> Life in a slower lane.
>  by JuyUnseen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A warm home for winter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A warm home for winter.


The quiet murmur of rustling leaves whispered across the ground, their sounds only broken by the occasional crackle of dry plant life under a hoof. A quiet yellow form wandered along the border of the forest, heading home after a day of self-imposed work tending to the animals of the area, helping them to get ready for the winter to come.

It was late Autumn, and as Fluttershy walked she could see her breath appearing in warm puffs of white air. She loved the quiet of this time of year. The birds only sung occasionally, and the scampering of small creatures in the underbrush was muffled by the leaves into a pleasant rustling.

Fluttershy sighed happily, enjoying the near perfect quiet, until it was broken by a single sound that didn’t belong to the nature around her. A soft sob broke through the tree line, and Fluttershy’s ears pricked up. The sound was quiet enough to not ruin the silence, but it didn’t belong. The timid yellow pegasus stepped into the forest, following the sounds to their source.

She came upon a clearing  rimmed with oak trees, each tall and proud, albeit bare of leaves. In the center of the clearing lay a small orange form from where the crying was coming. The filly’s purple mane hung limply around her face which was buried in her small hooves, and her tears fell in small puddles on the carpet of leaves below her.

“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy broke the silence after a moment of watching the distraught foal, “S-Scootaloo, what’s wrong?”
Scootaloo sat up straight quickly at the sound of a new voice and she turned to face the newcomer, her face still wet from crying.

“O-oh F-Fluttershy…” She wiped away her remaining tears with her hoof, doing her best to hide her emotional state, “I-I was just o-out here e-enjoying the uh…. The l-leaves.”

Fluttershy’s gaze fell, feeling sorry for intruding on the other’s privacy.

“Oh… uhm, I’m sorry… I was just… I didn’t mean to…” She stuttered in her usual, shy manner, “I didn’t mean to disturb you…”

“N-no, it’s okay. P-please don’t leave,” The orange filly’s voice cracked with desperation, afraid the kind yellow pony would try to back out of the clearing and leave her all alone once again.

Fluttershy looked back up slowly, “Would you want to… I mean if it’s okay with you… do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” She asked timidly.

Scootaloo looked back down at the forest floor, grief crossing her face once again as a new tear fell to join the others.
“S-she left me behind,” the younger pony stammered out, “R-Rainbow Dash l-left me h-here… s-she said I w-was too s-slow… that s-she didn’t have time to wait for s-slowpokes to catch up…”

Fluttershy’s gaze softened from one of apology into one of kindness as she stepped towards the broken filly. Her mood changed in a similar manner to her expression. She realized that this wasn’t a situation of privacy anymore, but one that required comfort, and for all her time spent with the small creatures of the land, comfort was one thing she was a master of.

“There there…” She whispered, “S-she wasn’t trying to upset you… Rainbow Dash is just… she just doesn’t always take others into consideration…” She stepped up close to the younger pony who collapsed into her, tears wetting the soft yellow coat.

“B-but she… all I want h-her to do i-is just n-notice me,” Scootaloo cried, “B-but when she does s-she just b-brushes me o-off…”

Fluttershy hugged the distraught filly, talking to her in the same kind, comforting voice that she would use on an injured mouse or sick bird.

“… Why do you try so hard? I mean… not to be rude but… Maybe Rainbow Dash isn’t the right role model for you…”
Scootaloo looked up, “But she’s s-so cool! S-she can do tricks even the W-Wonderbolts can’t…”

“But that doesn’t mean she is the right pony for you to act like… I mean if you want to… it’s okay if you do but…” She trailed off into her usual string of apologies.

“I… I don’t know…” Scootaloo sighed, her tears beginning to let up.

“I-it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to think too much about it… how about we get you home?” Fluttershy asked after a moment of silence.

At this Scootaloo’s lip quivered and she looked down again, “I….. I don’t…. I don’t exactly have a…. home…” She said slowly, “I…. I’ve been sleeping in the clubhouse…”

Fluttershy looked shocked. She had never considered that the little filly might be all alone, but she had never seen her with her parents, and it had always seemed a little strange how clingy she was to Rainbow Dash. It all began to make sense. This little pony was all alone in the world. She would have to weather storms alone and endure winter alone with only her friends for support. Fluttershy hugged the orange filly tighter.

“Then come home with me,” She said.

The look of joy that broke through Scootaloo’s saddened face was indescribable.





“Angel? I’m home.” Fluttershy called into her warm cottage as she stepped through the door and ushered the small pony inside.

A pair of white ears pricked up on the couch and slowly the small, snow white bunny got up from the warm bundle of blankets he had been curled up in to greet his best friend and mother figure.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked her little bunny friend, “We have a visitor.”

Angel gave Scootaloo a look that said ‘Stay away from the couch, it’s mine’ before curling back up.

“Oh Angel! Don’t be like that…” Fluttershy fussed over his rude reaction before turning back to Scootaloo, “I’m sorry, he can be grumpy this time of year… well most times of year actually… um... but anyway, let’s get you warmed up.”

She brought the filly into the kitchen where many carrot greens lay strewn across the table and a kettle sat on the stove. With a turn of a dial a small fire appeared under the kettle and in moments the water started to bubble slowly inside it’s metal vessel.

“Now uhm…” Fluttershy began, unsure of where to begin as she had only cared for younger ponies once before, back when Sweetie Belle’s sleepover had been moved to her cottage, “I... I’ll have some tea ready in a bit if you want some… and there’s a spare bed you can use… uhh…” She trailed off. Fluttershy had never been the best conversationalist.

Scootaloo looked up at her, the gratitude from before still apparent on her face. “Thank you for this…”

“No-no, it’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to help.” Fluttershy replied.

The two of them drank their tea once it was ready and when darkness fell Fluttershy tucked the filly into her spare bed.

“Good night.” Fluttershy whispered as she left the darkened room.

Scootaloo lay in the warm bed, thinking. As usual her thought turned to a blue pegasus, but in place of her usual awe she only felt sadness. Scootaloo had dreamed time and time again that one day the blue pony would notice her, invite her in, give her a home. Now, reality resembled that dream, save for the color of the pegasus who gave her a place to stay. In place of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy now stood in that dream. An achieved dream.

Her thoughts were jumbled. Her dreams cast in a new light. She lay snuggled in the warm, cozy bed and the more she thought about it, the more her ideas of what she wanted in her role model changed. Blues were replaced by yellows, rainbows by a light shade of pink, and squinting, determined eyes by soft, compassionate ones.

“Good night,” Scootaloo whispered back to the empty room, “… mom.”




Thanks goes to Chocolateunicorn for editing this chapter.
> Encouragement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Encouragement


The next day dawned with frost coloring the grass and feathering patterns in the windows of the small forest cottage. The silence was back this morning with the only sounds being the rare chirp of the final birds of winter.

Scootaloo awoke in an unfamiliar place: a bed. A warm bed. She looked around the room lit by morning sun and recognized the simple décor of Fluttershy’s house. A small, happy sound escaped her lips as the events of the day before came rushing back to the orange filly.

It wasn’t a dream! She thought, I’m here at Fluttershy’s house!

It took quite some time for the small pony to call up the willpower necessary to leave her warm sheets, but hunger overweighed her need to stay warm, so she stood up and left the small bedroom and began her trek to the kitchen.

The quaint house was empty, and as Scootaloo wandered through the hall back towards the main room she couldn’t help but wonder where the yellow pegasus who owned the house was.

Her question was answered by the sound of singing flowing through an open window. Scootaloo froze to listen to the soft melody, slowly rocking her head in time with the tune. The sweet sound came from under an oak tree where Fluttershy sat, surrounded by songbirds and mice, all entranced by the music.

Scootaloo stepped out the door and stared at the sight. She had known that Fluttershy was good with animals, but she had never expected her to be able to do something like this. All the creatures were calm, some of them even half asleep as they listened to the quiet tune.

“THAT’S AWESOME!” the little filly called in enthusiasm. Fluttershy squeaked in surprise, and the animals all fled from the loud newcomer. “Oh no… I’m sorry Fluttershy…”

“Oh t-that’s okay. It’s good to see you awake, d-did you sleep well?” The meek pony was breathing a little heavily, the surprise still fresh in mind.

“I slept better than I have in a long time.” Scootaloo said happily, “Thanks a lot for letting me stay for the night.” 

“Oh, you’re more than welcome to stay longer, I mean… if you want to… since you don’t have anywhere to go…” Fluttershy mumbled a bit.

Scootaloo brightened, “So what are you up to?” she asked, her sadness from the day before seemed far lessened and her usual active attitude was returning.

“Oh, um, well I was feeding the animals… and some of the mice had a hard time sleeping last night so I started singing them a lullaby and then you…”

Scootaloo looked embarrassed, “Do you need any help with feeding them?” she asked, trying to make up for her earlier mistake.

“Well…,” Fluttershy began slowly, “I could use some help I suppose…”

“GREAT!” the mice that had begun to tentatively poke their heads out from under the bushes darted away again.

The next few minutes found Scootaloo dashing inside the house, following Fluttershy’s instructions on where to find feed for the chickens, and once she had a bucket full in tow the foal made a mad dash for the coop.

