace, I've told the mayor repeatedly that we were in need of an upgrade, and she promised to see it done. Obviously the project was set aside in favor of 'more pressing' matters."

Dash looked away from the mare. The last thing she needed was praise and a pat on the back. "Well, you're welcome. Is that it?"

"Well, I just wanted to give you something." Kindheart opened her bag and pulled out a manila folder. She set it onto one of the chairs and motioned for Dash to look through it.

The cyan mare moved cautiously towards it. Once she was at the chair, she carefully lifted the folder and opened it. The first line on the page caused Dash to quickly slap the folder shut.

"How?" she asked. "How was this not destroyed in the fire?"

Kindheart blushed. "I took it home to work on it for you two. She loves you, Rainbow Dash, and nothing should keep her from having her wish granted."

Dash looked at the folder again. "But, I haven't done the evaluation, and nopony but me and a couple of my friends have seen her room yet." 

"Oh, don't worry about any of that. I gave them my word that you'd give her the perfect home. Honestly, the fact that you rescued her from certain death proves to me that you would do absolutely anything for her."

"Oh," said Dash. It was the only thing she could say to such words, from such a pony. "Well," she began again, "thanks."

"Of course, Rainbow. Both of you deserve the best." After a moment of silence, Kindheart continued. "If I could just get you to sign your name a couple of times, we can make it all official." She reached in her mouth and pulled out a fountain pen.

Dash walked over to the nearby table and dropped the folder on it. She took the pen from Kindheart and signed her name as fancily, and legibly, as she could. It actually turned out better than she thought it would.

"Then," the nurse said as she turned the document over, "this one." Dash dutifully signed it, after which the nurse took the second paper and slid it into her bag. She slowly closed in and embraced the blue pony. "Do a good job," she said into the mare's ear. Kindheart drew away, then after a farewell, left the room.

The blue mare simply stood there, almost catatonic. It was mostly from the hug, but another source was the thought that Scootaloo's records might have been destroyed, and it would have been much longer until she could be adopted. For all Dash knew, the matrons and the fillies could be on a train headed for another town, and Scootaloo very well could have been with them if she hadn't been trapped under the beam. But, then again, if the filly hadn't have been saved, Dash would have no use of her papers.

Rainbow Dash pondered the triviality of the world for an indeterminable amount of time until she heard chattering from down the hall. Five cherished ponies walked into the room bearing compassionate smiles. Dash snapped out of her trance and gathered the papers into her wing as they entered.

"Hey guys, were you worried 'bout me?" Dash said.

"Goodness Darling," responded a powder white unicorn. "Your voice is dreadful! And your mane! No, your wings! An-" Rarity was stopped when a jab in her side silenced her. "Erhm, sorry."

Dash grimaced. "Thanks, Rarity."

"What she means is 'yes, Rainbow Dash, we were worried 'boutcha'" Said Applejack to the unicorn.

"Uhm, yes of course, that is what I meant…heh heh…" said Rarity with an apologetic smirk.

"So how are you feeling?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well," Dash began. She hardly had any idea where to start. After picking a spot, she continued. "My throat feels like I've been gargling nails, my wings feel like they're being plucked clean, my head feels like it's being pounded like a drum, and my whole body feels like somepony hit it with a spiked mallet. That answer your question?" Dash didn't mean to come off so short.

"Oh, um, are you alright?" the yellow pony asked, ignoring the accidental hostile tone.

Dash sighed. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

The room grew quiet. Finally a pink pony broke the silence.

"Soooo…can somepony please tell me if her face is gonna stay like that?"

The group let out a collective giggle at Pinkie's joke. After the laughter subsided, Twilight looked at the folder Dash held in her wing. "What's that?" she asked.

"This?" Dash clarified. "Oh, nothing, just Scootaloo's adoption papers."

All five gasped excitedly.

"They weren't destroyed in the fire?" inquired Twilight.

"Nah, the head matron there apparently took them home and finished them." She bounced the folder around in her wing a few times. "Safe and sound."

Suddenly, the olive green nurse burst through the door. "Miss Dash, Miss Dash!" she called. Dash looked up at the nurse. 

"Scootaloo has just woken up!"
> The Two Sisters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Note:
Alright guys, this is the final chapter. Sorry to say, but it's already at the point where, if someone who hasn't read this were to look at it, it'd seem a bit too long to get into.

Enjoy!




Chapter Sixteen
The Two Sisters


Scootaloo was awake.

Rainbow Dash was surprised at how she took the news. Of course she was overjoyed that her sister was up, but she was wary of how Scootaloo would react to the inevitable realization that it was her sister's fault in the first place. Dash's anxiousness showed in the crease in her brow, defensive position, and distant eyes.

