On one fate filled day in Ponyville, as the dragon migration is going by, an evil dragon swoops down and wreaks havoc on the unsuspecting ponies, leaving behind destruction and confusion.
During the dragon migration, an evil dragon attacks Ponyville. Twilight and friends are able to chase it off but not after it has destroyed a few houses. One of these is the house of Scootaloo, who was in school at the time. Her parents were caught in the debris of the crumbling house and were crushed beneath it. Now Scootaloo has no family and nowhere to live. Seeing Rainbow Dash feeling guilty for the accident, her friends convince her to take responsibility for the young filly. And so Rainbow Dash adopted Scootaloo as her younger sister. These are the days that they have spent together. The sequel is out here
It was a calm, warm day in Ponyville. The birds were singing their carefree songs; the chatter of ponies talking to one another littered the background. The sky was clear with a few stray clouds wandering the sky and the sun was nearing the top of it.
Out of nowhere, there came a loud, earthshaking roar. The dragons were coming through for their annual migration. Everypony was inside, hiding, waiting for the dragons to pass over, hoping that they left Ponyville peacefully. The bravest ponies were watching out of their windows, keeping a close eye and waiting to see the end of the migration.
Twilight and the gang were waiting tentatively, making sure that none of the dragons came to cause trouble for anypony. They were ready to defend their home if need be. With any luck they wouldn’t have to do anything.
The end of the herd was in sight and Twilight let out a sigh, “It looks like we got lucky this year.”
No sooner than she had finished her sentence, there came shrieks of ponies running in fear. One of the dragons had broken away from the herd and snuck into Ponyville without anypony noticing.
“Come on girls,” Twilight ordered the others, “We’ve got to protect all those ponies!”
The dragon roared and watched as all the ponies before him ran and shrieked in terror, he laughed at their behavior. 'It's a lot of fun to terrorize ponies', he thought to himself as he grinned. To cause more panic, he raised his head and belched out long stream of fire down the street, catching many of the houses on fire.
“We’ve got to hurry,” shouted Twilight, “someone put out the fires.”
In response, Rainbow Dash broke away from the group and started flying in circles over the houses that had caught fire, creating small tornadoes that snuffed out the fires. When the last fire dwindled to nothing she rejoined her friends. The dragon was displeased that they put out his beautiful flames, he turned his attention to the ponies running down the street at him and roared again.
“Quickly, let’s teach this dragon a lesson!” yelled Applejack.
The dragon raised his tail and swung it at them. They were all able to dodge it except Rarity, who got sent flying.
“Rarity!” Yelled Twilight stunned. “Fluttershy, go make sure she’s all right.”
“Right.” She replied and she flew off to go check on Rarity.
The dragon was pleased that he had caused them to separate, even if it was only the two. He swiped at Rainbow Dash with a heavy claw and roared. She managed to dodge it but he had caught the nearby house which crumbled to the ground, its roof sent flying.
“We have to get it out of town,” Yelled Rainbow Dash. “Some innocent ponies might get hit!”
The dragon raised his tail again and swung it down swiftly onto the street, causing the ground to shake. Twilight and Applejack managed to get out of the way but Pinkie Pie’s leg got caught under the tail. She cried out in pain.
“Pinky,” shouted Twilight. She was starting to panic as she worried for her friends. “Somepony get her out of there!”
Rainbow Dash attempted to swoop down and grab Pinkie off of the street but another claw forced her to fly in the opposite direction. Applejack took the chance and ran to Pinky, dragging her off the street and laying her out on a cart of hay. “It’s okay Pinkie,” she said reassuringly, “I got you.”
Applejack wheeled the cart around and ran off with it in the direction of the hospital, Pinkie moaning in pain on the soft hay.
“We’ve got to do something,” Yelled Rainbow Dash, “He’s taking us out way too fast!”
A claw came at her swiftly, hitting her right side hard. She flew out of sight and the dragon laughed, there was only one pony left. Twilight watched in shock as Rainbow spun out of sight. Fluttershy came flying back and gasped to see only Twilight standing there. “Twilight, where are the others?” she asked searching the street with her eyes.
“Fluttershy quick, Rainbow Dash just got sent flying in that direction, you have to get to her quickly.” Twilight demanded, pointing in the direction of the unconscious cyan pegasus.
“On my way.” She said as she flew off after Rainbow.
“Okay,” Twilight said to the dragon, regaining herself as she narrowed her eyes, “It’s just you and me.”
The dragon laughed again, what could one little pony do? He took another swipe at her but she teleported out of the way. The dragon stood there confused. Without realizing what was happening, he was in the air, he looked around in shock. In the corner of his eye, Twilight stood concentrating as hard as she could. Her hooves were digging into the street with the strain of lifting up the huge dragon, the aura around her horn glowing ferociously.
“You should know better,” she said straining, “Than to hurt my friends!”
She yelled as she sent the dragon flying and brought it hard onto the ground leaving a crater just outside of town. The strain of lifting the heavy dragon was too much for her. Her sight getting darker; she fainted. The dragon flew off, he didn’t see Twilight faint and he was afraid of the pony with so much power.
The ponies came running out of their houses, yelling and whooping with glee. They all gathered around the fainted pony in the middle of the street. The last thing she saw was Fluttershy coming down and picking her up. “It’s okay,” she said quietly, “I already got Rainbow to the hospital, I got you now.”
Everypony was celebrating below, the streets filled with jubilant ponies. Fluttershy hurried over to the hospital. The others were there already, Applejack waiting by their beds. Twilight was brought in with Fluttershy cantering in behind her. “What happened?” asked Applejack worriedly.
“She got rid of the dragon but she fainted,” replied Fluttershy softly, “It’s not that surprising, I mean she had to face it alone.”
The nurses looked Twilight over and told the two worried ponies that she just needed rest, the others however had more severe injuries. Rarity’s front legs were both broken, Pinkie's leg which had been caught under the dragon's tail was shattered, and Rainbow Dash's right wing and hind leg was broken. They were going to have to stay in the hospital for a while.
Applejack and Fluttershy gave their friends sad looks and they were shooed out of the room, “They need their rest.” said the nurse.
As the two left the hospital, Mayor Mare came up to them. “We can’t thank you all enough for getting rid of that pesky dragon. We shall hold a ceremony in your honor, when everypony is healthy enough to attend of course.” she told them happily. Then her tone dropped, “I know that they got hurt quite badly, but what about you, are you two going to be alright?”
“We’ll be fine, but we’ll feel better when they are all alright,” replied Applejack, a tear falling from her eye.
“It’s hard to see them so beat up.” said Fluttershy quietly.
They left the mayor there with a sad look on her face, but they were tired, they needed to get some rest to so they went home.
Over at the school, everypony was restless. The foals had watched everything from the windows of the classroom, every time the dragon swung at Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they gasped with worry. Everypony was tense, waiting for the fight to end, all of them had fear etched into their little faces. Cheerilee was trying to get them all away from the windows, worried about what they might see but it was no use, they all were completely focused on the fight outside.
“Do you think they are all alright?” asked Sweetie Belle, wondering Rarity had been hit with that last swing of the dragon's tail.
“I don’t know,” replied Apple Bloom, wondering the same of Applejack, “I can’t see where they are.”
“I-It’ll be all right,” said Scootaloo uncertainly, “I mean they’ve got Rainbow Dash and even Twilight, how could they lose?”
No sooner as she said it there came cries of joy from the windows. While they had been distracted, the dragon had been thrown out of Ponyville. Everypony recognized Twilight’s magic aura. They all cheered and jumped around excitedly.
“Well, I guess that’s it,” said Miss Cheerilee trying to calm them all down, but to no avail. “Alright, everypony, you can leave.” she sighed.
They all cheered and ran outside to join the celebrating ponies lining the streets. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle where looking around frantically for their sisters, Scootaloo running behind them, worried about Rainbow Dash and her friends' sisters as well.
As they were running through the streets, they crossed paths with the mayor. “Mayor Mare,” shouted Sweetie Belle, “Do you know where our sisters are?”
She hesitated, “Well, Rarity is at the hospital dear, she got hit by that mean dragon,” seeing them all with looks of horror on their faces she continued, “but Applejack is okay, she went home not too long ago, she’s probably just as worried about you Apple Bloom.”
They looked at each other, “If you want to go home to your sister Apple Bloom, it’s okay.” said Sweetie Belle.
“No, let’s go check on your sister first,” she replied, “I wouldn’t want you to go alone.”
They ran off for the hospital together, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were worried for their friend and her sister. They sped down the street as fast as they could, weaving through the crowd of jubilant ponies. As they passed the crumbled building, Scootaloo stopped, horrified. The other two went on, not knowing that Scootaloo had stopped. There were several ponies standing around it with worried looks on their faces, chattering noisily. There were a couple of ponies going through the rubble. Scootaloo, just stood there shocked, this was her house.
