When Scootaloo visits Rainbow Dash over the weekend, a terrible secret is revealed. Now Rainbow Dash must do everything she can to keep the filly happy.
Scootaloo is refusing to go home. She's flinching at things that shouldn't scare her. She's refusing to talk about her parents.
Rainbow has to figure out what's wrong with her little sister, and how much of her idyllic sounding childhood she had made up.
"-And then right before they hit the ground there was this giant colorful explosion! And she caught Rarity! A-And then she caught Spitfire, Soarin, and Misty Fly all at the same time! If she was a second later nobody would've made it, but Rainbow has a flair for the dramatic!" The little orange pegasus recalled excitedly, smacking the ground for emphasis as her wings buzzed. "And then she flew them all back up to the stadium, and Princess Celestia called her down and said she was the best ever, and then she spent the rest of the day hanging out with the Wonderbolts and impressing them with her moves!"
"Wow!" Chorused the other foals, save two hiding in the background with sour looks upon their faces. One such foal decided it had been long enough that the spotlight wasn't on her.
"Oh sure, the flightless blank flank became good friends with a mare recognized by the Princess herself. I think we all know this is the chicken's lies to make her seem less pathetic." Spoke the pink earth pony from the background. "Get real, even if somebody could do that, they would never hang out with a loser like you!"
Giving off her trademark antagonistic laugh, Diamond Tiara drank in the attention, relishing at the crestfallen look on Scootaloo's face, but her gloating was cut short when a cream colored earth pony walked up to her, an angry look on her face.
"Oh yea? Well why don't y'all just stick around when Rainbow Dash comes to help Scoots with a flyin' lesson? Ah bet she'll show you then that she ain't playin'!"
Undeterred, Diamond that as took another chance to insult the pegasus.
"What, now you need to get flying lessons from strangers? Mommy and Daddy already give up on you? Can't blame them, they must know chickens belong on the ground." She spat, her own grin growing wider as Scootaloo seemed to find something very interesting on the ground to stare at.
It was Sweetie Belle's turn to step up. The white unicorn didn't know about Scootaloo's family situation, she only knew that every time somebody brought it up, Scootaloo deflected questions with ease. It seemed to be a very sensitive subject for her.
"Hey!" She interjected, her voice cracking. "What's wrong with getting help from a Wonderbolt? Maybe it means she's gonna be on their level!"
"Oh I'm sure." Said Diamond slowly, watching Sweetie Belle pat her friend on the back, trying to rouse her spirits.
"Yeah! Scootaloo shot back, jumping to her hooves. "You come along and I'll prove that Rainbow Dash can do it!"
Diamond just gave her a curt nod as she prepared to follow the pegasus to her lesson, thinking she was sure that she just won.
"Rainbow Dash! Over here!" A small voice beneath the cyan pegasus called out.
Catching the telltale color of the orange filly walking to the pre-arranged meeting ground, Rainbow smiled and flew over to her surrogate sister and gently noogie'd her, granting an exciting giggle from her.
"Hey sis! How are you doin?" She chuckled, before catching sight of the slew of other fillies behind her. She recognized the other members of the CMC, her friend's younger sisters, and a few other foals she didn't recognize. "Heya Applebloom, Sweetie Belle. Who are your friends here?"
Scootaloo showed disgust as soon as Rainbow Dash said "friends". Her wings buzzing again, she pointed at a pink earth pony wearing some sort of head wear.
"Diamond Tiara here said that the Sonic Rainboom was impossible, and even if it was, nobody that could do it would hang out with me. So I wondered if you could prove them wrong?" Scootaloo gave her best sad puppy eyes.
Diamond Tiara.
Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she recognized the name. She'd heard all too many times from Scootaloo how badly Diamond Tiara had bullied her and her friends. She was also pretty sure Scootaloo downplayed a lot of it to seem tough. Seeing the cautiously hopeful look in her sister's eyes, and having the intense desire to make a bully eat their own words granted her a big smile. Oh, she would take divine pleasure in this.
"Sure thing sis. You got it."
With a big smile from her little sister, Rainbow rocketed into the air, flying up several hundreds of feet. She could just imagine the sour look on Diamond Tiara's face outmatched by the gleeful one on Scootaloo's. With a deep breath, Rainbow closed her eyes and stopped flapping, instantly falling back down into a nosedive. Her eyes snapped open, and she let out her breath slowly as the adrenaline started pumping through her veins.
These were the moments she lived for.
All too soon the familiar mach cone started forming around her, and with a sly grin, she broke it, throwing a prismatic ring around her as the shock wave from the boom blew the manes back of her eagerly watching audience.
Not content for the show to end, she skimmed along the ground, reaching the back of the group of fillies before turning horizontal, her primary feather brushing the ground. She spun a few tight circles around the fillies before shooting straight back up again to raucous cheers.
As she landed back down on the ground she couldn't help but smile back at Scootaloo, who's face had almost been bisected by the giant grin she wore. Rainbow decided to embellish her next words a bit just to mess with the bully.
"Couple more flying lessons squirt, and you'll be able to do that too!" She laughed, looking over at the shocked face of Scootaloo's tormentor, whose face had frozen in a look of pure shock.
Struggling for words, Diamond Tiara grasped at her mental straws.
"I... I... Uh, well do you honestly think Scootaloo could ever do that?"
Rainbow pretended not to understand.
"Well..." Rainbow began. "It might be a bit less colorful considering squirt here doesn't have a rainbow mane, but I don't see why not." At this, Scootaloo started jumping for joy, buzzing her wings in pure excitement.
Diamond flashed back to her coup de grâce. When in doubt, make fun of her enemy.
"Well, she obviously can't fly. So she never will."
Rainbow wanted so back to jump at the filly. To make her eat her words. But she took a deep breath knowing that would only make the situation worse in the long run.
"Way I see it." Rainbow said haughtily, winking at the ecstatic orange pegasus. "Even in the unlikely case Scoots here does end up unable to fly, she'd still be a hundred times more awesome than... Oh, I dunno, some bratty bully. Y'know, in a hypothetical situation." Rainbow shot an innocent look at Diamond Tiara.
Turning back to Scootaloo, she grabbed her in her forelegs and took off. "Anyway, very special pegasus business here, we really must go." And flew off before the preppy pink pony could offer a rebuttal.
"Rainbow Dash! That was awesome! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Scootaloo squeaked as Rainbow Dash tossed her up, and turned so the filly landed straight on her back. Scootaloo climbed up to her shoulders and grasped her neck in an iron hug.
"No problem champ. Can't let those other ponies make you think you aren't every bit as awesome as you actually are." Rainbow smiled. "Now c'mon. Applejack showed me how to cook something new and I'm pretty sure I can make it for you without burning my cloudhouse down."
Scootaloo was always impressed by Rainbow's house. It floated several hundred feet in the air. It was three stories high, had several different rainbow waterfalls, and had a giant picture of her cutie mark pasted above her front door. All the more impressively, Rainbow Dash had told her she built it entirely herself.
As usual, Scootaloo was captivated by the sight as Rainbow flew over to her front door. Scootaloo hadn't been up to Rainbow's home very many times yet, but each time felt like a treat.
Landing smoothly. Rainbow reached her front door and pushed through, depositing the small filly on the nearby couch with a giggle as she declared she was gonna make lunch.
While Rainbow sauntered over to the kitchen, Scootaloo drank in the sights. Immediately to the right of the front door was a large couch that could probably fit four fully grown ponies. The couch extended ninety degrees, and between the two sides there was a large ottoman. Opposite the couch, on the left side of the door was a large window with light blue curtains.
Immediately opposite the door, there was a large open staircase that led into the kitchen. Once there, there was a bunch of cupboards and the stove, enchanted to stay above clouds, on the left, making way to a large table on the corner opposite that. On the right was a large fridge. Further in than that was a staircase that led to three rooms. The guest room first, on the right. Then a little further on was Rainbow Dash's room to the left, then finally on the right again was the bathroom. At the end of the hall was the drop ladder that led to the attic, which mostly contained a lot of dusty old boxes.
Busy drinking in the sights, Scootaloo didn't notice Rainbow Dash sneaking up behind her. Biting back the desire to scare the filly, Rainbow casually decided to open conversation.
"Hey squirt, what's got you so blue?"
Jumping slightly, Scootaloo whipped her head around to see a calm Rainbow Dash. Her temporary panic instantly quelled, she led out a giggle.
"I'm not blue Rainbow, I'm orange! You're blue!"
Rainbow let out a soft "hmm" as she picked Scootaloo up in her forelegs, pretending to inspect the giggling filly.
"You might just be right, Scoot." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Well, just came to tell you I made food. And I only almost burned my kitchen down. C'mon!"
Letting the filly down, Rainbow Dash led her to the kitchen where a steaming plate of pancakes sat. There was a tray of butter, a small bottle of syrup, and a small cup of strawberries between two empty plates.
"That was the meal Applejack taught you?" Scootaloo teased. "You didn't know how to make pancakes?"
Rainbow stuck her tongue out in retort. "Well do you know how to make pancakes?"
"Fair point." Scootaloo giggled, before sitting down next to Dash. She put five pancakes on her plate and drizzled them in syrup.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this. "Jeez squirt, I know pegasi, especially us daredevils, have a fast metabolism but dang. You eating enough at home?"
Scootaloo put down her fork, all the happiness fled from her face. "Oh no, no, no it's fine. I had a small lunch at school because I didn't want to cramp for practice. And I was looking at one of my mom's old diet books because athletes are supposed to stay in shape, r-right?"
"Well, I don't think you need to worry about dieting at your age. You need enough fuel to power those wings and starving yourself won't do you any favors." Rainbow spoke with trepidation. "But you'd let me know if something wasn't alright, right?" Rainbow didn't say anything about how Scootaloo couldn't have been following a diet if she was gorging herself on so many pancakes right after school.
Scootaloo just smiled and nodded. And with that, the pancakes were devoured without mercy. The two pegasi spent the next few hours working on building up Scootaloo's wing strength, and collapsed onto the couch just before the sun began to set.
Rainbow gave a heavy yawn as she rolled onto her back. "Alright champ. If I have you out too much longer, no doubt your parents can nab me on a foalnapping charge. So how's about I give you a little fly home?"
Scootaloo, who had previously been rolling around on the couch, trying to find the most comfortable position, froze.
"W-well, they're kinda off celebrating their anniversary this weekend, so I told them I'd find a place to crash." Scootaloo mumbled. "C-can I..." She trailed off, looking away.
"Can you what?" Rainbow asked, rolling onto her stomach to fix the filly with an inquisitive stare.
"Um... Well I mean I was gonna ask if I could... stay... here?" Scootaloo refuses to meet Rainbow's stare, staring at the opposite wall instead. "I mean if not it's fine. I can go and try to ask Sweetie Belle, I mean that's what I did last year a-"
Rainbow Dash silenced her with a hoof on her shoulder. Scootaloo's eyes eventually met hers, obviously assuming the worst.
"Yeah, no problem squirt. I can clear out the guest bedroom and you can crash as long as you want."
Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, wings buzzing in excitement. "Really Rainbow Dash? Oh thank you. Thank you!"
Rainbow just chuckled and indicated Scootaloo should follow her with her head. She led Scootaloo to the guest bedroom, which more recently become something a bit more akin to a trophy room with a couple of Wonderbolts and Daring Do posters. Scootaloo however, was impressed as expected.
"Sorry it's a little crowded in here." Rainbow started, pulling the curtains open and dusting off the bed. "I haven't had a guest stay over the night in forever."
"It's amazing!" Scootaloo jumped with glee, zooming to inspect all the trophies. "Ooh, this is the one for the Best Young Flier competition! And the Junior Flappers' Club! And the Cloudsdale Derby! I didn't even know Cloudsdale had a derby!"
Rainbow Dash just smiled, seeing the cute filly so happy. "Alright, I'm right across the hall. If you need anything, don't hesitate to knock."
"Thanks Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo squealed, giving Rainbow Dash's foreleg a quick hug. She zipped into the bed provided, softly ogling the room as Rainbow Dash retired to her own. Despite the filly's excitement, it wasn't too many minutes before the exhaustion of the day had lulled her to sleep.
The moon cast a dim lighting on the secluded alleyway. On the right was a dumpster, on the left, some discarded cardboard boxes. Scootaloo found herself cantering along it, hoping against hope for a place to hide. She wasn't sure what from, but she was sure it was terrifying. She felt a dark presence behind her, set at a slow trot.
"Scootaloo..." the being began in a raspy, low voice.
With a soft squeal Scootaloo dived behind the dumpster, shutting her eyes tightly and rolling into a ball. As she felt the unfamiliar presence get closer she held her breath, her eyes tearing up when she felt it right around the corner.
She heard ragged breathing. The kind of breathing one only half aware of it's actions would make. Just the sound of it was enough to put fear in her heart. As the breathing grew nearer she felt the tears leak down her face. She felt its hot breath on her ear. She bit her lip to prevent herself from letting out a sob. This was it. The being had cornered her and she couldn't escape. She would never be heard from again. If only she had the strength to run. If only she had the strength to fight back. If only...
"Scoots, wake up!" She felt something shake her.
With a scream Scootaloo woke, immediately in a covering her head with her forehooves. She wasn't in some mysterious alleyway after all. Where was she? This wasn't home. This was nowhere familiar. Her head whipped around in panic, and her breath quickened when she saw a dark silhouette standing in front of her.
"Scoots? It's just me, Rainbow Dash. Are you okay?"
Rainbow Dash. It's just Rainbow Dash. Phew. Scootaloo let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"Wha- What's going on? What am I doing here?" Scootaloo asked nervously, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"You... You asked to stay here last night because your parents were celebrating their anniversary." Rainbow asked worryingly. "Scoots, are you okay?"
Scootaloo took a deep breath to calm her nerves and stop shaking. "Y-yeah. Just woke up from a really weird dream, y'know?" Scootaloo turned and padded out the room, refusing to make eye contact.
"Yeah well, I made us some daisy and daffodil sandwiches... if you're sure you're alright." Rainbow continued pensively, not knowing how to handle the current situation. She had almost no experience dealing with foals, and absolutely none detailing how to console them after nightmares. "It uh, looks like you had a bad dream... do you want to talk about it?"
Scootaloo bit her lip. She couldn't tell anybody about this, much less her idol who she tried to keep a very brave and courageous persona around. "Nope. All fine. Just a surprise to wake up in a bed, since I was... y'know..."
There was a very pregnant silence.
"Uh, you were what?" Questioned Rainbow Dash.
"Flying! Yup, flying. I just spent so much time practicing yesterday that that's what all my dreams were about. Quite a shock when I suddenly found myself in a bed, y'know?" Scootaloo lied unconvincingly.
There was another long silence.
"Riiiight. Well I uh, I made us some lunch if you wanted. It's already all set up in the kitchen."
Scootaloo jumped on the opportunity to change subjects.
"Thanks Rainbow Dash!" She chirped, seemingly back to her full energy.
The two made their way down to the kitchen and ate in silence. Scootaloo seemed to be in a daze as she ate and helped Rainbow Dash clean the dishes from the last 12 hours.
Scootaloo made herself useful, drying the dishes as Rainbow washed them. As she absentmindedly stacked them on the counter, still thinking about her nightmare, she placed one after the counter ended, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter into pieces.
At that noise, Scootaloo gave out a terrified squeal and threw herself into the corner, hiding under a couch cushion and shaking like a leaf. She fought back tears. Tears would just make it worse. They always did.
Rainbow Dash paused. She didn't know what to do. She gently flew down to the terrified filly and tried gently touching her shoulder, but the touch just made the filly give off another terrified whimper and try to make herself even smaller. Rainbow heard the gentlest of sobs escape her.
"Scoots, it's just me. Rainbow Dash. Nobody here is going to hurt you. Just... open your eyes. You're safe."
A few tense moments passed until Scootaloo cracked one eye open. Upon seeing Rainbow's worried face and nobody else nearby, she slowly stood up, still trembling. She bit her lip as she made eye contact with Rainbow, tears silently streaming down her face.
Rainbow Dash silently held her hooves out, inviting the filly in. The filly spent a moment staring her up and down, as if expecting her to pull out a knife and punish her for showing emotion, before throwing herself sobbing into Rainbow's shoulder.
"Please don't hate me! I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again! I'll be a good filly just don't... Don't..." Scootaloo sobbed, the rest of her words becoming unintelligible. She tightened her grip around Rainbow's neck. "Don't... Please don't."
Rainbow returned the hug, equal parts concerned as confused. Not knowing quite what else to do, she started running her left hoof gently through the filly's mane, trying to calm her down. "Don't what, Scoots?"
Her only answer were rough sobs from the terrified pegasus.
"Scootaloo I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."
Scootaloo looked up with confusion, wiping her nose with a hoof. "Y-you're not gonna punish me? Not even hit me?"
Rainbow Dash was taken aback. "No, why would I do that?"
"I b-b-broke the plate!" Scootaloo managed through wails. "I'm a bad filly. I need to be punished!"
Rainbow Dash blanched. "No Scoots. It was an accident. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?"
Upon getting no response Rainbow gently lifted the filly's head to met her gaze. She gave her a reassuring smile and wiped her tears off with her wings. Scootaloo just shook her head and threw herself back into Rainbow Dash's embrace, dry sobs still wracking her tiny body.
Not knowing what else to do, Rainbow began gently rocking the filly back and forth. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but eventually Scootaloo's sobs led way to heavy breathing as she drifted off in the older mare's embrace.
Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do. She had never seen anybody act this upset over something this small. And Scootaloo expected corporal punishment for such a small accident? Rainbow didn't pride herself on being an especially smart pony, but Scootaloo was obviously traumatized, and she didn't know how she could help the filly with that. Rainbow Dash sighed.
But maybe somebody else could.
Not wanting to move the child much and risk reawakening her, Rainbow Dash gently set her down on the couch. Rushing into the guest bedroom, she grabbed a sheet and pillow and went to tuck the filly in. She hastily scribbled a note and put it next to her on the couch. Then with one quick look back, she took off, flying toward Ponyville's library.
Somewhere inside a tree, there was a small purple princess. This princess was curled up in her bed, quietly reading something boring. While reading this, said Princess heard the window next to her shatter, and a body hit the floor. Purple pony princess wasn't even phased.
"Hello Rainbow Dash. Why are you breaking my property now?" The purple pony princess precisely pronounced.
Y'know, someday I'm gonna get attacked, have an enemy break into my house, and I'm just going to ignore them because I assumed it's my dear destructive friend Rainbow Dash. That's really not the hallmark of a good habit forming here.
"Twilight, I need you to come quick! Scootaloo needs your help!" Rainbow Dash panted, grabbing Twilight in her forearms and lifting her up.
"What did the CMC do this time?" Twilight asked, rolling her eyes as she telekinetically moved her friend away from her, gently placing her on the ground.
"Just her! She was at my place and she broke a dish and got all terrified and started crying and.. and... Twilight I think she's getting abused!" Rainbow shouted. At that, the telekinetic aura around her broke and she grabbed Twilight, pulling her out the window. "Oh I hope she didn't wake up and start freaking out again!"
On the trip to the library Rainbow had just gotten more panicked. The little filly had clearly gone through hell, and had barely even opened up to her idol about it even after the cat got out of the bag. What secrets was her fan hiding? Could she be helped? And what could she even do? Rainbow Dash didn't know how to take care of kids! But Twilight had to know what to do to help. Twilight knew everything! She would just grab Twilight, bring her over, and everything would be alright again.
Not daring to slow down, Rainbow, with Twilight forcefully in tow, broke through the floor of her cloud home. While Twilight paused to catch her breath and shake off the impact, Rainbow dashed over to Scootaloo's still sleeping form, breathing a sigh of relief.
"RAINBOW DASH" Twilight wheezed after catching her breath. "You can't just yank me from my home and crash into yours!"
"Twilight I..." Rainbow started, carefully inspecting the slumbering filly, checking to make sure she was alright. "Earlier on, we were doing the dishes, everything was fine. Then I hear one break, and the next thing I see is her shaking and sobbing on the other side of the room." Rainbow brushed a lock of hair out of Scootaloo's face, then sat down in resignation. "After I could get her to respond, she started acting like she expected a beating, then just... broke down in my arms."
Rainbow looked over to Twilight, tearing up.
"I don't know what to do."
Twilight didn't know what surprised her more. That a filly in Ponyville, a city with almost no crime, had the telltale signs of abuse; or that Rainbow Dash, a pony all about her ego and image, was openly in tears right in front of her.
"Twilight please. I need help."
Twilight simply nodded.
Rainbow Dash breathed a sign of relief. "Now what do we do?"
Twilight chewed her lip in thought. "Well, I haven't heard of an honest foal abuse case in... well, the entire time I've been alive, but we're definitely gonna have to get Foal Protective Services involved. And I think... I think I should write Celestia for further guidance just in case. We're going to have to approach this carefully. In the meantime... I think we need to get the full story from Scootaloo. If she's getting abused at home we're going to need every scrap of information we can find to get things right."
Rainbow nodded in understanding. "So... should we wait, or should we wake her now?"
"Let's gently wake her now. The sooner we get all the facts, the sooner we can get her into a safer environment."
Rainbow took a deep breath, and gently nuzzled Scootaloo. The filly stirred, and eventually slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing a yet unidentified pony in front of her, her eyes snapped open in panic and she tried backing away, only to be stopped by the back of the couch. A moment later the panic faded as she recognized Rainbow Dash.
"R-Rainbow Dash?" She started, looking around and spotting Twilight as well. "Princess Twilight? what's going on?"
With a heavy sigh, Rainbow stepped up onto the couch and sat next to the nervous pegasus. "Scootaloo. We know things aren't going well at home, and we're here to change things. But first, we need you to tell us what's going on."
Scootaloo swallowed hard. "Nothing's going on. Everything is... everything is fine. I just uh, I didn't sleep well last night, so when I broke that plate my mind wasn't working well, and... and then-" Scootaloo looked around frantically, desperately searching for a way to change the topic. "Oh speaking of which I should probably go clean that up. Can't just leave that laying around, somebody might get hurt!" She was stopped by a cyan hoof.
"Scootaloo, please." Rainbow started. "I know something is wrong. Please just let me help you. I promise, nobody is going to hurt you anymore. I don't know what your parents have done to you, but we need to know your story if we're going to be able to help." Rainbow couldn't help but notice Scootaloo flinch when she heard "parents".
"I... I can't" Scootaloo turned to face the floor. "If I say anything he'll find me again. And then it'll just make things worse!"
Rainbow Dash looked desperately at Twilight, who decided to try and press the pegasus further.
"Scootaloo, dear..." Twilight began. "I can get you out of that home and into somewhere safe, but first we have to have your side of the tale. Nobody can hurt you anymore, Dash and I will make sure of it."
Scootaloo started tearing up again. Quickly wiping them away, she stared hard at Twilight. "Then he'll find you two and hurt you both. I can't live with that. Please, don't make me talk."
"Scootaloo..." Rainbow started, gently turning the filly's head with a hoof to look at her. "I would go head to head with a manticore, an ursa, or hay, even Celestia herself to protect you. Come what may, as long as you're under this roof, you're the safest pony in Equestria."
"Don't worry about us." Twilight chipped in. "You're among capable hooves. Now please, just tell us what's wrong."
There was a tense silence. If Scootaloo's eyes weren't open, one could assume she fell asleep sitting. Finally, after Rainbow Dash was about to lose hope that she would open up at all, Scootaloo finally spoke.
"Fine." She sniffed. "It all started the first time I ran away from home."
"It was about three years ago. It hap- It started with..." Scootaloo bit her lip, unsure of how to begin. "My dad was a really proud pegasus. At his best... before the accident and all the drinking, he was a really gung-ho flyer. Was trying to join the Wonderbolts and everything. I guess... I guess that's why I liked you so fast, Rainbow Dash. You remind me of him when we were all happy."
Rainbow Dash felt like somebody plunged a freezing knife into her chest at those words.
"At one point he even got an invite to the academy. It told him he was going to leave in a week." Scootaloo continued. "He was so happy for that time. He was always smiling, took me out for ice cream every day, and sometimes I would wake up and go downstairs and see him and my mom just dancing in the middle of the living room."
Scootaloo sniffed, fighting back hot tears.
"But then there was an accident at his work. I wasn't told all the details, but from what I heard... it sounds like he was working with some heavy machinery, and somehow one of his wings got caught. It shattered the bone, and ripped up all the muscles and..." Scootaloo took a deep shuddering breath. "I remember a doctor saying that even if he could recover, his wing was too damaged to be able to join the Wonderbolts. He couldn't fly fast anymore. He could barely fly at all."
Rainbow Dash subconsciously pulled her wings in tighter to her sides. She knew she could never recover if she was told that herself. That was basically like getting locked up for a pegasus.
"After that he started drinking heavily. He still tried staying happy, even sat me down and told me 'Little Scootaloo, I want you to do what I couldn't. I want you to go out there and join the Wonderbolts, and I want to see your face plastered across Cloudsdale.'"