“FEEDIN’ TIME!” she yelled as she threw hoof fulls of seed around, coating the ground and hitting many of the chickens in the process. By the time the filly was finished, the coop looked like the sight of a great chicken feed massacre.

Fluttershy looked over the mess and sighed, “Scootaloo… maybe… I mean if you want to… maybe you should go play with your friends…”

“Oh… alright…” Scootaloo hung her head, feeling disappointed that she couldn’t help the kind pegasus who had opened her home to her.

Fluttershy sighed as the orange filly slowly disappeared along the path towards town, and creatures began to reappear as the loud intruder left.

“I’m sorry about that.” Fluttershy apologized to the animals before heading inside to get more food for them.





“Well of course she’ll be a little difficult. Fillies can be wild and break things rather often.” Rarity consoled her friend who was sitting next to her in the hot tub, “But they mean well, I promise you. Besides, I think it’s wonderfully generous of you to open your home like that.”

“I know she’ll be more difficult than a mouse or bunny, but still, I’m not sure if I can handle it… she just seemed so helpless, I did the first thing that came to mind.”

“Fluttershy, darling, don’t worry too much about it. I promise that I’ll help you out with this, after all I’ve been looking after Sweetie for heaven knows how long now. Just don’t fret and enjoy the bath.” As she said this she sighed and sank deeper into the warm water, scent from the bath salts seeping into her coat ensuring that she’d smell like the spa for hours to come.

“I guess you're right… I shouldn’t worry. I mean, she’s taken care of herself this long…” she sank in deeper as well, beginning to feel more relaxed, “I’m more worried about how to deal with Rainbow Dash…”

Two days had passed since Scootaloo’s first night at Fluttershy’s house, snow was on the ground now, and in her time at the cottage Scootaloo had managed to break a birdhouse, spill chicken feed all around the kitchen, and just be generally inept at taking care of the animals. She had inevitably been told to go out and play multiple times both days, and while her time with the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been fun, she still wanted to pay Fluttershy back for her kindness.
Eventually Fluttershy and Rarity’s spa visit came to an end, and the friends bid each other farewell as they trudged through the snow towards their respective houses.

When Fluttershy arrived back home, she saw the telltale red scooter out front, indicating that Scootaloo was back home. She stood outside the door and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst as she pushed the door open with a gentle creak.

She was greeted by the sound of music.

The yellow pegasus stopped and listened. The music sounded like it was coming from her gramophone, but there was another layer to it, as if a bird or two was singing along. Fluttershy slowly took in her surroundings.

The couch had been pushed to the side of the room, as well as all other pieces of furniture, leaving the floor bare. On the back of a chair sat a Blue Jay, who was singing along to the music coming from the record player in the corner. The bird stared, transfixed at the sight in the center of the room.

In a blur of orange and purple, Scootaloo spun as the music hit a high point, and turned into a graceful leap followed by a quick twirl.

She continued through move after move of her routine, leaping, spinning, skipping, and occasionally flipping, all in perfect time to the music until it died away, and so did her dancing in a final flurry of movement.

Fluttershy stared as Scootaloo looked at her avian observer, oblivious of the other pegasus in the room.

Fluttershy was unsure of what to say. The filly was quite the dancer, good enough to keep one of the timid animals, who on all other occasions feared the smaller pony, transfixed. Fluttershy decided the best way to announce her presence and put to words how impressed she was, was with a cheer.

“Yay.”

Scootaloo jumped at the sound, reacting in a similar fashion to how Fluttershy herself would.

Scootaloo looked up and rubbed her head, “Oh, h-hi Fluttershy. I-I thought you were at the spa…”

“Um… I just got back… that was… really good by the way… your dancing… I didn’t think that you…”

“I’m sorry I rearranged the room,” Scootaloo began sheepishly, “I-I just didn’t want to break anything…”

“No no, that’s quite alright.” An awkward silence grew between the two for a little, each debating what to say next.

“D-did you really think it was… good?”

“Oh yes, I mean… I just didn’t take your for the type who danced. You always acted like you wanted to be like Rainbow Dash…”

“Well I do! I-I mean I did… until Dash…” she trailed off, the events of two nights ago still fresh in the filly’s mind.

Another silence brewed.

“Do… do you think you could show me another dance?” 

Scootaloo looked up as Fluttershy said this, looking rather overjoyed.

“Sure!” the orange filly dashed over to the record player, trying to find the other song she had been working on.
The show went on for a good hour or so, Fluttershy cheering after every song, and Angel, who eventually decided to wake up to see what was going of gave half-interested applause.

Eventually, Fluttershy made them some dinner, and Scootaloo, who was tired from all the dancing, helped her. The two ponies and one bunny ate together, and after cleaning the dishes went on to bed.

Scootaloo lay there for some time, thinking. 

Rainbow Dash had seen her dance before, but she had never been so… what was the word. Encouraging.

Rainbow Dash.

As the blue speedster came to mind, Scootaloo realized that she hadn’t gone to watch her practice in two days now. Not since the night Fluttershy found her. She thought about this for a moment. Did she still care?

…

Yes. A part of her did. A part of her still held Dash in high regard. It was a part of her that ignored the rejection and still wanted to be like her role model.

… Maybe tomorrow I’ll go to see her… 
…Maybe...

After some time the filly fell asleep, into a dream of a stage and a spotlight and a crowd full of "yays" and bunnies clapping.

It was a good dream.





Rainbow Dash tossed and turned on her bed. She couldn’t sleep.

Something had been wrong the past couple of days. Something was missing from her life.

Something orange.


Once again, thanks goes to Chocolateunicorn for the edits
> Guilt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Guilt


“Alright Crusaders!” Scootaloo yelled to her friends, “Today we’re going to try something different.”

“Different how?” Sweetie Belle sounded unsure.

“Different because we’re not gonna just run headfirst into whatever we come up with. Today, we’re gonna actually listen to an expert!”

The other two stared in shock. To actually listen to somepony? They had never done that, or at least not well enough for it to be worth their while.

“Well who’re we gunna list’n to?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Today, we’re going to try to become…” Scootaloo paused for effect, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, ANIMAL FEEDERS!”

The three fillies were at Fluttershy’s house. For the first time in her life, Scootaloo had been able to invite her friends over, instead of it being the other way around, and while Fluttershy’s house wasn’t ‘technically’ her home, it still felt like it.
“Scootaloo?”

“Yes Apple Bloom?”

“It’s the middle of winter.” Apple Bloom said in a flat voice, “What animals are we gunna feed?”

“That’s a good question, Bloom! And I…. don’t… have an answer…”

Apple Bloom facehoofed, Sweetie Belle shivered. They were standing knee deep in snow. Sweetie Belle had a designer scarf from her sister, and some boots. Apple Bloom had a knit cap made by her sister, and some boots as well. Scootaloo had her CMC cape.

“Maybe Fluttershy has some animals inside?” Sweetie asked, obviously wanting to get out of the cold.

“No, none other than Angel.”

The three foals looked down. They had apparently come all this way for nothing.

“Ah guess we’ll just have’ta find somethin’ else.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

Sweetie Belle threw another glance at the cottage, “Maybe we could warm up inside first?”

Fluttershy was inside, baking so as to keep the house warmer. She sat in the living room, curled up next to Angel, reading a book while the cookies baked in the kitchen, giving warm, delicious smells. She looked up as the shivering fillies made their way through the door, first Sweetie Belle, then Apple Bloom, and finally Scootaloo.

She gasped upon seeing the poor orange filly with so little to keep her warm.

“Oh Scootaloo! A-are you alright? I mean… aren’t you cold in just…”

Scootaloo looked embarrassed, “N-no I’m f-fine.” Her teeth chattered a little bit with the cold.

Fluttershy looked like she was about to say something else when she was interrupted by a squeaky voice proclaiming, “I SMELL COOKIES!”

All the ponies in the room, save Sweetie Belle from whom the noise had originated, jumped in surprise.

“Oh, sorry. Too loud?”

The others nodded.

It took Fluttershy a moment to regain her composure before being able to speak again.

“Yes, there’s cookies baking right now…” As she said this a timer from the other room dinged. The fillies all brightened.
“Does that mean?”

“Um, that was the timer for-“ Fluttershy stopped when she realized that nopony else was in the room anymore. The fillies had all dashed into the kitchen and stared eagerly at the oven. Fluttershy followed in a much slower manner.

“Can we have some?!?! Please please please!” the girls all cried in unison.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said as the hot tray was pulled from the oven and replaced with a much cooler one covered in balls of uncooked dough, “But just-” She was cut off for the second time when she saw at least ten of the cookies had already found their way into the filly’s mouths or onto the table to be eaten next.

Fluttershy sighed “-Two each…” she finished before placing the now half-empty tray onto the counter.

“Sorry Fluttershy,” The obviously not sorry fillies said in unison once again.

The group ate cookies and talked for a while. Subjects came and went. They talked of winter, favorite types of cookies, cutie marks, and how much they were looking forward to spring among other things. When the subject turned to spring, somepony mentioned the talent show.