As piles of rubble were moved Scootaloo grew more and more anxious. 'Were my parents home? Are they alright?' The questions repeated in her mind over and over, each time she got more and more anxious. She closed her eyes, her heart racing in her chest. She couldn’t bear to look, the thought of seeing her parents in the rubble frightened her. There came gasps as some rubble shifted, the bodies of two lifeless ponies were revealed beneath it. Scootaloo turned her head back to rubble, startled by the gasping. She screamed at the sight of her dead parents lying there, their bodies crushed by the rubble.
The on looking ponies now turned their attention to the small screaming filly. The ones going through the rubble stopped abruptly. “Get her out of here,” one of them said, “she doesn’t need to see this.”
Before anypony could do anything Scootaloo fainted, she couldn’t withstand the great pain she now felt in her heart. A couple of ponies picked her up and gently carried her off to the hospital.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were standing outside of the hospital, wondering where Scootaloo was. “I swear she was right behind us,” said Apple Bloom, beginning to worry for their friend.
The ponies that had picked up Scootaloo walked up to the doors and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gasped. “What happened to her?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“She fainted when she saw a pair of ponies that got caught in the dragon’s rampage.” one of them replied as they carried her into the doors.
“Another patient?” asked the mare behind the reception desk exasperatedly, “What happened to this one?”
They repeated what happened to the mare. “Oh my,” she cried shocked, “we need a bed for this young filly!”
They took her into the room across the hall from Twilight and the others' room, laid her out on a bed and closed the curtains around it.
There came screams from the room across the hall, one of them had woken up and was just now feeling the pain from her broken limbs. It was Rainbow Dash, the nurses rushed in to check on her and sedate her.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned at the sound of the screaming pony. They looked at the nurses expectantly when they came out of the room. “Rainbow Dash woke up,” one of the nurses said, answering their questioning looks, “The others are still sleeping.”
The two fillies gave each other sad looks. "Well..." Apple Bloom said nervously, "It seems that they may not wake up for a while. I should probably go check in with my sister."
"Okay, you go ahead and go, I'll wait here." She paused before continuing with a hint of warning, "Scootaloo may not be happy if she wakes up and you're not there though. And I really don't want to see her without you there, I just don't want to face her alone right now."
Apple Bloom gave Sweetie a small, apologetic smile and ran off towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Scootaloo heard a voice from the bottom of her bed, she tried to look around at who was speaking but her head was heavy. The voice stopped when she noticed Scootaloo stirring. “Scootaloo, a-are you alright?” the voice asked nervously, “I-I’m sorry, I heard what happened. It’s all my fault. Y-your parents... I was in front of your house when the dragon swiped at me, I dodged so instead of hitting me he hit your house. Scootaloo... I’m so so sorry.” The voice started crying, apologizing over and over. Scootaloo couldn’t raise her head to see who it was that was crying, she heard the nurses shuffling the unknown mare out of the room and she slowly drifted back to sleep.
In the other room, Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop crying, she felt guilty for what happened. The other bandaged ponies were trying to console her, telling her it wasn’t her fault, the dragon would have hit the house even if she hadn’t moved out of the way. She wouldn’t listen, the pain of knowing that someone was hurting when she could have stopped it was overwhelming, she laid back into her bed and drifted into a restless sleep, still sobbing.
Twilight looked at the others with tears in her eyes. “She’s right,” she said quietly, a tear sliding down her cheek, “we could have prevented this if we were just a bit faster and more diligent.”
“Darling, don’t you beat yourself up over this too,” said Rarity softly, “it was no ponies fault that poor little Scootaloo’s house got hit, except for that stupid dragon. Just thinking about it again infuriates me!”
“I have an idea,” said Pinkie, bouncing in her bed gingerly, not wanting to hurt her leg, “when she wakes up, let’s convince her to adopt Scootaloo, I mean, Scootaloo adores Rainbow and Rainbow always wondered what it would be like having a sister, plus she can feel like she’s making up for Scootaloo's house getting destroyed with her parents in it.”
“Pinkie... that’s a brilliant idea,” said Twilight with a glint in her eye, “This way, everypony will be happy.”
***
“But sis, why can’t ah go with you?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Because ah said you can’t, there’s really no reason for you to come with me.” replied Applejack sternly.
Apple Bloom gave her sister a nasty look, “There is too a reason for me to go, Scootaloo’s there too in case you forgot.” she said angrily.
Applejack stopped dead in her tracks, “Ah guess ah did forget, ah’m sorry.”
“So does that mean ah can go to?” she asked tentatively.
“Of course little sis.”
They made their way to the hospital together, it wasn’t terribly far but it was still a long walk. Apple Bloom wanted to see if Scootaloo was awake yet and Applejack was worried about her friends.
As they walked into the hospital they were greeted by the reception mare. “Can I help you two?” she asked kindly.
“Ah’m here to see my friends and she’s here to check in on hers.” replied Applejack.
“And they are?” the mare asked, checking the book on her desk.
“Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Her friend is Scootaloo.”
“Alright, go right on in.”
They walked down the hall together but entered the two different rooms.
Scootaloo was lying there awake, thinking about her parents and crying. She didn't want her friends to think she was weak so she put on a smile and quickly wiped away her tears when she heard the door open and saw Apple Bloom walk in.
“I was afraid you weren’t going to come see me Apple Bloom,” she said, hiding the sadness with a cheerful tone, “Sweetie Belle still hasn’t come to see me, but I heard her talking to Rarity across the hall while ago.”
“She said she didn’t want to see you without me, she thought that you’d feel upset not seeing me, ah guess she’s asleep somewhere in the hospital.” Apple Bloom told her.
Scootaloo looked down and sighed, “She was right, I would have been upset if I had seen her without you and the other way around, but she has an excuse to not be here, she must still be worried about her sister too.”
“She’ll come visit you soon,” Apple Bloom reassured her, “Ah’m sure she’ll come by when she wakes up.”
“Thank you Apple Bloom, You’re a good friend.”
They heard Applejack give a loud gasp from across the hall followed by a lot of shushing. “What’s going on over there?” asked Scootaloo.
“Ah don’t know, Applejack sure sounded excited though.” said Apple Bloom, looking towards the door in curiosity.
Scootaloo jumped out of her bed and they both made their way to the door. They opened it to find the room across the hall’s door was wide open, the whispering of the excited ponies was barely audible but the two fillies could make out everything being said.
“Applejack,” Twilight said quietly, shushing her, “Rainbow’s still asleep, we haven’t talked to her about it yet.”
“Well we really should get on that,” said Applejack, taking a peak at Rainbow Dash to make sure she was still asleep, “Ah mean, it’ll only be a matter o' time till everypony is feeling better, if we don’t tell her before they take Scootaloo away then she’ll only resent herself more.”
“You’re right of course darling,” said Rarity from her bed, “but we were just waiting until we’ve told everypony, so we can get their opinion on the matter.”
“Well the only pony left to tell is Fluttershy,” said Pinkie, “So we just need to wait until she gets here to tell her. Oh I’m so excited I could just-“
“Pinkie, hush.” said Twilight, exasperatedly.
“Sorry.” whispered Pinkie hoarsely.
“Anyways,” Applejack said quietly, “Ah think it’s a great idea having her adopt Scootaloo.”
“Hey guys, what'cha doin’?” a high pitched voice came from behind them, it was Sweetie Belle.
They quickly grabbed her, putting a hoof over her mouth and rushed her into the other room. Applejack walked over to the door and peered outside. “What was that ah reckon?” she asked quietly to no pony in particular.
Scootaloo sighed, “You almost got us caught, sneaking up on us like that. That’s a bad habit you know.”
“Sorry,” said Sweetie Belle looking at her hooves, “I just saw you two listening at the door and I was curious about what was going on.”
“It’s alright, just don’t do it again.” said Scootaloo.
“Anyways, what were you two listening to?” Sweetie asked as if nothing happened.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and smiled. “Applejack and the others are gonna to try to convince Rainbow Dash to adopt Scootaloo.” said Apple Bloom excitedly.
“Can you imagine, the Rainbow Dash as my real big sister.” said Scootaloo with hope in her voice but she quickly looked down, she had almost forgotten about her parents and felt bad about it but smiled up at her friends, still not wanting to show them that she was weak.
“That’s awesome,” shrieked Sweetie Belle, “Then we could all compete together at the next Sisterhooves Social.”
“Not only that,” said Scootaloo with admiration, “but I will be taught to fly by the best flier in all of Ponyville!”
“You’re disturbing the other patients!” came a voice from the door, “Could you please keep your voices down?”
“We’re sorry.” said the three fillies in unison. They turned to each other and continued whispering excitedly.
At this moment, Fluttershy trotted into the room across the hall. Almost immediately Pinkie let out what she wanted to say quite loudly and Fluttershy gasped, to every pony’s astonishment, the cry had not woken Rainbow Dash.
They all explained to her what was going on, a bit more slowly than Pinkie so it could sink in. "So..." Twilight started excitedly, "What do you think?"