"Around three years ago he told me I was around the age where pegasi usually do their first flight test with their parents. So he picked me up, put me on a cloud way high in the air, and kicked me off."
Twilight's eyes widened in horror. She stole a questioning glance at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash just nodded mutely. This was a tradition among pegasi.
"But I couldn't..." Scootaloo gasped, the tears flowing freely. "I fell and I tried my best, but I ended up hitting the ground. I broke my left front leg, and my mom came out and picked me up, and ran to the hospital. And my dad just stayed there on that cloud staring at me. He looked so dissapointed."
Scootaloo curled into a ball, hiding her face behind her forelegs.
"After I came out of the hospital he refused to talk to me for a week. He wouldn't even look at me. And all he ever had was that same disappointed look. I spent that whole week c-crying myself to sleep because I hated it. I hated what had happened and I knew I was to blame. T-then he... H-he came in my r-room and..."
Scootaloo started sobbing, the memory too painful. Surprisingly both herself and Twilight, Rainbow Dash walked over and pulled the filly into a tight embrace. Gently shushing and whispering encouragement while running a hoof through her mane. The two mares sat there for a few minutes as Scootaloo released the pent up emotions she had been suppressing for the last few years. Eventually the sobs quieted, and with a sniff, Scootaloo wiped her face and pulled away.
"He stumbled into my room smelling really strongly of alcohol, and he picked me up and threw me at the wall. Then he told me that I wasn't a pegasus, because they can fly, and that I was nothing but a disappointment to him and my mom. And then he... he stomped on my wing, and held me down as he started hitting me... And he didn't stop. He just kept hitting and hitting and..."
Scootaloo pulled one of Rainbow's front legs closer to her, hiding her face behind it.
"He eventually fell asleep. So I got up, and I limped out of the house. I didn't know where to go... And I didn't really have a lot of friends... And I thought if any adult pony would find me they'd make me go home, so I ran. My house is kinda near the Everfree Forest, so I went there, and I found a tree I could climb, and I climbed to the top and spent the night there.
"The next day I was too scared to come down. I though if I left the tree for more than a couple minutes that he'd find me... and hurt me again. But I was starving. So I waited until what I thought was midnight, and I snuck into my house trying to find some food. I managed to make a sandwich, but as I put it on a plate and was ready to take it out to the tree, I tripped and dropped it. The plate broke and he woke up and caught me. And he grabbed me and beat me again. By the time he was done I didn't have the energy to run away so I just fell asleep on the floor."
Scootaloo gripped Rainbow's foreleg tighter and buried her head into Rainbow's coat.
"The next day he saw me heading for the door and he asked me where I was going. It was a Wednesday so I told him I was going to school. He was so drunk he didn't realize it was around noon and I missed the beginning of the school day. I thought of running away and trying to live on my own, but I was too scared. So I waited for school to get out. I knew Sweetie Belle was easy to lie to, so I ran into her on her way back and told her I fell down a hill trying to fly. She led me back to Rarity's house, and while Rarity put some makeup on me to make me look less hurt, she made us some food. I don't know why she didn't question why I missed those days. Maybe she just... saw how I looked and figured it would be better not to ask.
"Rarity ended up bringing me home, and my dad didn't hit me that night. Things were kinda normal from then on. He didn't hit me much, only when he had a bad day at work, or drank too much. And sometimes he would hit mom instead. For me, I always just lied and said the bruises were from trying and failing a new trick on my scooter. A lot of adults and Miss Cheerliee kinda seemed suspicious for a while, but eventually they believed it. B-but then... About a w-week and a half ago..."
Scootaloo shook her head, refusing to speak.
"Scoots, what could he have done that was so much worse?" Rainbow gently pried, running her hoof through the filly's mane again.
Scootaloo just shook her head again. "I-I can't say..."
"Scootaloo, please." Rainbow begged. "We have to know everything so we can keep them away from you."
"H-he came in and... He hit harder. There was blood... and he kept stomping on my 'useless' wings... and when he was done if I tried to move them, I'd just get this paralyzing pain... So I eventually made my way outside, got on my scooter, and avoiding the main roads, made it to the clubhouse. I'd stay there overnight, and pretend to be scootering in from another direction when I went in to school. Eventually Applebloom noticed I wasn't using my wings on my scooter, and touched them and saw me wince, and brought me to the hospital. The doc said they were so badly damaged, the growth was almost certainly stunted... I just got out of the cast two days ago."
There was a very pregnant silence as the two mares stared at each other, horrible realization dawning on them.
"He... Did he..." Twilight stuttered, lost for words.
"I'm gonna kill him." Rainbow spat. "I'm gonna skin him, chop him up into tiny pieces, and throw him into Tartarus to burn."
Anticipating her reaction, Twilight surrounded Dash in a magical hold just as she tried to take off. Expecting a lecture, Rainbow Dash was quite surprised by the unfocused look of pure hatred in her eyes. The three ponies were greeted by a sudden flash of light and a squeezing sensation and Twilight teleported them to the library.
"SPIKE! I NEED YOU UP HERE" Twilight yelled. She turned to Scootaloo, her gaze softening, and simply asked: "What's his name, and where does he work now?"
Scootaloo worked on catching her breath, one of her first times being teleported, she could attest that it was a horrible feeling.
"His name is Thunder Chaser." Scootaloo started, fighting a wave of nausea. "He works at Barnyard Bargains. He's got a light brown coat, a tan mane, and a really scarred wing."
Turning her head just in time, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash flare out her wings, prepared to fly to the store at that moment. Thinking quickly, Twilight magically bound Rainbow's wings to her sides, and telekinetically moved her next to Scootaloo.
"Rainbow, right now I'd love to do nothing more than feed that stallion to Cerberus, believe me. But if either of us go and assault him it's gonna make the oncoming legal storm ten times more complicated."
"I don't care!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, jumping to her hooves. "I'll take whatever sentence I get, Thunder Chaser needs somebody to beat the hay out of him!"
"No!" Cried Scootaloo, throwing herself around one of Rainbow's legs. "Don't leave me! Please!"
Rainbow stopped and fumed. She needed to go violently make that stallion the error of his ways. But she couldn't kick off the filly desperately clinging to her, staring up at her desperately, like her presence was the only thing that mattered. She glared at Twilight and slowly sat down.
At just that moment a small purple dragon came running up the stairs.
"I'm here Twilight!" Spike panted. "What did you need?"
Twilight yanked open one of the drawers on a nearby desk, pulling out two pieces of parchment, an ink pot, and a quill. She hastily scribbled out a message on each, sealed them, and floated them over to Spike.
"Send this one..." Twilight said, pointing a hoof at one of them "To Princess Celestia. And send the other one to Morning Skies at Foal Protective Services."
Spike's eyebrows knit in concern at Twilight's last few words. Then his gaze wandered over to Rainbow Dash and the filly squeezing her leg so hard it seemed she was trying to make them one. "Scootaloo, what are you-"
"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled. "I need you to send them NOW!"
With a little jump, Spike focused back on the scrolls and sent them each off with a fire burp. He stared up at Twilight, nervously pacing back and forth, staring at the ground, and back to Rainbow Dash, who looked angry enough to kill.
"What's going on here?" He finally asked.
Before anybody could respond, Spike felt the familiar sensation of an upcoming letter. After coughing it out, he reached out a clawed hand to catch it, but was surprised when it was instantly levitated over to Twilight. Twilight cleared her throat and began to read out loud.
Dear Princess Twilight.
I am extremely distressed to hear this.
Knowing you, you also informed FPS of this. To have any hope of luck in the imminent court case, FPS will have to be able to prove this foal was abused. Between you and them I'm sure you can find definitive proof. I would personally recommend the Ostende Dolore spell.
In the meantime though, I authorize you to put this "Thunder Chaser" under royal house arrest. I also see fit to grant you and Miss Rainbow Dash as temporary guardian of this foal. Please do your utmost to keep her safe and happy.
I must request you keep me updated on this matter. And hopefully the next letter will have more positive messages.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
The room was silent for a minute.
"Ostende Dolore" Twilight whispered to herself. "That could work..."
"Um, Twilight?" Rainbow asked feebly. "What's this 'ostedum... whatever' spell?"
"It... basically shows all the recent damage a pony has taken, and the severity, as a bright light." Twilight began hesitantly. "The worse the damage, the brighter the light, and the longer it lasts. Of course, the older injuries fade with time. It might be crucial to winning this case." Twilight bit her lip again. "Scootaloo, do you trust me?"
Scootaloo nodded mutely. "Can Rainbow Dash stay with me?"
"Yes she can, but we need to see your whole body. Can you please stand up and look at me?"
With a calming smile from Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo did as she was asked. "Will it... Will it hurt?"
"It might feel a little uncomfortably warm." Twilight gave her a fake smile, not sure at all she wanted to see the results. "But nothing aside from that."
And so it was, with nothing else to say, Twilight grit her teeth as her horn glowed purple, dousing the filly momentarily in a purple light. Both mares gasped as the filly began to light up like a Hearth's Warming tree with white light. Most of the filly's body was emitting a low light, but the filly's left foreleg below the knee, several ribs, and both wings lit up with a strong white light. Scootaloo shut her eyes tightly as the uncomfortable feeling spread throughout her entire body, hiding the fact that her eyes were misting up again. She felt... naked in front of these mares. Vulnerable.
As the light faded Twilight found herself covering her mouth with a hoof in shock. Rainbow scooped the filly up and embraced her with her wings, meeting Twilight's eyes. It was worse than both of them thought. A quick look over to the left confirmed Spike was feeling about the same.
They all just sat there for a few minutes as the shock of what they had seen dissipated. Finally Twilight broke the silence.
"Well, I think that will definitely suffice as proof. If you two want to come back here around noon tomorrow, I can get a Foal Protective Services pony here to meet with us. In the meantime, I'm gonna go put Scootaloo's father on royal house arrest and check on the condition of her mother."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "I'm gonna take squirt here back up to my place. I think it's already been a long day for her. I'll see you tomorrow, Twi." She leaned down and nuzzled the filly, instructing her to take her place on her back. "And Twi? Thank you for... Thank you."
The two pegasi sat quietly in Rainbow Dash's living room. It was only a couple hours past noon, but the last few hours had been so taxing if felt like it had been days since this all started.
Eventually Rainbow spoke up, breaking the palpable silence that had hung over them since leaving the library.
"So, we still have a couple hours before sunset. Anything you want to do today?"
"No. Not really." Scootaloo frowned, physically and mentally exhausted after all that had occurred.
She looks so depressed. Thought Rainbow. I have to do something.
They sat in silence until a brilliant idea popped into Rainbow's head.
"Hey Scoot, I think I know something that'll put a smile on that face." Rainbow grinned. "Do you trust me?"
Scootaloo fixed the older pegasus with a confused look before simply nodding.
Rainbow walked over to orange filly, bowing her head and indicating she should climb on. With Scootaloo safely attached, Rainbow walked over to her front door and kicked it open, before taking a great leap and starting to fly.
"Okay squirt!" Rainbow shouted, picking up speed. "When I say 'go' I want you to stand up and open your wings horizontally. Got it?"
Scootaloo yelled back her confirmation.
"Go!" Shouted Rainbow, tilting her angle so she was flying down slightly.
Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, Scootaloo did as Rainbow asked. She gasped in surprise as the air caught under her wings, slowly lifting her off Rainbow Dash's back.
With that, Scootaloo felt the crushing weight of the day start to wither away. She was flying! She looked down at Rainbow Dash, who had flipped over so she could watch the filly. Scootaloo beamed brightly at her, and Rainbow beamed back. With some especially powerful flaps, Rainbow created lift under Scootaloo's wings, eliciting a happy giggle and a cheer from the filly as she soared higher into the sky.
This is more like it. Rainbow thought with a smile. A kid her age should be worried about playing outside with friends and having fun, not this adult shit she's been dealing with.
Rainbow settled with blowing around the filly for a couple of minutes until the tired filly came coasting down, landing on Rainbow's chest. Figuring that was the end of her fun, Rainbow flew over to a nearby cloud, letting Scootaloo off.
"OHMYGOSH RAINBOW DASH THAT WAS AWESOME!" Scootaloo screamed in delight, bouncing around. "That was JUST LIKE flying! I mean I couldn't flap my wings or turn BUT STILL!" Scootaloo pounced on Rainbow, pulling her into a tight hug.
"Thank you so much." Scootaloo uttered, the sound muffled by the fact she had shoved her face right into Rainbow's chest fluff.
Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "It's no problem Scoots. You looked like you needed a big ol' smile. Now if you're in, I think it's about time we got some dinner and we headed off to bed. I am beat. How's Sugarcube Corner sound to you?"
"It sounds perfect!" Scootaloo laughed, pulling out from the hug to beam at her idol.
With a quick movement, Scootaloo was back on Rainbow Dash's back, and the pair set off.
With the ring of a door bell, the pegasi entered the confectionery madhouse. Alerted by the noise, the pink earth pony behind the counter burst into a wide grin as she regarded her two new customers.
"Dashie! And Scootaloo! Great to see you both. What can I do for you?" Pinkie Pie bounced.
"Squirt, you go ahead and get whatever you want, my treat." Rainbow whispered to the orange pegasus. Turning back to Pinkie, she chose a blueberry muffin. Scootaloo chose a cupcake with vanilla icing.
"Great!" Pinkie beamed. "That'll be two bits please!"
Instinctually, Rainbow Dash reached for her saddlebags to grab her bit pouch, before freezing as she remembered she didn't bring them. She turned back to Pinkie with a sheepish grin.
"Ah forget it Dashie, they're on the house." Pinkie exclaimed. "Well they're not actually on the house, since they're right in front of you and this isn't even a house. It's more a bakery with some rooms above it. Or does that still make it a house? Either way your food isn't on the roof, it's right here in front of you!"
Ignoring her friend's randomness, Rainbow thanked her and moved her muffin to a nearby table, gesturing for Scootaloo to do the same. The adrenaline from the glide having started to wear off, Scootaloo started looking uncomfortable again, quietly thanking Rainbow Dash for having covered her. As she ate she stared at the table in silence.
Aw hay, she's looking sad again. And she was so happy looking after the little flight.
"Hey kid, why are you looking so sour? What's wrong?"
Scootaloo sighed. "It's nothing. I'm just kinda... what if he walks in here and finds me? Or what if he goes looking for me and finds me and... And you're not around? Especially what if he breaks into your home? If he tries throwing me off again I don't think I'll come out with just one broken bone."
Rainbow Dash put down her muffin and thought for a moment. "He can't. Remember what Twilight said? She was placing him under house arrest or whatever."
"But what if he leaves anyway? I mean... you never know what he could do!"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip contemplatively. "Listen squirt, if he wants to get to you, he's gonna have to go past me. And I'll be right by your side this whole time. I don't think I have to worry about some drunkard trying to fight me."
Her fears temporarily assuaged, Scootaloo gave a small smile, which dissapeared as soon as another though popped into her head.
"But what about school? And crusading? You won't be around then."
Rainbow had to admit that was a good point. She took a bite of her muffin and chewed thoughtfully. "Well school is easy enough. Miss Cheerliee may not look a fighter, but I speak from experience, having unfortunately pissed her off in a bar once, she can throw a mean hook. As for you crusading... Hmm... Well, I do have a bunch of saved vacation days at work, I'm sure I can cash in enough to watch over you until the trial. That can't be too far off if Twilight is all up in its business. Besides, I've heard some of the harebrained things you've done while crusading. You all probably should have the watchful eye of an older pony around you anyway."
Scootaloo stared up at Rainbow Dash with a hopeful smile. "You'd really do that for me?"
"Of course I would Scoots." Rainbow winked. "The safety of my little sister is priority number one!"
"T-thank you." Scootaloo simply replied.
Rainbow suppressed a yawn as she finished her muffin, noting Scootaloo was already done eating. "I think it's about time to hit the sack. You ready to go?"
"Good to go, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo chirped.
With that, they set off into the night sky. Eventually making it home, Rainbow yawned as she dropped off Scootaloo in the kitchen. She went to push her bedroom door open when a small voice stopped her.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow turned to see Scootaloo looking at the floor, gently blushing.
"I know you said everything is going to be okay but... do you mind if I sleep with you tonight?"
"Long as you don't snore." Rainbow chuckled. Ears perked up, Scootaloo happily followed Rainbow into her room, snuggling right into her side after she laid down. Sitting up to pull the blankets up, Rainbow flared one wing out, gently wrapping it around the filly like a makeshift sleeping bag, pulling her in tight. Scootaloo gave off a happy hum.
Looking off to her nightstand, Rainbow spotted her pile of Daring Do books.
"Say, squirt. You ever read Daring Do?" Scootaloo shook her head. "Do you... Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?"
Scootaloo failed miserably to suppress her enthusiasm. "That'd be great!" She chirped, pulling Rainbow's wing tighter against herself and snuggling in closer. Smiling at the adorable outburst, Rainbow reached over and grabbed Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone.
"As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step..."
Rainbow Dash groaned as a ray of sunlight hit her in the face. She sleepily opened her eyes, smacking her lips and stretching all four hooves. Her brain booting up, she felt a warm presence pressed against her side. She lifted the base of her wing a bit, she spotted an orange pegasus with a shock of purple hair. Still asleep, the nonplussed filly rolled over, pulled Dash's wing closer, wrapping it around her again, then snuggled back into Rainbow Dash's side. Smiling from the adorable display, Rainbow decided lying there a little longer wouldn't hurt anybody. Resting her head back on her pillow, Rainbow Dash felt contented to sleep in for a few more hours. Suddenly, a rather panicked thought occurred to her.
Crap! I was supposed to work today and haven't requested the time off! And I was supposed to meet Twilight at noon! What time is it?
Moving a little more forcefully than intended, Rainbow jumped to her hooves and cranked her head out the window, searching for the sun's location in the sky.
Probably about 10AM. Crap, I'm already late!
Having fallen out of the wing embrace due to Rainbow's movements, Scootaloo fell back down to the cloud mattress and woke. She gave out a mighty yawn and rubbed her eyes. She blearily looked around the room, before registering what she was seeing and blinking in confusion.
"This isn't the clubhouse..."
As she turned to look at Rainbow Dash, staring out the window with a concerned expression, the memories of the last day and a half came flooding back to her. She stared affectionately at the cyan pegasus, having a new appreciation for her ever since this whole thing started. After all the stress, all the nightmares, and all the pain, Rainbow Dash had gone from simply an idol to essentially the only place Scootaloo actually felt safe amongst the torrent and pain and terror that made up the rest of her life.
Turning around, Rainbow Dash spotted Scootaloo staring at her.
"Oops, didn't mean to wake you up squirt, sorry." Rainbow apologized. "So I messed up a bit. I'm supposed to be at work right now. I'm gonna go fly over there real quick and apologize, then see about taking the next few weeks off for you."
"Wait, you're leaving?" Scootaloo started panicking. What if her father broke out of house arrest? What if he saw Rainbow flying away and took his chance to pounce on her then? Rainbow's house wasn't exactly discreet. "Bu- Wha- Can I come with you?"
Rainbow gave Scootaloo an odd expression. "I'm gonna be gone for like, five minutes tops. You'll be fine. you can help yourself to anything in the pantry, or I'll try and cook something when I get back if you decide not to." And with that she zipped out of the room.
Scootaloo struggled to her hooves and followed the rainbow trail out of the room. As she reached the kitchen, she saw Rainbow about to exit her house.
"I'll be back in just a minute Scoots!" She yelled as she flew off her front porch.
Scootaloo sat down in place and started trembling.
What if he's looking around now? What if I go to get food and he sees me through a window? I can't escape, I can't fight back... And my protector isn't here.
Scootaloo started breathing heavier, eyes fighting back tears. Her fears cemented her in place.
I couldn't fight back. I couldn't do anything. I could go and hide now, but what if I hear somebody open the door? And what if it's Rainbow Dash? If she sees me hiding while not actually in danger then she'll see me as weak too. And then she'll disown me as her sister and cast me out and I'll have to live in the clubhouse again. She'll probably tell Twilight how pathetic I am and Twilight will tell my dad and then he'll find me and...
Scootaloo just sat and stared at the door, waiting for Rainbow Dash like a sad puppy waiting for its master. After a couple more minutes of Scootaloo's anxiety getting the best of her, the door swung inward, and in peeked a cyan pegasus.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo gasped happily, jumping to her hooves.
"Hey Scoot." Rainbow began, perturbed. "Have you just been sitting in the same position since I left?"
Choosing to ignore the question, Scootaloo ran over to Rainbow and decided to change the subject.
"So did you get in trouble? What happens now?"
"Eh, my boss chewed me out for a minute, but I gave her a rough explanation of what's been going on and she let me take leave for the next few weeks without a complaint." Rainbow Dash explained, still looking a little concerned. "What do you want for breakfast? I have cereal, sandwich stuff, and I could make some pancakes." Rainbow said before giving a little chuckle. "I don't actually know how to make really anything else. Maybe after all that business with Twilight is over, I can get a cookbook or learn some recipes from her. Or from Spike more likely. You didn't hear this from me, but Twilight might be the only mare in Ponyville that's worse at cooking than me."
Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a wink, noticing only too late her face had started falling when Rainbow mentioned the meeting with Twilight.
"Oh yeah, the... Protective Services meeting..." Scootaloo moped. Eyes downcast, she followed Rainbow to the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Rainbow Dash did have Equinox (the perfect mid-summer cereal!), which was very sugary and unhealthy. That perked Scootaloo up a bit. Following breakfast, Rainbow Dash convinced Scootaloo into trying some wing exercises, wasting time until just before noon, when she declared they were done, and should be getting to the library to meet with Twilight and Morning Skies.
Upon reaching the library, neither pegasus was surprised to see Twilight almost buried in a book avalanche, talking calmly with an unknown mare. Upon their entry, they trotted down to meet the pegasi. Twilight fixed them both with one of her obviously fake smiles, as the unknown mare came right up to Scootaloo. She was an Earth Pony with a light pink coat, and a long flowing mane of brown hair. It was cast off to one side on the top, reaching down to the bottom of her neck, and splayed haphazardly over both shoulders at the bottom, almost reaching the tops of her legs. Her tail dragged on the floor a bit. Her cutie mark was what looked like a wreath, with some sort of blue flowers making an upside down triangle shape in it.
"You must be Scootaloo." She said softly, her words oddly melodic. She reminded Scootaloo much of Fluttershy. "Nice to meet you. I'm Morning Skies. Yes, I know, sounds like a pegasus name. I get that all the time." She chuckled.
Scootaloo let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She had expected some formal pony in a suit or something, but something about Morning Skies put her instantly at ease.
"Yup, that's me!" Scootaloo beamed. "So uh, how's this exactly going to go down?"
"Well..." Morning Skies hummed. "We're supposed to dig up some dirt that you've had... rough treatment. Princess Twilight here says she knows of a spell that can hold up in a court. She says you already went through with it once and you were very very brave."
"You don't have to talk to me like I'm a little foal!" Scootaloo huffed. "I'm already 11! I'm old enough!"
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snort into her hoof. After all she had learned in the last day and a half, it was a welcome sight to see Scootaloo just act like a kid.
"I dunno squirt..." Rainbow teased. "You still look pretty small and cute to me."
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash and fixed her with an indignant stare. "I'm not cute! I'm awesome! You should know the diff-" Scootaloo noticed Rainbow Dash still laughing into her hoof. "Oh, you're sooo funny. Ha ha."
It had been enough of an ice breaker. Twilight gave a little chuckle and gently cleared her throat, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.
"Scootaloo, are you ready?" She asked with trepidation.
Scootaloo took a deep breath and out on her best brave face. She walked between the three mares and gave Twilight a nod.
Scootaloo hated the feeling of the spell. The unnatural warmth was one thing, but feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on her, made her feel so... vulnerable. All the marks she had worked so hard to hide over the years were literally being shown to the entire room. As she started glowing, she heard a soft gasp and a quiet "Oh Celestia..." She didn't need to turn to know that was Morning Skies. Just being in front of Twilight and Rainbow had been bad enough but now there was a mare she'd not even known for a full five minutes seeing all her shame. She turned to Rainbow Dash with pleading eyes, hoping against hope she could make Twilight stop, then whisk the filly away where she could hide from the world forever.
Rainbow just gave her a reassuring smile and gently placed one of her hooves on Scootaloo's. "Hey champ, you're doing great. After this we can go out and get some ice cream, okay? You can get as many scoops as you want." The cyan mare whispered. Scootaloo simply nodded. It didn't help much. Scootaloo cringed as they began to check out her rear end. She heard Morning Skies and Twilight whispering to each other.
"Looks like he was a fan of corporal punishment as well." Morning Skies whispered.
Twilight simply nodded.
As the two mares continued walking around Scootaloo, going to inspect the right side of her body, Rainbow Dash tried to get her attention.
"It's gonna be okay Scoots. You're being really brave right now. We can spend the rest of the day flying together, and then I can read you some more Daring Do if you'd like. Wouldn't that be great?"
Scootaloo nodded mutely again. She could feel the tears starting to come but fought them off as hard as she could. She hated this. She hated it so much. It felt like the biggest breach of privacy ever, and she just wanted to run away and cry and hide where nobody could see her.
