Chapter 3 - A Weekend to Remember (Part 2)

Thanks to Enderstorm for editing!

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire made their way inside the famous sweet shop to find a little orange pegasus at the counter.

Scootaloo licked her lips as she looked at the delectable treats behind the glass cover. Suddenly a pink mare jumped out from behind the counter and startled the pegasus.

"Hey, Scootaloo!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she looked down at the pegasus. Scootaloo hastily recovered and smiled at the pink mare.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie" Scootaloo greeted the pink mare, whilst jumping up and flapping her wings. Pinkie looked up from Scootaloo to see Dash and Spitfire, and needless to say her jaw fell to the counter below with an audible smack. Spitfire had forgotten completely about Dash's warning earlier about the pink mare and resisted the urge to facehoof in her stupidity.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, was ecstatic.She sucked in air like a jet turbine and valiantly proclaimed, "OH MY GOSH! SPITFIRE, I TOTALLY NEED TO THROW YOU A PARTY!"

When Pinkie was done shouting in the direction of the yellow mare, she sped off in a pink blur. Spitfire exchanged a worried glance with Dash before the pink mare returned with a cannon in tow. Spitfire's eyes widened in shock as she thought to herself, ‘She’s a frigging nutcase!’

Suddenly a light blue hoof pushed the cannon away from the Wonderbolt captain.

"Pinkie Pie, what have I told you about using the party cannon inside?" Mrs.Cake asked, glaring at the pink mare. Pinkie's ears flattened as she muttered “Don’t do it…”

Dash put a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder to comfort her. "Hey, Pinks! It’s okay, just give us a round of cupcakes." Dash asked, Pinkie Pie lit up like a firework and nodded rapidly before disappearing again in another blur. Dash just rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics.

Soon enough though the three pegasi were happily seated eating a batch of freshly baked cupcakes. Though Spitfire was enjoying the treat, the idea of Scootaloo being an orphan just seemed to gnaw away at her mind. She couldn't think of anything else and soon her eyes where fixated on the small pegasus, whether she wanted to look or not. There was nothing to focus on, except her weight. Spitfire could tell from her Wonderbolts dietary program that Scootaloo was underweight, and it even seemed like she hadn't been fed in a while. She knew though that she was staying at Dash's house and was probably getting proper meals, but from what she knew Scootaloo had not told Dash anything about her parents. Finally she decided to ask a few questions.

"So, Dash. How long has Scootaloo been staying with you?" Spitfire asked in a casual tone as to not worry the already concerned pegasus.

Dash looked up from her cupcake as her eyes shifted to Scootaloo and then back to Spitfire."Uhh, it's been about two weeks, I think. I took Scoots under my wing after we went on a camping trip with Applejack and Rarity and the other two Crusaders. She's staying with me until her folks come back from their business trip. Ain't that right, squirt?" Dash replied as Scootaloo nodded cautiously.

Spitfire watched as the filly slightly shuddered again when she heard the word 'parent.' Spitfire started to become surer that Scootaloo was indeed an orphan, but first she would have to be a hundred percent sure before she asked the filly anything on the subject, so she would need to talk to Dash about it first in private and go from there.

The rest of the time went without a hitch the three traded off between stories about their adventures. Some of the best surprisingly came from Scootaloo (to the Dash’s dismay) but soon it was time for Spitfire to go back to Cloudsdale.

Spitfire looked over at the small filly who had stuffed herself full of chocolate cake and was now holding her stomach from indigestion. Spitfire tapped the filly lightly on the head, Scootaloo groaned and looked up to see Spitfire adjusting her scarf and standing up.

"Aw, do you have to go already Spitfire? Can’t you stay?" Scootaloo pleaded with big, puppy dog eyes as she completely forgot to acknowledge the fact that Spitfire had spent the full day with her anyway. Spitfire felt her heart wrench at the filly's pleading, but she knew she had to get home before it became too cloudy to fly. She nodded and ruffled the filly's little fuchsia mane.

"Sorry, Scoots, but I have to go before the night clouds roll in." Spitfire said trying her best to give the filly a happy smile. Scootaloo nodded and as Spitfire started to head for the door, she then felt something on her hind leg and looked down to see Scootaloo with her forelegs tightly wrapped around her.

"C-can you hang out with us again?" Scootaloo asked, Spitfire pondered even though she wouldn't miss it for the world to just do something normal again. After a few seconds Spitfire nodded.

"Sure I can, Scoots! How about at this Fridays derby in Canterlot?" Spitfire said in a hopeful tone, all eyes then moved to Dash who was still finishing off the box of cupcakes. She looked utterly confused for a second, and tried to remember the conversation before nodding.

Spitfire started walking to the entrance again, she pushed open the door and took one last look inside. Scootaloo was sadly watching Spitfire leave. Spitfire sighed and rolled her eyes playfully as she smiled and opened her forelegs out and Scootaloo ran over and hugged Spitfire one last time.

"Thanks for teaching me to glide today, Spitfire." Scootaloo said, Spitfire smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane.

"No problem Scoots! But it was mostly you, anyway." Spitfire said as she let the blushing filly down.

Spitfire gave one final wave as she trotted out of Sugarcube Corner. She looked up into the night sky and saw Ponyville was now covered in a thick layer of cloud. 'Great…' Spitfire thought. She saw a patch of sky that had opened up, but it was across Ponyville.

Spitfire sighed as she began trotting across the village. 'For a place that seems so small it really does take a lot of time to walk through it.' Spitfire thought to herself as she kept trotting through the streets. She looked up and saw the opening, but she had to go to the next street to be able to fly straight through it.

Spitfire looked around and noticed an alleyway that entered the street so she began trotting through the alley when she heard something fall on the ground behind her. Spitfire turned around and found a blue scooter on the ground. Spitfire sighed and picked the scooter up, she leaned it back against the brick wall and noticed a red wagon placed next to it. There was a large cardboard box that was placed in the wagon and Spitfire threw a confused look at the inanimate objects as she thought, 'Why would somepony leave their valuables here. I mean, it's not like… they’re…' Spitfire suddenly stopped when the idea of Scootaloo being an orphan again entered her mind. She felt fear well up in her gut and sweat coming from her brow as she stepped closer to the box and reached out to open it. She hesitantly opened the lid of the box revealing its contents.

There was a yellow back pack along with a few accessories like a hairbrush and small bag of bits, but in the middle was a Wonderbolts poster and a set of goggles.

Spitfire leaned down and reached out a shaking forehoof and picked up the goggles. She turned them around as her hopes were shattered. Etched into the fabric was the letters that seemed to break Spitfires heart. 'Happy birthday Scootaloo from Spitfire!'

Spitfire felt a tear make its way down her cheek, she quickly wiped it away turning a determined look at the goggles as she gripped them tightly in her hoof.

"I'm not going to let her make the same mistake I did." Spitfire said to herself as she put the goggles on her head and closed the box up before making her way back out onto the next street, and took off into the patch of sky that was slowly being closed up by the clouds.

Once she had passed through the opening she looked around the night sky and saw Cloudsdale in the distance, so she flapped her wings and sped off in its direction with only one thought going through her head.

‘I am going to make this right.’