“We’ve gotta do better next year.” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah,” squeaked Sweetie Belle, “we need to… to… what’s the word?”

“Redeem?”
“Yeah that. We need to redeem ourselves.”

“I thought you girls did okay.” chimed Fluttershy, now nibbling on a cookie of her own.

“Puh-leeze.” Scootaloo scoffed, “The stage fell apart! I mean sure we got medals, but everything collapsed!” She stomped her hoof on the table for emphasis.

“What we need ta’ do is think up a better act. It’s obvious that rock opera isn’t what the public wants ta’ see.” Apple Bloom thought out loud.

“We could… do comedy?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“Nah… Maybe I could show you guys how to ride a scooter!”

“Nuh-uh! Remember last time?”

The two non-pegasus ponies shivered at the memories of bruises and scraped knees.

“Yeah… I don’t think scootering is right for us.” Sweetie Belle said.
“Well…” Fluttershy began, “Why don’t you do one of your dance routines Scootaloo?”

“Yeah right. Scootaloo can’t dance.” Apple Bloom giggled at the though.

“Oh… yes she can. I saw her… she was good.” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Yeah, I can... kinda…”

Apple Bloom stared her friend down, “Prove it.”

Scootaloo met her friend's gaze and smirked.

"Alright."

For the second time, Scootaloo performed in Fluttershy's little cottage, this time with a larger audience. She enjoyed it. A lot.

---

The door to the library swung open, letting in snow and cold air along with a blue pony.

“Rainbow! What brings you to the library?” Twilight asked, sounding a little confused. Rainbow Dash was not the type that she’d take for a reader.

“I… I was wondering if you could help me with something…” the blue pegasus began.

“Well I’d be happy to, what is it?”
“You remember that time that you thought AJ and I were fighting and you started acting like a psychiatrist? Well I was wondering if you could… try that again.”

Rainbow Dash looked like she hadn’t slept in a while.

“Sure Rainbow,” Twilight said, magicing her hair up into a bun and floating some glasses and a clipboard out of nowhere, “Just take a seat on the couch.”

Dash did as she was told. “Okay, now what?”

“Now you talk to me. So, what seems to be bothering you?” Twilight was excited, she had read tons of books on psychology but hadn’t gotten a chance to test her skills.

“I haven’t been sleeping well…”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Care to what?”

“Elaborate.”

Dash gave her a blank look.

“Go into greater detail.”

“Oh, uhh… well it started about a week ago.” Dash started recounting the events of that fateful day, starting from when she woke up.

“So once I got off of weather duty I went to practice my tricks, you know, like always, and I ran through my routine, like always, and the Squirt was there watching… just like always.”

“The Squirt?”

“Scootaloo.”
“Oh, I see.”

“So anyway, at the end of my routine I decided to try to do the Sonic Rainboom over the forest. I thought that maybe I could use it to knock the leaves off of all the trees. Wouldn’t that be cool? So I flew towards the woods, and I guess Scootaloo followed… right as I was about to pull it off she yelled something to me… it distracted me… I bucked up the trick and when I landed I… well I kinda exploded…”

“Like boom?” Spike asked, he had been sorting books and listening to the story.

“No no no… I… I yelled at her, screamed my head off… I told her I didn’t want her around if she was just going to mess me up… I haven’t seen her since…”

Twilight’s eyes softened.

“There’s your problem.”

“What is?”
“You feel guilty. You’re afraid you hurt her.”

“But I’ve yelled at her before.”

“And it looks like your words stung more this time.” Twilight felt relieved that the problem hadn’t been something too serious. “Go find her. Apologize.”

Dash didn't want to admit it, but her friend was making sense. She sighed, “You’re right… I need to… what’s a big word for saying sorry?”

“Make amends?”

“Yeah, I need to do that.”

Dash thanked her psychiatrist and left the library feeling slightly better. She knew what she needed to do now.
“Now where is that little squirt?”

Rainbow Dash took off. She wasn’t sure what exactly she was looking for. She didn’t know where Scootaloo lived, or what she did in the day really. All she really knew about the filly was that she liked to watch Dash do her tricks.
Dash scanned the town below her, looking for any sign of the telltale purple on orange that would signal the filly’s presence.

Dash went home disappointed. She had tried everything. She had done tricks, asked around, done more tricks, checked every corner of Ponyville and she still didn’t find the filly.

“…Maybe I scared her away…” she mumbled, guilt beginning to well up inside her worse than before, "Maybe she thinks I hate her..."

Dash’s night was sleepless once again.


Once more, thanks go out to my editor, Chocolateunicorn, for seeing the things I wouldn't have seen in a million years.
> She's moved on
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


She’s moved on.


Winter dragged on, and with it came more snow. It fell almost nonstop for nearly a week, and when the air finally cleared of white flakes the layer on the ground was too thick for anypony to go outside. So Fluttershy and Scootaloo spent their days inside with Angel.

Scootaloo felt different than she used to. She was calmer, as if some of Fluttershy’s slower lifestyle was rubbing off onto her. Angel seemed to be less scared of her and acted around her more like he did around Fluttershy, indignant and slightly annoyed, but with the occasional sign of compassion.

Tea was commonplace in Fluttershy’s house, as was warm soup, a fire, and soft beds. Needless to say, this was the best winter of Scootaloo’s life. She spent it dancing, talking, laughing, and sharing moments with her newfound friend.

It was a good winter for almost everypony in Ponyville.

Almost.

“I should never have yelled… s-she’s gone…” Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself in her dreams. Her ability to sleep had returned during the winter, but now her dreams were plagued with the filly she thought she’d never see again.

She’d searched and searched, but too soon had everyone had to shut themselves in. The snow finally stopped her search and forced the blue pegasus indoors as well. So it was inside that her emotions flowed for a time. It was here that she felt truly alone.

---

“So after all of that, when it came down to it I… well I suppose I became brave for a little while.” Fluttershy finished recounting her story.

“So you TALKED that dragon into leaving?!?!?”

“W-well it was more yelling than anything but…”

“That’s amazing!”

Fluttershy smiled at the little one’s enthusiasm.

Days passed, snow built up, plants died, and hopes for the future blossomed.

“So what are you gonna do in the spring?”

“Well, I’m going to wake up all the animals on winter wrap up day, and then I’m going to care for them until winter comes again. It’s that simple really.”

“You’re lucky.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well… you know what you’re meant to do. You’ve got Angel and all the other animals, and you’ve got your house, and… you… I dunno, you have a purpose.” Scootaloo shrugged meekly, “I guess being cooped up inside instead of going crusading has got me thinking about my cutie mark again.”

Angel rolled his eyes. He had heard this conversation before.

“You’ll find what you’re good at. In fact, I’m pretty certain… I mean… um... you are a really good dancer Scootaloo, you know that right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah… but I’ve been dancing and dancing and still no cutie mark.” Scootaloo huffed.

“Well… maybe if you did something special… like, maybe the talent show?”

Scootaloo stopped and stared at the yellow pegasus. She stared for about twenty seconds before bringing a hoof to her forehead and nearly yelling.

“WELL DUH! Why didn’t I think of that?”

Fluttershy giggled, “So come spring you’ll enter?”

“Sure, why not?”

“You’ll need to practice a lot.”

“I know.”

The rest of the winter seemed to go faster for Scootaloo. She had a goal, and she was determined to make it. She practiced and practiced and practiced until, seemingly out of nowhere, it was spring. Winter wrap up day came and Scootaloo helped Fluttershy with the animals. As usual, Apple Bloom was hlping her family with the planting and Sweetie Belle gathered supplies for her sister’s birdhouses. Everypony did their usual jobs, except for a certain cyan pegasus.
Rainbow Dash sadly watched everyone from her floating house.

Everypony below her was working hard, but try hard as she might she couldn’t make out the speck of orange and purple.
She sighed. She didn’t feel like working. She didn’t feel like doing much of anything these days.

“Hey Rainbow!” A voice called from the ground.

Dash looked, and saw the color she was looking for. ORANGE!

She took off as fast as she could and landed with a thump. She was standing next to Applejack.

“Oh… hi AJ…”

“Rainbow, what’re ya doing up there?” She asked accusingly, “You’re supposed to be helping the weather team water the new seeds.”

“Right… I-I’ll get right on that…”

“Something wrong? It’s spring, you should be happy.”

“I… I lost something over the winter… something important.”

“What was it?” Applejack seemed genuinely concerned.

“I lost… lost… well, what it is isn’t important. What’s important is that I lost it and I’m not sure I’ll ever find it again.”
Applejack studied her sad friend.

“Now that’s not the Rainbow Dash I know. Dash wouldn’t let one little loss destroy her. She’d get back up and keep moving. So, why aren’t you?”

Rainbow Dash looked up.

“Yeah… YEAH!” She stood at her full height, “I’m Rainbow Dash! I’m the best flier in all of Equestria! I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt! I can do Sonic rainbooms in my sleep!”

“And yer gonna go water the fields for me now right?”

Dash gave her friend a salute.

“I’m on it!” 