The two mares finally ended up in front of her, surveying her head and neck. Scootaloo shut her eyes tightly and looked away. This was just too much. Scootaloo's heart dropped and she heard Morning Skies start to address her.
"Scootaloo, dear, could you please..." She paused.
She's going to ask me to do something terrible. Or to say something terrible. Please, just leave me alone, I'm already inches from tears. I can't do it. I can't. I just can't.
"Could you please sit up and let us see your tummy?" Morning Skies finished. Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. She sat down and lifted her front hooves, doing her best to balance and not fall flat on her face. This wasn't any better. She still felt naked in front of these mares. She bit her cheeks as she waited for it to finally end.
"I think that should do it Princess. I've seen all I need to." Morning Skies said after what felt like forever. The spell faded, as did the uncomfortable warm sensation. Scootaloo rushed toward Rainbow Dash, hiding her face in Rainbow's coat and doing her best to hide the rest of her behind Rainbow's front hooves.
"That was horrible!" she sniffed, still fighting back tears.
"I'm so sorry you had to endure that, dear." Came Morning Skies demure voice. "But I think you'll be happy to hear that we have enough to definitely hit that mean old stallion with an abuse charge. He won't ever be able to bug you again."
Waiting for a reaction that never came from Scootaloo, Morning Skies lowered her voice to almost a whisper.
"I'm terribly sorry to say this Scootaloo, but Princess Twilight might have to do that spell again at the trial. It won't last nearly as long, just a few seconds. But we need to prove that your father did all those things to you. Then we can lock him away and you can enjoy the rest of your merry little life. Just think of how happy you'll be after, dear."
"I don't want him locked up." Scootaloo sniffed, shaking her head, still firmly pressed against Rainbow's coat. "I want my old dad back. The one that loved me."
There was a very pregnant silence as the three mares were left speechless. Morning Skies knew she should be the one that knew what to say, but foal abuse was extremely rare in Equestria. This was the first case she'd even seen while at her job.
Rainbow started gently stroking Scootaloo's back as she whispered to her. "I'm sorry Scoots, but you know that's not gonna happen." Upon feeling a gentle nod from the filly, she turned to Morning Skies with a stronger tone. "Are we done here, or is there anything else we need to do?"
"Well normally..." Morning Skies straightened upon and locked eyes with the pegasus. "I'd ask to get the full story from Scootaloo herself but... seeing how she is right now, I think it would be a little better for Princess Twilight her to fill me in. Is that alright, Princess?"
"That's fine. And please, skip the formalities. Just Twilight is fine."
"One more thing." Morning Skies trotted over to a nearby table, taking a couple bits out of a pouch and dropping them by Scootaloo. "To apologize for making you have to go through that, I want you to have a treat. On me. Whatever you and Miss Rainbow Dash like."
Scootaloo turned her head and shakily thanked her.
Twilight gestured that Morning Skies should follow her and led her upstairs, leaving just Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Scootaloo took a deep breath and slowly walked out from under Rainbow. Unable to meet the gaze of her idol, Scootaloo instead asked the ground.
Scootaloo playfully rolled her eyes, feeling much better after being treated to the confectionery gift.
"Thirty-two possible flavours, as many scoops as your little heart desires, and you get three straight scoops of vanilla?" Rainbow pretended to sigh in exasperation. "How boring."
"Oh yeah?" Scootaloo challenged. "Thirty two possible flavours, as many scoops as you want, and you got nothing. Now who's boring?"
Rainbow Dash responded with a laugh. "Good one Scoots. I believe that makes it: Scootaloo 1, Rainbow Dash 0. But I'll let you know, I won't lose without a fight!" She started tickling Scootaloo, sending her into an uncontrollable laughing fit as she wildly squirmed.
"Alright alright, I give up. We're even." Scootaloo finally managed, out of breath from the ferocious attack of the tickle monster.
Out of her peripherals, Scootaloo saw a flash of yellow and a flash of white. She gasped and jumped down off the table, running straight for her friends.
"Scootaloo!" They chorused.
"Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo yelled, throwing both of her friends into a hug.
"Scootaloo where have you been all weekend?" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "We've been looking for you everywhere!"
"Heh, yeah. Sorry about that girls." Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "This weekend so far has been..." she trailed off, looking to Rainbow Dash for help.
"I've been running her ragged with flight training." Rainbow jumped in to save the filly. "Future Wonderbolts got to put in a lot of hours of training before qualifying."
"Cool!" The other two Crusaders chorused. Scootaloo mouthed a quick "thank you" to Rainbow Dash, who responded with a wink. "Are you free to play now? I've got a bunch of new ideas for how we can get our marks!" Said Applebloom excitedly.
The thought of going off alone without her protector still scared Scootaloo. She was about to refuse when Rainbow Dash came to her rescue again. "I think you're done with training for the weekend, Scoots. Why don't you go play with your friends, and if you need me, I'll be around." Remembering her promise to keep watch over Scootaloo even when Crusading, Scootaloo felt a lot better.
Pretending to fly off, Rainbow hooked around and sat on a cloud, out of sight of the Crusaders. As they ran off, she thought she heard something about "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Manticore Tamers". Letting off a small laugh, Rainbow Dash flopped onto her back and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing through her mane.
Those kids are gonna end up doing something stupid and hurting themselves. Or somebody else. Probably a good thing I'll be nearby from now on, even if I'm probably the worst one out of my group of friends to do it.
"Well that was a bust." sighed Scootaloo dejectedly.
"We've searched forever now, and haven't found even one manticore! Ah guess that's another X for the chart." Applebloom sighed.
"We've found a ton of tree sap though." Sweetie Belle chirped, trying to pry some of the sap off her shoulder. "You think we can use this as a building material? We've found enough to stick us together plenty of times after all."
"Ah've already asked mah sister about that." Applebloom piped up. "She said it wasn't strong enough and wouldn't last."
"Oh poo." Sweetie Belle sighed, blowing a raspberry. "So Scoots, what was it like staying over at Rainbow Dash's place?"
"Oh it's the coolest place ever!" Scootaloo jumped in the air, excitedly hovering. "It's way up in the sky, and it's got like, cloud furniture, which is actually really awesome. And she's got like... Well I'm not sure what they really are but they look like fountains of rainbows pouring down and then they just kinda fade. It's so awesome!"
"Featherweight says he caught Rainbow Dash dying her mane in a rainbow once. He said it's naturally just one color. He also said it tasted like candy." Sweetie Belle gossiped. Scootaloo couldn't help but laugh.
"She definitely doesn't dye her mane in rainbows. And I'm pretty sure her mane just tastes like hair."
"But do you know that for sure?' Sweetie Belle squeaked on the last word.
"Tell ya what, I'll ask her tonight. Pretty sure I know the answer though."
"Oh, you're sleeping at her house again tonight?" Applebloom asked innocently. "Ah kinda thought your parents would be back by now."
Scootaloo felt a shiver run up her spine at the mention of her parents.
"Uh yeah, yeah. I'm staying with Rainbow tonight too. In fact, I may be having to stay a little longer." Scootaloo lied nervously. "I got a letter from my mom saying there were some problems with transportation."
"So Rainbow Dash is going to bring you to school tomorrow?" Sweetie Belle continued, oblivious to her friend's reaction. "That will be awesome! I know you weren't there for it, but when Rainbow Dash did that Sonic Rainboom on Friday and flew off with you, Diamond Tiara was furious! Kept muttering things we couldn't hear."
"Ah bet seeing Rainbow Dash drop you off would sour her mood even more!" Applebloom giggled happily. "Hey girls, did y'all hear Princess Twilight set somebody in this town on house arrest yesterday? What'dya reckon he did?"
Scootaloo's blood ran cold at the mention of her father being put under house arrest.
"Uh, I just remembered girls, I left my scooter at the schoolhouse. I should go get it before I lose it or somebody else takes it" Scootaloo said, interrupting Applebloom mid sentence as she started trotting off. "But I'll see you girls tomorrow!"
"Scootaloo, wait!" Sweetie Belle called after her friend. As Scootaloo vanished from sight, she turned to Applebloom with a confused expression. "But her scooter will just fall right through the clouds, right?
"Ah have no idea."
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called out to the sky. The sun was starting to set, and as a moment passed, Scootaloo wondered if Rainbow Dash simply wasn't there. Or had fallen asleep.
"Right here, squirt." Came a voice from Scootaloo's left as Rainbow swooped down to the ground. "All set to head home?"
Home. Rainbow Dash was referring to her house as my home.
Scootaloo smiled and nodded. Clambering onto Rainbow Dash's back, she settled in as Rainbow Dash took to the skies.
Scootaloo bit her lip. She had a burning question on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't want to ask for too much and make Rainbow mad. Or maybe look too weak, and then Rainbow would hate her. Deciding to bite the bullet, she build up her courage to ask.
"H-hey Rainbow Dash?" She began hesitantly.
"Yeah? What's up Squirt?" Rainbow replied nonchalantly.
"I was wondering... if it isn't too much to ask, can you read to me again tonight?" Scootaloo replied slowly.
"Yeah, sure."
Scootaloo blinked in confusion.
"A-and... can I sleep with you again tonight?" Scootaloo asked, almost sure Rainbow would say no.
"Sure."
"A-and uh... if you don't mind... tonight can you do that winghug thing again?" Scootaloo held her breath, half convinced Rainbow was about to buck her off for even asking.
"If you'd like me to, then of course."
That... that couldn't be right. If she asked the same thing of her father she'd be sent to bed alone. Or spanked. Or something terrible.
"Are you sure that's okay?" Scootaloo finally asked, awash with fear.
Rainbow Dash sighed, landing on her front porch.
"Listen Scootaloo." She began slowly, doing her best to choose the right words. "You got pretty terrible treatment at home. But not all adults are like that. If cuddling up to me and having me read to you would make you happy, then I'll do it every night for the rest of my life. After the stuff you've had to endure, I want nothing more than to make you the happiest filly in Equestria. So no more... being afraid to ask to be comfortable, okay?"
Scootaloo wiped a happy tear away and nodded.
"Now come on." Rainbow said, opening the door to her room and watching Scootaloo get all comfy as Rainbow pulled her to her side with a winghug.
The birds were singing. The sun was shining. There was a gentle breeze blowing on this beautiful gift of a morning. And somewhere, inside of a magnificent home high in the skies, there was a very irate blue pegasus listening to the rather annoying snore of the sleeping filly cuddled up to her.
Snoooooorrrre
Scootaloo, you're lucky you're cute. Rainbow Dash thought irately. The filly's muzzle was pressed firmly against Rainbow Dash's chest, pushing her nose off to the side and probably causing the snore. But every time Rainbow moved, the filly moved back to the same spot, eventually getting in the same position.
Is it near time to get up and ready for school yet? Please say yes. Rainbow thought, doing her best to look out with window without waking her precious, annoying package.
Rainbow quickly judged the time due to the sun's position. It was just peeking over the horizon. Probably had two to three more hours before school started. Rainbow could just quickly leave and go get...
No. Rainbow thought. She's told me numerous times how being alone freaks her out, and last time I left her alone in the house for five minutes, I found her stuck in the same spot she was in when I left, and shaking like a leaf. Rainbow's gaze softened as she regarded the peaceful sleeping form of the filly in front of her. I guess I can take another hour or two of her snoring just so I can make sure she doesn't freak out when she wakes up.
As gently as she could, Rainbow Dash brushed a lock of hair out of Scootaloo's face. I can't imagine for the life of me, even while drunk off your ass, how somebody could want to hurt this adorable little filly. Screw the fact that she should have been able to fly a long time ago, the creature in front of me was one of the kindest, most caring fillies I've ever met. And one of the worst snorers.
Unable to resist the urge, Rainbow Dash pushed down on the cloud mattress, forcing it to drop, and slunk her left forehoof under the filly's barrel. She threw her right forehoof over her shoulders, right under the wings, and softly pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug.
By Celestia, if any of my friends ever saw this I would never live it down.
She hear a soft groan and felt Scootaloo stir. Scootaloo woke up to a world enveloped in rainbow colored hair.
Rainbow wondered quickly of whether to release the hug before she realized what was going on. She knew the orange pegasus saw her as an idol, like an idyllic representation of what a pegasus should truly be. One that was tough and didn't show feelings.
Ah screw it. Her happiness is more important to me than my image.
"Mmmm." Scootaloo yawned. "Good morning."
She stretched out her hooves, but didn't try to break out of Rainbow's hold.
"Uh, hey squirt. Good morning." Rainbow replied, doing her best to sound nonchalant. "How'd you sleep?"
Scootaloo responded by cuddling in closer to Rainbow.
"Like a filly!" She paused, thinking of whether or not she should even mention what she was thinking. "Hey, uh, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, what's up?" Rainbow waited with bated breath.
"I just want to thank you for, y'know, this." Scootaloo blushed. "I mean, not just taking me in, but... Ever since I ran away from home I've been having... nightmares. Except for the last two nights." Scootaloo trailed off awkwardly.
That's... pretty sweet. Curse this filly, she makes it harder for me maintain the unshakable tough girl look each day.
"Of course Scoot." Rainbow started, putting on a slightly silly tone to sound like a comic book hero. "Nightmares know better than to mess with you when the mighty Rainbow Dash is around to save the day!"
Scootaloo giggled. The two relapsed into a serene silence, as Rainbow watched the sun rise.
"Alright you." Rainbow Dash yawned. "It's time for you to get ready for school."
"Aww c'mon." Scootaloo groaned. "Do I have to go?"
Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah, yeah you do. I know school sucks, but at least you get to see your friends again, right?"
Scootaloo nodded. "That's true. But you dropped out of flight school and still made a good living for yourself, so is school reeeeeeeeally that important?"
"Nice try, kid." Rainbow laughed, gently nuzzling the filly. "But I only dropped out because I couldn't handle the bullying. And it did make it much harder to get a job. Truth be told, the only reason I got the job I did, is because the boss challenged me to a race. He was fast, and he was hotheaded, but I totally kicked his flank."
"Wow!" Scootaloo said, eyes growing big. "But wait, you got bullied? What would ponies have to bully you about?"
"Heh, well..." Rainbow chuckled awkwardly, tossing her mane over her shoulder. "At first it was because I had a rainbow mane. Because of that I heard every fillyfiddler joke in the book. And then I became 'Rainbow Crash'. I may have uh... tried to do a trick a little out of my league on the first day of Flight School and ended up landing in a trashcan. And then crashed a couple more times for the rest of the time I was there."
"Well look at you now! You're a Wonderbolt!" Scootaloo beamed. "Also, some kids were talking about the mane thing yesterday. Featherweight says your mane tastes like candy."
Not expecting that, Rainbow burst out laughing. "Well I can assure you my mane does not taste like candy, it tastes like a normal mane. And right now I'm not a totally Wonderbolt per se, I'm just kind of like... I guess my best analogy would be a understudy in a play. I'm not there to fly, but I can take the role if another Wonderbolt gets sick or injured."
Scootaloo thought for a moment. "You still have a Wonderbolts uniform."
"Yeah, a reservist one." Rainbow yawned, getting to her hooves and picking up Scootaloo as she flew to the kitchen.
"That's still a Wonderbolts uniform to me!"
Rainbow set to work making them breakfast. "And it will be a full Wonderbolts uniform soon enough!"
The two sat in silence, munching on sandwiches Rainbow made.
"So..." Scootaloo started. "What are you going to do while I'm at school all day?"
"Well first." Rainbow said thoughtfully, slowly chewing. "I'm gonna have to talk to Miss Cheerliee, let her know I'm your legal guardian for now. Twilight sent a scroll here yesterday that can prove that. And then, I'm gonna go get a cookbook from Twilight, because I can't feed you off of sandwiches and pancakes forever. And the only other possibility is getting take out all the time, and I'm not sure I can afford feeding two mouths like that."
Rainbow missed the guilty look on Scootaloo's face as she heard that.
"And then I'll need to go shopping." Rainbow Dash continued obliviously. "And then I was thinking of talking to Twilight and trying to draw up a training schedule for you, to get you flying." Scootaloo instantly perked up a bit at that. "And if I still have time to kill after that, I can work on some tricks."
"But in the meantime squirt, we gotta get your butt to school."
Seeing both of them were finished, Rainbow grabbed the aforementioned scroll in her mouth, sat down so Scootaloo could climb onto her back, and took off to the Ponyville Schoolhouse.
As Rainbow Dash flew toward the schoolhouse she idly thought of her own progress in school. She was never the smartest pony, electing to spend her free time focusing more on her physical prowess rather than mental aptitude. She frowned as she realized now that she was Scootaloo's guardian, she was probably gonna have to brush up on her knowledge, lest Scootaloo came to her for help on homework. But it couldn't be so bad, Rainbow Dash had already passed the year of school Scootaloo was currently in. There no doubt was nothing the awesome Rainbow Dash couldn't do.
Rainbow Dash hummed softly as the schoolhouse came into view.
"Hey Scoot, you wanna make an awesome entrance?"
"Of course!" Scootaloo grinned.
Rainbow Dash dropped into a dive, swooping up at the last moment and closing her wings. She dropped a few feet, landing on her hindlegs and stomping the ground with one of her forelegs. She was meet with "ooh"s and "aah"s from the nearby schoolponies. Scootaloo hopped off her back and gave her a grin.
"Bye sis!" Rainbow called out. "See you after school!"
Scootaloo waved at her and then set off to find her friends before school started. Meanwhile ignoring, but secretly reveling in the awestruck looks of the foals around her, Rainbow set toward the schoolhouse to find Cheerilee. She rapped quickly on the door, and a moment later the earth pony teacher opened it.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash. I wasn't expecting you." She said, motioning for the pegasus to follow her inside. "Is there something I can do for you?"
The inside of the schoolhouse was rather small. There were tan painted walls and windows with blue curtains. The desks arranged in columns of threes. On the walls were several pictures of famously smart ponies, and on the blackboard was an extremely long division problem that made Rainbow's brain hurt.
Rainbow Dash handed the scroll to her. "I'm taking over as legal guardian for Scootaloo right now. Her parents are... otherwise occupied."
Cheerilee's eyes bugged out as she read the scroll. "This is... This is signed by Princess Celestia herself! Usually these get signed by judge ponies." As the implications dawned on her, Cheerilee looked up in alarm. "Oh, is Scootaloo okay? This was signed recently, so what is... Was it a family member of hers that was put under house arrest on Saturday? What about-"
Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop her. "Yes, it was her father. I really don't have time for questions, but what's very important is that if any pony but me and Twi- actually, if any pony other than an Element Bearer comes to pick her up, I need you to not let her go with them. Especially if that pony is a pegasus stallion. In that case, I want you to hide her in the schoolhouse, and wait until one of us shows up. Okay?"
Cheerilee bit her lip. That brought up several very unfortunate implications. "What happened between her and her father?"
Rainbow Dash quickly looked around to make sure nobody could overhear her. "He's been abusing her for years. She's been crashing at my place until we figure something permanent out."
Cheerilee gasped sharply as she covered her mouth with a hoof. She'd known Scootaloo for years, and she was dealing with abuse all that time? And Cheerilee just didn't know? She bit her lip again as a wave of guilt and shame hit her. Maybe she couldn't have known, but she felt like she should've.
"Of course." Cheerilee finally managed. "I'll also keep an eye on her during recess."
Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief and nodded her thanks. She pushed her way out of the schoolhouse and took to the skies, heading toward the town library.
"Scootaloo! That was awesome!" Sweetie Belle yelled, running to her friend alongside Applebloom.
Scootaloo gave off a cocky grin. She felt the admiring stares of the schoolyard colts and fillies come her way as soon as Rainbow Dash went inside with Cheerilee. It was a pretty good feeling to be admired by others.
This must be what Rainbow Dash feels like all the time!
"Yeah! It was super cool." She laughed. "Rainbow Dash is an awesome big sister!"
Rainbow Dash knocked politely on the library's front door. Moments later, the door was enveloped in Twilight's magical aura as she swung it open.
"Hello, how can I help y- Rainbow Dash? You know how to use doors now?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny Twilight. I was hoping you could recommend me a good cook book? I don't know how to make much, and since I'm caring for Scootaloo now, I figure I should learn a couple more things."
Twilight smiled. It was nice seeing Rainbow Dash acting a little more mature while taking care of the filly. She gestured for Rainbow to follow her, then turned around and started scanning her shelves for a good book.
"There's something else..." Rainbow trailed off. Twilight turned and looked at her quizzically. "Can I uh... Well..."
Levitating a book down to Rainbow Dash, Twilight waited patiently for her to speak. Rainbow Dash looked down and rubbed one of her forelegs with the other.
"Well it's just that..." Rainbow sighed. "Look Twilight, we both know I'm not the smartest pony. We also know Scootaloo lives with me and looks up to me and I was just thinking..." Rainbow cast her eyes off to the side. "I don't want to disappoint her, so maybe you could tutor me in some of the things she's learning so I can better help her? I mean, it's fine if you don't, and I know you could do a hundred times better just on your own..."
Twilight walked up to Rainbow and lifted her chin to meet her gaze. "I would love to help you Rainbow. And for the record, I'm proud that you are willing to do so much to help her."
Rainbow Dash chuckled awkwardly. "Thanks Twi. Heh, you tell me a month ago I'd be asking for lessons just to help the kid, I'd call you crazy. I guess Scootaloo's grown on me more than I thought. But enough sappy stuff, I still got lots to do today." Rainbow grabbed the cookbook in her mouth and nodded at Twilight.
"Ehanks afain" She muttered through the book, before walking out of the library and taking to the sky.
"That's all for today my little ponies! Class dismissed!" Chirped Cheerilee.
The was a cacophony of cheers as the school ponies made their way outside, eager to spend the rest of their day playing and having fun. Three specific fillies rushed out together, eagerly planning what they were gonna do for the rest of the day.
"I'm just saying Applebloom..." Sweetie Belle argued, "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Hypnotists might not be the best idea. Remember what happened when we tried being snake charmers? I swear, Rarity looked like she was about to have an anyuerism when she caught us!"
"Well Ah don't rightly know what that is." Applebloom argued back. "But we can't risk not trying something. What if one of our cutie marks is as a hypnotist?" Applebloom sighed. "Scootaloo, what do you think?"
Scootaloo was not paying attention. She had been on the fence about telling her friends what the real story was about her parents all day. On one hoof, they were her friends and deserved to know. On the other hoof, she didn't want pity, or for her friends to see her differently. She was the tough, stubborn pegasus with a devil-may-care attitude, not some pathetic kid who couldn't fight back against her father for years. She bit her lip and gazed up at her friends, who were looking at her expectantly.
"Huh?" Scootaloo asked.
"Ah said what do you think about trying to become hypnotists? Y'all doing alright Scoots? You've been kinda out of it all day." Applebloom asked, worried for her friend.
Scootaloo decided just to bite the bullet and get it over with. They were her friends, surely they'd just take the knowledge and respect that she didn't want to be coddled.
"Actually girls, there was something I was hoping to talk to you about..." Scootaloo trailed off, just to be interrupted by the sight of Rainbow Dash swooping in to land next to her. She had flecks of red all around her muzzle, various small cuts around her face, and smelled like she'd just been in a burning building. "Ohmygosh Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?"
Rainbow Dash laughed awkwardly and looked away. "Heh well uh, so you know how I went to go get that cookbook from Twilight? I tried making you a little afternoon snack of grilled cheese and tomato soup, but I guess I only skimmed the directions and... well you're not supposed to put unopened soup cans on the stove. So the tomato soup exploded on me..."
The three fillies giggled, and Rainbow Dash blushed.
"And then while I was cleaning that up, I forgot the grilled cheese was also on the stove. And that caught on fire. And that's why I smell like smoke. So uh, if you girls are going to head off Crusading, you wanna just meet me at Sugarcube Corner in like, three hours? I'll get you something there."
Scootaloo laughed and ran over to give Rainbow Dash a quick hug. "Sure thing Rainbow Dash. See you then!"
Rainbow Dash leaned over to whisper in Scootaloo's ear. "So hey uh, since the kitchen is a complete mess, you want me to leave that until later so I can watch over you? Fair warning if so, the kitchen is probably gonna smell like smoke for a few hours. If you don't feel safe I'll be ten seconds away though."
Scootaloo paused. While it's true going off alone still terrified her, she could just stick to public areas... And it's not like other adult ponies wouldn't be able to help her if her dad found her. Plus, she was fairly certain her dad didn't know about the clubhouse. And she also did want to tell her friends what had happened, and it might be nice to have some privacy for that. Scootaloo kicked the dirt for a minute then fixed Rainbow Dash with a determined stare.
"I'll be okay for now, but in return you're reading twice as much Daring Do tonight, d-deal?"
Rainbow Dash gently tousled Scootaloo's mane and gave her a proud smile. "Deal, squirt. See you at Sugarcube Corner."
As Rainbow Dash took off Scootaloo gave an involuntary shudder. She wasn't sure of the decision she just made, but if Rainbow Dash had bent over backwards to accommodate her, the least she could do is force herself out of her comfort zone and try and make it easier on her.