Dash continued staring at the nurse until Twilight broke the silence.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" she said as she looked to her blue friend. Saying that her friend was a just a little off-put would have been a joke. "Rainbow, aren't you happy?"

"Uhh…y-yeah," Dash stammered, "of course I am! But, there's just...something. I...I dunno, it's nothing." The mare attempted a smile, but the result was more than underwhelming.

"What is it?" asked Twilight, prodding for information.

Dash made eye contact with everyone at once. "I-I don't know how to tell her that this is all my fault. That…that I'm the reason she and all of us are even here."

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Rarity.

Rainbow Dash looked to the nurse. "Could you give us a minute?" she asked.

"'Course, hon.' Y'all call me in when you're ready to see 'er."

"Thanks," Dash said as she looked to the floor. Once the office door for the help desk was shut, and Dash had stared at the floor for a while, she began.

"I've been thinking," she started. Dash paused for long enough to elicit worry from her friends. The five moved in closer and opened their eyes wider to coax the rest of her answer out. 

After much consideration, Dash's chosen words spilled. "I've been thinking... it's my fault she got hurt because... I mean if I would have adopted her instead of leaving for a month, something she didn't want me to do...then she wouldn't have been in the fire. She wouldn't have gotten hurt..."

Applejack scoffed. "Is that what you're fussin' about? You know you couldn't have foreseen that fire takin' place. It ain't your fault that she was there."

Rainbow Dash regarded her friend's encouraging words, but nevertheless couldn't get past her judgement. "But if I would have taken her outta there when I should have, then we'd all be just fine. Scoots might be a bit sad the the building burned down, but she would have been okay. And with her wing thing, I'm not sure if she will be okay..."

"Aw shucks, sugarcube, Ah'm sure she'll be just fine once she gets a bit of rest."

"No she won't Applejack!" Dash retaliated with a stamp of her hoof. "She's not gonna be okay! Her wing's gonna be busted forever, and she'll hate me for longer!" Dash fell to her haunches and hung her head with a huff.

Twilight walked forward and put her hoof on the Dash's shoulder. "Rainbow, listen. She'll be okay. Even if she isn't... well... you know she loves you, so why are you worried that she'll hate you?"

After another moment of thought, Rainbow spoke with her head still hung. "Do any of you know what it's like to have somepony tell you that you probably won't ever do what you're... you're supposed to do?" Dash looked to all of her friends for an answer. However, she received nothing but silence. Though Fluttershy had had that experience, she chose to remain quiet, not for her timidness, but for her consideration of her friend.

"It's terrifying," Dash continued. "When I was just about to turn six, I was told that I'd always have difficulty flying." Dash took a moment to let the information sink in. "Obviously," she continued, "I beat the doctor's diagnosis by a pretty huge margin. It was tough, but I was able to get past it. But Scootaloo won't get past this if that beam damaged her wing beyond repair." Dash stood up. "There's something you guys need to know. Right now, flight is everything to Scootaloo. It was something her and I could do together, and something that would allow her to truly feel like somepony worth noticing! There's no way she'd forgive me for taking that from her."

Dash flicked her eyes around to gaze among her five friends. Knowing there was nothing for them to say, Rainbow Dash continued. "Look, can you guys just promise me that you won't tell her anything about this? I want to do it myself."

"Alright," said Rarity. "We all promise not to say a word." The other four nodded in assent.

"Thanks guys" Dash said as she surveyed their faces. She reminded herself of an item she still held in her wing. With it came a thought that brought a sweet feeling. "I have one more thing to ask of you guys." She opened her wing slightly to show the folder. "Can all of you stay in here for a bit? I wanna take a moment alone with her. She is technically mine, after all."

The others nodded again and found seats quietly; Pinkie was an exception with her snort of laughter and notion of "Mama Dash." The blue mare scoffed and flexed all but one of the primaries on her free wing at Pinkie's back. Fluttershy gasped and put her hoof to her mouth, but again said nothing.

Dash went to the desk and rang the bell. As soon as the nurse saw the mare, she knew her intentions. Playfully, the olive green pony berated Dash.

"Girl, you been talkin' with them so long, I thought you was gon' stay in that room 'till that filly came out for you he'self."

"Sorry," she responded. "Sometimes with that crowd, it's a good idea to get the mushy stuff out of the way first."

"Well, prepare yourself, 'cause that foal has been askin' about you since the minute her lil' eyes fluttered open. I'm gettin' the feeling that you ain't outta the woods just yet."

"I really never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait until I get back to it."