Fluttershy looked over at the sleeping pegasus. "I think it's a wonderful idea." she said in her soft voice.
Scootaloo had just walked into her house's living room, the cries and shouts of Twilight Sparkle and the others coming from outside. A dragon roared.
Realizing what was going on, Scootaloo searched the living room frantically. She found what she was looking for huddled in the corner between their fireplace and the wall furthest from the window. Her parents were sitting there, shivering, holding each other tightly. Her mother, a pink maned, light red pegaus, whinced while her father, a dark grey maned, green earth pony, shielding her from the loud roaring coming from outside.
"Mom, Dad! Get out of here, what are you doing?" Scootaloo screamed at them with tears in her eyes, giving them both a look of incredulity. She couldn't understand why they weren't running away, 'didn't they know what was going to happen if they stayed there?'
The two huddled ponies didn't respond, they only held each other tighter as the claw came crashing into the wall. Scootaloo fell as the floor gave way beneath her, watching as her parents fell beneath the crumbling wall.
Scootaloo woke up with a jolt! She panted heavily as she looked around, she was still in the hospital. She sighed and thought to herself, 'Just a dream.'
She remembered what had happened just two days before. 'I wish that was just a dream too.' she thought as she began to cry. 'Why did you have to leave me, mom, dad? I'm all alone now, I'm not even sure if Rainbow Dash is going to take me in. She may refuse and leave me all alone too.'
Scootaloo's sobbing grew louder and uncontrolled, the sound of her crying reached throughout the hospital.
Rainbow Dash was lying awake when she heard it, a small filly's crying. She got up and looked around, the others were still asleep. She moved to the door and looked around the hallway, the only other open door was that of the room across from hers.
Rainbow looked around the room and her gaze settled on the curled form of Scootaloo who was crying under her blankets.
"Scootaloo..." Rainbow called into the blankets, poking her head under the covers. "What's the matter Scoots?"
Scootaloo sniffed and pulled the covers down from over her head. "I had a dream about my parents." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"That's okay, it just shows how much you loved them." Rainbow said, looking down sadly at the little filly.
"I miss them so much, I know it's only been a couple days but I still miss them." Scootaloo said as more tears welled up in her eyes. "I wish they were here right now."
Rainbow started to cry with Scootaloo. She hugged the little filly tightly and began to stroke her mane. "I know Scoots, it's going to be a while before the pain goes away. You may never stop missing them." Rainbow said sadly.
Scootaloo cried harder, she didn't want to miss her parents forever. She thought about forgetting them completely and sobbed even harder.
Rainbow held her tighter, apologizing profusely as she cried into Scootaloo's mane. Scootaloo reached up and returned the embrace. "It's not your fault, I was just thinking bad thoughts." she said, calming down a little. "None of this is your fault."
Rainbow shook her head. "You don't need to worry about that, I've already decided I'll do everything I can to make it up to you Scoots." she said, her own sobs dying down a little. "If it makes you happy, I will take you in and take care of you."
Scootaloo smiled through her tears. "I've always thought of you as an older sister, especially after that camping trip with Applejack and Apple Bloom."
"Then I will really be your older sister from now on, okay?" Rainbow said, a small smile crossing her own face still buried in the filly's mane. "We'll make it official next time we see Mayor Mare."
Scootaloo hugged Rainbow even tighter and said, "Thank you... sis."
It was finally time. Today was the day when they would all be released from the hospital. Rarity, and Rainbow Dash still had broken bones, and Pinkie Pie couldn’t use her hind leg at all anymore, but they were in fit enough condition to go out and enjoy the sun.
“Oh,” sighed Rainbow Dash, “I really wish I could fly right now, the weather is so nice!”
“I wish I could just walk regularly,” complained Rarity, “I mean really, both my front legs? I’ll be stuck to this, this… contraption for weeks. I’m never going to be able to make this look good with any of my dresses.” she finished with a sigh.
“At least you’ll eventually be rid of that thing though,” said Pinkie sadly, “I’m stuck with this thing forever.” She pointed at the cast around her hind leg and continued even sadder, “I’m never going to be able to jump around or run again!”
“Oh, right… Sorry dear, I forgot.” said Rarity softly, looking away from the brooding pink mare.
“Pinkie,” said Twilight, a little annoyed, “I already told you, I’m going to look for a spell to heal your leg when I get back to the library.” She paused a moment, with a glint in her eye she sighed, “Ah, the library. Anyways if I can’t find a spell then I’ll make a potion that will fix it, after all, a depressed Pinkie is a depressed Ponyville.”
This cheered up Pinkie Pie quite a bit. “What are we waiting for?” she asked excitedly, “To the library!”
“Hold your horses there missy,” said Applejack, “Aren’t you forgettin'? The mayor is holding a celebration for us for saving Ponyville... again…”
“You’re right,” said Fluttershy in her soft, quiet voice, “We have saved Ponyville quite a few times already, not to mention all of Equestria.”
They all thought back on the times they had saved the day. “Oh, by the way,” said Rainbow Dash, breaking the silence, “Thanks for looking after Tank while I was in the hospital Fluttershy.”
“Yes and Owliwicious as well.” added Twilight.
“And Gummy!”
“And my darling Opal.”
“Oh, it was nothing.” said Fluttershy, her face starting to flush a little.
“Hey, you three!” shouted Rainbow at the three tired young fillies who were falling behind, “You’d better hurry up or we’ll be late!”
The fillies picked up the pace and started a slow trot behind the group of six. Their short legs barely able to keep up with the larger ponies’ fast walk.
“Uh, Rainbow?” said Twilight, “Maybe you should slow down.”
Rainbow Dash had started to pull ahead of the group. Realizing how fast she was going, she slowed down to allow them all to keep up. She was excited to see the mayor, she was going to talk to her about Scootaloo after the ceremony.
With sighs of relief from everypony, they had reached town hall. Mayor Mare was waiting for them up on the steps, the ponies gathered around turned towards them and started cheering wildly.
They carefully made their way up to the podium behind which stood Mayor Mare, taking great care not to brush other ponies with their tender broken limbs. As they reached the podium, the three fillies broke off and waited at the front of the crowd.
“Ladies and Gentle colts,” started Mayor Mare, "I give you, the protectors of Ponyville. Whom, once again, saved our town from disaster!”
At this the crowd went nuts, everypony was cheering, trying to be the loudest of the bunch. Each was showing support for his or her favorite of the group.
Mayor Mare started calling each mare forward to put a medal around each of their necks and every time a name was called, different areas in the crowd got louder. When she was finished honoring the mares, the crowd exploded with noise again.
Rainbow Dash was twitching, and Twilight nudged her to go on. She cantered up to Mayor Mare and said something inaudible over the crowds continues cheers. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom gave each other furtive looks, and a wide smile spread across Scootaloo’s face. Mayor Mare smiled in her direction and Rainbow beckoned her up to them.
Sweetie Belle ran up and hugged Rarity, Apple Bloom went up and stood next to Applejack, smiling widely, and Scootaloo ran up and tackled Rainbow Dash. The two rolled around playfully, Twilight and everypony else laughing and smiling at the sight of the two ecstatic ponies.
The cheers had since left the streets of Ponyville, the celebration was over, the sun had already set and the ponies were tired. They had held a funeral for Scootaloo's parents after the celebration, everypony was still getting their spirits back up from the heartbreaking scene. Twilight and Pinkie headed off to the library, Rarity and Sweetie Belle went to their house, Applejack and Apple Bloom left for Sweet Apple Acre, Fluttershy softly flew off to her cottage, leaving Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo alone to talk as they headed to Rainbow’s house.
They walked silently, nervous of the other, they didn’t know what to say to each other. Scootaloo broke the silence, “So… uh, we’re going to be sisters from now on…”
“Yeah, sisters,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, “Um… so, what do you want to do?”
The new sisters walked along, stealing nervous glances at each other. Of course there were going to be times like this, after all, Rainbow never had a sister before, she didn’t know what to talk about or what one would do for fun with a sister.
“Well, I guess I was hoping you could teach me to fly… but that’s obviously out of the question right now…” said Scootaloo, her face dropping to watch her hooves.
“Yeah, that would be a little difficult with this,” she pointed to her wing, still gingerly wrapped in bandages, “But I can teach you the basics, I don’t need to be able to fly myself to tell you how.”
Scootaloo smiled up at Rainbow Dash, and she smiled in return. The two were coming upon Rainbow’s house.
“Aw shoot!” Rainbow Exclaimed, rather angrily, “I completely forgot that we need to fly to get in!”
Scootaloo started to chuckle nervously and Rainbow Dash gave her a dark look. “I’m sorry Rainbow,” said Scootaloo, her laughing getting louder and making increasingly difficult to talk, “It’s just so funny how you could forget such an important detail.”