She alighted and flew off without another word, planning on getting her job done as quickly as possible. As she flew she felt something again, the wind whipping past her face. She could feel the speed, the adrenaline, the awesomeness to once again be flying free.

---

The bell tinkered in Scootaloo’s mouth.

“Rise and shine!” She called into the den. Little eyes opened and stared back at her. From within, two hedgehogs appeared, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Behind them walked three tinier hedgehogs, their litter for the year.

“Awwwww….” Scootaloo straightened up, “I-I mean, uh… Good morning. Sleep well?” The hedgehogs nodded in response, and the babies squeaked happily.

Scootaloo smiled and moved on to the next den.

Fluttershy took a moment to look up from her own work to watch the younger pegasus. She couldn’t help smiling. She felt proud of Scootaloo. She had taught her how to act around the animals. 
And look at her now the yellow pegasus thought. She was a natural. A warm smile crept over the yellow pony's face and she turned back to her own work.

---

Rainbow Dash finished her winter wrap up work in exactly ten minutes. Her share of the birds were herded back in just three minutes, the watering done in five, clearing snow from rooftops took a minute fifty seconds, and the clouds were cleared in ten seconds flat.

She had kept count of the time in her head, and she felt proud, it was her best time in years.

“Great job Rainbow Dash!” A young, awe-filled voice called up to her. Dash froze.

“Squirt?” she whispered to herself.

She turned to look at the ground below her. Nothing was there but melting snow and the occasional blade of new spring grass poking through.

Dash shook her head. She was just hearing things.

“No. I don’t need her. She’s… moved on! Yeah, that’s it. Moved on. I need to pony up and deal with it. She just can’t keep up with my awesomeness!” Dash struck a heroic pose and flew up as high as she could. “But really, who could hope to keep up with THIS!” with the last syllable she darted towards the ground. She went faster, and faster, and faster, and FASTER! The sky began to bend around her and wind howled past her ears.

Come on, come on! she thought to herself. Just a little more... and that was it. The sound barrier broke, and with it a shockwave rippled outwards.

The Sonic Rainboom was as amazing as ever. The rainbow spread across the sky, clearing the snow where it went.
Ponies watched and cheered.

Dash felt proud. She stared across the group who called her name.

See? I don’t need her. The looked over the crowd again. She couldn’t stop herself. No matter what, a part of her wanted to see her number one fan among the cheering ponies.

She wasn’t there.

Dash flew home.

She’s moved on. She said to herself again and again, you need to just deal with it.

---

In a small cottage by the forest, the Sonic Rainboom could be seen, and as it happened, a pair of eyes stared out of the window. This wasn’t the first time those eyes had seen that trick, nor would it be the last, but no matter how many times Scootaloo watched that amazing feat, she couldn’t help but remember what she had seen in the pony who could pull it off. She couldn’t stop herself from remembering the times when she had watched the pony practice that trick, the times when she had watched from her own personal front row seat, and even though some of the memories hurt, she knew she wanted to see that pony again.


As always, edits were done by Chocolateunicorn.
> First Day in Spring
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


First Day in Spring


The first morning of spring dawned, casting light through the open windows of the cloud home above Ponyville. Rainbow Dash rolled over, not yet ready to greet the coming day. She mumbled in her sleep, attempting to ignore her natural alarm clock.

The light intensified over time and eventually she was forced to rise. She yawned, squinting in the bright morning light.
Something dawned on her. She wasn’t cold.

She sat there for at least a minute, registering the thought.

“That’s right,” she said slowly, “It’s Spring!” She hopped out of bed and trotted into the hall, past the small bed where the dark green form of Tank still slept, hidden within his shell.

Once in the kitchen she prepared breakfast for herself. Cereal and eggs, perfect for an athlete. She ate quickly and once ready, headed out the door. She had spent all of last night thinking over it. She wanted to put the whole Scootaloo incident behind her, and to do that she needed to resume her regular routine.

She crouched, and readied herself. Then, with a giant leap she launched off of her cloud home and plummeted towards the earth below. The ground rushed up, 300 feet, 200, 150, 100, 50. She pulled up at the last second and pulled off a spectacular flip.

“Oh yeah!” The blue pegasus cried into the open air, “I’m feelin’ good today!”

---

The same sun that woke Rainbow Dash, also worked its way into Scootaloo’s room. She submitted to its will far sooner, and was in the kitchen before Fluttershy was even stirring. She ate quickly, left food out for Angel, and headed out the door. She considered feeding the animals for today, but decided to let Fluttershy deal with them, it was her special thing to do anyway.

Around the back of the house, near the chicken coop lay her scooter. It was newly thawed in the spring sun.

“Well well, look who’s finally showed up. I thought I lost you.” She said to the inanimate object. 

She had left it outside during the first snowstorm, and by the time she thought to go get it, it was too late. The red scooter had been buried under the white layers and frozen into the pack ice.

She gave her transportation a once-over before mounting and buzzing her wings. Only to find that they wouldn’t move fast enough.

She got off and looked over her shoulder. The filly had done some real growing over the winter, and where there had once been tiny excuses for wings, were now nearly full grown, or they looked full grown on her small frame anyway.

The orange filly flapped her wings and felt the gust of air rush forward.

She grinned. She had noticed the growth, but hadn’t realized just how much of an impact the change in size had. In moments she was back on the scooter, and with a powerful thrust of her wings she rocketed forward.

“This…” she began as the wind whipped at her face, “Is awesome!”

The orange and purple form zoomed down the path to town, a huge smile plastered across her face.

---

Shops were opening just in time for the two Pegasus heading to town that morning. Mrs.Cake was outside of Sugarcube Corner, placing an ‘open’ sign in the window and cleaning the frosting off of the wall from an incident the day prior, Bon Bon was also opening the doors of her shop, Bon Bon’s Bonbons. Quills and Sofas was open 24/7, so of course it was ready for business, and the library was also open to any potential book borrowers, not that many ponies checked any books out.

Scoots made it to town faster than she ever had before. Her wings were amazing, they felt elegant, they felt powerful, this was a new world of feeling for the young pony.

I wonder if they’re strong enough to learn to fly? she thought as she made her way into the quiet hamlet of a town. She slowed herself with a single backwards flap and continued at a much slower pace.

I was great to be back in town after so long. She hadn’t seen the place in a whole season, not that it changed all that much, but she still missed tromping around it.

Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the road, eyes flitting between two buildings. She had reached a dilemma. One that everypony in the town faced from time to time.

Which sweet shop to eat at.

Now, in Ponyville there were two places to sate you sweet tooth. You could go to Sugarcube Corner, and get some of the greatest baked goods in the land, or you could buy from Bon Bon’s Bonbons, and get some amazing chocolates and taffy.
She pondered this for quite some time before making her usual choice and entering the gingerbread house of Sugarcube Corner.

Once inside, she was greeted by a rush of pink, and an excited, bubbly voice.

“HI SCOOTALOO!” Pinkie Pie was mere inches away from the filly, with a smile that was physically impossible for anypony to actually be able to pull off, but Pinkie wasn’t one to pay attention to physics.

“Hi Pinkie,” Scootaloo responded, slightly meekly. She had forgot to properly prepare herself for the likely chance of a Pinkie Pie assult.

“SO!” Pinkie began, opting to bring her volume down just a little, “What can I get ya? I’ve got cupcakes, and normal cakes, and muffins, and brownies, and cookies, and toffies, and turnovers, and…” the list went on for quite some time. Scootaloo listened to Pinkie list off the shop’s entire inventory, and as she did she noticed a strange smell.

“Uh… Pinkie?”

“And biscotti, and alligator food, and… Yes Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo pointed towards the kitchen with a hoof.

“I think something’s burning.”

She was right. Caught up in her exuberant listing of tasty treats, Pinkie had forgotten to check on the batch of cupcakes currently in the oven.

Pinkie dashed back into the kitchen and Scoots followed close behind. The oven door opened and released a puff of smoke along with the smell of burnt cupcakes.

Scootaloo coughed, Pinkie giggled like a madpony.

“Oh, they’re not that bad!” Pinkie grabbed one of the many blackened lumps and popped it into her mouth. The sound of her biting down was something akin to the sound of rock cracking. She chewed happily on the lump that would have likely shattered any other pony’s teeth.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“So.” Pinkie said, liking her lips to clean off the burnt crumbs and turning back to the filly, “What can I get you?”

“Well, I was in the mood for a cupcake, but a guess I’ll have to make due with a brownie instead.”

“Okie dokie lokie.” Pinkie Pie hopped back into the main room of the confectionary and quickly bagged a rather large, and extremely fudgy brownie for the filly.

“So how was your winter?” Pinkie asked as she placed the four bits Scoots had given her into the cash register.

“Great!” Scootaloo chimed from around the chocolaty treat in her mouth. She swallowed. “I was living with Fluttershy!”

“OOH! That sounds fun! … well everything sounds fun to me, but still, that still sounds like it’d be a whole lot of fun to get to spend all that time with…” Another Pinkie rant began, this time talking about all the fun things she’d do with Fluttershy if they spent the winter together, Scootaloo chewed on her treat and idly listened, wondering how the pink mare could talk so much all the time. It was quite a shift after spending all her time around such a quiet pony, to have Pinkie's voice assulting her ears.