Scootaloo sighed heavily and looked over at her friends, mentally steeling herself to tell them the news as a pit formed in her stomach.
Here we go. No turning back now.
"Girls, I need to talk to you about something."
Applebloom's eyes looked ready to bulge out of her head. She walked around furiously, unable to believe all this had been going on and nobody had done anything. Sweetie Belle meanwhile had a look of shock and sadness frozen to her face, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Scootaloo had her eyes downcast, having just taken her friends to the clubhouse and told them all that had been going on recently.
"And so after we talked to Morning Skies and had the scan done, Rainbow and I went out and got ice cream. Then we ran into you two. Rainbow Dash hid on a cloud the entire time because I was too cowardly to be alone. And then... now we're here."
Sweetie Belle gave a sniff and ran over to go hug her friend. Applebloom joined in a moment later. Scootaloo felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of her. She had hated lying to her friends.
"Why didn't you tell somebody sooner?!" Cried Sweetie Belle. "Maybe somebody could had intervened!"
"Well..." Scootaloo sighed. "I was scared if word got out my dad would find out and... nobody would ever hear from me again."
Sweetie Belle replied by hugging her friend harder.
"But I don't want you guys telling anybody, okay? Aside from you two, the only ponies who know are Rainbow, Twilight, and Morning Skies. Not even your sisters know."
The other two mumbled their agreement.
Breaking out of their hug, Applebloom gave Scootaloo a solemn nod. "Is there anything else we can do for y'all? Ah feel just awful knowing ah was doing nothing while y'all were going through hell."
Scootaloo thought for a moment. "I don't want things to change. I don't want you guys giving me all sorts of pity now that you know the truth, I just want our friendship to stay the same." Scootaloo glanced out the window. "Also, we should probably get to Sugarcube Corner now. I don't want to be late and worry Rainbow Dash."
"Scoots!" yelled a blue blur as soon as Sugarcube Corner was in sight.
Rainbow Dash zoomed by, grabbing Scootaloo in a tight hug as she flew by.
"You were late, and I was worried something... might have... happened..."
Rainbow Dash blushed deeply as she noticed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom watching her. She softly deposited Scootaloo on the ground and gave an awkward cough. "I mean... good to see you, squirt. How was Crusading?"
The CMC gave off a collective giggle.
"It's okay Rainbow Dash, I just got through telling them everything." Scootaloo reassured.
"Thank you for taking care of her!" Squeaked Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah!" Agreed Applebloom.
Rainbow Dash came to land and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Aw, it was nothing. Scoot here is a joy to have around the house." Rainbow nudged Scootaloo's shoulder softly. "Now c'mon, lets go get some grub. I'm starving!"
Scootaloo blushed herself, but then eagerly followed Rainbow Dash, the rest of the CMC in tow.
Hours later across town, after the sun had set and the moon had risen, Twilight was woken up by a sudden cold shiver down her spine, and a low throbbing pain in the base of her horn.
"'...And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was safe and sound once again, thanks to Daring Do! The end." Rainbow finished. The book was still great even after the countless amounts of time she'd read it.
Scootaloo gave an excited squeak. "That was awesome! Can we start the next book now?"
Rainbow yawned, snuggling Scootaloo in closer and closing her eyes. "You know, after almost burning my house down and panicking when I couldn't find you at Sugarcube Corner, I'm pooped. How about we start the Griffin's Goblet tomorrow?"
Scootaloo grumbled but agreed. She relaxed, letting the warmth of Rainbow's coat envelop her in a feeling of absolute safety.
There was the sudden sound of glass breaking in the kitchen. Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open and she stood up warily. "Scoot, go grab Tank and hide in the bathroom."
"But-" Scootaloo argued.
"Now, Scoot!"
Rainbow Dash slunk into the hallway, ears on pivot. There was somebody in her house, and she was about to show whoever it was why it was a bad idea to mess with Rainbow Dash.
In the kitchen was a burly pegasus stallion, with a light brown coat and a tan mane. He also had an ugly, heavily scarred wing. Rainbow Dash gasped, remembering Scootaloo's description of her father. This stallion fit him to a T.
"Thunder Chaser?!" Rainbow shouted.
The stallion turned his icy blue eyes to look at the challenging mare.
"Rainbow Dash." He spoke in a gravely voice. "You and that useless chicken ruined my life. And now I'm going to ruin yours."
Rainbow Dash started seeing red. This was the one pony that was responsible for her Scootaloo being in a world of pain. For her being terrified all the time. For all her suffering! Without a second thought, she flared her wings out and lunged at him.
Thunder Chaser was expecting that. He flattened himself to the floor, diving under Rainbow's attack, then landed a buck on her jaw with both his hind legs. The impact launched Rainbow into a wall, head first. Stars exploded in her vision. She looked up in time to see Thunder Chaser pick up a knife and slice at her, and just managed to dodge out the way. The knife made contact with her ear, slicing a portion of her left ear in two.
Shaking off the fog in her head, she swung a left hook at him. Thunder Chaser reared up on his hind legs, and came down on her outstretched hoof, taking her to the ground. He brought down his other hoof on the back of Rainbow Dash's head as he came down, disorienting the mare. He swung his knife a few times at her, but she threw herself backwards, dodging his blows. Backed against a wall, Thunder Chaser caught her with hook, stomped on her ribs until he heard something crack, and brought down her knife on her face.
Rainbow Dash screamed as the vision in her right eye went black. Thunder Chaser reared up again, preparing to finish the mare off, when he felt something small catapulted against his head. Knocked off balance, he turned his head and saw a furious Scootaloo, getting to her hooves from where she had fallen.
"Leave her alone!" Scootaloo screamed.
Knocking Scootaloo to the ground with a backhoof, he pinned her down, eyeing her wings. He intended on slicing off the offending, useless appendages until he found another pony throwing herself at him. He roared as Rainbow Dash struck him upside the head, then keeping her momentum, turned around and bucked him in the ribs. He managed to grab the mare and throw her into the kitchen, standing up and preparing to fight more. Yelling like an animal, Rainbow Dash threw herself at him, lunging for his neck. Thunder Chaser dodged to the side, and with one swift movement, brought his head back around as the knife in his teeth nestled smoothly between two of Rainbow Dash's ribs. Rainbow Dash let out an involuntary wheeze at that, and collapsed into another wall, seemingly unable to get back up.
Seeing the terrified look in his daughter's eyes, he grabbed her tail with his teeth as she turned to run away. With his prize in hoof, he kicked Rainbow's door open and took off into the night.
Grabbing Scootaloo's barrel with his forehoof, he released her tail and gave off a laugh.
"You're never getting away again, girl. We're gonna leave town and I'm gonna have my fun with you. In all the time you've been gone we've missed several of our... bonding sessions." Ignoring her screaming and squirming, he brought his face closer and whispered "I'm gonna torture you long and hard for this girl. You made my life hell, and now I'm gonna make yours hell too."
Electing to lose anyone who might have spotted him in the forest, he went for a landing, before hearing an earth shattering explosion. He looked back up just in time to see an expanding circle of rainbow energy fill the night sky, and the last thing he saw was a certain pegasus diving furiously at him before he lost consciousness.
Coughing up blood, Rainbow stumbled out her front door. She instantly flew up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her eye, and the stabbing pain in her lungs every time she breathed. She sailed up a hundred feet or so, searching frantically with her good eye to spot the pegasi. As her vision started to darken, she spotted a rapidly descending pegasus stallion heading for the woods.
"Gotcha." Rainbow whispered to herself as she instantly went into a dive. Her vision darkened more as she picked up speed, eventually feeling the familiar feel of the mach cone start to surround her. She shook her head furiously, trying to blink back the darkness as the cone tightened around her. And then suddenly...
BOOM
Her speed instantly doubled as she pulled off the Rainboom. She sailed toward Thunder Chaser. Almost blacked out, she felt her hoof make impact with the lower part of his back. Grabbing around, Rainbow felt something soft and small, which she hoped was Scootaloo. She grabbed the filly and pulled her in close to her chest. She tried to pull out of the steep dive and fly to the left, and was unsure if she did. Her whole body was becoming numb. Not knowing where they were or how close to the ground, she wrapped all four legs and both her wings protectively around Scootaloo. A second later she hit the ground.
Rainbow thought she heard somebody frantically calling her name for a moment before she blacked out.
Rainbow Dash slowly cracked open one her eyes. She lifted a hoof to rub them and was immediately seized by a stabbing pain. She cried out.
Rainbow tried opening her other eye. It wouldn't open.
She tried to breathe in and was stopped by another blinding pain.
What happened to me? Last thing I remember I was reading to...
Scootaloo!
Rainbow Dash struggled up, ignoring the pain. The ECG she was apparently hooked up to start beeping in distress. For some reason, everything below her neck refused to move.
Oh no. I remember crashing to the ground. What if I...
Alerted by the ECG, several doctors rushed in, looks of panic on their faces.
"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "Is she alright?!"
"Miss Dash, please settle down. Scootaloo is fine!"
Rainbow settled down and breathed a sigh of relief, which she immediately regretted as a sharp pain came from her chest. She vaguely felt something attached to her side, seemingly inflating her lungs with air without her even trying. She also couldn't move anything below her neck, and couldn't see anything out of her right eye.
"What's wrong with me, doc?" Rainbow Dash asked with trepidation.
The doctor picked up a clipboard from next to the bed. "You have a punctured lung, nine broken ribs, a broken wing, the other wing sprained, severe trauma to your right eye, a large abrasion on your left ear, and a concussion." The doctor rattled off calmly. "You're lucky Princess Twilight found you when she did, a couple more minutes and you would probably had bled out."
Rainbow Dash stared at the doctor in horror.
"B-but why can't I move?"
"Per Princess Twilight's order, you have been strapped to the bed. She said something about 'protecting not only Rainbow Dash, but the well-being of everybody else near her.'"
Rainbow let her head fall down on the pillow.
"How long am I going to have to stay here?" Rainbow asked, knowing she was going to hate the answer.
"Six to eight weeks." The doctor responded slowly.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash shot up again, wincing as a sharp pain overtook her. "Last time I was here for a broken wing I only needed to stay here for a week!"
The doctor just sighed. "And if you only had a broken wing we could have you out of here in a week. However you managed to break ten different bones, and if that's not bad enough, just healing the punctured lung will take six to eight weeks regardless."
Rainbow Dash let her head hit the pillow again, tears welling up in her eyes.
"There's one other thing Miss Dash." The doctor continued. "Princess Twilight and Scootaloo are both here to see you... but before I let them in there's something I must let you know. With our current medical science, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to restore sight to your right eye. I'm truly sorry, Miss Dash. Would you like me to let the others in?"
Rainbow simply nodded as hot tears streamed down her face. She could only hope she gave as good as she got.
Moments later, she hear two screaming voices as Twilight and Scootaloo rushed into the room. Scootaloo instantly threw herself up on Rainbow's bed, and threw a hug around Dash's neck, ignoring the grunt of pain, and started sobbing. Twilight stopped next to Dash's bed, looking like she'd seen a ghost.
"Rainbow Dash I'm so sorry!" Twilight cried, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I felt the tripwire spell around Thunder Chaser's home go off, but by the time I saw the Rainboom and found you... You were unconscious, lying in a pool of your own blood, and you had these bones sticking out of you, and a knife in your side and... I thought... I thought we were gonna lose you."
Breaking out into tears herself, Twilight went around to the other side of Rainbow's bed and hugged the other side of her neck, only pulling back she Rainbow cried out in pain after Twilight jostled the device pumping air into her lungs. Twilight quickly sat down and apologized.
Rainbow nuzzled the sobbing filly. "Hey, it's okay squirt." Rainbow spoke in her most soothing voice. "Are you okay?"
Scootaloo broke the hug and nodded. "I just got a small bruise from where my d-... Thunder Chaser smacked me." Scootaloo immediately returned to hugging Rainbow.
Rainbow grit her teeth at the name, then remembered how the fight with them had ended.
"Twilight, what happened to Thunder Chaser? Did I..." Rainbow trailed off, not wanting to go down that road.
"No, you didn't kill him." Twilight spoke in a low voice. "But from what I overheard, it seems your slamming into him after the Rainboom did massive amounts of damage to his spinal cord and... well, he's now a triplegic. Everything except his front right hoof and the area above his neck is completely paralyzed."
Rainbow paused for a moment, processing what Twilight just told her. "He deserves so much worse." Rainbow finally uttered.
"They managed to get Scootaloo's mother into a mare shelter, which specialize in taking care of victims of domestic abuse. She's... she's really bad."
Rainbow simply nodded. "So where is Thunder Chaser? And why did you order me to be strapped down?"
Twilight took a long time to respond. After what felt like an hour, Twilight finally found herself able to meet Rainbow's questioning gaze.
"He's here, in this hospital."
"WHAT?!" Rainbow shouted, the ECG beeping in distress again. "Let me out of here, I'm gonna finish him off!"
"No, Rainbow." Twilight's glare hardened. "This is why I ordered you to be strapped down. If you kill him you'll be arrested, and we won't be able to legally take Scootaloo out from his care and put her into yours permanently."
Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance and instantly cried out again from the stabbing pain in her lungs.
"Can you do anything to get me out of here faster, Twi?" Rainbow asked hopefully. "The doctor said I'm gonna have to be stuck here for like, two months."
"I don't really know any healing magic..." Twilight bit her lip. "But I might be able to ask Zecora if she can come up with anything that can heal that eye of yours."
Rainbow Dash nodded. Amidst all the other panic she'd felt when she woke up, the fact that she was half blind now hadn't really sunk in.
"And one more thing, Rainbow." Twilight met her steely gaze. "I sent a letter to Princess Celestia while we were waiting for the doctors to let us see you. Among other things, she said the trial is going to take place roughly a week and a half after your projected release date."
As that sunk in, Rainbow Dash looked over at the filly unable to tear herself away from Rainbow's side. After that, she could legally take care of Scootaloo, and Thunder Chaser would no doubt rot in jail for the rest of his life.
For the first time since waking up Rainbow Dash managed a smile.
During the next few weeks Rainbow Dash developed a pattern. Wake up, take pain pills, Scootaloo would always come by, occasionally with another one of Dash's friends, or with the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She would spent the whole day there, regaling Dash with the last gossip of Ponyville, or quietly working on homework. Twilight had spoken with Cheerilee, and convinced her to give Scootaloo the next two weeks off of school, provided she still did homework. After all that had happened recently, convincing her wasn't hard. Rainbow Dash would often try to help Scootaloo with her homework, but wasn't great at it.
While Rainbow Dash was stuck in the hospital, Twilight had taken in Scootaloo and Tank and took care of them in lieu of the recent events. She also had come in one day with an eyepatch that had some weird green goop on the bottom. She told Rainbow Dash that it would help mend her blinded eye if she left it on the rest of the time she was in the hospital. That was probably the most uncomfortable sensation Rainbow ever felt, but she got used to it. She did idly wonder sometimes how Twilight managed to get that approved.
Meanwhile, Twilight had removed the straps binding Rainbow Dash to the bed, and brought over her collection of Daring Do books for Rainbow to read Scootaloo. Every night Scootaloo cuddled into to Rainbow Dash's side as she read. This was, of course, extremely painful for Rainbow Dash, considering all her broken ribs were on that side, getting damaged when she hit the ground, but she couldn't find it in her to complain. Every night without fail, Scootaloo would fall asleep, and Twilight would come to take her home. Twilight and Dash would often talk about their plans for the future briefly during this time, and occasionally tutor her in some of the things Scootaloo was learning just so Rainbow Dash could help her. Twilight was honestly surprised how good of a student Rainbow Dash made, especially considering the whole fiasco with everyone trying to teach her the Wonderbolts history.
And so it was, after many weeks of what Rainbow Dash described as "legal torture" that she was finally discharged. The doctor made Rainbow Dash swear to take it very easily for the next few weeks, and told her she still needed to keep off her wings. Rainbow made a face back at him. Until Rainbow Dash was allowed to fly again, Twilight told Rainbow she could stay with her and Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash didn't argue.
As soon as Rainbow got back to the library for the first time, Twilight told her it was time to take off the eyepatch. Upon doing so, her pupil shrank in response to the light, and Rainbow let out a grunt of pain. Looking straight down and slowly letting the eye adjust to the light, Rainbow Dash peered around.
"Woah, this feels super weird." Rainbow Dash said, finally able to have depth perception. She peered outside and tested her vision by closing one eye, and then the other, and comparing results.
"Well, it's not as good, but I guess I can't really complain, can I?" Rainbow laughed, Twilight tittering in response.
"Oh you look so cool now!" Scootaloo gushed, bringing a mirror over to Rainbow Dash. "You look like somebody out of an adventure comic!"
Rainbow Dash had to admit she was right. There was a long, thin white scar traveling from her eyebrow to shortly under her lower eyelid, and her left ear was still torn. She made some faces in the mirror, blushing when she remembered Twilight and Scootaloo were both still watching her.
Twilight only had one spare bed, so Rainbow and Scootaloo had to share one. Not that they minded, they'd basically been doing that for almost three months. Eventually the reached the end of the Daring Do books, Twilight suggested a few more series. Rainbow looked insulted at the idea of reading something that wasn't Daring Do. Rainbow Dash still walked Scootaloo to school every day. The sight of Rainbow Dash's new scars just endeared the foals to her even more.
Rainbow Dash found Twilight pouring into law books increasingly more as the date of the trial came by. She looked more nervous by the day. Finally they reached two days before the trial.
"C'mon Scoots, up and at 'em. Spike already made breakfast." Rainbow Dash said softly, nuzzling the gently sleeping filly. The carriage to Canterlot would be there in less than an hour. As the filly yawned and stretched, Rainbow turned to Twilight. "What are you expecting, Twi?"
"Well..." Twilight yawned. "Since Scootaloo is still just a filly, they're gonna take steps to make her comfortable. She'll come with one of us and Morning Skies to the court the day before, making sure she knows the layout of the court and can be comfortable. Morning Skies will act as sort of an intermediator between the judge and Scootaloo. On the day of the trial, Thunder Chaser will go up first, plead guilty or not, then when he doesn't Scootaloo and Morning Skies will go up and make their case. Then it's our turn. Then we win. Hopefully."
"Do I have to go up there and see him?" Scootaloo asked in a small voice.
"I'm afraid so, sweetie." Twilight said.
Scootaloo grumbled and went to padded away to prepare herself for the day.
"So are we meeting Morning in Canterlot?" Rainbow questioned. Twilight nodded in confirmation as she sat at her table, loading her plate with pancakes. Rainbow sat down across from her. "Twilight, what did you mean when you said 'hopefully'? Is there a chance we can lose?"
Twilight didn't answer.
"Is it because I paralyzed him?" Rainbow gave voice to her greatest fear.
"I'm just worried that the jury won't believe the Ostende Dolore spell. I mean, the largest part of our evidence depends on a spell most ponies have never even heard of. If I cast it, or hay, anybody casts it and the jury doesn't believe the spell, or thinks we put something on Scootaloo so that it shows up on the spell, then all our evidence is just circumstantial. Plus... yeah. He got paralyzed trying to get back his daughter, he could try to call that foalnapping. I'm just... worried." Twilight chewed thoughtfully.
"Well... I was assigned legal guardianship by Princess Celestia herself. So we would turn that foalnapping charge on his head." Rainbow said confidentially.
"Which she awarded to her personal student and her best friend! What if they dismiss that as nepotism?! Celestia has been challenged in court plenty of times!" She yelled, throwing her hooves up in emphasis.
Both mares turned when they heard a small gasp from the top of the stairs. Scootaloo was standing there looking terrified. "We could lose? What happens if we do? Do I have to go back to him?"
The two mares shared a look.
Rainbow Dash flew over to Scootaloo and pulled her to Rainbow's side with a wing. "Of course we're not gonna lose, champ. Twilight is just worrying out loud. We have a solid case. Don't worry about it, okay?"
Scootaloo didn't respond, just looked up at Rainbow Dash.
"Now c'mon, why don't you get something to eat?"
Scootaloo looked away. "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Aw come on Scoot, Spike made these especially for you." Rainbow asked. "Actually Twilight, where is Spike?"
"Rarity's watching over him until we return." Twilight responded softly.
Rainbow Dash was about to say something back when a knock at the door drew the attention of everyone in the room. Twilight swung the door open telekinetically to reveal a member of Celestia's royal guard.
"Our chariot's here." Twilight broke the silence.
Tucking a muffin under her wing, Rainbow started walking toward the guard. "Time to roll out, everybody" she said weakly.
The ride to Canterlot was quiet. Nobody knew just quite what to say. After about an hour, and several requests, Rainbow Dash finally convinced Scootaloo to take a few bites out of the muffin, but she pushed the rest away with a queasy expression. The rest of the trip carried on in silence. As the chariot landed behind Celestia's castle, an unexpected, but friendly face greeted them.
"Morning Skies!" Twilight greeted. "I didn't know you'd be meeting us here! How are you?"
Morning Skies smiled at the group. "Well I had to see my favorite little filly again before we lose her to the wonders of the big city. I'm great, how are you all?"
There was a moment of silence. The tension was palpable.
"Nervous." Scootaloo finally said.
"Aw, what for?" Morning Skies asked, gently lifting the filly's head to match her gaze. "Why, there's eight things alone we can get that big bad stallion on, and an extremely strong case. There's no way we're gonna lose this!"
A spark of hope showed in Scootaloo's eye. She gave a small smile for the first time that day. "You really think so?"
"Oh darling, I know so. Now what do you all say I show you to your rooms? Princess Celestia has picked out two for us, free of charge! And then we can go get some ice cream and explore!" Morning Skies chirped.
Wow, this mare is almost as optimistic as Pinkie Pie.
Scootaloo's ears perked up at that. "Yeah, let's do that!"
"And this is where the court proceeding will be, when you'll finally be able to live with Rainbow Dash." Morning Skies announced. "Wanna go see what it looks like inside?"
Scootaloo nodded, too busy with her ice cream. She was currently standing on Rainbow Dash, her hind legs against Rainbow's withers, and her forelegs resting on the back of her head.
Morning Skies led the group inside the courthouse, through the grand hallway, and into the central room. The first thing Rainbow Dash noticed was the room was neatly split in half. There were seven rows of pews on each side, separated by the walkway. In front of them there were two long tables, and then the judges booth. Attached to the judge's both on each side was a lower booth. And off in the top right corner there was a small, unassuming desk.
"Oh! I know all about this now!" Twilight's eyes sparkled, eager to pass on, and maybe show off her knowledge.
She pointed at the pews. "This is where the jurors will stay, as well as the Princesses in all likeliness. They determine whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty after everything is done." She pointed at the long table on the right. "This is the table for the prosecution. That'll be the four of us." She pointed at the table on the other side. "This is the defendant's table. Thunder Chaser will be sitting here."
Twilight stopped for a moment to allow everyone else to pick their jaws up off the floor after gaping at her incredible knowledge. Nobody did.
Undeterred, Twilight pointed at the large booth. "The judge here sits in the center. He's the final say on what happens. To his left is the clerk pony, who handles all the documents. When we're accusing Thunder Chaser of assault, he'll be handing Rainbow Dash's medical records to the judge. And on the judges right side is the Bailiff. He tells ponies to 'All Rise' when the judge enters and leaves, and serves the same role as a guard essentially."
"What about that?" Scootaloo asked, pointing to the desk in the corner.
"That's the court reporter. They write down everything we say, or any evidence we bring. Their work serves as the official record of the trial." Twilight beamed.
"That sounds like a terrible job." Rainbow huffed. "I'd go crazy stuck writing behind a desk all day."
"They probably makes a lot of bits." Scootaloo offered.
"Well hey, if we're all done here, who wants to jump in and surprise my parents? I'm sure they'd love to meet you two!" Twilight asked.
The two pegasi agreed as Morning Skies said her goodbyes and made her way back to the castle.
Twilight gingerly knocked on the front door of a very unassuming house. Scootaloo jumped off Rainbow, brushing any dirt off her coat. Her parents had always lectured her on making a good first impression.
The door opened to reveal a unicorn mare. She had a light gray coat, blue eyes, and a two-tone pinstripe mane, switching between a cool purple and white. She had three purple stars as a cutie mark, and the same mane-cut as Twilight herself.
"Twilight!" She greeted in a happy tone, throwing a hug around her daughter. "And I take these are the two ponies you wrote me about?" She turned to Rainbow. "You must be Rainbow Dash, am I right?" She held out her hoof to shake.
"Sure am!" Rainbow smiled, shaking the mare's hoof. Velvet then leaned down and regarded Scootaloo. "And you must be the mighty, brave Scootaloo. Aren't you just adorable!" She grinned.
"I am not adorable!" Scootaloo huffed indignantly, scrunching up her nose. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
All three mares laughed.
"Oh Night Light is here too!" Velvet said, popping back up to her hooves. "I bet he would love to meet you two as well!" She cheerfully led the trio inside.