Rainbow looked up at her house, seeing the small filly laugh about it made her kind of mad, but she didn’t want to make her feel bad, not on their first day of being sisters. She decided to swallow her pride and said quietly, “Yeah, I guess it is kind of funny when you think about it, I mean, of course I would have had to fly to get in. I suppose the events of the day just completely drove it out of my head.”
“So what are we going to do about it?” Scootaloo asked tentatively.
“Let’s go see Twilight, she may be able to teleport us there or at least give us a place to stay until I can fly again.”
The two headed back to the library to see Twilight, still laughing about what had just happened.
“Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed as she entered the library, “I have a problem!”
Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be found. Rainbow Dash sucked in a huge take of air, preparing to shout for Twilight again, but before she could a voice came from the staircase leading to Twilight’s basement lab, “Down here!”
Rainbow and Scootaloo slowly made their way down the steps, everypony knew that when Twilight was in her lab that they needed to be quiet, lest they ruin her experiments.
Twilight was there examining a machine hooked up to Pinkie Pie’s leg. “What is it Rainbow?” she asked, slightly annoyed, “I’m trying to help Pinkie.”
“I know, I just,” Rainbow stared, Scootaloo was looking around the lab with interest, she had never been down here, “I kind of need some help getting into my house.”
“Forget that you needed to fly to get in?” Twilight said with a tone of know-it-all ness.
“Well, I…” started Rainbow, a little flustered and embarrassed, she sighed and continued, “Yeah, I forgot.”
“Well, I need to finish what I’m doing right now, can you just wait, maybe hang out a bit with your new sister. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“All right.” said Rainbow Dash and she and Scootaloo went back up the stairs and walked out of the library.
“You know,” Rainbow started, turning her attention to Scootaloo, “I have a lot of pride, I hate it when I do something embarrassing, it makes me feel really bad and I can’t help but hide away for a bit when it happens.”
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, it took a lot to admit something like that, especially to somepony you don’t really know. “It’s alright Rainbow, everypony has a bit of pride, and though they may not show it, they really hurt sometimes when they do something embarrassing, it doesn’t even have to be about anything specific, just when they do something that they feel is embarrassing, you just got to keep strong and canter on.”
Rainbow was shocked to hear something so wise from the little filly. She had no idea what to say to that, she just looked up at the sky and smiled, she was right after all, just keep strong and canter on.
There came an explosion from inside the library, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo turned to look at it. It was still standing so it couldn’t have been that bad, they thought. A moment later the door opened and Pinkie came bouncing out as happy as ever.
“Yay! It worked, it worked!” she shouted to no pony in particular. “Look Rainbow, my leg is healed!” she bounced away, off to Sugar Cube Corner presumably, shouting to everypony she saw.
Twilight stepped through the door, coughing. “Alright, do you want me to just heal your wing or what?” she asked.
The explosion made Rainbow nervous about healing, “Maybe just a place to stay till I can fly again.” She chuckled nervously.
Twilight shook her head and let them in. “Alright, it’s going to be cramped though, there is only one room after all.” she said, leading them up the staircase to the library’s living space.
Rainbow and Scootaloo apologised for taking up her space as Twilight made a spot for them to sleep. The two got into bed and made themselves comfortable before drifting off to a peaceful sleep.
“Sis, wake up sis.” said Scootaloo, “Did you forget that you’re supposed to wake up early to take me to school again?”
Rainbow Dash was waking up slowly, the sleep still in her eyes.
“Come on, It’s been three weeks already and you still can’t remember?” Scootaloo continued, in a hurry to leave. “Come on get up!”
Rainbow slowly stood up and looked around. Scootaloo was running back and forth between their rooms to get all of her school things ready and making sure Rainbow got up.
“Huh, what?” said Rainbow Dash confused, “Oh right… school.”
She instantly sprang up, how could she forget that she needed to take Scootaloo to school, that wasn’t very sister like, she thought to herself. Running wildly, she went to make sure Scootaloo had everything she needed for school and made her a quick breakfast.
Rainbow Dash made sure that they still had time to get to school on time before having a small pastry herself. She finished it and looked up at the clock, five minutes to spare, she sighed.
“At least it’s not as bad as the first week.” Rainbow laughed to herself, “We were lucky to get you to school at all then.”
“That’s true,” sighed Scootaloo. “But it still would be nice to not have to wake you up just so I can get to school. My mom was-“ she stopped, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Hey, Scootaloo, don’t think too much about it, I know it still hurts.” she looked up at the clock again. “Hey, we’ve got to get going!”
With that, they stepped out of the door into the brilliant morning air. Scootaloo shivered, Rainbow Dash raised her head to let it blow through her mane. Scootaloo hopped onto Rainbow’s back and held on. “You ready?” asked Rainbow.
Scootaloo nodded and Rainbow Dash spread her wings and dropped from their cloud home. The morning wind felt great under her wings, Scootaloo just sat there, holding on for dear life. Rainbow smiled and flew even faster, straight towards the school.
“Alright,” said Rainbow Dash, she winked and said, “Have a good day today sis.”
Scootaloo smiled and ran off to join her friends in the schoolyard. Rainbow had more time on her hooves than she was used to, she didn’t know what to do with it. For now, she decided, she’d go home, maybe read a few more chapters of the latest Daring Do. She looked up at the sky which was void of clouds and flew off, giving one last glance at her sister who was chatting with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
“So what are we going to try today?” Scootaloo asked the others.
“Well today,” started Apple Bloom, “Me and Applejack are going to be working on collecting apples to refill the stores, we used up more than we expected for the Summer Sun Celebration and we still haven’t come close to building it back up so she asked me to help today, sorry.”
“Well what about you?” Scootaloo said as she turned to Sweetie Belle.
“Rarity is taking me to meet some of her friends from Canterlot tomorrow so she needs me to model the dress I’ll be wearing after school.” she looked down at her hooves as she finished.
“Well…” said Scootaloo a little disappointed, “That’s okay, I mean they’re both pretty important so I don’t mind.”
Miss Cheerilee called them in for class and the fillies filed into the room and took their seats. Scootaloo looked out of the window, at a loss for what she would do when school was over, she was usually with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle after school so Rainbow Dash didn’t come to pick her up for a few hours after school let out.
Scootaloo’s mind began to wander and she stopped paying attention to Miss Cheerilee’s lecture. She had started to daydream about when she would be the best flier in all of Equestria, second only to Rainbow Dash of course.
“Scootaloo!” came Miss Cheerilee’s voice right above her, “I said what is the answer to the third question on the board?”
It was math, she hated math. “Uh…” she looked at the board, “Oh, the answer is thirteen.”
Too easy, she thought, math was always really easy, that’s why she hated it, she wanted a bigger challenge.
“Correct.” Said Miss Cheerilee and she continued asking students for the answers to the next questions.
Scootaloo drifted back into her daydream.
***
Rainbow was tense, sitting on the edge of her bed, her eyes darting back and forth across the page. She jumped up from the excitement and dropped the book, she looked up happily for a moment then realized that she wasn’t holding the book. She dropped to the floor to pick it up but she had lost her place.
“Darn it!” She exclaimed, she grinned and added, with sarcasm, “Now I’m going to have to read the whole chapter again.”
There was a knock at the door. Who could it be she wondered and went to open the door. Fluttershy was standing there, her eyes wandering around the door.
Rainbow opened the door, “What is it Fluttershy?” she asked, wanting to get back to her book.
“Oh, well um…” she said a little flustered. “You see, there was supposed to be a light drizzle over at my house about an hour ago so I came to see if there was something wrong.”
She was so into her book, she forgot that she had to work that day. “I’m sorry, I was reading and I lost track of time.” she explained, flushing slightly.
“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy softly. “It wasn’t anything too important, the water in my pond seems to be getting low is all and the frogs hate it if it’s not rainwater.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her clock, it was still some time before she had to pick up Scootaloo, school was almost out though. “I can get that drizzle going real quick if you want, come on.”
“Thank you so much, I know the frogs will be very happy.” said Fluttershy as she followed Rainbow Dash back to her cottage.
***
Scootaloo looked around, everypony was leaving and she had nothing to do so she took her time gathering her school work. She walked slowly to the door.
“Scootaloo, wait a moment,” said Miss Cheerilee. “I was wondering if I could have a quick chat with you.”
Scootaloo turned back into the classroom. “What did you want to talk about Miss Cheerilee?”
“I just wanted to see how you and Rainbow Dash were doing together, I noticed you finally managed to make it to school on time.” she said with a smile.
Scootaloo laughed. “Yeah, I managed to wake her up early today, early enough for breakfast even.” She smiled back at Miss Cheerilee, “Everypony knows that’s a feat in and of itself.”
They both laughed, Rainbow Dash had never been a morning pony and she was never seen that early in the morning before.
Miss Cheerilee looked down at Scootaloo, a look of concern in her eyes now. “And how have you been feeling over all… you know, after everything. It has been a while now so I was wondering how you’ve been taking it.”