---

Dash’s flight to town was very enjoyable. The warm spring air felt amazing in her wings. She decided to get her weather duties taken care of as soon as she could so that she could focus on enjoying the rest of the day.

She set to work, and in moments the clouds were bunched together into one raincloud which she herded over to one of the further edges of Sweet Apple Acres, then let loose the torrent of water contained within.

Satisfied with her work, she headed back to town. She was hungry for a cupcake, and she knew just where to find one.

> It was only me cheering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It was only me cheering


The smell of baked goods guided Rainbow Dash’s nose to the confectionary. The building of Sugarcube Corner was a rather impressive structure, looking like it was built of nothing but enormous slabs of gingerbread and held together by frosting that must have come from a tube the size of a steam engine.

Two soft  chimes signaled the cyan pegasus’s entrance to the store, the first from the door opening, and the second from it swinging back shut.

She found herself in a small room, surrounded by jars of sweets lined up into rows on wooden shelves, with a counter at 
the other end of the room.

In front of the counter sat something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

---

Scootaloo and Pinkie’s conversation went on for quite some time. Topics came and went with no apparent discretion as Pinkie talked and talked, and Scootaloo, who seemed to be taking after Fluttershy in this regard, was content to listen. 
Pinkie Pie’s endless stream of one-sided conversation was in a place somewhere between the myths about seaponies and why she thought that there were creatures from another dimension watching the ponies of Ponyville at all times, when two chimes rang out into the room, signaling the arrival of a new customer.

Pinkie jumped at least four feet in the air to display her excitement.

“RAINBOW DASH! HI!” 

She leapt across the counter and over the now frightened orange filly in order to tackle her friend to the ground, as was one of her usual greetings.

Dash looked completely stunned.

“W-wha?” Was all that she could croak out.

Pinkie smiled.

“Why so surprised? I always tackle you this time of year.” The hot pink pony got off of her friend, dusting herself off, “It’s my special way of saying I missed you over the Winter.”

Dash said nothing, staring past her exuberant friend.

Pinkie waved a hoof in front of the cyan pegasus.

“Hello? Dashie? Anypony home? It’s me, Pinkie. You’re bestest friend ever?”

Dash stepped around her friend, moving towards the filly at the back of the room.

She opened her mouth. Nothing had prepared her for such a sudden meeting. She tried to think of what to say. Something nice. Something cool. Something….

“S-squirt?”

That was not the sort of thing she wanted to say.

Scootaloo looked her over. The multi-colored mane, the sleek, cyan body, the powerful wings, yes. It was defiantly Rainbow Dash.

And she had called her Squirt again.

“Hi Dash.” Scootaloo mumbled.

Dash shuffled her hooves nervously. This was awkward.

Good job. she thought to herself, You spend the WHOLE winter planning what to say, and now that she’s here you can’t say a thing. Think THINK! You look so uncool right now.

“How’s it hangin’?”

NO! WRONG! WRONG!

“I’ve been-“

The filly was interrupted by a very loud, very pink pony.

“Me and Scootaloo have been talking about ALL SORTS of things! We’ve talked about Sugarcube Corner and how much we love cupcakes and where to buy alligator food and what we did over the winter and how much fun Fluttershy is and…”
She rambled on and on, fully unaware that the other ponies had long since left the room.

---

“PUT ME DOWN!” Scootaloo yelled at her cyan captor.

“Sorry…” Rainbow Dash set the struggling filly on the ground outside the confectionary, “I just… though we should talk someplace less… loud.”

Scootaloo stared at her old idol for a moment before bursting out laughing.

“you sound just like Fluttershy! What happened to you over the Winter?”

Dash looked crestfallen.

“I-I’ve been looking for you…”

These were the last words Scootaloo expected to hear from this pegasus.

“For me?” The orange pony was a mix of emotions. Confusion, embarrassment, awe, wonder, they all mixed within her. “Why?”

“Do… do you remember that night? T-the one where I… where I yelled at you?”

Scootaloo looked down, sadness overtaking her other emotions.

“I can remember many times you’ve yelled at me.” She looked up again, harsh sarcasm tainting her voice, “You’ll need to be more specific.”

Rainbow Dash flinched.

“T-the last time… right before Winter…” the pegasus was acting uncharacteristically timid.

Scootaloo wasn’t sure of what to make of Dash. The blue pegasus was different than she had remembered. Could one season change somepony so much?

“Yes…” Scootaloo’s voice grew softer, “I remember… Why?”

“I’ve…” Dash thought hard about what to say next. She wanted to sound cool, but every way she could put this sounded sappy. “I’ve been thinkin’… I… Look, I didn’t mean all of that. I was just…”

It was rather strange to watch. Apologizing almost seemed to hurt the blue mare.

Dash took a deep breath.

“You disappeared.  And after that… it seemed like everypony stopped cheering for me. I… I stopped feeling… awesome…” She sighed, “I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to scare you away from my practices… I didn’t mean to make you feel unwelcome around me…”

Scootaloo couldn’t believe it. Rainbow Dash was apologizing. Apologizing for the exact wrong thing.

Rainbow Dash was apologizing because SHE was hurting. She didn’t even CARE that Scootaloo had been left there crying in the forest.

Right then, with Rainbow Dash acting timid, Scootaloo felt rage rush through her. She felt like she could throw all her emotion at the sorry excuse for a mare. She was certain Rainbow Dash would take it if she did.

No.

No. That isn’t me.

“Rainbow Dash, you know why everypony stopped cheering?”

Dash looked confused.

“Why?”

“Because they weren’t cheering to begin with. They knew you were good at your tricks. They knew you were fast. They knew you were ‘awesome’ but they weren’t cheering.”

Scootaloo glared at her for a moment.

“Only I was cheering. Nopony else.”

Scootaloo turned and picked up her scooter, but after a moment turned back.

“And by the way. I live with Fluttershy now, and she’s better to me then you’ve ever been.”

Scootaloo flapped her powerful wings, and was gone with only a trail of dust floating in her wake to signal she was ever there.

Rainbow Dash sat there, dumbfounded.

She stared down the road, searching, hoping that the filly would return; that her anger had just been a mean joke.

Nothing came.

A teardrop hit the ground.

Rainbow Dash’s face was that of a broken pony. For the first time in a long time, she was truly crying.

“What did I do wrong?”

No answer came to stop her tears.

---

Scootaloo threw her scooter to the ground.

Of all the things she could have said. She was trying to make HERSELF feel better!

“WELL GUESS WHAT!” She yelled down the path back into town, “I’M OVER IT! I LEFT ALL OF THAT BEHIND! I DON’T NEED YOU!”

She was breathing heavily. It felt good to vent like that.

She took one more deep breath and headed back towards the town, this time with a destination in mind. She had a talent 
show to sign up for.

“I’m going to make Fluttershy proud.” She whispered to herself.

---

Dash flew home slowly, her wings were too tired to lift her off of the ground.

“Buck.” She muttered to herself.

Her house was no longer an option for the night.

With a sigh she turned towards the large oak tree in the middle of the town. She knew Twilight would give her a bed for the night.

She had sat in the middle of the road crying for a good ten minutes. She hadn’t been sad like that in years.

So many questions floated around her mind. 

What did I do wrong?

Why does she hate me?

Why Fluttershy’s house?

Rainbow Dash slowly trotted up to her bookish friend’s house, and raised a tired, melancholy hoof to knock on the door.
She hadn’t felt this way in a long time.

Not since her time alone on the streets of Cloudsdale.



Author's notes: Yes, I know I that making Dash an orphan also will probably piss a lot of people off. Please don't kill me. please?
> Shoulders to cry on
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Shoulders to cry on


To all ponies who had, had the pleasure of visiting, it was a unanimous agreement that there was no nicer place to spend a quiet afternoon then visiting Fluttershy’s cottage. It was cozy, secluded, and the yellow pegasus never seemed to run out of tea.

Winter wrap up day was always stressful to Twilight, but of course that was to be expected, after all she organized the whole affair. Being in charge of everything was a rather taxing job, and so the purple unicorn had chosen to spend the day after, relaxing at the most peaceful place in town, and Fluttershy was happy to accommodate her friend.

The two sat in the living room on comfortable cushions, talking quietly about nothing in particular. They sipped tea, munched shortbread, and just talked. It was wonderfully relaxing.

After a time, the conversation turned to the winter.

“And so, Spike and Owlowiscious finally stopped fighting over the cereal and we got the place cleaned up in time after all.” Twilight finished her story.

“Well, it’s good to hear that those two finally made up.” Fluttershy laughed softly.

“And what about you? Did your two smaller tenants cause any trouble?” Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at Angel who was fast asleep next to Fluttershy.

It took Fluttershy a moment to understand what Twilight meant.

“Oh, you mean Scootaloo and Angel?”

Twilight nodded.

“Oh, um, well they were fine. They argued a little bit, but Scootaloo usually won… probably because she can actually talk though.” 

The two of them giggled.

“So, how has Scootaloo been? I know that her moving in must have been a big change for both of you.”

Fluttershy smiled.