The two ponies continued walking down the white-washed hallways until they stopped at a door with bold characters spelling "12-B" fixed to it. Dash had to suppress a chuckle, lest she elicit more sass from the nurse. "Would you look at that," she said under her breath.

"Wait here, hon'," the nurse said before lightly tapping at the door. She waited a second or two before walking halfway through the door. "Scootaloo, honey, Ah'm back."

Rainbow Dash strained her mind while she waited for the filly's response. When it eventually came, Dash was horrified.

"Is she here?" an unseen Scootaloo asked in an extremely docile voice that completely lacked emotion or thought. The mare wanted desperately to push the nurse out of the way and fly to the filly, but decided against it. To her relief, the pony blocking her way moved and allowed entrance to Dash.

Though she couldn't get the filly's words out of her head, Dash hoped to see Scootaloo bouncing on the bed as she entered, but was instead met with a very tired looking foal staring back at her. She lied under the covers with her hooves on the blanket. Both her eyes and head were sunken, the latter into a pillow. Both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash smiled as the mare walked in. She quickly closed the distance between the door and the bed, then carefully wrapped her hooves around her sister's body. Dash did her best to cradle her, at which point the nurse allowed them privacy.

"How are you?" Dash whispered.

"Tired..." Scootaloo responded. The mare giggled at her optimism, then kissed Scootaloo's mane.

"That makes two of us."

They shared a laugh and sat in each other's company for a long while. Dash decided to keep the meager excuse for a conversation going. She lifted the covers and peered at her sister's bandaged wing.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

Scootaloo squirmed a bit before responding. "Kinda."

"Well, it'll feel better soon. Just keep it still."

The conversation once again dropped off for another while before Scootaloo broke the silent air. "Rainbow Dash?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"...Thank you."

Dash looked down at Scootaloo. "For what?"

Scootaloo giggled at her sister's joke. "For saving me, duh."

The mare ruffled her sister's mane. "You don't have to thank me for that, kiddo." Dash went silent for a moment. "Comes with the job." 

They sat in silence again, with the filly breaking it once more. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are the others?"

"Who, our friends?"

"No, I mean the others at Oakside. It burned down, so... do you know where we're going?"

Dash shook her head. "Yeah, it did. It's just a pile of ash now." To her annoyance with herself, the mare saw that Scootaloo had grown somber with the poorly chosen words. "Well, don't worry; wherever the others are going, you aren't going with them." She grabbed the folder in her mouth and deposited it onto the bed. Scootaloo stared at it, wondering what both it and Dash's words could mean.

Dash was more careful of her words. "How are you feeling? Like, on a scale of one to completely out of it, how good can you focus?"

"Why?"

"Just 'cause."

"Hmm... I guess about a three? Kinda tired."

"Well," Dash began, "I heard that a certain somepony decided to, well, take you under her wing. For good."

"R-" Scootaloo started. "Really?" She finished, her tone shifting from listlessness to pure delight. Her ears and back straightened up from excitement. Every part of her seemed to come back to life. There was only one pony who she could suspect would do such benevolent act. "Was it...was it you?"

Rainbow Dash brought her wings around to wrap around the hopeful pony. "You're not goin' anywhere, kiddo." She released a hoof and used it to flip open the folder. It revealed the adoption certificate, with Dash's signed name in big letters on the dotted line towards the bottom. Beautiful gold trimming bordered the thick, soft paper. A wax seal of approval was stuck to the left of the signature where Kindheart had made the document official.

Scootaloo simply sat there, unmoving as she made sense of what was happening. Soon, she slowly lifted her arms and wrapped them around Dash's waist. The weak, yet strong hug was met by Dash with a widening of her smile and further tightening. She landed in the golden zone between a gentle hug and a strong, loving, sisterly embrace.

Suddenly, there was a small tap at the door. Dash cast her eyes to it and gave permission to enter. Thinking the guests to be her friends, she began speaking as if it were them.

"Hey guys, how's-" She stopped when she saw who it was that had entered.

"Hello," said a beige coated stallion with a brown mane. Dash stared at this vaguely familiar and subconsciously disliked doctor.

She let go of her sister and got back on four legs. After searching for where she knew him from, she realized that this was the doctor that oversaw her own wing injury. "Oh hey, Doctor Stable!"

"Yes. I'd like to go over Scootaloo's condition with you now," said the doctor.

Dash looked at her sister's bandaged wing, and panic began to trickle in. It was slow at first, but soon it grew until it could not be willed away. "S-sure, what's going on?"

Stable pulled a large, clear, black and white sheet out of a carrier resting on the adjacent counter top and pinned it on a square light on the wall. The sheet featured an image of a young pegasus wing, with a rather large split just before the end of the bone. Dash was nearly overcome with dismay as she viewed the break.