Rainbow Dash fixed Twilight with a bemused expression. Twilight just chuckled and followed her mother. The house started off as a hallway, right off to the right they had a grand kitchen with many windows and a painting of a star spanning the entire ceiling. Off to the left was a grand library.
Figures that the queen of eggheads would grow up in an actual library.
Following Twilight up a flight of stairs, the house ended with two doors on each side. Rainbow Dash assumed that was the parent's room, the bathroom, and Twilight's and Shining's room. Velvet was busy knocking on one of the doors, a big smile on her face.
The door opened and a blue unicorn with hazel eyes stepped up. He had a short dark blue mane and a cutie mark of a small white moon trapped in a larger yellow moon facing the opposite way. As soon as he set eyes on Twilight, he calmly walked up and gave her a hug. Then he broke it and regarded Rainbow and Scootaloo.
"You must be the two Twilight writes about. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, right? She absolutely raves about you two. Especially you, Miss Dash." He looked at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow and a suave smile.
Twilight's cheeks flushed.
"Dad! Don't say that, they'll take it the wrong way!" Twilight accused.
Night Light led out a laugh. "I don't know Twiley. You never bring home a stallion, and now I see you visiting with a very close mare friend, and you two even have a foal with you? What am I supposed to think?" Night Light winked at Scootaloo, electing a giggle from her and causing Twilight to blush harder. "In any case, glad you landed the element of Loyalty. Should work well for you."
Rainbow Dash snickered, covering her mouth with a hoof. Twilight shot an accusing glare at Rainbow at that.
"Well I wouldn't want your future girlfriend to not get to know the Twiley I got to watch growing up. You two wanna come see her baby pictures?" Night Light offered.
"DAD!" Twilight nearly yelled, her face more red than purple. "They don't want to see my baby pictures!"
Rainbow Dash had fallen over in laughter at this point. "Oh no, Mr. Night Light, that sounds incredible."
If looks could kill, the one Twilight had fixed Rainbow with at the moment would have turned her bones into dust. Regardless, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash eagerly followed Night Light into his room, giant grins on their faces. "Oh no Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, you two might as well get used to addressing me as 'dad' and 'grandpa' now, knowing my little Twiley." There was another round of laughter from the pegasi and Twilight, moping, brought up the back.
"Oh, and this one is the afternoon after we got back from her entrance exam into the Princess' prestige school. She was so happy that day she was bouncing around until we made her go to bed." Night Light cooed, smiling at the memory. "Of course I can't pretend Velvet and I weren't equally as thrilled."
"Oh! Oh! That was the time Twilight heard the Rainboom and went all magic crazy, right?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, wings buzzing. "And she hatched Spike and got her cutie mark?!"
"It is indeed Scootaloo. Very good!" Night Light smiled.
Scootaloo beamed.
Velvet knocked gently on the door and pushed her head in. "Hey gang, dinner's done! I made plenty for everyone! It's Twilight's favorite! Chili!"
Twilight jumped to her hooves with a happy gasp. "Oh mom's chili is the best! You guys have got to try it!" Twilight trotted out of the room happily.
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow with a confused expression. "What's chili?"
Rainbow blinked back in confusion. "It's like, chile peppers and beans and stuff. Doesn't sound good, but it is. How have you never had chili before?"
Scootaloo just shrugged and followed Twilight.
The four ponies made their way down to the table and set down as Velvet levitated a big pot of chili to the table. As everyone helped themselves to a healthy amount, Velvet just smiled and sat down. "Well, dig in!"
Rainbow eagerly took a large spoonful of chili and almost coughed it out as the insanely spicy food hit her tongue. She fumbled for her glass of water and instantly drained it. It did next to nothing. She glanced desperately at Twilight, tears streaming down her face as Twilight fell over onto her back, dying of laughter.
"And as per Sparkle family tradition, we throw a couple slices of ghost pepper in there." Velvet grinned. "Adds to the adventure."
"You three sure you don't want to stay overnight?" Velvet offered. "We still have a mattress in Shiny's room that Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash can use."
"I'd love to, but Celestia set up a room for us and I think wants to meet us before the trial tomorrow. But hopefully we'll see you before we had back to Ponyville."
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle!" Scootaloo shouted happily, hovering for a few seconds as she waved. "Twilight, your parents are AWESOME!" She said, turning back to face the alicorn.
Rainbow Dash agreed. "Minus the part where you mom tried to burn my tongue off, they were pretty cool."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well now you're just being sensitive. Even Scootaloo got a ghost pepper slice and you don't see her moaning about it."
Scootaloo giggled as Rainbow Dash bumped flanks with Twilight. "Are you challenging me, Twi? I could top you in anything."
"Says the pony who came dead last in the Running of the Leaves that one time." Retorted Twilight with a laugh. "You lost to a pony that had never even run before."
"Oh yuk it up egghead. You win this round." Rainbow complained.
The day of the trial had finally come. Twilight was nervously rushing around, double checking and triple checking everything while Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash just sat there feeling numb. Even though they had a ton of evidence damning Thunder Chaser, there was that tiny voice in the back of their minds saying the trial might not have the optimal outcome in some regard.
Finally there was a knock on the door of the room they were staying in, breaking all the ponies out of their respective state of mind. Twilight cautiously opened the door with magic to reveal Princess Celestia standing there. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo bowed and Twilight rushed forward to hug her mentor.
"It's time." Celestia said simply. She led the three ponies outside, down the stairs and away from the castle.
"Princess Cadance and Princess Luna will not be attending. All of them but I have engagements. I however, will be there." Princess Celestia announced.
"I-is that a good thing? Do you think something bad is going to happen?" Scootaloo asked.
"You have a plethora of evidence, my personal lawyer, and not to mention, two Elements of Harmony on your side." Celestia soothed. "One being a princess herself. I am not allowed to pass judgement, even as a member of the jury, but I see no way this can end up in any way with Thunder Chaser not in a jail cell, my little pony."
Scootaloo relaxed a bit at that.
And then it was time. All four ponies entered the court room, Celestia taking a seat by herself. The juror stands were far from filled, but still featured quite a few ponies neither Rainbow Dash nor Twilight recognized. Holding their breath they made it to the prosecutors table on the left and sat down. Waiting for them there was Morning Skies and Celestia's chosen lawyer, Stone Quill. He had a brown coat, a dark blue mane, and glasses. His cutie mark was a quill and parchment. He nodded to greet them, and encouraged them that the case was in the bag.
The silence built for another few moments when the door burst open, an old looking pony with a brown coat and a gray mane came ambling through, followed by Thunder Chaser bound in a wheelchair, being wheeled to his seat by a nurse pony. As tense as the situation was, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride when she saw what she did to him.
After Thunder Chaser and his lawyer made their way their way to their table, the nurse pony bowed her head to the two, and moved to a seat as a juror. Three more ponies entered, the first in a blue police suit, and the second holding two large manila folders, and the third holding nothing. They took their respective places in the courtroom.
"That's the bailiff, the clerk, and the court reporter." Twilight whispered to Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded numbly.
As more and more ponies filtered inside, the tension grew thicker. It actually felt to Rainbow Dash as if she could cut it with a knife.
Finally a large pony with a wig arrived. The bailiff shouted out "All rise! Judge Stone Slammer presiding." As he entered the room, and after the judge made his way to his desk, everyone else was allowed to sit down. He waited patiently as the clerk found, and handed him a paper.
The judge cleared his throat and stared at Thunder Chaser. "Mr. Thunder Chaser, you currently stand here being accused of eight different charges. They are, in order: Foal abuse, domestic abuse, violation of royal house arrest, breaking and entering, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and foalnapping. How do you plead?
"Not guilty to all charges, Your Honor."
Of course that snake couldn't just make things easy.
"Very well. Stone Quill, you may proceed." The judge ruled.
"Of course, thank you, Your Honor." Stone Quill said. "I'd like to call Morning Skies to the stand."
Morning Skies gave the group a reassuring nod as she moved to stand in the middle of the courtroom.
"Now Ms. Morning Skies, you're here with Foal Protective Services and already turned in your report, correct?"
"That is correct." Morning Skies simply stated as the clerk handed the judge a document.
"Can you please tell us what you put in your report?" Stone Quill continued.
"Certainly. A little over two months ago, Princess Twilight asked me to come examine a filly named Scootaloo, who she said had been the alleged victim of abuse, coming from her father. While we waited for Scootaloo and her guardian Rainbow Dash to come, Princess Twilight told me the stories both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had told her. After a crippling accident where Thunder Chaser nearly lost the ability to fly after getting his wing caught in some heavy machinery, he turned to alcohol as an escape, slowly becoming an alcoholic, and abusing his daughter and wife because he couldn't handle his anger. Despite running away at several points, Scootaloo returned to the household to feed herself, not wanting to turn to petty theft. This happened twice, until Thunder Chaser got to a new level of violent and broke both his daughter's wings."
There came some gentle gasps from the crowd, but Morning Skies continued unabated. "She ran away from home and lived in a treehouse for just over a week, before convincing her surrogate sister Rainbow Dash to take her in for the weekend. Once there, while distracted Scootaloo dropped a plate, and the sound of it shattering induced a PTSD attack. Rainbow Dash eventually calmed her down, and after the filly cried herself to sleep, retrieved Princess Twilight. The next day Princess Twilight brought Scootaloo in and performed a spell on her that let us all see recent damage her tissues had taken, portrayed by a light. Scootaloo lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree, having injuries all over her body. Most notably damaged though, were her wings, which were pure white, and her left foreleg under the joint, where she had reportedly broken it after being pushed off a cloud by her father in an attempt for her to learn to fly. Miss Scootaloo has shown heavy signs of abuse and PTSD as a result."
There was quite a bit of murmuring in the background, silenced only when the judge slammed down his gavel and yelled at them to keep order.
"Now if there's nothing else to add..." Stone Slammer paused, waiting to see if Morning Skies had more to say. "Let the cross examination begin."
The older lawyer moved to stand in front of Morning Skies. "So you're saying miss, that all your evidence is based on the word of an impressionable child, and a shoddy spell that could be twisted to show any result?"
Thankfully, Morning Skies had kept a cool head throughout the process. "It's no meaningless conjecture when young Scootaloo starts flinching and hiding upon the simple sound of a plate breaking. According to Ms. Rainbow Dash, the filly was inconsolable until convinced that nobody was going to hurt her, several minutes into the panic attack. As for the spell, while it was indeed casted by Princess Twilight, who I'd daresay has a very trusted reputation, it could in all likeliness be performed by any unicorn in the room if they understood the spell."
"I do, in fact know of that spell. Ostende Dolore" The judge spoke. "Miss Scootaloo, please stand in front of the court."
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash desperately, hoping there was some way out of it. Being scrutinized by three mares she knew while under that spell had been mortifying enough, but in a room full of strangers and Princess Celestia? Scootaloo could feel a panic attack oncoming. Rainbow Dash gave her a pat on the head and a nod, and gently gestured Scootaloo off with an "I'm so sorry."
Scootaloo stood in front of the judge, looking about ready to wet herself. The judge's cold look softened as her gazed at the filly, and he set his jaw.
"I can see you're intimidated, Miss Scootaloo. If you wish, we can bring in the curtain. That'll just have you, me, the two lawyers, and the court reporter. Would you like that?"
Scootaloo nodded furiously, unable to even open her mouth.
The judge slammed his gavel on his desk, earning a wince from Scootaloo. "Bring in the curtain."
Somebody magically brought in three carts with curtains hanging down, much like you'd see in a hospital. They arranged them around Scootaloo so the view of almost everyone in the room was blocked. A moment later the jury gasped as the unmistakable shape of a filly started shining through the curtains. The spell was broken and the curtains were wheeled away. Upon a nod from the judge, Scootaloo sprinted to the table Rainbow was at, sliding underneath it and hiding under her legs, face buried in her coat. Rainbow gently rubbed her back as the attention was fixed back on the judge, who nodded at the elderly lawyer. "No further questions, Your Honor." He and Morning Skies returned to their respective seats, as Stone Quill took the stage again.
"If there's nothing left I'd like to call Ms. Rainbow Dash to the stand." He announced.
Rainbow meanwhile, still had the filly having a deathgrip on her. Her attempts at moving were blocked by Scootaloo wrapping both of her forelegs around Rainbow's. Not knowing what else to do, Rainbow Dash gently kissed the top of Scootaloo's head, prompting the filly to look up at her.
"It's okay Scoots, I'll be right back. I'm only going a couple feet away." Rainbow reassured her. Scootaloo released her grip and proceeded to hide under Twilight. Rainbow Dash walked to the stand and sat down, looking at Stone Quill expectantly.
"Ms. Rainbow Dash, can you please tell us your story, coming from when Scootaloo came to visit you for the weekend?”
Rainbow nodded. "Friday afternoon after school got out, I had agreed to meet Scootaloo in a clearing nearby to give her some flight lessons. She ended up bringing her entire class, because some schoolyard bully had told her anybody who could perform a Sonic Rainboom would never waste her time with Scootaloo. So I pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, grabbed Scoots, and we went back to my house."
Several ponies gasped at the nonchalance in which Rainbow described shattering the sound barrier.
"After that." Rainbow continued. "She told me her parents were out of town, celebrating their anniversary and she had nowhere to go. I tell her she can stay until they get back and prepare the guest room for her. Nothing happens until the next morning, when I went to go wake Scoots up before she slept in too much. I could tell by the squirming and moaning that she was having a nightmare. When I woke her up she even seemed scared of me for a while, until she could recognize who I was. We ate, and started on the dishes. Scootaloo wasn't paying attention and dropped one, instantly screaming and throwing herself into the corner of the room, where she started crying and making herself as small as possible, as Morning Skies said. After I convinced her to open her eyes and see I wasn't going to hurt her, she started looking at me like I was going to attack her, even asking why I hadn't attacked her because she broke a plate. She ended up crying herself to sleep in my arms, I put her down and got Twilight, and Morning Skies covered everything else. Ever since her breakdown she's been too terrified to even move if I so much leave her sight range or am not explicitly close by. I mean, I left for five minutes once to tell my work I was taking some time off to care for Scootaloo, and when I returned she was in the same place as when I left, shaking like a leaf."
"And then, a couple days later, I'm reading Scootaloo a bedtime story, and I hear something break, so I tell Scootaloo to hide, and see this bastard had broken into my house, wanting to hurt me and torture Scootaloo. So naturally I charge at him, because he's obviously gearing up to attack me, and we end up fighting. He did this:" Rainbow pointed at her torn ear. "This:" Rainbow pointed at the scar over her eye "And a bunch of other stuff that got me locked inside a hospital for two long months. So he manages to sink a knife into one of my lungs, and I'm stunned, so he grabs Scootaloo, takes off with her, and almost escapes with her. Had he escaped with her, Scootaloo probably wouldn't even be alive by this point. So I start flying up, trying to spot him while passing out AND bleeding out, and I see him going toward the Everfree Forest. I go into a dive, Rainboom into him, grab Scootaloo right before he hit the ground, and pass out."
The judge nodded. "Silver Pots" he gestured at the elderly lawyer. "do you have anything else to ask?"
"No, Your Honor." Silver Pots replied. He looked like he hated being there.
"You may return to your seat then, Miss Dash." The judge said.
Rainbow Dash walked back to her seat with a sense of pride. Scootaloo immediately left Twilight and cuddled into Rainbow's side. Rainbow gingerly lifted one of her still recovering wings and pulled Scootaloo into a winghug. Twilight meanwhile, gaped at Rainbow Dash. She'd been dreading Rainbow Dash giving her testimony because she was sure Rainbow would start screaming, or do something to get held in contempt of court, making this whole trial a lot more difficult to deal with. As she watched Rainbow Dash gingerly boop Scootaloo's nose, Twilight gave off a small smile.
Rainbow Dash really has grown a lot as a pony since this whole thing started.
"Lastly..." Stone Quill drew out. "I'd like to call Princess Twilight to the stand."
Twilight blinked, having been staring at Dash. She cleared her throat, ruffled her wings a bit, and took the stand.
"Now Princess Twilight, can you tell me your version of the story?"
"Certainly." Twilight began. "The same night that Scootaloo had that first PTSD attack, Rainbow Dash exploded into the library and startled me." Hearing some confused murmurs behind her, Twilight decided to clarify. "I work as a librarian in Ponyville, and live above it."
"Regardless, Rainbow Dash begins yelling something about Scootaloo, and I assume it's just her overreacting to Scootaloo banging herself up a bit trying to venture for her cutie mark. Of course, that all changes when Rainbow Dash informs me that she thought Scootaloo was being abused, then physically pulled me out of the library and to her house. Scootaloo woke up and after much pleading, told us the same tale of her abuse. I, having an understandably angry response, teleport the three of us back into the library, write a hurried letter to Princess Celestia and Morning Skies each, then ask my dragon assistant Spike to instantly send them with dragonfire."
More confused rumbling.
"Princess Celestia writes me back instantly, reminding me of the Ostende Dolore spell, granting Rainbow Dash and I temporary guardianship of Scootaloo, and authorizing me to put Mr. Thunder Chaser here under royal house arrest. Of course the next day I perform the spell with Morning Skies, and that was the extent of my involvement for a while.
"After a while though, I woke to a shiver down my spine and a dull throbbing in the base of my horn. Part of royal house arrest involves me installing a... sort of tripwire spell, and that was the trigger. So I rush around searching for either Thunder Chaser or Rainbow Dash, and I see the Rainboom. Only one pony in history has done that, so I knew it was Rainbow Dash. By the time I reached her, she was... she was bleeding out in a pool of her own blood, tightly curled around Scootaloo, her last thought having been to protect her from the impact. I... I thought she was dead for a moment, until I saw her twitch. Not too far off, I also saw Thunder Chaser, who was screaming in pain. I picked all three ponies up telekinetically, and got to Ponyville general as fast as I could. As I know Rainbow Dash's medical record states..." Twilight paused as the clerk handed the judge a copy of Rainbow Dash's medical record. "She had 9 broken ribs, a broken wing, a fractured wing, a punctured lung, a severely damaged, and at the time blinded eye, a torn ear, and a concussion. She obtained each of these injuries in the battle with Thunder Chaser after he broke into her home."
The jury gasped again.
"Silver Pots, you may begin your cross examination." The judge ruled.
"Just one question, Princess Twilight." Silver asked. "Some of the injuries you've stated make no sense. You've stated Rainbow Dash was blinded in one eye after the attack, but both of her eyes seem to be working fine now, regardless of the scar. Could you explain that?"
"But of course." Twilight smiled. "Tradition pony magic can't heal that sort of ocular damage, that is fully true. However, we have a zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest and has a fix for just about anything. She helped me make an eyepatch that would slowly break down the injured tissue and replace it with healthy tissue, helping it seal itself back up. Of course her vision will never be as good as it once was in that eye, but it's better than blindness."
"And the hospital just let you bring in an unknown medical item and apply it to a patient without testing or anything?" Silver pressed.
Twilight paused nervously. "Both Zecora and I have upstanding reputations in Ponyville. I spoke to a doctor about it, and after signing some paperwork, they authorized it."
Silver grumbled. "No further questions, Your Honor."
"Very well Ms. Twilight. You may return to your seat." ruled the judge.
"Thank you for your time, Your Honor." smiled Twilight.
"Are there any other witnesses you'd like to call, Stone Quill?" Stone Slammer questioned.
"No, Your Honor."
"Very well then. Silver Pots, take the stage."
"Of course, Your Honor" Silver said, turning to Thunder Chaser. "I'd like to call Thunder Chaser to the stand."
Stone Slammer held up a hoof. "In lieu of your condition, Thunder Chaser, stay where you are." Thunder Chaser nodded appreciatively.
"Thunder Chaser, can you please recount your version of the story?" Silver asked.
"I can. So as in regards to the kid running away... Yes, I did resort to alcohol after my wing was injured, and I will admit that sometimes I got angry and may have shouted at the kid, but I never hit her. As for the magic whatever, I'm fairly certain they covered the scamp in something that will make it glow under the spell. Anyways, my daughter likes running away. Kid is at the age when they get all rebellious and hate their dads. I was always worried, but deep down I knew that in a city like Ponyville, she'd be alright.
"So when she decided to go missing for the weekend, I got concerned. We hadn't traded harsh words the night before, she just vanished unprompted. I didn't know where she would go, so I just searched around my home and hoped for the best. Then saturday morning I wake up to find a princess all angry looking, breathing down my neck. She goes on to tell me what a terrible stallion I am, and threatens me saying I'm not allowed to leave the house. Apparently my daughter had been telling sob stories about me. I ain't no abusive dad. I raised her and loved her and kept her fed all her life, then she decides to go say I've done all these terrible things. And then I find out that Princess Celestia authorized this, and just gave her student and her student's best friend guardianship of my daughter? With no legal process? I call that flagrant nepotism.
"Anyway, I recall my daughter going on and on about this "Rainbow Dash" character, saying she was the scamp's 'fearless idol' or some nonsense. I know nothing about the broad though, except she's fast and strong, so I take a knife with me in case she decides to attack me out of nowhere. And after I found her not so subtle home and knocked on her door, that's exactly what she did. So yeah, we fought. And then I realized my daughter is being watched over by some psycho! So I grab her and book it, trying to save her, and the last thing I hear is a giant explosion, then all of a sudden I'm hitting the ground and can't move, all because this CRAZY BITCH decided I needed to be paralyzed for trying to save my daughter's life."
Rainbow opened her mouth to scream at Thunder Chaser, but Twilight, who had been expecting it ever since he started talking, shoved her hoof in her mouth and shook her head at Rainbow. They had a solid case, no need to weaken it by throwing a fit.
"Stone Quill, you may commence your cross examination." Stone Slammer ordered.
"Certainly, Your Honor." Stone Quill responded. "Mr. Thunder Chaser, we have a clearly unbiased spell cast from the judge, official records from FPS, and three witnesses to the fact that Scootaloo has been suffering from the symptoms of abuse. Not only that, but we have a record that your wife was inducted into a home for battered mares, a place specializing in helping mares with being the results of domestic abuse. If you mean to tell me you've never hit your daughter, can you explain all those away?"
"I dunno." Thunder Chaser frowned. "I'm not the only pony in her life she had interacted with. Maybe she got into some fights at school, she was always a confrontational type. She also crashed a lot on her scooter. Or hay, maybe one of them-" He pointed his good hoof at Rainbow and Twilight "-did it. Maybe they covered her in some junk that would show up on the spell. As for my wife, she's been trying to push forward a divorce, this was probably just an attempt to make the court more sympathetic to her cause so she can take more of my stuff."
"So just to clarify..." Stone Quill smiled. "Is that two element bearers, ponies that have saved Equestria on many different occasions and are seen as national heroes, nevermind the fact that one is a princess, and the other literally has your daughter clinging to her in fear... are either lying, or trying to cover their own flank assuming they beat your daughter themselves?"
Thunder Chaser grit his teeth. "Well maybe she got in fights at school. Again, she was always a little firecracker."
Stone Quill fired back. "We both saw the size of those injuries. Those bruises were about the size of a fully grown stallion, not a young foal."
Thunder Chaser said nothing.
"And as for the breaking and entering." Stone Quill continued. "The lock on the front door of Rainbow Dash's home was found to be broken, and the door broken off the hinges, a telltale sign of breaking and entering. Neither you or Miss Dash were in any state to break down a door after the fight, but you insisted you simply knocked on it?"
Thunder Chaser weighed his options for a moment. "Alright, so I did start off with a knock, but as the panic set in more I may have tried... knocking a bit harder."
Stone Quill smiled again. "Which constitutes as breaking and entering, if I'm not mistaken." Stone Quill turned to the judge. "No further questions, Your Honor."
"Very well." sighed Stone Slammer, banging his gavel against his desk. "The court will reconvene in one hour to pass judgement."
The judge walked back to his seat. Everyone sat down.
"In the case of Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight Sparkle vs. Thunder Chaser, the court is now in session." Stone Slammer called out, banging the gavel on his desk. "Jury, have you reached a verdict?"
Rainbow Dash's heard her heart pounding in her ears as somebody in the front of the jury slowly stood up. It felt like an hour, but the pony finally cleared his throat and spoke. "Yes, Your Honor. We the jury find Thunder Chaser... Guilty on all offenses."
We did it.
We won!
Rainbow Dash wanted to jump up and cheer. She also wanted to throw the fact that they won in Thunder Chaser's face. At the same time, she wanted to scoop up Scootaloo and Twilight in the world's biggest hug and never let them go. With too many choices, she just found herself sharing a shocked, tearful face with Scootaloo. Then as a moment passed, Rainbow found herself with the world's biggest smile, and pulled Twilight and Scootaloo into a big hug. Twilight squeaked in surprise. Scootaloo welcomed it.
"Thunder Chaser, being found guilty for all eight crimes charged upon you, I sentence you with 65 years in prison with no chance of parole. Get him out of my sight!" Stone Slammer bellowed.
It was too much for the trio, both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo burst into tears, smiling thoroughly while Twilight had a look of intense relief. "Rainbow Dash, we're not done yet!" She whispered.
Rainbow wiped her eyes and looked back to the judge. She released the winghug.
Oh that's right, we still need to sort out the guardianship position.