Scootaloo’s face dropped as she said, “I’ve been trying not to think about it that much. I mean, it is fun being with Rainbow Dash all the time but there are times... I still miss mom and dad. Just this morning I couldn’t help but remember that mom used to wake me up in time for school instead of me doing the waking.”
“I know it can be difficult sometimes, but you’ve just got to focus on the happy times and not let anything get you down.”
They stood there for a moment, the silence growing awkward. Scootaloo looked up with a smile and said, “I know.”
“I noticed that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle left right after school, did they have something important to do today?” Miss Cheerilee asked.
Scootaloo explained what they were doing today.
“I see, and does Rainbow Dash know that you weren’t planning on staying late today?”
“No, I didn’t know about it till this morning, so I don’t expect to see her until the usual time she comes to pick me up.” Scootaloo said with dull smile.
“I see,” said Miss Cheerilee, thoughtfully, “Would you like me to stay and talk until she gets here then?”
“That would be nice.” She replied happily.
They sat there and chatted until Rainbow Dash showed up. Rainbow and Scootaloo thanked Miss Cheerilee and said good bye before they took off towards home, Scootaloo holding on tightly to Rainbow Dash’s back.
“Hey, Scootaloo wake up,” Rainbow Dash said from the bottom of the bed, “Scootaloo! Get up. Come on, did you forget? Today is the first day of autumn break, and the day I promised to teach you to fly.”
Scootaloo snapped awake, jumping up with excitement. She couldn’t wait, this is one of the things she was most looking forward to.
“Well it’s good to see you excited about it,” said Rainbow with a smile, “come to the kitchen, don’t want to try flying with an empty stomach, you need to have nothing distracting you and hunger is a distraction.”
They went down into the kitchen and had a meal of fruit and pastries before heading out the door. Scootaloo jumped onto Rainbow Dash’s back and they took off towards the park, they wanted a nice big open place to practice. When they landed, Scootaloo jumped down onto the grass and stretched out her wings.
“Alright let’s get started, what should we do first?” she asked Rainbow.
“You’ve already started doing the first thing, stretching, you gotta keep yourself nice and limber.” Rainbow replied.
They started their stretches, first stretching their legs and then their wings for about five minutes. Scootaloo was already getting impatient, with every new stretch her frown grew.
“When are we going to get to the flying already?!” Scootaloo yelled, her impatients getting the better of her.
“Before we can get off the ground we gotta go over the basic wing movement, don’t be in such a rush.”
Rainbow started to slowly move her wings, up and down with a slight forward to back movement. Scootaloo, not paying attention to what Rainbow Dash was doing, started to beat her wings as fast as she could, a light hum coming from them.
“Woah, you’re not a humming bird, you have to move your wings slowly, softly, more fluidly, see how I’m doing it?” she continued her slow, almost circular motion with her wings.
“But my wings are so small, it’s hard for me.” Scootaloo said exasperatedly.
“There’s nothing wrong with your wings, every Pegasus’s wings are proportionate to their body, like you are small, your wings are small just as I’m bigger, I have bigger wings.” Rainbow explained
“Then what about him?” Scootaloo asked as a large muscled white Pegasus flew by, “He’s huge but he has tiny wings.”
“He’s… different, nopony can explain how or why he’s like that, he’s the exception to the rule I guess.” Rainbow said contemplating the pony, “anyways, it’s not your wings you just need to get a feel for the motion, start slowly and let yourself get used to it.”
Scootaloo sighed and started to move her wings like Rainbow Dash was, she immediately felt the difference as to how the wind moved around them. She smiled at up at Rainbow and slowly got used to the motion.
“Good, you gotta keep your motion fluid, and when you feel you’re ready, try putting a little more power into it.” Rainbow said encouragingly.
Scootaloo tensed up a little and her wings started beating faster again. “No, not faster, put power into it, don’t tense up, you need to be limber and fluid.”
She slowed her wings down again and got into the rhythm of the slow semicircular motion again. This time she beat her wings down a little harder and she could feel her weight lessen on her hooves, she looked expectantly at her sister. Rainbow gave her a smile and said, “Yeah, like that, keep doing that when you feel ready and you’ll be flying in no time.”
“Rainbow Dash is that you?” a voice called from behind them, “It is, you teaching that filly to fly eh, is it some sort of charity thing or what?” Rainbow and Scootaloo turned, it was Soarin of the Wonderbolts.
“Soarin?!” said Rainbow Dash astonished, “What are you doing here?”
“I was on my way to an important event in Cloudsdale and I saw you here teaching her to fly.” he said and pointed to Scootaloo, “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I’m teaching her because she’s my sister,” seeing the confused look on his face she continued, “it was fairly recent.”
She explained what had happened to him. “Harsh,” he said giving Scootaloo a sad look, “still, it’s good to see that you’re happy at least.”
Scootaloo was waiting for Rainbow to turn her attention back to their flying lesson but she just kept talking to Soarin.
“So hey, I was just thinking, I don’t have a date today, would you like to join me?” Soarin asked moving a little closer to Rainbow.
“Uh, right now?” she asked.
“Well it is a lunch event so, yeah if we left right now we’d get there on time.”
Scootaloo cleared her throat, she really wanted to get back to their lesson.
“I have to stay here with my sister, teaching her to fly and all that.” said Rainbow nervously.
“Right, I’m sorry. Your sister… slipped my mind, I didn’t mean to drag you away from her, I just…” he trailed off, he couldn’t think of an excuse and he felt embarrassed asking her to just abandon her sister there for a date.
Rainbow Dash turned back to Scootaloo and continued their lesson and Soarin took off towards Cloudsdale alone. Rainbow looked up and watched him for a second, ‘a date with a Wonderbolt,’ she thought to herself, ‘if only…’ She shook her head, her sister wasn’t a burden, and it wasn’t bad having her around, she enjoyed the time she spent with Scootaloo, she couldn’t believe she would even think of her as something holding her back.
Scootaloo saw the look of longing as she saw Rainbow watching Soarin fly away, ‘had she done something wrong?’ she wondered. She couldn’t help but feeling guilty for the sad look on her big sister’s face just then.
“Hey, let’s head back home for lunch, I’m getting kind of hungry.” said Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo nodded and she hopped onto her sister’s back again. Rainbow took off and as she did, she felt something was wrong with Scootaloo. “Hey, are you ok?” she asked concerned.
“If it’s about Soarin, it’s okay,” Rainbow said reassuringly, “you know I wouldn’t just abandon you right?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Good, and don’t you ever think otherwise, we’re sisters and sisters look out for each other.” Rainbow Dash said strongly.
Scootaloo smiled and hugged Rainbow, even after they landed she was still hugging her, she didn’t want to let go of her sister.
It was the first day of school after the autumn break, the morning air was chilly. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo came gliding down in front of the school side by side, holding each other’s hoof. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both came running up to them as they landed.
“You can fly?!” Sweetie Belle squeaked with excitement, “That’s what you were doing over the break, learning to fly?”
Scootaloo nodded. “But it’s only been two weeks, you’re telling me that you learned to fly in just two weeks?” asked Apple Bloom suspiciously.
“Well, I still can’t fly very far on my own, or very high. I need to build up my flying muscles.” Scootaloo admitted.
“Don’t forget the fact that you have an awesome teacher.” Rainbow Dash added. She waved goodbye and flew off. She needed to get to work early, there was a newcomer on her team of weather ponies.
Scootaloo and the others walked inside the classroom to get out of the cold, still chatting excitedly. They sat down in their seats and took some paper out of their saddlebags. Miss Cheerilee came in and asked everypony into their seats.
“Before we begin today’s class,” she started and beckoned somepony standing in the doorway in, “We have a couple of new students here, why don’t you introduce yourselves.”
A small lavender unicorn filly with yellow mane and yellow eyes walked in, followed by a light brown Pegasus colt with an orange mane and blue eyes.
“I’m Dinky Doo.” said the little unicorn with her head pointed at the ground.
“My name is Cloudwhisp.” the Pegasus said proudly.
“Why don’t you both tell the class a little about yourselves?” Miss Cheerilee asked, smiling encouragingly at them.
“My parents just moved here from Cloudsdale,” Cloudwhisp started, “my dad got a job as a weather pony here so we had to move closer. I like to draw a lot, it’s relaxing.”
Dinky was having trouble saying anything through her nervousness, “My mommy’s Ditzy Doo the mailmare and my daddy’s Time Turner, he owns the clock shop.”
“And what do you like to do Dinky?” Miss Cheerilee asked her.
“Eat muffins!” Dinky yelled, the class laughed at her sudden outburst.
“Alright then, take your seats, you can get to know each other a little better after class, now it’s time for learning.”
The two ponies headed towards the only empty seats in the back of the class. “Today we’ll talk about…”
Rainbow Dash was directing her team, they needed to form snow clouds so they could start the season’s snowfall tomorrow. Everypony was gathering clouds and putting them all together into one huge layer of cloud that would cover the whole sky. Suddenly a yellow Pegasus broke through the cloud they had just formed.