"Now, as you can see here," said Stable as he pointed his hoof at the broken bone, "the humerus of Scootaloo's left wing has suffered a small fracture."

"Small?!" she said in her mind. "S-so…" Dash began shakily, "i-is that bad? Like, can it be fixed?" Rainbow Dash felt her heart racing and her muscles clenching at what could possibly be some of the worst news she'd ever hear.

Stable chuckled slightly at what he perceived as unnecessary worry coming from the mare. "Well, of course it can be fixed!" Stable began. "It already is, practically. What you had a few months ago, Miss Dash, was far worse than what we have here. I predict little Scootaloo will be checked out and back home this afternoon. Although she'll be home, it's absolutely imperative that she stays grounded until the bone has fully healed." Stable ended his diagnosis with a trained smile.

Waves of warm relief rushed over Rainbow Dash, who almost required support from the bed to keep from falling. She was nearly calm by the time the blood rush had subsided. Unfortunately, Dash was unaware of the fact that she was breathing just a bit too heavily, and shaking just a bit too violently.

"Um, Rainbow Dash, are you okay?" asked Scootaloo as she nudged her sister's side.

Dash breathed heavily a while longer before answering the question.

"Yeah…yeah…I'm okay…it's just…I thought your wing was broken really bad…and…and I guess I was kind of worried that you wouldn't be able to...well...fly anymore…" Dash put her front hooves up on the bed and nuzzled the orange filly. She told herself that it was for Scootaloo's comfort, but she knew that it had been for her own.

"She should be fine after a few days," said Stable, turning to Scootaloo. "But after the cast is off, you must remain out of the air for just a couple more." His interruption of the moment caused Dash to cast an annoyed glare his way. The doctor, unfazed, continued. "Well then, Miss Dash, aside from the problems in her wing, your daughter has nothing ailing her that's too different from what you have." He indicated the small bandages that adorned the filly in a similar fashion to Dash. When the mare spun her head back to him, he offered a knowing wink.

Stable exited the room, at which time Scootaloo looked at Dash. "Am I really your daughter now?"

The mare put her hoof to her chin and considered her new role. "Well...kinda, in a way. Officially, like on papers, you are, but we can stay sisters if you want."

Scootaloo giggled and pushed her nose through the fur on Dash's neck. "Yeah, let's do that."

Within the deep part of her mind, the mare felt relief. There was no way she could handle or be worthy of that title. Even saying the phrase "I'm a mom" in her mind made her cringe. Dash put her mind at ease and relished in the calm of the moment. 

After some time, which the two had lost track of, there was a tap at the door. "Come in," Dash called.

Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie, and the newly arrived other two Crusaders filled the spot left vacant by the doctor. Dash got out of her resting position and allowed Scootaloo's two friends to jump onto the bed to begin chattering about Celestia knows what. To occupy her own time, Dash got up and began conversing with her own friends. Time faded and blurred with their mutual good spirits and the overall wellness of everyone in the room.






Epilogue


Up in the most extravagant tower in Canterlot, the great Princess of the land and Sun, Celestia, sat on her poofy, purple cushion. She busied herself with going over some new bits of legislature from the Royal Court. Suddenly, a small, green-streaked cloud floated into her chamber through her window. It popped with a magical spark, and a scroll appeared in its place. Intrigued, the princess opened it and began reading. Her eyes slowly scanned the parchment, and as she read her already broad grin grew larger. Finally, as she finished the last line, she called down the hall for her sister to enter.

"Luna, come quickly! You must read this."

After a moment, the large door to the royal chamber slowly creaked open, and through the crack, the Princess of the Moon, Luna, poked her head inside.

"Yes, sister? What is it?"

"This touching letter from our friends in Ponyville. I think what it details might warm you."

"Let me see."

Celestia gave the scroll over, and Luna took it in her magic. She began reading aloud.

"Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that if you have a problem or a secret, it's best to tell somepony so they can help you, even if you don't want anypony to ever know. Your faithful Crusader, Scootaloo. P.S., I'm really going to enjoy living at my sister Rainbow Dash's house."

Similarly to her sister, Luna's grin widened. She sighed a relief, and looked out the window to catch a glimpse of the bright, shining ball of light that she controlled.

"I've been wondering when those two were finally going to grow together. We've been watching them for so long."

Celestia smiled again and drew in closely to embrace her own sister.

"Even though it's been nearly a year, I'm still ever so grateful for your return," she whispered.

"Well, I'm still happy to be back," Luna giggled.

They stayed in their embrace for a while. Even though they themselves would live for an eternity, they felt their hug to last one itself.






The End