"Now..." Stone Slammer began slowly. "With Thunder Chaser in prison, and Scootaloo's mother deemed unfit for guardianship at the Battered Mare's Recovery Home, that leaves Scootaloo with no legal guardians at this point. I'm afraid that at your respective ages, and you two not being legally together, Scootaloo will have to be sent to an orphanage."
Crap crap crap! We can't just let her waste away in an orphanage for after all this!
...Well, if being together will help keep her with us...
"Not to worry Your Honor, Twilight and I totally hooked up!" Rainbow lied, pulling Twilight closer to her with a wing.
The courtroom was silent.
Twilight blushed crimson and buried her face in her hooves.
Scootaloo tried and failed to suppress a giggle.
"What my... partner here meant to say, Your Honor, is that we would like to apply to be recognized as in a civil union." Twilight spoke, pushing Rainbow's wing off. "The judge doesn't care whether or not we're dating Rainbow, he was just saying we weren't married!" Twilight hissed to the cyan mare.
Rainbow blushed so hard her whole face turned scarlet.
"O-oh."
"I see." said the judge slowly. "And do you have the required documents and payment?"
"N-not on me at this moment Your Honor. But if I could be allowed to travel back to my room I could-"
"That won't be necessary, Twilight." Came the voice of Princess Celestia from behind her. The trio snapped their heads back in stereo. In all the stress of the day they had forgotten the Princess was sitting right behind them. "I've brought identification, proof of age, and enough bits to cover the licensing fee with me." Celestia levitated several documents and a small pouch of bits over to the judge.
The judge pored over the documents for a moment. "Yes, well this all seems to be in order, Princess. If Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash would stay there, we can get the necessary documents, and reconvene after the Princess and Rainbow Dash receive their necessary forms."
"Not to worry, Your Honor. Those should be in the back of the folder with all the paperwork for the prosecution."
The judge gave off a bemused expression as the clerk found the documents Celestia mentioned.
"Very good, now if Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash can stay here to fill out these forms..."
Scootaloo couldn't stop smiling and zipping around as the trio left the courthouse.
She had finally done it. She had found a loving home. She had loving... parents. All was right in the world.
"WOOHOO" She yelled out, zipping around Rainbow Dash. The mare jumped and caught the filly as her wings failed. This didn't bother Scootaloo at all though, she just embraced Rainbow. All of a sudden, a thought occurred to her.
"Do I have to call you guys 'mom' now?"
Twilight quickly piped up. "Only if you'd like to Scootaloo. Twilight is also fine."
The idea of being called "mom" left a weird taste in Rainbow's mouth. She had never considered having foals of her own, deciding it wouldn't fit her. It would cramp her lifestyle. A pony couldn't travel around with the Wonderbolts if she had to worry about a little foal waiting for her. A big sister? Sure. Rainbow would be completely fine with that. She'd even built her relationship with Scootaloo around it. But a parent?
She supposed she'd been basically acting as Scootaloo's mother ever since that one fateful weekend regardless. And she really didn't mind living like that. In fact, having such an adorable filly look up her to her and staying with her only warmed her heart. She wouldn't mind taking care of Scootaloo constantly, watching her grow up.
I guess legal motherhood wouldn't be the worst thing.
"You can call me whatever you want, squirt." Rainbow replied, nuzzling her new... daughter.
Scootaloo squeaked happily.
"Twilight!" Came a regal voice from behind the trio. Scootaloo jumped out of Rainbow Dash's hooves and Rainbow Dash landed as Celestia came up to the group. "I am so dissapointed, Twilight."
For a moment there was silence as Rainbow Dash's breath got caught in her throat.
"You got yourself a girlfriend and never even told me? Well, you and Miss Rainbow Dash are rather cute together, I must say."
The group let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash and I aren't in a relationship. Rainbow is just terrible under pressure." Twilight hissed, turning around to face Rainbow Dash and speaking in a much harsher tone. "While I'm thinking of that, what the hay was that about, Rainbow? Did you listen to nothing I spoke to you about in regards to the adoption process? And do you even know what 'hooking up' even means? Because you just announced it public, in a recorded event, where dozens of ponies were watching!"
Rainbow Dash backed up and spoke uncertainly. "Of course I know what it means. It means dating... right?"
Twilight fixed her with an angry stare. "No, it doesn't. Hooking up means you find somebody else and you f-" Looking around, Twilight took notice of Scootaloo listening to their conversation. Twilight covered Scootaloo's ears and said something she couldn't hear, then released them a moment later. Whatever Twilight had said had made Rainbow Dash blush big time. Twilight stopped covering Scootaloo's ears and threw a forehoof up in anger. "And you just announced that to everybody. IN A PUBLIC COURTROOM!"
Rainbow found herself speechless, mortified by the realization of what she had done.
Celestia tittered. "You two have barely been married five minutes, and already a lover's quarrel? How sad. Especially considering the cute little hug Rainbow gave you in the courtroom."
Twilight wheeled back around to face Celestia. "Princess, Rainbow Dash and I are not married. We simply engaged in a civil union so we could take care of Scootaloo."
Without missing a beat, Celestia responded. "And civil unions were instigated so same-sex couples could be legally together until same-sex marriage was legalized. And you used that. So, you two are essentially married, at least by the public eye. Oh, are you two going to have anymore foals together after Scootaloo? I bet your foals would be just as adorable." Celestia winked to Scootaloo, who beamed back in response.
"Princess... I... but..." Twilight sputtered.
"Well I should leave so you two can enjoy your honeymoon. If you'd like to celebrate tonight, I can watch over Scootaloo personally. We'll give her the royal treatment, peeled grapes and all." Celestia giggled, enjoying the mortified look on both the mare's faces.
"What does she mean by that celebrating it tonight Twilight?" Scootaloo asked innocently, staring up at Twilight with big, round eyes.
Twilight brought up her hoof to rub the base of her muzzle in irritation. "I'll tell you when you're older, sweetie."
Scootaloo pouted. She hated that answer.
"Thank you for your... offer Princess." Twilight said, giving off a rather terrible fake smile. "The three of us will be perfectly happy alone, in our room. With respectable distances between us."
Celestia shrugged and winked at Scootaloo once more, who, while extremely confused, had been thoroughly enjoying this little scene.
"Very well. I'll leave you two lovebirds and you daughter alone. I must tell the good news to Luna and Cadance! Oh, Cadance will be overjoyed to hear of it!"
Twilight just sighed again and facehooved.
The only part of that really sunk in to Scootaloo was Celestia calling Scootaloo their daughter. She let out a squee and started dancing around again, wings buzzing in excitement. Scootaloo finally had parents who she was so proud of, and who loved her.
Rainbow Dash had recovered from her abject horror in time to see Scootaloo squee and start dancing around.
For all the hell I've been through in the last three months, it's been worth it just to see this. I'd go through it all over again just to keep that smile on her face.
Celestia left and the trio made their way back to the room to rest, Scootaloo hopping and hovering the entire time.
Twilight wearily pushed open the door to her room and instantly froze. When they had left, there had been three individual beds in the room. But now there was two beds. One filly sized, and one more, a four poster queen sized bed, with ribbons adorned with hearts posted all around it. There were rose petals all over the top of the bed.
Rainbow Dash yawned and smacked her lips sleepily. She opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling above her. She blinked a few times as the events of yesterday slowly came back to her.
Oh that's right. We're in Canterlot.
Rainbow Dash went to stretch out, but found her left foreleg pinned down by something. Glancing to her side, she saw Twilight all cuddled up with her, her hooves wrapped around Rainbow's barrel and her head resting on Rainbow's foreleg. She was gently chewing on one of Rainbow Dash's secondary feathers.
Why the hay is Twilight cuddling me? We went to sleep on opposite sides of the bed.
Rainbow Dash gently poked Twilight awake. She heard some sleepy noises, and then Twilight shot away from her, blushing furiously.
"Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, I didn't mean to..." Twilight stammered.
"Twilight, were you trying to preen me in my sleep? I mean jeez, buy me dinner first or something." Rainbow Dash joked, hiding the fact that she was blushing too.
"I didn't mean... I'm sorry!" Twilight apologized.
"Aw, it's alright Twi. I'm used to ponies being head over hooves for me. We are married after all." Rainbow said with a wink, watching Twilight's blush grow.
"Oh for the last time we aren't married! We're in a civil union!" Twilight grumped. "And I don't even like you that way."
"That doesn't change the fact that you were cuddling me." Rainbow smirked. "I never pegged you for a cuddlebug, Twi."
"Well I... uh... tend to end up cuddling my pillows at night. Especially while stressed." Twilight shot back, her voice rising. "It's not my fault we were stuck in the same bed!"
They heard a frightened squeal as their harsh words woke Scootaloo, but after quickly recognizing where she was and who she was with, she let out a sigh of relief.
Twilight and Rainbow exchanged worried glances.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" Twilight asked gently.
"Fine. I'm fine. Just... when I get woken up by arguing, it usually meant dad was home. And that he was drunk. Which usually led to..." Scootaloo trailed off.
Rainbow Dash walked over to Scootaloo's bed, sitting next to her and pulling the filly closer with a foreleg.
"Don't worry, you're never gonna have to worry about being hit again. And we weren't arguing." Rainbow tousled Scootaloo's mane with her other foreleg. "I was just bullying your mom."
Scootaloo shot a happy smile up at Rainbow as she said "mom".
"I still can't believe it's real. Ever since we left the courthouse yesterday I keep expecting to wake up and realize it was all just a dream." Scootaloo grinned, her wings buzzing in excitement. "But now I'm waking up and I've still got the coolest moms in Equestria!"
"You're darn right you do." Rainbow smiled back. Rainbow looked up to Twilight. "So my darling wife, what's the plan for the day?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "You're really laying it on thick there, Rainbow."
Rainbow Dash just smiled and waggled her eyebrows.
Twilight continued. "The chariot should be coming to pick us up in about..." She gazed out the window, taking a moment to gauge the time by the sun's position in the sky. "An hour and a half. So how about we go get something to eat and walk around for a bit?"
The pegasi both voiced their agreement at that.
"...And I teleported forward a scroll to Rarity last night to let them know that's about when and where we should be arriving. I've never teleported anything that far, so I hope it was accurate. Dragonfire is always more reliable, but Spike was left at Rarity's..." Twilight droned on. "Teleporting myself, and even others with me is one thing, but teleporting other things without me is something different entirely. Especially all the way from Canterlot to Ponyville. And the really interesting thing about that is-"
Rainbow Dash sighed. Twilight had managed to talk constantly since they had boarded the chariot. Scootaloo had managed to keep entertained, not really knowing anything about magic, but Rainbow Dash was currently resting, insanely bored, one foreleg propped against the side of the chariot, and holding up her head.
Rainbow Dash peered over the side and made out Twilight's library in the distance.
Finally, Ponyville!
"Hey, we're almost there!" Rainbow jumped up, interrupting Twilight lecturing Scootaloo on the intricate nuances of quantum tunneling. Scootaloo understood maybe one per fifteen words Twilight was using, but still looked at her with an interested smile.
"Wha- already?" Twilight blinked in confusion. "It feels like we've only been flying for half an hour."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "That's because you went full egghead mode."
Twilight grumbled back, scrunching up her muzzle in irritation. She couldn't understand why somebody would be so lackadaisical to the idea of quantum physics. They were interesting!
As the chariot touched down and the trio of ponies jumped out, thanking the pegasi that flew them around, they spotted some friendly faces. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Applejack, and Rarity all awaited them.
"Scootaloo!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle chorused, eagerly running up and greeting their friend, blasting her with a myriad of different questions.
Scootaloo held up a hoof to quiet them, then announced proudly: "Girls, I'd like to introduce you to... my two new moms!"
She gestured proudly to Rainbow Dash and Twilight.
"Wait, two new mothers?" Rarity asked in confusion. "I thought Rainbow Dash alone would be adopting darling little Scootaloo."
"Well that wouldn't work." Twilight lectured. "To adopt while single in Equestria, you need to be at least 25. So Rainbow Dash and I were forced to enter a civil union-"
Rarity immediately interrupted Twilight. "You got MARRIED?!" She grabbed Twilight and brought her up to her own face, a giant grin on her face. "Oh that is absolutely splendid darling! How was the ceremony? Or is that upcoming?! You must come to the Boutique this moment, I need to get your measurements to make the wedding dresses!"
"Oh for the love of-" Twilight yelled, escaping Rarity's grasp. "We're not married! Why does everyone keep saying that? We're just legally bound so Scootaloo can have two parents!"
Rainbow Dash snorted. "You're real quick to dismiss that, as a pony I woke up to snuggling and trying to preen me in her sleep."
Twilight just glared at Rainbow Dash.
"Yes darling, but isn't that what a marriage boils down to? A legal binding?" Rarity fluttered her eyelashes at Twilight.
"And besides, wasn't the entire point of civil unions that ponies wanted to marry, but gay marriage was illegal in some of the more high falutin cities like Canterlot and Maretropolis?" Applejack asked thoughtfully. Upon getting surprised looks, she rolled her eyes. "What, am I not allowed to know things that aren't apple related? Irregardless, what about that Thunder Chaser desperado? I reckon they got him locked up for a good long time now."
"Wow Applejack, that was a four syllable word. Are you sure you're okay?" Rainbow Dash asked in mock confusion. "Twilight, I think we might have a changeling on our hooves."
The CMC giggled as Applejack rolled her eyes again. "Oh ha ha Dash, more 'cowponies are dumb' jokes. I probably got more going on up here than you do, featherbrain." Applejack tapped the side of her head.
Rainbow Dash smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, they got him locked up for 65 years, no chance at parole. And judging by his current health... We won't have to worry about him ever again!" Scootaloo looked to the side awkwardly. Rainbow Dash didn't miss that.
"Scoots?" She asked.
"I... just kinda wish it didn't go that way. I didn't want my dad to be stuck in jail, I just wanted him to love me again. Like he did back when we were happy." Scootaloo stared at the ground, her eyes misting up.
No, dammit, don't cry. I've already done that enough recently. I probably look pathetic in front of everyone. Especially my new parents.
Scootaloo wiped her eyes quickly with a hoof, trying to play it off as just scratching her muzzle. Rainbow Dash didn't miss it.
Rainbow Dash sat down gingerly in front of her, lifting her head up to match her sympathetic look.
"Scoot, I'm sorry, but sometimes ponies come to the point of no return. They've just had so much mental junk going on that the pony they used to be just gets snuffed out. I realize that you were hoping for him to change, but the pony your father used to be isn't coming back. I know this will hurt, and even when Twilight and I give you all our love, it may still hurt, but that's okay. I promise I'll do my best to work through everything with you.
"And I saw you wiping your tears. Scootaloo, I know your tough exterior is really important to you, and I'm probably the worst pony to tell you this, as it sounds pretty hypocritical, but don't worry about it. Nobody here could ever think of you as weak. You've lived through years of physical and mental abuse, and still put a smile on your face every day. Even with your struggles to fly, you practiced every day, and never gave up on our lessons. Scootaloo, you're probably the toughest pony here." Rainbow Dash gently wiped the tears from Scootaloo's face and kissed her forehead. Suddenly remembering they weren't alone, Rainbow Dash quickly looked to the side to see everyone else smiling sweetly at them.
As Scootaloo gently pulled Rainbow Dash into a hug, Rarity finally spoke up. "Rainbow Dash, it is absolutely adorable the relationship between you two. It's obvious you've matured a lot in the recent months."
Rainbow blushed a bit and chuckled awkwardly. "I really wasn't given much choice. I needed to be the pony Scoot needed."
Nobody said anything for the next few moments. Rainbow Dash decided to break the silence. "We should probably get to Sugarcube Corner. If I know Pinkie, she's already preparing a party and will never forgive us if we're late."
The other ponies muttered their agreement and turned around, walking off. Rainbow took her moment of anonymity to give Scootaloo a quick nuzzle, then sat down, allowing Scootaloo to climb on her. Scootaloo stood on her withers, forehooves on the back of Rainbow's head, and gave off a happy hum.
These last few days have honestly been a dream come true.
As soon the group of friends reached Sugarcube Corner and so much as opened the door a sliver, the distinct sound of the party cannon was heard. The door was thrown open, and a very wild, very excited pink earth pony somehow managed to grab the entire group and force them inside.
Once inside, the friends stood there, mouth agape. Pinkie's parties were always wild, but this took it a step further. There were pastries on every conceivable surface. There were banners hung up featuring Scootaloo's face with a giant grin. There was also a giant poster attached to the far wall that showed the smiling faces of Rainbow Dash and Twilight drawn with a giant heart behind them. Below it was a three tier cake that had a one layer of cyan blue, with the other two tiers being lavender. The whole cake was adorned with rainbow colored trim.
"Pinkie... wha... how?" Stammered Twilight.
"Well I knew you were coming back today, but not when!" Pinkie bounced. "So I waited a while and got bored. Then I started baking! But then you still weren't here, so I did more baking. Then I drew some pictures of Scootaloo since it's her big day! Then you still weren't here so I remembered that Scootaloo was going to have no legal guardians and could end up in an orphanage. That made me so sad, but I also knew you guys wouldn't let that happen. I knew you needed to be twenty five to adopt in Equestria if you're single and Dashie and you weren't together but if it was to keep Scootsie she'd marry you on the spot. And then you'd be all 'No, Rainbow Dash, that's inappropriate!' and would suggest civil union, which is something I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Cake talking about when they adopted me. They weren't married yet and Mrs. Cake was still Chiffon Swirl at that point, so they suggest that as they weren't ready to marry fully. But then they did marry anyway and now I'm here! And now you're here! And now it IS TIME TO PARTY! WOOOOO!"
The party cannon went off again.
Blinking a few times, Rainbow interrupted Pinkie. "Pinkie, they adopted you like ten years ago, you're saying you remember one conversation from ten years ago?"
"Yup!" Chirped Pinkie. "And it was twelve years ago. Or if you want to be precise, four thousand four hundred and thirty-three days ago. Or if you want to be more preciser, one hundred-thousand six thousand three hundred and seventy hours. Or even more preciser-er, that'd be-" Rainbow shoved her hoof in Pinkie's mouth.
"I think we get the picture, Pinkie." Rainbow sighed.
Pinkie just smiled and hopped off to go talk to Applejack.
"What... what just happened?" Scootaloo blanched. "How do you guys ever get used to her? She's like if a sugar rush had a physical form."
"The short answer is we don't." Twilight explained. "That pony has kept me on my hooftips since I moved here. As soon as you think you understand her, she proves you wrong."
"Huh."
As the party winded down, Twilight got ready to say her goodbyes. She walked up to Dash all business-like and spoke.
"I'll need to see you tomorrow. Does after you drop off Scootaloo at school work for you?"
"Jeez Twilight." Rainbow laughed. "I wake up to you preening me and now you're demanding to see me the next day? You're clingy."
"I'm going to ignore that comment as we have work to do." Twilight scoffed. "Besides, you looked like you hadn't done your weekly preening yet, maybe I was just trying to help you."
"What work? And- hey hold on, did you say weekly? Twilight, you're supposed to preen at least once a day. Do you even know how?" Rainbow asked, holding out one of Twilight's wings to inspect. There was some off position feathers and some dirt and dust trapped between other feathers. "No, you apparently don't. Do I need to teach you how to do day one pegasus stuff? Really? Even Scootaloo can preen herself, Twi."
"Well excuse me for not being born a pegasus." Twilight snapped. "And the work is the legalities for the adoption. Like moving out of the library. Stuff like that."
"Moving ou- what? Why do you need to move out of the library?" Rainbow Dash asked, completely lost.
"Rainbow Dash did you even read the paperwork you signed?"
"I... well I skimmed it. I just signed where I was told to sign!"
"I pointed out several distinct areas I wanted to make sure you agreed to! I was wondering why you were so ambivalent about some of the things written there!"
"Well I..."
"No Rainbow Dash, I should have foreseen this." Twilight sighed. "Just come to my library after you drop Scootaloo off tomorrow and I'll break it down for you."
And with those final words, Twilight waved goodbye at Scootaloo and her friends, and took off into the night.
Rainbow Dash scratched her head.
What the hay was that all about?
Scootaloo came running up to Rainbow Dash, all smiles.
"You ready to get out of here squirt?" Rainbow asked.
"Sure am!" Scootaloo chirped back.
"All right. And I know we finished Daring Do for bedtime stories, but you wanna read it again?"
"Yeah!"
Scootaloo caught sight of her friends as Rainbow descended toward the schoolhouse. She hopped off, gave Rainbow Dash a big hug and a good-bye and went to meet her friends.
School was somewhat off for Scootaloo. Cheerilee was lecturing about long division in one block, then Equestrian history the next. Scootaloo couldn't shake the feeling that the entire class was watching her. She had just missed most of the week because of the trial. That had to be it. Unless...
Did everyone in class hear about the trial or something? I sure hope not, that'll attract a lot of unfortunate attention.
Finally Cheerilee announced it was recess time, and the Crusaders took off into the playground to plan their events for the rest of the day. Their cheerful atmosphere was broken as an unfortunately familiar voice called out for them.
"Hey blankflanks! I need to speak with you all!"
The Crusaders looked in time to see Diamond Tiara stalking towards them, mirrored by Silver Spoon.
"I wasn't talking to you, blank flank." Diamond Tiara snarled. She turned to look at Scootaloo. "Is it true what everyone's been saying? You had Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight take your father to court?"
Oh no. I was hoping nobody would know. Now I'm never gonna hear the end of this. Oh Celestia, why did Diamond Tiara have to hear about it?
"What did you hear?" Scootaloo finally responded.
"I heard enough." Diamond Tiara responded, her face strangely neutral. "Your father got basically a life sentence. Assault, attempted murder... foal abuse..."
Scootaloo felt her face get hot.
If Diamond Tiara goes where I think she's going, I swear to Celestia one of us is ending up bleeding.
"Yeah. It is. What of it?" Scootaloo growled.
Diamond Tiara shared a glance with Silver Spoon, she returned to look at Scootaloo with that same neutral, unfeeling expression.
"Go on, say it." Silver Spoon commanded, nudging her friend's flank.
"I..." Diamond stuttered, electing to look at the ground. "I'm sorry."
The Crusader's mouths dropped in stereo.
"I can't imagine what it's like to live with a parent who actually hits you and... well if I had known, I wouldn't have picked on you. Or made fun of the fact that you can't fly. I know what it's like to..." Diamond Tiara trailed off. With a sudden burst of anger, she straightened up, and went back to glaring at Scootaloo. "This doesn't change anything though. You're still a blank flank and we aren't friends. But... we're going to keep a little more distance from you. We can go back to how things were when you've recovered."
With a sassy hair flip, Diamond Tiara turned around and walked off, nose held high in the air. Silver Spoon turned back around and addressed Scootaloo with a much more sympathetic expression. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too. You'll never get Diamond Tiara to say it, but she felt terrible when the news spread. She looked like she was almost in tears when she realized how badly she treated you, considering your... past. I'm gonna do my best to keep her from picking on you... but I don't really think I'll have to try too hard to convince her."
With a much more serious look, Silver Spoon turned around and followed Diamond Tiara.
The Crusaders gaped at each other. They never thought they'd see Diamond Tiara apologize for anything in her life. The trio was left completely speechless until the end of recess. When they got back into the classroom, both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon refused to make eye contact with any of the CMC. All three fillies were so out of it, they had to be admonished several times by Cheerliee about not paying attention. But for all that had happened in the last few days, no, the past few months for her, Scootaloo couldn't focus on any of Cheerilee's lesson on the scientific process. Her mind was continuously spinning.
"No, see this feather is broken, so you just need to yank it right out." Lectured Rainbow Dash, pulling a feather from one of Twilight's wings.
"Ow!" Twilight complained.
"Well this would hurt a lot less if you did it daily, egghead." Rainbow laughed. "Alright, this one is done, let me see that other wing."
As Twilight extended her other wing, she sighed in content as Rainbow started preening it. It was... a strange experience, but actually kind of soothing. As she relaxed with her head in her hooves, a sudden thought occurred to her.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash? Isn't two adult pegasi preening each other considered... kind of an intimate activity? Like, something you'd do in a relationship?" Twilight asked nervously.
"Now don't go getting the wrong idea here." Replied Rainbow Dash nonchalantly. "Okay, yes, preening another pegasus is something you either do to your own brood until they can do it themselves, or while in a relationship. But you're a special occurrence considering you got your wings as an adult, and your parents never taught you this. So in comes the awesome Rainbow Dash. Besides, if you trust me enough to false-marry me, then this shouldn't be an issue."
It was sound logic. Still, Twilight couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
"It's just..." Twilight trailed off. "Well, this feels pretty nice, and with all this stuff about the civil partnership, and everyone else taking it out of context and shipping us together, it feels a bit... I don't know. If we were in a relationship I'd say it's moving too fast, but we're not, and it just feels kind of... strange. N-not that there's anything wrong with that."
Sighing, Rainbow Dash plopped on the bed beside her friend. "Twilight, be 100% honest with me. Do you like me like that?"