“Well… we’ve gotten to know each other much better. There are some things I never would have guessed about her.”

Twilight looked intrigued.

“Such as?”

“Well… she’s an orphan…”

Twilight smiled softly.

“I figured as much…”

“And she can dance. She’s, um, really good at it…”

Twilight looked rather surprised.

“Really? I always assumed that she’d be good at the sort of stuff Rainbow Dash does.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Yeah, it was a real surprise.”

The two chatted for a while longer until the sun began to dip, indicating that midday had long since passed.
With a warm smile, Twilight stood from her cushion and stretched.

“Thanks so much for having me over ‘Shy, I really appreciate it.”

Fluttershy stood as well.

“No, it was nothing Twilight, feel free to come over whenever.”

Twilight thanked her friend once more before turning to open the door, only to have it swing open and just barely miss her face.

There, in the doorway stood an angry looking Scootaloo. The filly registered the surprise on the purple librarian’s face and her expression turned apologetic.

“Oh, uh, sorry Twilight. I didn’t know you were there…”

“It’s quite alright. Something the matter?” Concern cracked Twilights voice.

Scootaloo scowled at the ground.

“No.”

She stormed off to her room, leaving the other ponies confused in her wake.

“Well, that was strange…” Twilight muttered, “Anyway, take care Fluttershy, and I’ll see you around okay?”

Fluttershy smiled and waved as her purple friend stepped through the doorframe and into the evening air.

“Bye Twilight…”

Fluttershy watched Twilight disappear down the path before turning back into her house. She began to clean up the slight mess that had appeared on her floor from her friend’s brief visit. It was while she was picking up cushions and putting the teacups away that she heard a sound she hadn’t heard in a whole season. A sound that hadn’t fallen on her ears since the day she had first taken Scootaloo in.

The filly was back in her room, crying.





Twilight trotted home, slightly worried. Scootaloo had looked very upset. She hoped that Fluttershy would be able to deal with her.

She sighed as she opened the door to her tree-home. Fluttershy’s place was nice, but nothing really could ever beat being in your own home.

“Spiiiiike.” She called out cheerfully, “I’m home.”

The sound of a ladder rung collapsing and the muffled thump of a small form falling into a pile of books indicated that Spike was still doing his chores, and she had interrupted him.

She trotted to one of the back bookcases to see a purple tail poking out from a pile of books. It looked like Spike had fallen from a ladder and brought the entire juvenile fiction section down with him.

Twilight’s horn glowed and the books moved off of him. The dragon underneath looked dazed.

“Spike? What’s wrong? You should have gotten your chores done hours ago.”

He sat up rubbing his head.

“I know, but Rainbow Dash showed up a little while ago and I had to set up a bed for her.”

“Rainbow Dash is here?”

Twilight looked around the room, confused.

“She’s upstairs, laying in the spare bed. So Twi… would you mind helping me with these…”

Twilight was already upstairs.

“…books…”

Spike sighed and went back to work.





“Rainbow?” Twilight asked to the motionless form on her spare bed, “Rainbow Dash? Are you alright.”

The pegasus sat up slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face wet from crying.

“Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, what happened to you?”

The cyan pegasus  looked at her friend helplessly.

“I-I… I tried to apologize…”

Twilight sat down next to her friend, putting a hoof around dash, trying to comfort her.

“Can you start from the beginning?”





Fluttershy sat next to Scootaloo. It had taken some time to calm the filly down, but once she had, Scootaloo slowly recounted the events of the day.

Fluttershy sighed internally. Rainbow Dash hadn’t handled that right at all. She still wasn’t taking Scootaloo’s feelings into account.

Fluttershy also felt very proud. Proud that Scootaloo hadn’t let anger take control of her. She hugged the smaller pony, doing everything in her power to cheer her up.

Scootaloo hugged her back, and a small smile broke through on her sad face.

“I… not everything was bad today though…” Scootaloo mumbled.

“Oh? What else happened?”

“I signed up for the talent show.”

Fluttershy backed up, looking very pleased.

“Wonderful!” her face fell and her voice grew quiet again, “Um… I-I mean, that’s great….”

Scootaloo giggled just a little bit. Some things would never change about Fluttershy.

After a while, Angel bunny became curious where fluttershy had gone. He hopped back to Scootaloo’s room and found the two other residents of the cottage talking happily. It had only taken a conversation with Fluttershy, a simple chance to talk, to cheer Scootaloo up and make her feel true joy once more.

Scootaloo realized this too. She felt so happy whenever Fluttershy took the time to talk to her. There had been a time where the only other ponies who would listen to her were her friends, but even then she couldn’t speak freely. She had to keep up her façade of Rainbow Dash-esque coolness.

This was a feeling that she would never tire of.

The rest of the day was spent in the house. Scootaloo began laying out her routine for the show, Fluttershy offered quiet encouragement and a little bit of timid critique here and there, Angel watched them go about it, wondering when dinner would be.

They were like a family.





Twilight listened as the broken Rainbow Dash finished her story. The pegasus’s tears had returned during the tale.

“S-she was r-right.” Rainbow Dash sniveled, “N-nopony was cheering… I’ve j-just been making an ass of myself…”

Twilight let her friend lean against her, she knew that sometimes the best thing you could do was listen.

“You could always try to make it right…” Twilight mumbled.

“Rainbow Dash sat up and looked her friend in the eye.

“How? I-I traied apologizing, and you saw h-how royally I screwed that up…”

“Then don’t apologize. The one thing Scootaloo ever wanted from you, was some attention.”

“B-but I don’t… how can I…” Rainbow wasn’t fit to think straight. Her mid was simply too scattered right now.

Twilight stood, leaving her friend on the spare bed.

“Rest. I’ll tell you tomorrow, but for now you need sleep.”

Rainbow laid down, and the lights went out.

“Good night.” Twilight called from her own bed across the room.

Dash simply laid her head on her pillow, trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts in her mind.

“Twilight?”

“Yes Rainbow?”

“… Did you know she’s been staying with Fluttershy?”

“Yes I did.”

“Do…” Dash’s voice cracked, “Do you know why?”

Twilight was silent for a moment, before whispering her response.

“Because she is an orphan.”

Dash’s heart pounded.

Her mistakes came flooding back to her.

Everything she had ever said to Scootaloo that might have hurt her, every moment of confusion, every crack of sadness she had ever seen in the filly’s face; It all made sense now.

Oh dear Celestia. Dash thought, She’s just like me.

Dash spent the night troubled. Worrying for a filly who she feared she had hurt more than one so young ever should be.
Phrases thrown at the orange filly returned to her mind.

”Go home.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Squirt, I need some space. Go back to your house”

It was during that night that Dash’s perception of Scootaloo changed. She remembered such phrases thrown at her as a filly. Things that seemed like normal things to say, still carried pain.

She finally fell asleep, with her final thoughts being how painful it is to be told to go home, when you have no family to go home to.
> To make things right
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


To make things right.


Rainbow Dash awoke with a cold chill. Her dreams during the night were haunting and troubled her sleep. She sat up and sighed. Earth pony beds weren’t as comfortable as cloud beds, but it was comforting to wake in a room and not be alone.
Twilight still slept. Her face was much calmer than Dash’s had been during her own restless sleep.

Dash slowly forced herself out of the bed her friend had been so kind to lend her, and made her way to the small kitchen in the back of the library. There she prepared herself some breakfast, and as an afterthought made some for Twilight as well.

It’s the least I can do to thank her…

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the best cook in Equestria, but after a few attempts, she had created something passable.

The cyan pony sat down with a sigh. A plate with bagels topped with cream cheese, and some eggs on the side sat atop the counter. The fruits of her labor of thanks.

The cooking had taken her mind off of yesterday’s mishap, but now that she was once again sitting quiet, those thoughts returned once more. They floated around her head erratically like gnats. They teased her and annoyed her to no end.
She tried to think about something else, anything. Flying, barrel rolls, being awesome, weather patrol, the wonderbolts… nothing would take her mind off of the guilt, and the crushing sadness of realization.

She sighed.

I really hope Twilight wakes up soon…





Morning dawned early in the forest cottage. Scootaloo was asleep, draped across the small coffee table in the living room. It appeared she hadn’t moved since last night when she had been planning her routine on a piece of paper with crayons and imagination. Her breathing was light, almost as quiet as that of the bunny whom was curled up beside her. The two had worked late into the night; Scootaloo doing the drawing and choreographing, and Angel offering criticism and supervision (meaning he had been watching her work while he snacked on carrots).

Fluttershy had actually returned to her room before falling asleep the night before, and it was there that she woke up as rays of sunlight filtered through her window and fell across her face.

With a yawn, the yellow Pegasus rose from the warm embrace of her bed and stepped into the hallway. She trotted along the hall into the living room. It was there that her eyes fell upon a sight that melted her timid heart.

It was impossible to describe the feeling of joy that flowed through Fluttershy when she saw her bunny, and her guest sleeping side by side. She quietly pulled a blanket from a nearby closet and placed it over the two of them. With a motherly smile on her face, she went to prepare herself some breakfast.