“Rainbow! Twilight needs us at Sweet Apple Acres, there are Timberwolves.” said Fluttershy quickly.
“You guys keep it up with the cloud, I’ll be back.” Rainbow Dash told the weather ponies then sped off with Fluttershy.
Twilight and the others were running through the orchard, chasing the Timberwolves through the trees. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined in. They tried to cut off the Timberwolves before they could get to Applejacks house.
Seeing the ponies pulling ahead of them, the Timberwolves stopped. They snarled and glared at the ponies, the Timberwolf leading the pack lunged at them. Applejack charged right at it and bucked it straight in the nose, it’s logs fell to the ground in a heap. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both got on either side of a second Timberwolf and crushed it between them in a pincer maneuver. The Timberwolves howled and another attacked, Twilight shot a burst of magic at it that sent it’s logs flying all over the orchard. Rarity grabbed a huge rock with her magic and let if fall onto the last Timberwolf.
“Hey, now don’t go dropping things in my orchard!” Applejack yelled at her.
“Well what was I supposed to do, I can’t buck them like you do.” said Rarity bitterly.
The Timberwolves’ logs started floating and putting themselves back together. “Right, I forgot they did that.” said Twilight and she smacked her face with her hoof.
One of the Timberwolves lunged at Fluttershy but Rainbow Dash jumped in the way, pushing Fluttershy out of harm’s way. Rainbow went flying back by the Timberwolf, she smacked right into a tree, her wing which was bent behind her made a loud snapping sound as she hit it.
“How dare you hurt my friend!” shouted Twilight.
Her horn started glowing, the magical aura was growing. She was completely engulfed by the aura, the Timberwolves started backing away and whimpering. Twilight shot a burst of magic that sent all pieces of the Timberwolves flying back into the Everfree Forest.
“Rainbow, are you alright?” Twilight asked as she ran up to her.
“I think my wing is broken.” Rainbow Dash said through her tears.
“Come on, let’s get her to the hospital.”
Class was over, everypony was outside playing, waiting to get picked up by their parents or siblings. Scootaloo was showing off to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
“Wow, you can fly so high!” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
“Can you do any tricks?” asked Apple Bloom.
“No, all I can do is hover and fly in forward.” Scootaloo replied with a slightly sad look, “Still better than not being able to do anything.”
“That’s amazing,” a voice came from behind them, “All I can do is get my front hooves off the ground.”
They turned to the source of the voice, it was Cloudwhisp. “You mind giving me some tips?” he asked.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to each other and whispered something then smiled back at him and whispered again. Apple Bloom turned her head back toward Cloudwhisp but this time her attention was caught by a lonely looking unicorn sitting on the swings by herself. She brought the unicorn to Sweetie Belle’s attention as well. “We’re going to go over there,” said Sweetie Belle turning to Scootaloo, “see you later.”
“Yeah, ok,” Scootaloo said and watched them join the unicorn on the swings, “anyways, you need to keep yourself nice and nimble.”
“Hi there,” said Apple Bloom to the pony on the swing, “my name’s Apple Bloom.”
She didn’t look up, she just sat there, looking at the ground, her swing just barely swaying.
“I’m Sweetie Belle, are you alright over here by yourself? Would you like some company?” Sweetie asked as she stepped into Dinky’s line of sight.
Dinky jumped, she didn’t think that they had been talking to her, she nodded at them and gave them a faint smile. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom jumped onto the swings next to her.
“So are you always alone?” asked Apple Bloom.
She nodded again, “Most ponies avoid me, I’ve heard some say that if you stick around me to long you’ll catch my mother’s clumsiness.”
“That’s absurd!” squeaked Sweetie Belle, “How can anypony even think that that could be possible?”
“I dunno, they just do.” Dinky’s eyes were starting to well up.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” asked Apple Bloom quietly.
“Nothing,” Dinky answered, “it’s just that the only ponies who have ever been this concerned about me are my mommy and daddy.”
“You don’t have to cry over that.” said Sweetie Belle.
“It just makes me so happy, that other ponies do care.”
“If you want, we can be your friends, I’m sure even Scootaloo will be your friend.” said Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, you can even join our club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” added Sweetie Belle.
“Really?” Dinky asked them incredulously, “You want to be my friends? Mommy will be so happy that I managed to make friends, she’ll bake and extra batch of muffins to celebrate!”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle laughed and Dinky looked at them confused.
Cloudwhisp was getting increasingly frustrated, Scootaloo was hovering over him, telling him that what he was doing was wrong again. “You need to get used to the motion, don’t just try to put power into your wings before you’ve got a good rhythm going, my sister taught me that the rhythm is key.” Scootaloo explained.
“Yeah?” asked Cloudwhisp angrily, “And just who is this oh so great sister you keep talking about?”
“Only the best flier in all of Equestria-“ Scootaloo started.
“That’s impossible.” Cloudwhisp cut her off, “Everypony knows that the best flier in all of Equestria is Rainbow Dash, and everypony also knows that Rainbow Dash doesn’t have a sister.”
“Rainbow Dash is my sister!” yelled Scootaloo.
“Prove it then.”
“You’ll see, when she comes to pick me up, you’ll see then.”
They sat there waiting, everypony was slowly leaving one by one as their family came to pick them up. It was getting late and Rainbow Dash still hadn’t come to pick Scootaloo up. A shape came flying down into view, Scootaloo looked up at it expectantly, it was Fluttershy.
“Hah, I knew you were lying,” Cloudwhisp said and he started walking off towards home, “everypony knows that Rainbow Dash doesn’t have a sister.”
He was already out of sight when Fluttershy landed. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked her.
“She’s at the hospital, she broke her wing, I’m taking you to go see her.” she said as she extended her hoof for Scootaloo.
Scootaloo didn’t take it, instead she just took off, flying as fast as she could to the hospital, tears in her eyes. Fluttershy was amazed, she didn’t expect Scootaloo to be able to fly so well, Rainbow had told her that she still needed to hold her hoof to fly longer than five minutes. Fluttershy followed, she knew Scootaloo wanted to see her sister as soon as possible.
The weeks passed slowly, Hearth’s Warming was coming up. Scootaloo had explained to Rainbow Dash about the mean new Pegasus at school which made Rainbow furious. Up until now she had walked Scootaloo to school, her wing still broken, just so she could see this pony and show him up, but he was never there. He had always gotten to school late and missed seeing Rainbow Dash waiting outside of the school.
Scootaloo was tired and getting bored of class, she looked out of the window into the gently drifting snow falling outside. She started to drift off to sleep.
“Scootaloo.” A voice called her, “Scootaloo are you alright?”
Scootaloo looked up to see a concerned looking Miss Cheerilee. “Hmmm? Yeah I’m fine, just dozed off I guess.” She looked around at the empty class and then up to the clock, school had ended a little while ago.
“Okay, I was afraid something was bothering you, I noticed you haven’t been all that cheerful recently.” Miss Cheerilee said giving her a slight smile, “Do you want to tell me why?”
“It’s nothing really,” said Scootaloo looking down at her desk, she noticed that she had been drooling and quickly wiped it up with her hoof before continuing, “It’s just the new Pegasus, Cloudwhisp has been mean to me, calling me a liar because I told him Rainbow Dash is my sister and they haven’t been around school at the same time for him to know the truth.”
“Well sometimes you have to just ignore some ponies, if they don’t want to know the truth then don’t waste your energy fretting over it.” Miss Cheerilee said and she placed her hoof gently on Scootaloo’s head.
Scootaloo sat there for a moment thinking, but a sharp tap at the window broke her thoughts. Rainbow Dash was standing outside, showing off her wing which was recently unbandaged, waiting to take Scootaloo home.
Scootaloo jumped up and thanked Miss Cheerilee for the advice and walked out the door to meet her sister. “Hey, sis.” Scootaloo said as she hugged Rainbow.
“Hey,” she said back, patting a hoof on Scootaloo’s head, “What were you and Cheerilee talking about, huh?”
“Just that mean Pegasus, Cloudwhisp.” She replied, “She told me that I shouldn’t waste my energy worrying about him knowing the truth.”
They took off through the snow, “She’s kind of right, if he doesn’t want to know the truth then that’s his fault, you shouldn’t let it get to you so easily.” Rainbow looked back at Scootaloo, she was still wearing a slight frown, “Cheer up, Hearths Warming is almost here, we’re going to spend it together just you and me and we’ll make it the best Hearth Warming ever!”
Scootaloo smiled at the thought of spending Hearth Warming together with Rainbow Dash but just as quickly it turned back into a frown. This was going to be her first Hearth Warming Eve without her parents, she didn’t know how Rainbow Dash could make it the best one ever. She was happy, but still didn't expect it to be her best.
Scootaloo decided, she may not have the best Hearths Warming ever but that doesn't mean that she can't help make it Rainbow Dash's, she hadn't spent a Hearths Warming with anypony for a long time. If there was anything at all that she could do to make Rainbow happy, especially on that day, she would do it.