"Uhh... Not in the romantic sense, no."
"Then chill. Okay sure, this has been a bit weird, and I've been a bit uncomfortable along the way too, but I've come to expect weird ever since my 'little sister' became my daughter." Rainbow Dash twisted her face into a strange look. "That still feels weird to say. Look, all I'm saying is, yes, we've grown closer, and this whole... civil whatever is really weird, since I'm not so sure about how our relationship is seen... Like, if I liked another pony would that be seen as cheating?" Rainbow tapped her chin, lost in thought for a moment. "But you know who we are, and I know who we are, so stop sweating the small stuff. What's important right now is us giving Scootaloo a great life. If anything else comes up, we'll tackle it then. Sound good?"
Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash. "Rarity is right. You really have matured recently. I was expecting you to just joke about it." Twilight looked away at that moment. "But that just kinda makes what I'm going to say a bit more awkward... Since you elected not to read some of the government documents you legally signed..." Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm going to have to explain it to you. Those documents you signed regarding the civil union had some more... conditions."
Rainbow Dash said nothing, merely fixing Twilight with a curious look.
Twilight swallowed. "So, some of the conditions you signed for say that the... couple... has to have the same residence. And since my place here in this library counts as a public building, and therefore unfit to raise a foal... I either am supposed to move in with you, or we're supposed to find some place together on the ground to move into together. I mean, we could try to blow this off, but for the next two years we're going to get visited by FPS personnel once a moon to make sure all the conditions are met. If they aren't, they could legally send Scootaloo away to an orphanage. And then there's this thing whole thing with Scootaloo having to be able to access it, but with her current progress with flight..."
Rainbow Dash rolled on her back, her expression unreadable. She stayed silent for so long Twilight began to fear that Rainbow was upset with her.
"Well I'm not giving up my cloudhome, that's for sure. And the thing is... not that I really have a problem with you moving in, is that I only have two rooms in my house, and I don't think Scootaloo is at the point where she's comfortable sleeping alone without having nightmares... But she's going to have to get used to it soon. And my room isn't really... big enough to fit two different beds..."
Twilight felt herself blush as she realized what Rainbow Dash was implying.
"I might be able to make it bigger if I move some stuff around..." Rainbow Dash said, more to herself than Twilight. "But if you promise not to try and preen me while I sleep, I suppose I can live with that." Rainbow Dash visibly brightened up. "Plus, I bet you've never slept on a cloud mattress before! They're way better than a normal box-spring like you have. The experiences aren't even comparable!"
The two sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes until a thought occurred to Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Twi." she started. "Do you think you can help Scootaloo fly? I mean, it's not like her wings are weak, she rides around on that scooter all the time. And when they were trying out for flag carrying, she scootered all the way from Ponyville to Trottingham to get on the train. And sure, her wings are small, but most fillies her age don't really have too much larger wings. Those usually come in a growth spurt. I mean, it might not mean too much to you, but it would mean the world to me and Scoots if you could help."
Twilight hummed in contemplation. "Well, I could give her a look. Scan for magical imbalances in the body, test her wing synchro, maybe take a look at the form, but I'm not going to promise results."
"Twilight! Twilight!" a small purple drake yelled, pushing open the library door. "You're back from Canterlot"
"Spike!" Twilight called out happily, hopping down to pull her assistant into a hug. "How was staying at Rarity's?"
"Great!" Spike smiled. "She came back to the Boutique raving about how you two had won! And something about you and Rainbow Dash being married. What's that about?"
"For the last time, we're not m-" Twilight complained, cutting out when she felt Rainbow Dash put a forehoof on her shoulder. Rainbow Dash shook her head.
"Y'know Twilight." Rainbow said. "The more you deny it, the more ponies are going to keep saying it. Seeing you get that cute little huffy look on your face is absolutely hilarious."
Did I just call her cute? What?
"Fine." Twilight deadpanned. "Rainbow and I are married. We had to enter a civil union to be able to adopt Scootaloo. Who is now your... sister?" Twilight shot a confused glance at Rainbow, who just shrugged.
"Huh." Spike replied. "That's gonna be strange to get used to. I don't think I mind though."
"There's something else..." Twilight continued. "Since Rainbow and I are now legally together... we have to have the same residence. The library is a public building, so that's deemed unsuitable."
Spike cocked his head to the side. "What does that mean?"
Twilight gave herself a readying breath. "We're moving in with Rainbow Dash."
"..."
"I was thinking of the whole cloud floor problem, and I think I can make you a pendant with a crystal I can enchant with a cloud walking spell. So you can move in too!" Twilight beamed.
"In the old guest bedroom I only have one bed set up." Rainbow Dash piped up. "But I could move some junk out of that room and probably add another one. I just haven't really had any reason to clean it up 'cuz Scoots only slept in there for one night."
"There's still the problem of both Scootaloo and Spike having to have a way to access your house." Twilight reminded her. "Given that neither of them can fly."
"Yet."
"What?"
"Scootaloo can't fly yet. You're gonna help me get her to fly, right?" Rainbow Dash grinned hopefully.
"I'm gonna do my best. I can only promise that."
"Yes!" Rainbow Dash pulled Twilight into a quick hug, taking to the air with her. "Ooh, can I bring her by here after school?"
Realization of what she was doing hit Rainbow Dash quickly, and she quickly dropped Twilight. "Uhh, sorry about that."
Rolling her eyes at her excitable friend's antics, Twilight smiled. "Yes, please do. In the meantime, I'll go get some tests prepared in the basement. Wanna come help me Spike?"
"Yes ma'am" Spike saluted.
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! You'll never guess what happened today at recess!" Scootaloo ran up to her adopted mother as she landed in front of the school, prancing in place with a giant grin on her face.
"What happened, squi-"
"Diamond Tiara apologized!" Scootaloo almost yelled.
That brat that always picked of Scootaloo for not being able to fly and not having a cutie mark? Maybe she heard about the trial.
"That's great! You want even more good news?" Rainbow Dash smiled.
Scootaloo squeed and furiously nodded her head. "There's more?"
"I got Twilight to agree to run some tests on you, seeing exactly what you need to do to get airborne."
"AHHHHH!" Scootaloo screamed in excitement, running circles around Rainbow Dash. "YES!"
Oh Celestia my heart. This filly is just too much for my heart to handle.
Buzzing her wings for extra height, Scootaloo jumped on Rainbow Dash's back with an excited giggle. Rainbow Dash took that as her cue to take off. On the way, she did some flips and rolls to elicit some more happy cheers from Scootaloo.
I wonder how she's going to take Twilight and Spike moving in. Hopefully well.
Landing and opening the door to the library, Rainbow Dash strode inside. "Twilight?" She called, not seeing her lavender friend.
"I'm in the basement! Come on down!" Called a voice from somewhere below Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo jumped off Rainbow's back, zooming down the stairs and startling Twilight. Upon hearing the startled gasp coming from below, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and laughed to herself before following Scootaloo down.
Scootaloo had returned to prancing in place, watching Twilight working on unfamiliar equipment with a giddy smile on her face.
"So I did some reading on the growth and development of pegasi and their inherent magic. I've come up with a couple of tests that should help pinpoint the problem." Twilight explained. "Now I don't want you two to get your hopes up instantly. Even if we find out the exact problem today, there's no promise that it can be fixed today. Understood?"
Scootaloo looked a bit dissapointed, but at the prospect of getting closer to flying she returned to smiling.
"Originally I thought it was related to size. Scootaloo does have smaller wings than other pegasi her age. But then I remembered when we visited you at the Wonderbolts Academy, Rainbow." Twilight continued. "There we saw Bulk Biceps. As we know, his wings are also very small, but he was good enough to get into the academy. So I'm thinking size doesn't matter."
I wonder if she's ever had to tell a stallion that?
"That does narrow it down, but there's still many things it could be. First things first, I'd like to test Scootaloo's wing synchro."
Twilight leaned down, draping her wing over the filly so that the bottom of her wing just touched the tops of Scootaloo's.
"Scootaloo, would you mind flapping your wings for a while?" Twilight asked.
Scootaloo got to work buzzing her wings against Twilight's. Rainbow looked on confused. "Twilight, what exactly are you doing?"
"Well, Rainbow." Twilight explained. "There's a uncommon pegasus developmental disorder that has the wing flaps of a pegasus de-synchronize while in flight. They start out fine, but their brain messes up the signals it sends to the wings, so while one wing is up, the other is down. A pegasus can't get any air that way." Pausing for a moment, Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration. "Okay Scootaloo, you can stop. Your wing synchro is fine."
Next Twilight instructed Scootaloo to push her wing against Twilight's hoof, going forwards and going up. Twilight mused over that for a moment.
"Well, her anterior deltoids seem far weaker than her lateral deltoids, which are actually very well developed."
Scootaloo made a confused face at that. "What do you mean?"
Rainbow thought for a moment and translated for Scootaloo. "The muscles you use for straight up flapping are strong, probably from all the scootering, but the muscles you use to get air and push air below you to get higher are weak." She turned to Twilight hopefully. "So is that the issue?"
Twilight hummed softly. "More than likely not. Even if they aren't very well developed, she still should be able to fly. I'm confident it's something else. Scootaloo, have your wings ever been damaged beyond some minor bumps?"
Twilight froze, eyes wide as she realized what she asked. "I-I mean prior to the whole... being tossed off a cloud thing." Twilight winced at her lapse of judgement.
Scootaloo sighed, the wind taken out of her sails. "No, nothing that I know of before that. Are you saying that my dad might have crippled my wings?"
Twilight didn't respond for a minute. "I'm not saying anything, dear. There's still more tests I want to run. Let's try out this magicae-o-gram. If you'd please, hop up on this table." Twilight laid her hooves on a small metal table. It looked like one you might see at a vet's office. As Scootaloo jumped on the table, Twilight wheeled over some kind of light bar looking thing, and a large swath of what appeared to be x-ray film. On top of swath of film, there was some sort of module, which was connected to a cord. The other end of the cord ran into the base of the light bar.
"This isn't going to be like the spell you did on me with Morning Skies, is it?" Scootaloo asked nervously.
"Nothing like that." Twilight soothed. She powered on the module and held the light bar up to her horn. On the film, they saw a large purple mass in the shape of a horn. "All this does is measure the magical pathways inside a pony's body. So you can see my horn is full of magical pathways, much like any unicorn."
"But Scoot isn't a unicorn." Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "She's a pegasus. Pegasi don't use magic."
"Every pony uses magic, Rainbow." Twilight lectured. "Unicorns use it for magical spells. Earth ponies use it for strength and toughness, as well as limited control over plant life, and if I'm correct... Pegasi use it for cloud walking, and I believe casting a magical spell on themselves for flight."
"So you're saying I cast a spell on myself every time I want to fly? Because I don't, Twilight. I just fly." Rainbow sighed.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "It's not a conscious thing. Here, look at this." Twilight ran the light bar across Rainbow's wing. The film showed the shape of a wing with the same purple energy apparent throughout the whole thing. "Have you ever compared pegasi to birds? The body shape of birds has a much lower body-to-wing ratio. They don't cast magic on themselves because their body shape allows them to fly without it. However, realistically without magic, not one pegasus would be able to fly because wings are naturally too small and weak to lift their whole bodies off the ground.
"If I'm right, and I will admit, this is a fair amount of postulation, I believe pegasi magic has them casting some sort of... maybe a levitation spell? A pegasus would keep all their mass, but have a reduction of weight. So if Scootaloo's magical pathways aren't intact, it's as simple as she's not casting the spell on herself, and weighs too much for her wings to really handle." Twilight turned around to face Scootaloo with an eager smile. "So, now for the moment of truth. Are you ready, Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo nodded mutely.
"Here we go..." Twilight muttered. She ran the light bar across Scootaloo's side.
This was it. After all this time practicing and now I'm crippled due to something I can't control. I'll never be able to fly.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, seeing Scootaloo's crestfallen expression. "Twilight, is this something we can fix?"
Twilight tapped her chin again. "I'd imagine so, I'm just not 100% sure how yet."
Wait, what?
I can be fixed?!
Scootaloo's expression picked up significantly. "How long will it take to find out how?"
"Well... I'm not sure. I need to figure out how to fix it in the first place. More importantly, how to do it without hurting you." Twilight hummed.
Scootaloo bound over to Twilight, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Please! I don't care how much it hurts! I just want to fly!"
"Okay okay, take it easy!" Twilight yelled. "Look, I'm gonna do some studying. If I can't find anything here, next week I'm going to the Crystal Empire with the other three princesses to meet some dignitaries from Maretonia. I can look in the Empire's library and even ask the princesses then."
Scootaloo released her, a smile returning to her face.
"Actually Rainbow, I wanted to speak to you about that. The rest of the girls have elected to come with me to the Crystal Empire to meet the Duke and Duchess for whatever reason, and Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are staying with Rarity's father. He's offered to watch over Scootaloo as well if you want to come." Twilight spoke.
"That's all up to you, Scoots." Rainbow said, turning to Scootaloo. "You wanna have a sleepover or two with the girls? I know you haven't been able to do that in a while."
Scootaloo pondered for a minute. It was true that she hadn't managed to make a Crusaders sleepover for three months, and Sweetie Belle's dad was an amazing cook. Plus, it wasn't like she was in any danger, Thunder Chaser was in jail. And maybe Rainbow Dash wanted a break from her, seeing as they had spent every day together since that one weekend...
"Yeah, that sounds good to me." Scootaloo finally spoke. "I haven't been able to hang out with Applebloom or Sweetie Belle much recently." Scootaloo's face broke into a sudden grin. "Besides, we haven't tried ghost catching yet! Maybe we can get our cutie marks in that!"
Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and smiled.
Rainbow Dash carried Scootaloo over to the clubhouse. In all their excitement, Scootaloo had forgot she had made plans to hang out with her Crusader friends after school. Rainbow's mind was somewhere else though. Just before Rainbow had left the library, Twilight mentioned she wanted to speak to her privately. She had a very serious face when she said that.
Giving Scootaloo a quick hug and taking off, Rainbow started worrying about what Twilight could've been referring to. Rainbow Dash didn't think she'd done anything wrong recently. Scootaloo was happy and wasn't failing school. Her friends had all been caught up on the story. What did Twilight want to talk to her about with an expression that serious?
Pushing her way into the library, she found Twilight resorting her books. Typical.
"Ah, Rainbow, you're back! Excellent!" Twilight said in a steady tone. "As for what I wanted to speak to you about... You're not gonna like it, but I just want you to hear me out, okay?"
"Okay." Responded Rainbow. She felt a cold chill run down her spine.
"I want to put Scootaloo in therapy."
Expecting an outburst, Twilight was pleasantly surprised to find Rainbow still looking intently at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I know Scootaloo is a tough filly..." Twilight continued. "But she's been through so much abuse in these last few years that I have no doubt they've made a large imprint on her psyche. Foals are very impressionable, and Scootaloo is still just a foal. I read that untreated cases of foal abuse... don't really do well for themselves. They often don't have high aspirations, taking low paying, more unpleasant jobs because they don't think they're worth more, tend to think of themselves as trash, and a burden to those that care about them, and often get severe depression and anxiety. There's also a good chance they're turn to drug use or become alcoholics when they're older."
"I think..." Rainbow hesitated. "I think that's actually a good idea." Twilight glanced at her in surprise. "I think I've already spotted some of that. Scoots definitely has an anxiety issue... But I'm not sure we can convince her to do it. The kid is almost as stubborn as me, and I would flat out refuse in her situation."
"I don't know." Twilight said softly. "I think she'll listen to you."
Rainbow Dash sighed. Twilight was right. She'd make it work.
"Therapy? No way! I don't need therapy! I'll just tough through whatever comes at me."
Rainbow Dash sighed. The conversation was going about how she figured it would. It was a couple hours after she discussed it with Twilight, and Scootaloo was shooting down every single one of her points.
The only thing left I can think of doing is brutal, harsh honesty, and I really don't want to make Scoots cry. Please don't make me.
Scootaloo faced the other way with a huff. She wasn't some some little pony who needed to cry to some stranger about her feelings. She was a tough filly. Tough like Rainbow Dash.
Buck it. Celestia, guide me to the right words.
"Scootaloo, you obviously have a issue. I've seen you act starved for affection all the time. You clearly have an anxiety problem, and the one time I left you for five minutes and came back you were acting like you saw a ghost. I know you were nervous about Thunder Chaser finding you, but I think a normal filly would hide, not just stay frozen in terror. You respond very emotionally to everything and you freaked out when that spell showed your injuries, despite not being in any danger. Did you really think we were going to judge you for that? The way you insist to always be physically close to me I think means abandonment issues, and I just... don't want you to have to live in fear."
Rainbow's fears came true as she started to see tears run down Scootaloo's face. "I knew it. I was too much of a burden and now you hate me." Scootaloo turned to look away in shame.
"No no no." Rainbow Dash softly crooned, picking the filly up and embracing her. "Scootaloo, I don't hate you. I love you. And you're not a burden. I've enjoyed your presence since day one. You mean as much to me as I mean to you. But going through life with all this mental baggage is going to ruin your future. Please, for me? I'll even come inside with you if they'll let me."
Scootaloo buried her face in Rainbow's fur. "Promise you don't hate me?"
"Alright squirt. I need you to repeat the plan back at me one more time to make sure." Rainbow Dash demanded nervously.
Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes. "If I hear the sounds of destruction, make myself scarce, if I'm with the Crusaders or other foals, take charge and lead them somewhere out of the way. Stay away from the danger. Stay away from crowds. If you can't find me when this is all over, meet back up at the library. Rainbow Dash, this is like the eighth time. I get the plan. But isn't Discord taking care of this?"
Rainbow Dash paused. "The princesses did send him, yeah. But I can trust that guy about as far as I can throw him. Besides, I don't think he really cares about any of us but Fluttershy. I'm just... nervous, okay?"
It had been a few days since Scootaloo had started staying with the Crusaders at Sweetie Belle's dad's place. Rainbow Dash and her friends, bar Twilight had arrived yesterday. Twilight had arrived earlier that day. She heard them loudly discussing how they were pitting Discord up against some other magical being, stating something about magical imbalances.
The thing that really got to Scootaloo however, is that there was a seemingly imminent threat being held over Ponyville, and she still had to go to school.
It says something when they really don't cancel school for that. At least this time they had warning. That's something new.
Scootaloo stared back at the schoolhouse. Recess was almost over, and Rainbow Dash had spent the entire time freaking out.
"Rainbow Dash, I promise I'll be careful, but I really gotta go, okay? Besides, don't you need to help Twilight research something?" Scootaloo tried to sound irate but failed. She was actually pretty happy somebody cared enough about her to fret over her like this, but she'd never admit it out loud.
"Okay squirt. Love you, bye!" Rainbow Dash pulled Scootaloo into a quick hug with her foreleg before taking off, flying toward the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo sighed. Rainbow Dash was sure to tell her to catch Sweetie Belle and Applebloom up too. So much for recess. She padded over to her friends to relay the information Rainbow Dash had just given her.
The entire day went without incident. Rainbow Dash picked her up from school, read her to sleep, and dropped her off the next day. Scootaloo had begun to think Rainbow Dash was worried about nothing.
Another recess went by. Rainbow Dash dropped in again to say that Twilight had told everyone to stay inside, and she was passing the message on to Scootaloo. She then went to go talk to Cheerilee, who looked a lot more nervous than Scootaloo, and flew away again.
Well yeah, it's a school. We have to stay inside.
Moments later Cheerilee was calling her class back inside.
"Alright my little ponies, we have instructions from Princess Twilight. We're on code red, and need to stay inside until one of the Element Bearers gives us the all clear. There's another sort of monster attack going on."
The class groaned in response. They never had to use a code red before Twilight showed up, and now it happened at least once a year.
Things went on normally for a while, until halfway through Equine History Scootaloo heard a giant explosion coming from the direction of Twilight's library. She gasped and jumped out her seat, running to the window. A moment later, a plume of smoke came into view.
That's the library. Oh no oh no. Twilight!
Scootaloo made a break for the door, until she felt a heavier body holding her back.
"Are you crazy, Scootaloo?" Applebloom piped up, holding her friend against the ground. "Princess Twilight said to stay inside!"
"The library!" Scootaloo cried. "I have to make sure she's okay!"
The two fillies were interrupted by the resounding sound of a magical attack, and another explosion. They gaped in unison as a bit of metal plating come crashing down on the school, tearing off a part of the roof and landing in the playground, breaking and tearing everything in the playground in its wake. The schoolponies and Cheerilee gave out a scream.
Scootaloo took a minute to try and calm herself down as she recalled what Rainbow Dash told her.
"If you hear the sounds of destruction, I need you to get out of harm's way. Take charge, get everybody near you some place safe, and hide out. I'll come find you when it's all done."
But I'm too scared! Too weak!
"Nobody here could ever think of you as weak. You've lived through years of physical and mental abuse, and still put a smile on your face every day. Even with your struggles to fly, you practiced every day, and never gave up on our lessons. Scootaloo, you're probably the toughest pony here."
...
An image of Thunder Chaser's sneering face flashed in front of Scootaloo's eyes. He had the same look he always did when the beatings started. Thunder Chaser thought Scootaloo was weak. But he was wrong. Scootaloo wasn't weak. Scootaloo was strong.
It was time for her to prove it. To Rainbow Dash. To Thunder Chaser. To herself.
Another explosion was heard and the ground rumbled. Scootaloo knew this the the moment Rainbow was talking about. Glancing around and seeing her petrified classmates and teacher, Scootaloo knocked Applebloom off her and stood up tall. She was terrified, but she couldn't show it. Rainbow Dash wouldn't show it. And Rainbow Dash thought she was tough, so she had to be tough now.
"Alright listen up everybody!" She commanded. "The schoolhouse is too close to the center of town. We need to get farther away from whatever that is-" Scootaloo waved a hoof at the source of the explosions. "And group up some place safer!" Scootaloo thought idly of where they could go, but then remembered what lay the other way. Sweet Apple Acres. They could use the clubhouse! No, too small. They'd have to use the barn.
"Listen, we need to make it to Sweet Apple Acres! It's a defensible area, and we should have plenty of cover! Who's with me?" Scootaloo shouted. She heard some murmurs and some ponies nodded their heads. Doing her best to channel Rainbow Dash she shouted. "Then let's go. Rows of two! Get a buddy and don't leave their side." Scootaloo opened the door and grabbed Applebloom, pulling her outside with her.
As the schoolponies followed Scootaloo's instructions and ran, Scootaloo saw a mountain off in the distance shake. It looked like something just got shot through it.
This is really really bad. Are Rainbow and Twilight okay? I could always go looking fo-
"A normal filly would hide, not just stay frozen in terror. You respond very emotionally to everything. The way you insist to always be physically close to me I think means abandonment issues, and I just... don't want you to have to live in fear anymore."
...
No Scootaloo, focus. You may think you need Rainbow Dash now, but these ponies need you. They need a leader. I can do this. I HAVE to do this. For Rainbow Dash. For myself.
Another explosion rocked the town. Finally arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo forced the barn door open and started shepherding their classmates inside. Applebloom ran off to find Granny and Big Mac, and inform them of the plan.
As the last of her classmates and Cheerilee made it inside the barn, there was a final, giant explosion that blew Scootaloo's coat back from all the way across town. The Apples in tow, Scootaloo and Applebloom forced the doors closed.
Scootaloo glanced around quickly. The floors were hay, there were four supporting beams, and two windows on the right side.
I think this is sturdy enough to keep us safe.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Scootaloo called out. "Do we have everyone? Is anybody missing? Do we still have our buddies?"
There were a couple nods. At least nobody said no.
There was a couple tense moments of silence. Sweetie Belle padded over to Scootaloo and Applebloom, an obviously worried look on her face.
"Hey girls..." she muttered, not able to keep eye contact. "Do you think our sisters are okay?"
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo, waiting for her response.
Scootaloo sat down, wrapping her tail neatly over her hooves. She looked at the ground and took a moment to respond. "I don't know. I hope so. I don't think I could bear losing four parents in the same month. Or just in general."
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared unsure glances. Finally seeming to come up with something, they sat on each side of Scootaloo, trying to warm and comfort her with their presence. Scootaloo rested her head on Applebloom's shoulder and spoke. "Without Twilight and Rainbow Dash, you girls are the only family I have. So... thanks for being here with me."
Nobody said anything until the ground started to shake. Diamond Tiara ran to one of the windows. "Is that a... castle?" She asked, wide eyed. All of a sudden, everyone was crowded around a window. There was a bright, shiny, admittedly a little garish crystal castle emerging from the ground.
"That must be our sisters!" Sweetie Belle squealed, opening the barn doors and making a run for the castle, everyone else quickly on her hooves.
In the few minutes it took to reach the castle, it dawned on the fillies just how big this castle was. It was easily three to four times taller than the rest of the buildings around it. The main part of the castle was purple, but it has blue crystal snaking all around it and lifting it into the sky. There were two purple windows on the front, on each side of a golden door and staircases. The door had two hearts on it, situated so the hearts would split in half every time you opened the double door.