She prepared a simple breakfast, just enough for two ponies, along with cleaning some carrots for her bunny. A plate with some toast and a cup of tea was left on the table next to the sleeping filly.

Fluttershy finished her own portion of breakfast rather quickly and once she took a few minutes to brush the tangle from her mane, she trotted quietly out the front door, down the path towards town, a specific destination in mind.

The yellow pegasus trotted happily down the path. She enjoyed hearing the birds of spring happily singing their songs in the cool morning air. The dirt below was damp with dew and what was left of the snow from a few days prior. After a time the trees around her gave way to the first buildings of the edge of town.

It was early enough to be quiet, while not being completely deserted. Some shops were already opened, but it was the weekend, ponies weren’t exactly in the mood to wake up early.

Luckily for Fluttershy, the particular shop she was looking for was open. Rarity was always one to open her doors as early as possible, no matter what she said during the day about needing beauty sleep. Fluttershy trotted on past the library towards the boutique.

Inside the library, another pony was opening her eyes to the new sunlight.





Twilight’s eyes fluttered open, and her nose was greeted with the scent of warm breakfast wafting up from downstairs.
“Spike?” she called out, “Did you make breakfast?”

It was a little unusual for Spike to be up so early, he was just a baby dragon after all.

She sat up and stretched, noting that Rainbow Dash’s bed was without its occupant.

In a brisk trot, she made her was downstairs, only to find that chef responsible for the warm smells of food was taller and bluer than she had been expecting.

“Oh Rainbow! You’re looking better this morning.” She chimed, happy to see her friend in an apparent better mood.
“Yeah… I feel a little better.” The responded quietly, “Want some breakfast?”

Twilight smiled.

“That sounds wonderful.”
The two sat down and Rainbow set out the plates.

“So,” Twilight began after swallowing her first bite, “Do you have any ideas on how to fix things with Scootaloo?”
Rainbow chewed thoughtfully before swallowing.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do… I’m bad with words, only good at tooting my own horn.” The cyan pony sighed sadly.
“That’s true… but sometimes actions speak louder than words you know… maybe if you do something special for her.” Twilight said encouragingly, “And if anypony is good at action, it’s you Raindow Dash.”

“What could I possibly do for her? I hurt her so much…”

“That’s what you need to figure out. Nopony ever promised it would be easy.”

With a sigh and a heavy heart, Rainbow Dash stood, and readied herself to go outside and meet the day. After all, she still had a job to do, and maybe while she was at it she’d figure out what to do to try to make amends with the young orange filly.

With a deep breath, she opened the door, trotted outside, and bumped into Fluttershy.

With a surprised squeak, Fluttershy tripped and fell to the ground, dropping her shopping bag to the ground.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash helped her friend up.

Fluttershy shook her head to clear it after the fall.

“Oh that’s okay Rainbow D-” the shocked registered on her face as the yellow pegasus realized who she was talking to, “-ash…”

A nervous silence brewed between the two.

“Um…” Rainbow bent to pick up the bag, sporting a carousel boutique logo on the side, “You dropped you bag.”
Fluttershy took the bag, looking slightly flustered.

“Oh, um, thank you…” She slowly turned to walk away.

“Wait.” Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “Fluttershy, I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Scootaloo.”

“Oh…”





Scootaloo woke a few minutes after Fluttershy had left. When she woke, the presence of the blanket had surprised her.

Fluttershy must have left this here…

She smiled and pulled the blanket closer around herself, and turned back to her project, munching on the breakfast left for her as she went.

She couldn’t have been happier.

The times she had been over to her friend’s houses, she had seen their older siblings or parents do nice things like that. Bring them snacks, offer a helping hand.

This was the first time Scootaloo had been given such love.

She cherished the feeling.





“And that’s how it happened…” Fluttershy finished the story of how Scootaloo came to live with her.

Rainbow Dash looked to be on the brink of tears again.

“O-oh no, um… don’t cry Rainbow Dash… I uh…”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to stop her midsentence.

“Please Fluttershy. I want to f-fix this. Can you think of any possible way, any way at all that I could make her happy?”
It was everything Dash could do to keep her composure as Fluttershy thought about her request.

“You could come to the talent show… cheer her on.”

“How would that help?”

“Because for once… well, you would be cheering for her.”

I would be cheering for her…

She’d be in the spotlight.

She’d be the important one.

The color seemed to return to Dash’s mane. She seemed to stand straighter that day, no longer slouching out of despair.
She had a plan.

A plan to make things right.

A plan that would change everything.

And that night, for the first time in an entire season, the cyan pegasus fell asleep happy.

> To be forgiven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


To be forgiven.


For at least a week before the date of the Ponyville talent show, the town was already abuzz with talk. Ponyville was a quiet town, so even a small show or performance could get the residents excited. The occasional flier hung, taped to a window, but the real source of excitement was word of mouth.

Last year’s show had been interesting to say the least. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had stolen the show, for better or for worse. Their ‘rock opera’ had led to the destruction of an entire set, along with the stage’s curtains and multiple floorboards. Needless to say, the only pony happy with the outcome was the town carpenter.

Although the performance had left much to be desired, the stage had been completely rebuilt, which meant that this year’s performance would be on a newer, bigger stage, and that fact alone was enough to excite everypony.

Most of the foals had entered before winter, giving them an entire season to practice their acts, but Scootaloo had only submitted her entry slip days before the performance lineup had been made. Because of this, she got shuffled into the order as last act, and that was perfectly fine with her.

“Do you have your bag?”

“Yes Fluttershy.”

“And your lunch?”

“Yes.”

“Your record?”

“Yes I… no! Where is it?”

Scootaloo dashed over to the shelf where the musical disks were kept.

Her’s wasn’t there.

“Oh no oh no oh no! What if I lost it?!?”

The filly began dashing around the living room, searching high and low, low and high.

“Calm down,” Fluttershy giggled, “It’s right here.”

The yellow pegasus lifted it off of the record player and passed it to Scootaloo.

“Oh thank Celestia…” Scootaloo sighed as she placed it into her bag, “I thought I’d lost it….”

She gave Fluttershy a hug.

“Thanks~”

“Oh, no trouble.” 

Fluttershy smiled. Seeing the filly happy was enough to warm her heart.

“So, you’ll be back before dark right?” Fluttershy asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
Scootaloo simply rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I promise.”

“And don’t do anything too dangerous.”

“I’m just going to practice.”

“I know but…”

“Don’t worry.” Scootaloo smiled up at her mother figure, “I’ll be careful.”

With another quick hug, Scootaloo was on her way. Her scooter rocketed down the path towards town as she headed towards the stage.

She had been getting in practice time on a real stage in preparation for the actual performance. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had been on spotlight duty, keeping it trained on her friend as the filly became an orange blur of pirouettes and leaps.

Scootaloo felt a rush as she arrived and stepped onto the stage.

It felt completely natural.

In one motion she swung her saddlebag onto the wood paneling and opened the top. Inside lay three things.
First, there was her lunch, a sandwich and thermos of juice. Simple enough.

Second, there was her record. It was a mystery to her how so much sound could be stored on so small a disk. She set it to the side, revealing the third thing in her bag.

Her dress.

It was possibly her most cherished possession. It had been less than a week ago when Fluttershy had returned from her early morning trip to Carousel Boutique with a bag containing the wonderful garment.

It was bright red, with three layers of fabric for the skirt, each longer than the one on top, and bordered with about an inch of white fabric.

The sleeves were short, barely going past her shoulders. They were layered just like the skirt, but poofed out more.
The belt was black, with an intricate design of leaves and swirls running along its entire length.

It was perfect.

Scootaloo donned the dress, and became an entirely different filly.

She changed from Scootaloo, the orphan;

Into Scootaoo, the dancer.

She couldn’t wait a moment longer to begin her practice.





Atop a cloud, sat a cyan form.

Rainbow Dash lay back in a reclined position. If any of her friends has seen her there, they would have suspected her to be slacking off or napping, which, on any other occasion, she would have been.  But not today.

Today, just like every day prior for almost a week now, she was waiting; waiting for the telltale sound of music to announce that a certain orange filly had arrived.

Rainbow Dash had been much more upbeat this past couple of days. Her time was spent working, practicing her tricks, and, in secret, watching Scootaloo practice her routine.

Rainbow Dash had never been one to enjoy dance, it was too slow for her, but in the hours spent watching the filly practice, she had to admit that it was rather impressive. There was something about the flow of the act that brought to mind her intricate aerial routines. Yet, when compared to the dance, Dash’s routines seemed… rough. They lacked the grace that gave the dance its appeal.

Either way, Dash now knew the routine down to a T. She had the music memorized, down to every last note.
Her plan couldn’t have been more perfect.

It was exactly what Scootaloo needed.

Her dance alone was good, but Dash knew that she could make it shine.

The music floated through the cottony cloud, into Dash’s ear. The pegasus smiled.

It was time to watch once more.





Scootaloo ran her routine three times before breaking for lunch. She had worked up quite a sweat, and with it an appetite. 
She sat down, still wearing her dress, and dug into her lunch bag. The sandwich was downed quickly, as was the juicebox, but as she moved to throw the bag away she felt something else rattling inside.