There wasn't much time, it was already Hearth Warming Eve. Scootaloo frantically ran down the streets of Ponyville, looking for the best present for Rainbow Dash. How could she be so foalish as to wait till the last minute to get Rainbow a gift. She passed by the boutique, 'Rainbow doesn't really wear dresses', she thought to herself, The library, 'the only books she reads is the Daring Do series and she orders them straight in the mail'. Scootaloo went past every shop in town but still couldn't think of anything Rainbow wanted or needed that she didn't already have, she had even gone all the way to Zecura's for something, anything Rainbow liked.
Scootaloo turned home, feeling defeated in her search, and bumped into a yellow coated mare.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said the pony she had just bumped into, "Oh Scootaloo, what brings you into town today?"
Fluttershy looked down at Scootaloo, a small smile covering her face.
"I'm here looking for a present for Rainbow," Scootaloo told her, "I just can't seem to find anything that she wants or might be cool to get her."
"My," Fluttershy said looking concerned now, "Well I know Rainbow likes... Uh, no not that... not those either... It's always been hard to buy gifts for Rainbow."
"I figured," said Scootaloo looking at her hooves, "but I'd feel really bad if I didn't get her anything."
"I think all she wants right now is to make you as happy as she can."
"I know, but I want to do something for her, something really special."
Fluttershy considered for a moment before saying, "If you really want to do something special then make her something, like breakfast, before she can wake up you should make her breakfast."
Scootaloo thought about, she liked the idea, Rainbow Dash still liked to sleep in late so that would make a nice surprise. "Thank you Fluttershy." Scootaloo said as she ran past the shocked mare.
Scootaloo got home and set her alarm clock for six, it gave her plenty of time to get up and make something delicious for her sister. She decided what she would make, 'maybe apple pancakes,' that sounded good, 'with milk and some fresh baked cupcakes to finish it off'.
Rainbow walked into the room, "Hey, what are you up to?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about how wonderful tomorrow will be." Scootaloo replied smiling.
Rainbow Dash smiled, "I'm glad, I think you're really going to enjoy tomorrow. Come on down, it's lunch time."
Scootaloo followed Rainbow into the kitchen and they ate lunch together.
"Hey sis, what are you planning for tomorrow?" asked Scootaloo casually.
"It's a surprise." Rainbow said beaming at her.
The rest of the day Scootaloo tried to get Rainbow Dash to tell her what her plans were but Rainbow wouldn't so much as give a hint as to her plans. Scootaloo went to bed, excited for her plan and curious of what Rainbow could be planning.
The alarm went off, Scootaloo quickly silenced it. She crept out of her room and over to Rainbow Dash's door, there was no sound. She went down into the kitchen. To her amazement, Rainbow Dash was sitting at the table waiting.
"There you are sis, I was wondering when you were going to wake up." Rainbow said as she looked up at the sound that had come from the doorway.
"What?" said Scootaloo as she stepped into the kitchen, "But I..."
"I thought it would be nice to make you a really nice breakfast today. I made us some apple pancakes." Rainbow said, smiling widely.
Scootaloo looked at the breakfast, the same one she was thinking of making. 'I guess great minds think alike,' she thought to herself as she sat down. She stared at the pancakes with disappointment, this meant that she needed to think of something to get Rainbow literally last minute.
They ate their breakfast and looked over the table at each other, Scootaloo smiled, Rainbow smiled back. "Was it good?" she asked.
"It was delicious," Scootaloo replied, not wanting Rainbow to see her worry she continued, "so what are we going to do today?"
"Well I did get us two tickets to see the Wonderbolts perform over in Cloudsdale..." Rainbow said and looked at the happiness that had shot over Scootaloo's face, "but... it seems to me that you're not excited enough so it looks like we can't go."
Scootaloo's face dropped to a pout, "That's not funny, are we going to go or not?"
"You might want to get something that can be signed..." Rainbow hinted.
Scootaloo let out an excited shriek and went up to her room to get her favorite Wonderbolt poster. When she came back down, Rainbow Dash was standing by the door waiting, "Come on, it's in Cloudsdale so we have to leave now in order to get there in time."
They took off towards Cloudsdale and flew as fast as they could, at one point it had turned into a race. Scootaloo shot past Rainbow laughing excitedly then Rainbow pulled ahead and stuck her tongue out at Scootaloo. The two kept on passing each other, taunting the other as they did so, until they could see Cloudsdale. Scootaloo flew as fast as she possibly could, Rainbow was right beside her. Scootaloo touched down on the fluffy cloud and skid to a stop five feet away, Rainbow right behind her.
"I won!" Scootaloo shouted triumphantly, her chest heaving trying to get her breathing back to a steady pace.
"You sure did kiddo." Rainbow Dash said smiling down at Scootaloo.
They walked over to the stadium together, Scootaloo jumping around with glee. The line to get in was very long, they waited for half an hour just to get up to the door into the stadium and another twenty minutes to get to their seats. As they sat down the announcer called through the speakers, "Fillies and gentlecolts, we have the great honor of presenting the Wonderbolts!"
The crowds cheered, everypony was standing and stomping their hooves to greet the Wonderbolts as they flew into the stadium. The Wonderbolts started their performance, with swoops and dives, they wowed the audience. They moved in precise formations and did daring tricks in midair. Every so often one of them would make a flyby as close to the crowds as possible, Rainbow lifted Scootaloo when the Captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire made her flyby. Scootaloo raised up her hoof and Spitfire gave it a tap with her own. Scootaloo nearly fainted with pleasure as Rainbow brought her down back into her seat. They enjoyed the rest of the performance whooping with the audience.
After the Wonderbolts landed in their final formation, the announcer called, "Wow, give it up for the amazing Wonderbolts, they worked very hard today," she paused to let the cheering ensue then continued, "They will be signing autographs in about ten minutes so if you want one, you'd better make your way to the designated area."
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo followed the crowd out of the stadium and into the inner halls and followed the signs to the autograph room. Scootaloo couldn't hold her excitement, she kept hopping up and smiling at Rainbow Dash. They reached the line for the autographs, this was going to take a while. About an hour later they reached the tables where the Wonderbolts were signing autographs, some ponies were going along the table getting autographs from the whole team while others were going up to their favorite members. Scootaloo pulled her poster out and they walked up to the table, the Wonderbolts were lined up in ranking order, lowest to highest so Spitfire was sitting at the opposite end, they started to sign her poster one by one, making it out to the wonderful Scootaloo. They reached Soarin, "Hey, Rainbow Dash, and her sister!" he said, "I didn't know you would be here, how are you doing?"
"We're doing fine," Rainbow said to him, "I've been trying to make this her best Hearth Warming ever."
"Well this is one way to do it," Soarin said smiling at Scootaloo, "Hey, there's going to be an after party for the Wonderbolts and their guests, would you two like to come?"
"Sorry but we have plans after this so we can't." Rainbow said, a slight frown crossed her face, she smiled again before saying, "Maybe some other time though."
"Okay, you two have fun!" Soarin said to them as they continued down the table.
"Who am I making this out to?" Spitfire asked. "Hey, you're the filly I hoof bumped earlier!"
"Uh-huh, my name's Scootaloo!"
"Well then, to my biggest fan, Scootaloo, always follow your dreams." Spitfire said as she wrote. "There, I noticed that Soarin was talking to you, did he invite you to our after party?"
"Yeah but we have stuff to do after this so we can't make it." Rainbow said.
"Oh that's too bad, it's going to be a lot of fun."
"Yeah, thanks for the autographs!"
"You're welcome, and feel free to come by if you change your mind, we know who you are."
They walked out of the stadium into the bustling street of Cloudsdale. Scootaloo jumped at Rainbow, tackling her into a big hug. "So what are we going to do next sis?" Scootaloo asked, still jumping from the euphoria of having met the Wonderbolts.
"Well now we are going to go home and get ready, Pinkie Pie invited us over to her Hearth Warming party tonight, everypony is going to be there, including your friends." Rainbow replied.
"Really, a big party with my friends?" Scootaloo hugged Rainbow even tighter, "This really is the best Hearth Warming ever! Thank you sis!"
Scootaloo looked up and saw something in the window of the shop they were standing in front of. "I'll be right back." she said.
Scootaloo ran into the store and came out only a minute later with a small bag, she gave it to Rainbow who looked inside. She saw a little metal strip with a bauble hanging off of it. Rainbow Dash took it out of the bag and looked at it curiously. It was a bookmark, the bauble was a small blue gem with a rainbow colored tassel at the end, on it read, "May you never forget your place in my heart."
"This is so sweet sis." Rainbow said her eyes starting to water.
"I know it's not much, and you're always losing your place in your books but I wanted to get you something for all you've done for me."
Rainbow Dash grabbed Scootaloo in a tight embrace, tears freely falling down her face, "Thank you little sis, I love you."