As the Crusaders made their way to the front to gape, they noticed many other assorted townsfolk, and even Zecora had joined them. Scootaloo was speechless. Scootaloo was rendered even more flabbergasted as Twilight threw open the doors and started singing out of nowhere.
"Each one of us has something special. That makes us different. That makes us rare~"
"Yeah Scoots!" Rainbow shouted. "I'm so proud of you!"
Scootaloo smiled warmly. She had just gotten done regaling Twilight and Rainbow Dash what she did when Tirek attacked. The rest of Twilight's and Rainbow's friend group had left, but it was obvious this place was build to accommodate all six of them. They even had thrones with their cutie marks. Scootaloo thought this was very cool.
"Thanks!" Scooaloo responded excitedly, buzzing her little wings. "But enough about me, what did you two do? I bet you guys spent the whole time flattening that ugly monster thing to the curb!"
Rainbow Dash chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head. "Well, it was... mostly Twilight." Rainbow Dash wilted under the mighty raised eyebrow of Twilight. "Okay, it was entirely Twilight."
"Earlier today, the other princesses pooled their magic and forced it all into me. Their plan was denying Tirek that last bit of their magic so he didn't get all powerful. Then I had a giant magical battle with him, which explains all those explosions you heard. I gotta admit, it was nice to let loose for once. But it ended up in a stalemate." Twilight explained.
Scootaloo beamed. "That is so insanely awesome! But why would the princesses do that?"
Twillight looked at the filly quizzically. "What do you mean, why?"
"Well, if they gave you all their magic they'd be useless against Tirek. So he could defeat them easily. And that would force you to fight him before he enslaved all of ponykind. But you fought with the strength of four alicorns. Yourself, and the other three princesses, and still won. If they hadn't split up all their power, they could use the same amount of magic you used to fight Tirek, but have four different angles to attack him from, making it harder for him to hit any specific one of you, and you could find his weak spots."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash shared a surprised look.
"What?" Scootaloo asked. "It's why the griffons lost the battle of Stalliongrad to the zebras. I pay attention in school sometimes."
Twilight blinked several times. "Well... I'm not sure why they did that actually. Maybe she's uncomfortable with combat magic?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "Well that one time we all saw her fight Chrysalis she went down in a couple of seconds, so that could be."
"You were there?" Rainbow asked incredulously.
"I was one of the flowerfillies!" Scootaloo shot back, a little hurt that her at-that-point idol hadn't even acknowledged her existence.
"Oh. Sorry Scoot. I guess we were all a little distracted by Twilight going bonkers the whole time." Rainbow apologized.
Twilight snickered. "Sure, I went a little overboard, but I ended up being right!"
"What's that thing you always say, Twilight?" Rainbow pretended to be lost in thought. "The end doesn't justify the means?"
Twilight chuckled. "Okay, fair enough. You got me."
This is perfect.
This is what I've been needing for years now.
A truly caring family. Together.
Noticing the weird smile on Scootaloo's face, Twilight paused.
"Are you okay, sweetie?"
Scootaloo didn't say anything, just walked over to Twilight and pulled her into a hug. The two sat there in silence for a moment until Rainbow Dash joined them, softly wrapping her wings around the pair.
"I'm not great with words but I... Thank you both. I can never repay what you've done for me."
The trio continued the hug for another minute, until Twilight nuzzled the filly and started whispering in her ear.
"Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and I have a very special surprise for you."
Scootaloo gasped, breaking out of the hug so she could look at both her parents.
"You guys are dating now?!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly.
"I... what? No. Why does everyone keep shipping us together?" Twilight complained.
"Because you guys are married?" Scootaloo laughed. "Also would be really cute together. So if not that, what's the surprise?"
Scootaloo paused as Twilight adopted a rather apprehensive look on her face. Rainbow Dash looked a little less excited.
"Well sweetie... Celestia informed me of a spell that can reconnect, or create new magical pathways in a pony. It's usually only used on unicorns... and is apparently agonizingly painful... but..." Twilight swallowed.
"Do it! I'm ready!" Scootaloo chirped.
"You don't want to... brace yourself? Or hold my hoof? Or anything?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I can take physical pain. I'm very experienced." Scootaloo simply replied.
Twilight and Rainbow shared a glance at that.
"Are you sure you're ready Scootaloo?" Twilight asked softly. "We won't think any less of you if say you're not ready."
Scootaloo hardened her eyes and met Twilight's glaze. Twilight could see fire dancing in Scootaloo's eyes. Scootaloo nodded confidently. "If this can help me fly, I'll go through any pain."
Kid's got moxie. I'm impressed. Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
Twilight slowly nodded back. Lifting Scootaloo telekinetically. At first, Scootaloo just felt a nice warm feeling in her wings, but then her body was wracked with a pain so intense her vision went white. She let out a scream of agony, then bit down on her lip so hard she felt rivulets of blood dripping down her lip. Then as soon as it started, it was over. Scootaloo could help but to give a pathetic whimper as she collapsed. Twilight rushed over to her and pulled her into a hug.
"Oh no, I'm so so sorry, I never should have done that. Are you okay?"
Scootaloo took a deep breath, struggling to her hooves as her strength returned. She nodded at Twilight, the smile lost from her face. A moment later she flapped her wings a few times and the smile returned. "Do you think I can fly now?"
"Well you recovered quickly." Twilight laughed. "I'd give it a bit of time. Keep flapping your wings, make sure you've got magic flowing in there, and how about Rainbow Dash takes you somewhere nice to test?"
Rainbow Dash jumped onto the table, giving Scootaloo an encouraging smile. She leaned down to let Scootaloo climb on. Scootaloo nestled herself just above Rainbow Dash's wings and got to work buzzing her own. Rainbow turned and motioned for Twilight to follow her. The two mares trotted out of the castle. Opening the doors, both mares took to the skies. Rainbow Dash led them to a clearing just off Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight landed on the ground to watch from below. Rainbow Dash deposited Scootaloo on a cloud and prepared her speech to psych the filly up.
"Listen squirt, you know no matter what happens here, your mother and I love you. And worst comes to worst? I'm not going to let you fall and get hurt. Now before you jump, I want you to do a couple things, okay?"
Scootaloo nodded, shaking in anticipation.
"First, when you jump I want you to close your eyes. If you look at the ground you're gonna scare yourself and do worse. Two, practice those wing flaps like we've been practicing. Don't just flail your wings about. Third, realize that no matter how good or bad of a flier you are, you're always gonna be my favorite." Rainbow Dash nuzzled the filly on that note.
"But Rainbow Dash, how can I be your favorite if I don't ever get as good as you? You're like... the best." Scootaloo questioned.
"Squirt, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told you before you carried the flag. You're awesome in a ton of different ways regardless of whether or not you can fly. And, to be honest, I think you're already better than me." Rainbow Dash smiled.
"Wait, what?" Scootaloo gasped.
"Scootaloo, you want to know what I would do in your shoes, if I was your age?"
Scootaloo nodded.
"I would have given up. I would have given up so long ago. And I didn't even have to worry about abusive parents. You've taken all that life's thrown at you, and came out victorious. You've been beaten down, verbally and physically, but I still see you wear that proud smile of yours everywhere you go. Even after all the darkness you still have a pure little heart. You want to know why I know you're gonna be better than me?"
Rainbow Dash leaned down to whisper in Scootaloo's ear.
"Because you inspire me."
Scootaloo gave a soft gasp and stared up into Rainbow's eyes.
"Go."
Tightly squeezing her eyes shut, Scootaloo leaped off the cloud, furiously flapping her wings. But as the seconds passed, she didn't feel the impact of her body hitting the ground, or of Rainbow Dash catching her. In fact, she didn't feel anything but air under her hooves. But that would mean...
A moment later she heard two different voices cheering as loudly as they could. Feeling herself wobble around, Scootaloo slowly opened one eye and gazed down.
The ground wasn't rushing up to meet her. In fact, the ground was getting farther away.
Scootaloo's heart soared as she realized what she was doing.
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! The Crusaders wanted to meet up before school and go over some plans! Can I go? Can I go?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, jumping up and down on the cloud mattress Rainbow had flown in.
It had been a couple of months since Tirek attacked and Scootaloo had first flown. She still remembered the tears. Twilight had gushed over her for hours, and Rainbow Dash had just pulled her into a rib breaking hug and start crying, muttering how proud she was of her little Scootaloo. They had gone off to get milkshakes right after and Scootaloo refused to touch the ground the entire time, eventually being so worn out when they came back, she crawled right into bed and passed out.
Since then things had been nothing but good for her. She started undergoing therapy, deemed herself old and brave enough to start sleeping on her own, and the four of them moved into Twilight's castle so they could all be one big happy family.
Of course that meant she got her own grand room, and even though there were enough bedrooms to go around, Rainbow Dash eventually moved into Twilight's room. Rainbow would never admit it, but on the occasional night Scootaloo caught Twilight cuddling up to her, she had a big, goofy smile stuck on her face all night. The two mares had started openly flirting with each other around the house, and Scootaloo assumed were spending very special time together when she was at school. Although she pretended to retch anytime they flirted or hugged, she was really happy to have parents that cared for each other again.
But none of this mattered right now, for it was the crack of dawn and the Crusaders wanted to meet early.
Rainbow Dash groaned, unhappy she was woken in the middle of another awesome changeling-fighting dream. "Go ask your mom." she muttered.
"But I am asking my mom, mom." Scootaloo giggled.
"Go ask your other mom." Rainbow smirked.
Just as Scootaloo was about to flit over to bug Twilight, she muttered back at Rainbow.
"Rainbow, before wake up time she's your daughter."
"Killjoy." Rainbow shot back, sticking out her tongue. "Alrighty kiddo, you want a ride?"
"Nope!" Scootaloo chirped, striking a pose. "I can fly by myself, remember?"
"I DO remember." Rainbow laughed, launching herself at the filly and pulling her into a hug, dragging her next to her on the bed. "And I'm still so proud!" Rainbow gave the filly a noogie. Scootaloo giggled madly and squirmed to escape.
"Alright alright, how about I make you a little snack and I'll fly over with you. I know you can fly now, but with the way your burn through energy we're gonna have to build up your stamina like mad." Rainbow Dash yawned mightily, sloggishly making her way to the kitchen. Rainbow idly pulled out some leftover cauliflower casserole from the night before, and made two plates of it. Turns out having Spike move in with Twilight was a blessing, since both Twilight and Rainbow Dash were pretty bad cooks. Even Scootaloo was having the promise of being better than both of them at it. She spend many afternoons learning and practicing new recipes with Spike.
Scootaloo voraciously inhaled her breakfast. "Woah woah girl, slow down there!" Rainbow cautioned. "You're gonna give yourself a bellyache, especially if you're going flying after you eat!" Scootaloo's heart warmed. She wasn't sure why, but just the cautions of her parent's worrying about her over stupid little things made her feel happier and more loved. Slowing down, she smiled at Rainbow as she finished her own breakfast.
You know, for the "fastest pegasus to ever come out of Cloudsdale", Rainbow Dash is really slow in the morning.
As Rainbow finally finished her breakfast and dropped her plate into the sink, she let out a mighty stretch and opened the front door.
"You ready to take to the skies, Scoot?" She asked with a wry smile.
"Always!" Scootaloo chirped back, beaming. Buzzing her wings excitedly, she took a running jump and leaped out the grand window in the kitchen, followed rapidly by Rainbow Dash.
Thing was, Scootaloo wasn't a fast flier. In fact, she was just happy she wasn't a wobbly flier anymore. Given her late blooming, Rainbow Dash was running a backlog of flight lessons. And while Scootaloo was improving, she doubted she'd ever be Wonderbolts material. But Scootaloo didn't even care. For the last few years her only dreams were a loving family and the ability to fly. And now she had both. She didn't even know what in life could make her a happier pony at this point. Even the sweet, sweet call of a cutie mark paled in comparison to the happiness the last few months had brought her.
"But it's still coming, squirt" Rainbow Dash would always say. "You've come this far by not giving up on your dreams, why stop now?"
Scootaloo laughed to herself and gave off a genuine smile. She saw the clubhouse come into view. Judging by the unlit lanterns, she was the first Crusader there. Landing on the grass outside the walkway, she scampered over to Rainbow Dash to say her goodbyes. Rainbow Dash gave her a quick nuzzle, then kissed her forehead.
"I love you, Scoot." Rainbow whispered.
"Love you too mom!" Scootaloo smiled.
Scootaloo pulled Rainbow Dash into a quick hug before watching her fly off. When Rainbow Dash was out of sight, she zipped into the clubhouse, content with watching Celestia's sun rise as she waited for her friends.
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom chorused, having reached the clubhouse at the same time.
"Did you fly down here again?" Asked Sweetie Belle excitedly.
"You bet I did!" Scootaloo bragged. "Couple years from now I'll be doing my own Sonic Rainboom, just you wait!"
"And what about Rainbow and Twilight?" Applebloom asked suggestively. "Are they, y'know?"
Scootaloo snickered. "They haven't made it official, but I've seen how they look at each other when they don't think I can see."
The fillies laughed for a moment, before surveying the inside of the clubhouse. Pasted all over the clubhouse were failed ideas of things they had tried to earn their cutie mark. Optimistic as the fillies were, it was pretty disheartening to see this much failure. They let out a collective sigh.
"Well that's enough moping." Applebloom perked up, jumping on the box they used to post the posters so they didn't touch the floor. "Okay Crusaders, back to the business of earning our cutie marks. Any suggestions?"
"We've run out of ideas." Sweetie Belle added somberly.
"Are you kidding me Crusaders?" Applebloom shot back. "We can do better than that!"
Figuring exactly what they needed, Applebloom started singing.
"We've been searching for our cutie marks for a while now. Trying to find out how we fit in." Applebloom leaned towards her friends with a smile. "So many ways we've tried before, but we keep on trying more~"
"Because the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't give in!" All three friends sang.
"I-is it weird I feel bad for her?" Sweetie Belle asked uncertainly.
"If it is then... I'm weird too." Confessed Scootaloo.
"She wants to change but doesn't know how." Replied Applebloom.
"Seems she could use a friend or two to help her figure it out." Sweetie Belle decided.
The three fillies had just gotten through overhearing quite an ordeal. After losing class president, Diamond Tiara had stormed off. She had apprehensively approached what was revealed to be her home, the anger turned to something that looked almost like fear.
And in the few minutes that followed, much of Diamond Tiara's behavior had been explained. Diamond Tiara's mother had an outwards hatred toward foals without cutie marks, even going as far to call them "blank flanks" as well. When Diamond Tiara had revealed she had lost the election, Spoiled Rich had grabbed her daughters face and screamed in it.
Diamond Tiara had flinched.
Diamond Tiara flinched.
As soon as Scootaloo saw that she felt a familiar feeling of dread and anger bubble up inside her. She recalled what Diamond Tiara had said to her when she found out about the trial.
"I can't imagine what it's like to live with a parent who actually hits you and... well if I had known, I wouldn't have picked on you. Or made fun of the fact that you can't fly. I know what it's like to..."
Scootaloo hadn't dwelled on her words at that point, but now knowing what Diamond Tiara was going through, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. She should have asked for clarification. She was just shocked that she has been apologized to at that moment that nothing else got through to her.
And then Diamond Tiara had broken into song. It was a terrible, touching sad song.
"I thought diamonds were hard, though I feel I could break..."
Scootaloo felt her own heart break at that. Here she was, in front of the pony that had bullied her since she came to the school... and she felt pity. After a moment of consideration, Scootaloo made up her mind.
She was going to befriend Diamond Tiara.
"Hey, Diamond Tiara, wait up!" Applebloom called as the class ended and Diamond Tiara was starting to walk home.
"What do you three want?" Diamond Tiara demanded. "To gloat? Rub in my defeat?" Her gaze softened as her eyes met Scootaloo's, but she broke eye contact immediately.
"Actually..." Applebloom hesitated for a moment. "We wanted to invite you to our clubhouse to hang out."
"...Really?"
After some nods of confirmation, Diamond Tiara hesitantly followed the Crusaders to their clubhouse. As the Crusaders waited awkwardly by the door, Diamond Tiara began examining the posters marked full of failed Crusades.
"Oh to hay with it." Scootaloo finally huffed. "Diamond Tiara, we overheard you yesterday."
Diamond Tiara's eyes filled with a mixture of panic and anger. "What, are you trying to get your cutie marks in SPYING?! Is that on-"
"Has she ever hit you?" Scootaloo interrupted.
Diamond Tiara looked around awkwardly, afraid to answer. On one hand, Scootaloo did understand... less than desirable parents, but on the other hand, Diamond Tiara didn't think she could compare to Scootaloo's plight. Also the idea of opening up to... well anybody, but especially these three unnerved her.
"I mean, sometimes when she got really mad she might have smacked me a couple times... But it was mostly verbal." Diamond Tiara found herself unable to stare at anything other than the floor. Her eyes started watering up.
"Diamond Tiara, I... I know what it's like to have abusive parents. I know exactly what that can do to your head. And I know with the right ponies by your side, things can get way better. So I guess what I'm saying is... I'm here to help you. We're here to help you though this. So... friends?" Scootaloo offered an open hoof to the pink filly, who looked at it, unsure.
A tense moment passed before the silence was broken by a fifth foal knocking on the clubhouse door.
"HELP!" Cried Pipsqueak. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, I was at the school board meeting and they didn't approve my request for the new playground equipment!"
"Why not?!" Sweetie Belle gasped.
"There's no money in the budget! So I checked my piggybank to see if I had enough bits..." Pipsqueak emptied his piggybank out. There was dust, a piece of candy, and a dead ladybug. "But my little piggy wasn't nearly full enough."
"Don't worry, Pip!" Sweetie Belle smiled.
"We'll meet you back at school." Chirped Scootaloo.
"And help you find a solution!" Applebloom added.
Pipsqueak smiled brightly and thanked them before trotting off.
Diamond Tiara figured she could use this moment to try to make her comeback.
Maybe I could knock Pipsqueak out of office and try to take president status for my own. Maybe I could become a winner again. Maybe then my mom would love me again, if even only for a bit. But... aside from Silver Spoon, nobody's ever wanted to become my friend before... so can I really just...
Scootaloo turned around to face Diamond Tiara, quietly waiting for confirmation. She silently held out her hoof again. "Friends?" She offered again.
Diamond Tiara took a deep breath and locked eyes with the pegasus. Time seemed to slow down as she cautiously lifted one of her forelegs and placed her hoof on Scootaloo's.
"Friends." She replied shakily. Scootaloo fixed her with a reassuring smile as Diamond Tiara felt the water well up in her eyes again.
She was a strong pony. She was a Diamond. She didn't need to cry in front of others, that was a sign of weakness, and that meant she was getting punished when she got home. But the other fillies in the room didn't stare at her with cold, angry eyes. Instead, their warm looks made her almost feel worse.
Diamond Tiara squeezed her eyes tightly, not knowing what to do.
But Scootaloo did know what to do. It was going to be awkward, and might not even be taken well, but there was only one thing to do. Diamond Tiara slowly felt a warm presence against her body, and opened her eyes to find Scootaloo had pulled her into a hug.
Diamond Tiara wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't gotten a hug for as long as she remembered. While her father wasn't verbally abusive, he was emotionally distant and didn't seem to know how to be a father, so Diamond Tiara wasn't really used to physical affection. She carefully returned the hug as the floodgates opened up. She felt herself quietly start to sob into Scootaloo's shoulder, relieving years of internalized emotion.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gaped at each other. If they were told the day before that their classroom bully would be breaking down in front of them, and they'd be trying to make her feel better, they'd have called you crazy. But as far as moments like these went, they both knew without speaking what it is they had to do. The two fillies walked over and joined the other two in a group hug as Diamond Tiara just sobbed louder, her cries eventually turning into wails of anguish as she released the pent up emotion she's been trying her best to suppress for as long as she could remember.
This carried on for several moments before Diamond Tiara broke free and wiped her nose. She wasn't sure what to do in stations like this. Should she apologize? Try and pretend nothing had happened? She looked over at Scootaloo, ready to gauge her actions based on how Scootaloo responded, and was somewhat surprised to see a knowing smile on Scootaloo's face.
"I know that look Diamond Tiara. We're not going to judge you for having feelings. Nobody in here thinks less of you." Scootaloo just smiled at her.
Diamond Tiara's mind was meanwhile racing a mile per minute. She wasn't gonna be judged? Or yelled at? She'd just broken down in front of three fillies she'd spent years tormenting and they didn't even hate her a little? She had to do something to repay them... And after a moment of contemplation she had a pretty good idea on what.
"We should probably get back to the school." Diamond Tiara spoke with a much softer voice. "And on the way, I think I know how we can fix Pip's issue."
The four fillies made it back to the school, shortly after the school meeting had finished. For some reason, even though both school and the school meeting had adjourned, most of the class was still there. Pipsqueak was speaking with Cheerilee, a very depressed look plastered on his face.
Diamond Tiara took a steadying breath and cleared her throat. "Everyone, may I please have your attention?"
The rest of the schoolponies didn't know what shocked them more: the fact that Diamond Tiara had said "please", the fact that her red eyes clearly showed she'd been crying recently, or the fact that she didn't seem to care and had a genuine smile on her face.
"I've just asked my father to donate the money for new playground equipment!"
There was a moment of silence as the rest of the foals digested what the pony that had only known for years as a bully had just said, then came the cacophony of cheers.
"I know you were worried for a second there, weren't you?" Diamond Tiara asked, winking at Pip. "Hah, well I think it's all gonna work out just fine, Mister President!"
Pip beamed.
As they watched the rest of the schoolponies and even some adult volunteers get to work dropping off and building the new equipment, the CMC looked on from the back, stunned about how much had changed in just one day.
"I've been thinkin', Crusaders. We spend an awful lot of time fussin' and frettin' tryin' to discover our true talent. But when we take a little time off, we end up helpin' other ponies figure out their true talent!" Applebloom sighed happily.
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle grinned. "And I think that's way more important than worrying about our cutie marks, don't you?
Scootaloo pulled her friends into a hug. "Absolutely! I don't care if I ever get my cutie mark as long as I get to hang out with my best friends."
"So what do you say, Crusaders? Want to just focus on helpin' others find their cutie marks?" Applebloom chirped.
There was a unified shout of "Yeah!" and the fillies clapped their hooves together. The three then found their hooves suddenly stuck together as a magical aura started surrounding them. Floating up along with her friends, Scootaloo felt magic coursing through her body like lightning. There was a sudden flash of light, then all three fillies found themselves back on the ground, disoriented.
"What happened?"?
"What's goin' on?"
"It's your cutie marks!" Diamond Tiara gasped happily. "They're amazing!"
All three Crusader's eyes shot wide open and they snapped their heads to each look at their own flank. There were indeed, cutie marks on each one. Each Crusader had a shield with three portions, each adorned with the color of Scootaloo's and Applebloom's manes, and Sweetie Belle's coat respectively. Inside the shield each Crusader had something different. Applebloom had an apple inside a heart, Sweetie Belle had a musical note inside a star, and Scootaloo had a lightning bolt inside a wing. The three friends looked at each other, disbelief slowly turning to excitment as they realized the one thing they've been seeking since they met had finally come to them. Ecstatic and barely believing their eyes, the Crusaders pushed their rumps together and shouted together in glee:
"We all got the same cutie mark! Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!"
"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash get up!" Twilight screamed, dashing into the bedroom they both shared and waking her with a start.
"Twilight, wha-" Rainbow didn't have time to finish her thought, as Twilight pulled her into a hug and teleported her to Sweet Apple Acres, grabbing Applejack and teleporting again before Applejack has the chance to say anything. Twilight grabbed Rarity in much the same way, and finally teleported the four of them to Sugarcube Corner.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were a little scrambled from the rapid teleportations, but Rarity instantly turned on Twilight, who had a big dumb grin plastered on her face and began nagging at her.
"Now really Twilight, I was in the middle of completing a rather complicated frock and-"
"The Crusaders got their marks!" Twilight yelled in glee, causing everyone around her to start staring. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all stared at her in surprise, and began to grin themselves.
"Oh, I should go get Big Mac and Granny! Fluttershy and Pinkie too!" Twilight gasped, before instantly teleporting off. She teleported back with the aformentioned ponies, and instantly collapsed.
Rainbow dashed to pick her up. "Twi, you okay?!"
"Too... much magic spent." Twilight gasped. "Just... put me down and I'll be okay."
Rainbow Dash did as she asked, and then she found she could hear the distinct sound of three very familiar, very special fillies singing as they marched toward the mares. The fillies instantly ran for their sisters (and adopted mother in Scootaloo's case).
Rainbow Dash flew over and scooped up Scootaloo in a flying hug, squeezing her tight. "I'm so dang proud of you kid." Rainbow whispered in her ear. "I'm the proudest mother in all of Equestria right now." Neither pony said anything else, just quietly hugging as tears ran down both of their respective faces.
"So proud." Rainbow whispered again.
Scootaloo squeezed Rainbow Dash twice as hard. "I love you, mom."
Rainbow Dash just nuzzled the filly that had come to mean more to her than life itself.