With a quick glance, she discovered a hidden treat in the bag. A single, heart-shaped cookie, topped with colored sugar. Scootaloo grinned at Fluttershy’s secret gift, and quickly ate that too.

She rested for a time, letting her food digest.

She stared up at the clouds. She enjoyed watching them lazily drift overhead. There had been a time when she would watch the clouds, hoping for a glimpse of Rainbow Dash, but those times were long gone.

Rainbow Dash…

Her memories of that rainbow-maned Pegasus were varied. Some were good, but others were painful. It always seemed to be the painful ones that surfaced when Scootaloo’s thoughts turned to the pony that used to occupy her dreams.

With a sigh, Scootaloo got back on her hooves, intent on practicing at least once more before heading home, but as she did she caught a glimpse of something in the cloud directly above her.

It had looked like a pony’s face darting out of view.

A blue face.

Has Rainbow Dash been watching me?

The thought made her happy, no matter what her feelings to the pegasus might actually be.

She returned to her practice with a redoubled effort, intent on putting on a real show for her possible audience.





The two days left until the talent show blurred by. Scootaloo practiced and practiced until she felt confident that she could perform her routine in her sleep. Her days were nothing but sleep, practice, and meals with Fluttershy and Angel.

It had been one of the most tiring weeks of her life.

She loved it.

The night of the show was a flurry of activity at Fluttershy’s house. Scootaloo seemed to have misplaced everything. The record wasn’t on the player, her bag wasn’t at the door, and her dress wasn’t hanging up where it usually was.

“Have you seen my bag?”

“Um… no. Try checking under your bed.”

“But I already looked there.”

“Well… try again?”

“Found it!”

“And where was it?”

“Under my bed.”

“But you said you already looked there…”

“... uh... Fluttershy? Have you see the record?”

Fluttershy sighed. The stress of getting out the door was quite a lot more than she had imagined, but with time they were out the door and headed down the path towards the town, and the stage where ponies were already gathering.

The two of them made good time, and Scootaloo was ready to go backstage and get into her dress when Fluttershy stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder.

Fluttershy kneeled down to eyes level with the filly, and opened her mouth to speak.

“Are you um… nervous?”

Scootaloo nodded, “A little.”

“Don’t worry. You’ve worked hard for this. Whatever happens, I’ll be proud of you.”

Fluttershy gave the smaller pony a quick hug before shooing her backstage.

“I’ll be cheering you on.”





Fluttershy made her way through the crowd out front of the stage. Almost all of Ponyville was in attendance.

Crowds like this usually intimidated poor Fluttershy, but not tonight. Tonight, the only thing that mattered, was seeing Scootaloo preform.

Amongst the crowd o pastel coats, one pony stood out. Fluttershy weaved her way through the crowd to Rainbow Dash’s side.

“Oh, you came. That’s so wonderful! Scootaloo will be so happy.”

Rainbow Dash smiled at her friend.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

The lights around them dimmed, signaling that the show was about to begin. They sat, side by side as the first act prepared itself to go on stage and begin the show.

They were both excited.





Scootaloo got backstage and changed into her dress as quickly as possible. Once changed, she dropped her record off with Vinyl Scratch, who had volunteered to take care of the music for the show this year.

“Please don’t scratch this one.”  Scootaloo pleaded to the D.J. pony.

“Hey,” She laughed, “Just because that’s my name doesn’t mean that’s all I do. Your record will return to you in one piece. I promise.”

Scootaloo thanked the D.J. and headed to the waiting area, she had quite a long wait ahead of her. She was the last act after all.

A half hour passed, and only nine of the twenty acts had gone. Scootaloo was getting anxious. She hadn’t been expecting for it to take this long.

What if I mess up?

You’ll be fine.

But what if…

You’ll. Be. Fine.

It took her a moment to realize that she had been arguing with herself.

“I need to calm down. The stress is going to my head.”

She continued to sit, waiting, growing more anxious with every passing minute. As she waited, the few others who remained in the waiting room slowly disappeared until she was all alone.

Then it was time.





The second to last act finished up on stage, and the performers packed their things. The stage was clear, and a spotlight ready.

Fluttershy stared, excited. It was time finally; time for Scootaloo to shine.

“Are you ready Rainbow Dash?” She whispered to the pegasus next to her.

Only Rainbow Dash wasn’t there. Her spot was empty.

She had left.

She had sat every other act, but was going to skip out on Scootaloo's

Fluttershy felt a pang of sadness in her heart. Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to go through with it. She wasn’t here to cheer Scootaloo on.

She wasn’t going to keep her promise.

She was going to be disloyal.

Fluttershy’s saddened train of thought was interrupted when the music started. It began, soft and low as a small orange figure trotted to center stage.

Scootaloo’s dress shined under the spotlight, a ruby at center stage.

Then, the music jumped, and so did Scootaloo. Her routine began to bring across the stage, from end to end. She danced her heart out, banishing all of her nervousness with her first few moves.

She was a blur of motion and grace, flowing across the stage, leaving no floorboard untouched.

The music ebbed and flowed, like tides on a beach, and Scootaloo was the sea breeze, flowing along the sandy banks.
The routine progressed, and the music built.

Then, with the final pirouette and the crescendo of the music, something happened.

Just above the stage, a rainbow exploded, as if it had been summoned by the orange filly’s dancing.

She held her final pose, and stared in shock at the wave of color that seemed to exist only to highlight her existence.
Silence.

As the rainbow began to fade, and motes of light began to twinkle down onto the crowd, the awe-struck ponies that made up the audience exploded into applause.

Scootaloo nearly cried. Never in her life, had she felt so truly happy.

With a bow, she left the stage, heart soaring.





Being the last performance, the night had already fallen around Scootaloo’s routine. It was the perfect cover for Rainbow Dash’s plan. 

She had told nopony about it. Nopony had any idea what she was planning. She watched the performance from the sky, waiting for the perfect moment in the routine she knew so well. Then she descended towards the stage below.

Never in her life had Rainbow Dash performed a trick to do anything but draw attention to herself. That’s what the tricks were meant for, to draw attention to their performer, but not tonight. Tonight’s Sonic Rainboom was for one pony only. It was for Scootaloo.

Of course, even though nopony in the audience had any idea where the mysterious rainbow had come from, Scootaloo knew the instant she saw the sky light up.

Rainbow Dash had done something for her.

For her alone.

As she stepped out of the changing room, two pegasai waited for her, one yellow, and one blue.

“Hey Squirt…” Rainbow Dash murmured, softly hugging the filly back.

“Rainbow Dash… thank you so much.”

The Rainbow pegasus took a step back and smiled at the filly.

“It was nothing. Nothing you didn’t deserve anyway.”

“Listen… Rainbow Dash… I…”

But she was cut off as a magenta pony interjected into their conversation.

“Scootaloo,” Cheerilee chimed, “It’s time for the award ceremony”

“Oh, um…”

Scootaloo looked from Cheerilee to Rainbow Dash until the cyan pegasus nodded.

“Go on. You deserve whatever you get.”

With a smile plastered onto her face, Scootaloo followed her teacher back to the stage, and once there, she waited.
The awards were handed out one by one. Best magic show, best comedy routine, all the usuals were there.

But one was given out that hadn’t been in last year’s set, a medal that the situation for its awarding hadn’t arisen in years.

“Our final award for the night,” Chimed Cheerilee, “Goes to… SCOOTALOO!”

Scootaloo gasped. She couldn’t think of any award she would have won.

“W-what did I get?” she asked, dashing towards her teacher.

With a grin, Cheerilee produced an award the little filly had never seen before.

“You’ve won, the Cutie Mark Award!”

She was dumbfounded.

“W-what?!?!”

With a sly grin Cheerilee pointed to Scootaloo’s flank, and sure enough, there it was.

Her Cutie Mark.

Depicted on her flank were two ballet shoes, each pale yellow with pastel pink straps, Fluttershy’s colors. But these weren’t normal ballet shoes, they were winged, and the wings were cyan.

Fluttershy’s colors were there to keep her hooves on the ground, and Rainbow Dash’s wings for when she wished to soar.
As the medal was placed around her neck, the crowd exploded into applause once more, but two voices stood out louder than any of the others.

“Way to go Squirt!”

“WooHoo! She did it!”

Those two pegasai cheered loudest, and it brought a tear of joy to her eye.





Scootaloo returned home that night; home to Fluttershy’s cottage, or in Scootaloo’s mind, her mom’s cottage, although those words never were said aloud. Even so, Scootaloo sensed that Fluttershy thought something similar.

The filly fell asleep with a smile on her face. This had most definitely been the best night ever, and tomorrow could only be better.

Rainbow Dash had promised her some flying lessons, seeing as her wings were finally big enough.

Scootaloo had asked for only flying lessons though, no tricks or stunts. She was a dancer after all, not an acrobat.
The filly ran over her schedule for the next day.

Wake up,

Get breakfast,

Feed the animals,

Maybe go crusading with her friends,

And finally, Fly.

And thus began Scootaloo’s new life.

The end.






Author’s note: Here it is. The shiny new rewritten ending. I hope you enjoyed it.
-Juy