“Hey, Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash called as she walked through the door to their house. “Come here, I need to talk to you about something.”
Scootaloo came down into the living room and looked at Rainbow with a smile, “What is it sis?”
“Well, you know that winter wrap up is coming soon,” Rainbow started explaining, “I was just at Mayor Mare’s office, talking about the teams and everypony’s jobs.”
“And?”
“Well, we were handed out the vests that tell you what team you’re on to give to everypony on our team and there’s one here for you.” Rainbow finished with a smile handing the blue vest to Scootaloo. “This year you’re on my team kiddo.”
“Cool! What am I going to be doing?” asked Scootaloo tilting her head to one side.
“Well, because I’m the team leader and because you’re my sister, we are going to be overseeing every Pegasus as they do their jobs and we’ll be helping when needed.”
“Oh, okay…” said Scootaloo dropping her head a little.
“Hey, don’t be sad about it, it’s training for taking over my position eventually.” Seeing as how this didn’t cheer her up she said, “I know what will make you feel better, we’ll be part of the main cloud busting team, and I know you like cloud busting.”
Scootaloo looked up and smiled at Rainbow happily. “Alright!”
“Come on, let’s go and have fun in the snow while we still have the chance.” Rainbow said as she turned and took off back out the door.
Scootaloo’s alarm went off with a sharp ring, she quickly smacked it with her hoof and sent it flying through the wall. She got up, rubbed her eyes and looked around her room, she saw the hole and blushed, quickly covering it up.
Fluttershy fainted as she saw the small alarm clock fall right in front of her face and land in the snow right where she was about to step.
Scootaloo, unaware of poor Fluttershy almost getting hit by her alarm clock, went out and looked around the house for Rainbow Dash. Not finding her in the kitchen or living room, Scootaloo went back upstairs and over to her sister’s room. “Come on sis, you were the one who said to get up early today!” she said grumpily.
“I did say that didn’t I?” came a voice from out of the window looking into the hall. “Glad to see you up, now we can get started, come on.”
Scootaloo quickly grabbed some toast, put on her team vest and flew out the door. She joined Rainbow Dash, trying to eat her toast while flying, and they flew off towards the center of town. Everypony was already up and moving about, going to their respective team leaders to get their jobs assigned.
Rainbow and Scootaloo waited up in the sky for all the pegasi to come up to get their jobs. Scootaloo waited patiently, listening to all the jobs that the pegasi needed to get done and see who was doing what.
After handing out all the jobs, Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo and said, “Okay, now we just go between checking on the jobs and checking in with Twilight, she is the mastermind organizer after all. We don’t start jobs until she gives the say so, not after what happened a few years ago, it almost happened again when Twilight first came here but she managed to put us on track and keep us organized.”
“I remember, the flood…” said Scootaloo solemnly.
“That’s why everything goes through to be approved by Twilight first.” said Rainbow.
They kept close to Twilight Sparkle all day to make sure they could tell the pegasi waiting to do their jobs to go ahead. All of the team heads did, it showed Scootaloo how much everypony relied and trusted in Twilight.
“Alright, the last of the animals have been woken up and are out of their dens… Rainbow!” Twilight yelled turning towards Rainbow Dash, “You can start busting up those clouds and letting the sun in to melt the snow!”
“Yeah, now we get to have some fun! Let’s see what you can do pipsqueak!” Rainbow shouted as she flew high into the sky, breaking through several clouds on her way.
“I bet I can bust more clouds than you!” Scootaloo called up after her.
Taking this as the signal to start, the other pegasi tasked with busting the clouds began doing so. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were flying side by side, each trying to hit more clouds than the other. Rainbow started to swoop and dive to hit more clouds while Scootaloo started spinning to gather a bunch of clouds in her range.
Without realizing it, Scootaloo was making a big black storm cloud.
“Scootaloo!” Rainbow Dash yelled causing everypony within earshot to look up at the little orange streak surrounding a billowing black cloud that had started to emit small bursts of static. “Don’t do that, you’re making a lightning cloud!”
It was too late for warnings, as Scootaloo flew circles around the growing cloud it let out a huge discharge, hitting the filly.
“Scootaloo no!” Rainbow shouted and she flew down to catch her sister before she hit the ground.
“Rainbow quickly take her to the hospital!” Twilight shouted up at her, but Rainbow just hovered there holding the unmoving Scootaloo in her hooves and crying. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted again.
Fluttershy rushed up to Rainbow, still hovering, unable to move due to shock, grabbed them both and flew as fast as she could with the two ponies to the hospital.
The reception mare looked up to see Fluttershy holding a scorched Scootaloo and a horrified looking Rainbow Dash, “Quickly, we need a room and a doctor, now!”
A couple of the nurses came rushing in and took Scootaloo into the ER and Rainbow Dash into one of the rooms, leaving Fluttershy to wait in the waiting room. The doctor quickly ran into the ER and started looking Scootaloo over while a nurse tried to get Rainbow Dash out of her shocked state.
It had been just over half an hour, all of Rainbow Dash’s and Scootaloo’s friends had already joined Fluttershy in the waiting room, when the doctor walked out of the ER. When she saw him walk past the door to her room, Rainbow Dash jumped up and followed him out. He stepped into the waiting room and said with a hallowed tone, “Scootaloo’s going to be fine, the bolt of lightning just managed to miss her heart but we had to remove one of her kidneys and I doubt she will ever fly again.”
Everypony gasped, Rainbow Dash broke down in tears again and they all came up to give her a loving hug, they all started to cry at the pain of their friend and the sadness that her sister was going to endure for the rest of her life. The doctor brought Scootaloo out of the ER and placed her in an isolated room so she could have privacy. Rainbow walked into the room to go check on her.
Scootaloo was heavily bandaged, Rainbow couldn’t help but let out a whimper at the sight. She walked up to Scootaloo, sitting peacefully in the bed and held her hoof, “I love you sis. I don’t care what anypony might say or how you feel about yourself, I still love you no matter what.”
Rainbow Dash sobbed into Scootaloo’s sheets, a nurse stepped into the room and said, “Miss, you can’t see her yet. Please go wait until she wakes up, I’ll call you when she does.”
Everypony sat in the waiting room, waiting for Scootaloo to wake up, Rainbow lying in a disheveled heap. They all tried their best to comfort her but her heart was broken, she didn’t know how life was going to be like from now on, she was scared. The nurse came into the waiting room and said, “She’s coming to. Please only a few at a time.”
Rainbow walked back into the room with Twilight, Applejack and Rarity, the later wanting to see Scootaloo before they let their sisters she her. “Sis…” Scootaloo said weakly from the bed, “did I win?”
Rainbow Dash smiled and her eyes started to flow with tears, the others looking at Scootaloo with looks of concern. “Yeah sis, y-you won.” her voice cracked as she spoke, “You were great. Beat me by a mile.”
“Sis, what happened?” asked Scootaloo as she realized where she was.
Rainbow Dash looked at her sadly and explained what had happened as the others simply listened, tears starting to run down their own faces.
“Scootaloo, are you alright? I know it’s a lot to take in.” Rainbow said worriedly.
Scootaloo stared up at Rainbow Dash in astonishment. “May never fly again? But, that’s not fair.”
“I know it’s not fair sis, but that’s what happened, and we can’t change it, even Twilight said she doesn’t know a spell that will help.” said Rainbow, crying with renewed vigor.
Scootaloo looked over at Twilight, “Really, you can’t do anything?”
In reply, Twilight simply looked down at the ground and shook her head, letting out quiet sobs as she did so. Applejack and Rarity hugged Twilight briefly and then walked over to Scootaloo and kissed her forehead. “I think we should leave dear.” Rarity told Twilight, “let the others come in and see her.”
They walked out and Rainbow Dash sat there still holding her sister’s hoof. “N-no matter what h-happens, little sis… I l-love you.” Rainbow said through her tears.
“I know, I love you t-too sis, no matter what. Remember, you’ll always hold a special place in… in my heart.” Scootaloo said, her voice wavering.
Fluttershy walked in with Apple Bloom and Sweet Belle, both of whom immediately rushed to her side. “Are you going to be alright?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Does it still hurt?” said Apple Bloom not giving her time to answer.
Both fillies kept bombarding her with questions, Scootaloo looked at them sadly. Fluttershy pulled them back saying, “She needs room to breathe, just calm down a little.”
“I’m going to be more or less fine, it still hurts in places, especially if I move too much.” Scootaloo answered.
Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a teary smile and nuzzled her. “You’re going to be just fine.”
The nurse walked in just then and said, “We’re going to need to give her a bath really quick, could you help me lift her out of bed please miss?”
“Of course.” Rainbow said and she pulled the sheets off of Scootaloo.
There was a loud gasp and Rainbow Dash ran out of the room crying very hard. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked over to see what made Rainbow so upset and saw on Scootaloo’s flank, there was a cutie mark there. It showed a lightning bolt emanating from a white flash.