Life's Lessons

Rainbow Dash soared through the cold night sky significantly slower than usual, mainly because of the sleeping cargo which resting on her back - wrapped up in a ball of orange and purple. Rainbow smile wavered as her mind back to previous thoughts. The multi-colored mare had been thinking about her previous actions, she knew taking the filly in was going to be a lot easier said than done. But before that, she still had to tell everypony... she just wasn't sure how all this would work. She was still debating on whether or not to tell everypony about what Scoots had just tried to pull off. Soon though, the cyan mare’s thoughts drifted back to the orange filly. Right now, she didn’t want the content filly to be disturbed from what could possibly be the best nights sleep she’d had in a long time. Rainbow instantly began to scan the small town below until she spotted a house just on the edge of town. The mare smiled as an idea quickly sprung to her mind. Taking one last look at the filly on her back, she dived down towards the house.

The rainbow maned mare landed in front of a pony-made building with a thatched roof. It looked similar to the other houses around it except for the dull grey paint that surrounded the exterior of the house; making it stand out from the rest. Dash slowly trotted over before knocking on the door and waited for an answer. The door soon swung opened, revealing a small light purple unicorn with a blond mane. She looked up happily at the cyan pony. ”Hey miss Rainbow Dash!” she said happily.

Rainbow smiled. “Hey kid is um… Derpy home?” she asked hesitantly. The small unicorn nodded before trotting inside the house for a few moments before a memorable voice called from inside, “Come in Dash, I’m in the kitchen.”

Dash trotted in, closing the door behind her as she made her way to the homes cooking station where a dull grey mare was positioned in front of the stove. Dash raised an eyebrow, “Hey Derpy, what's up?”

Derpy looked up from the stove to see her old flight school pal. “Hey Rainbow Dash! Haven't seen you for a while.” she said with a smile as she trotted over to the mare. Derpy noticed the sleeping filly on the cyan mares back and threw a confused look at the rainbow maned pony. “Hey Dash, who’s that?” she asked pointing a hoof to the mares back.

Dash looked at Scootaloo and then back to Derpy. “Yeah, about that...” she said rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof nervously as she thought up an excuse. After a few moments she continued, “She’s with me this weekend because her parents are in… Trottingham and we were um... training today so she’s all tired.” the Pegasus explained, hoping her excuse would fool the grey mare. Luckily Derpy nodded, which brought relief the the fast flyer.

Dash smiled. “But I need to run a quick errand so... do you think you could watch Scoots for me?” she asked hesitantly. Again Derpy nodded, “Sure thing Dash, I can do that!”

Suddenly, a smell reached both mare’s nostrils. The pair instinctively began to look around for the source. Derpy’s eyes widened when she realized where the smell was emanating from and gasped before screaming, “My muffins!” She then dashed to the stove and brought out a plate of slightly burned muffins. Dash put a hoof to her mouth to stop her laughter as the grey mare lifted one of the muffins and tasted it before cringing slightly.

Dash muffled another giggle before a slight moan caused the mare to turn back to her sleeping passenger. She then trotted through the small house and into the living room. She then went over to the couch and set Scootaloo down gently before leaning down and whispering, “I’ll be right back Scoots, I promise.” She then nuzzled the filly’s ear softly. Dash could feel her heart warm when she saw the filly’s lips curl into a smile. Making her way out of the room the mare gave her goodbyes to Derpy before heading off to Twilight’s library.

It didn’t take long before Dash had made her way back to the front of the Golden Oaks library. She took the folded letter from her wing and looked it over once again before shaking her head and putting it safely back in her wing. It was too soon for the truth and she didn’t even know all of it yet. Taking a deep breath she knocked on the library’s door a few times and waited until the door was opened by a small purple and green dragon.

Dash smiled. “Hey Spike, is everypony still here?” she asked looking behind the dragon. Spike nodded. “Yeah, they’re still whining about what happened earlier.” he explained rolling his eyes before letting the cyan mare into the library. Dash trotted into the tree house and saw the five mares and two fillies all waiting anxiously in the living area, they all looked towards at the cyan mare as she trotted towards them.

Twilight was the first to speak, "Hey Dash, what happened?” she asked as all the other ponies gathered around the multi-colored mare. Dash sighed. “I... don't know everything yet, but she’s cool for now.” she said, putting on a fake smirk. She saw Twilight giving her a confused stare which made her nerves start to rise; but to Rainbows relief she backed off. But Twilight wasn’t going to leave without at least knowing one thing. “So you're sure she’s okay then, what was that letter about anyway?” Twilight asked, leaning towards Dash.

Rainbow gulped; she could felt the nerves rise once again and began to stutter as she spoke, “Oh that well um...i-it was nothin, she’s fine guys trust me.” the cyan mare persisted as she looked at all the ponies with a cautious smile.

Luckily, all the ponies in the small room nodded happily. The intensity started to seep out the room as one by one the ponies started to leave until it was just Twilight and Rainbow left in the living room of the library. The cyan mare was about to get up and leave when Twilight spoke, “So... where is Scootaloo?” she asked walking over to the bookshelf at the far side of the living area.

Oh, she’s at Derpy’s right now,” Rainbow replied casually. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked over to the mare. “Why is she at Derpy’s? Shouldn’t she be with her parents?” the lavender mare replied with a confused tone. Rainbow began to tense up again. “Oh, she is there because her parents are in um...Trottingham!” she said slightly trailing off at the end when she heard the other mare muffling a giggle.

Twilight grinned. “You're a bad liar Dash.” she said shaking her head playfully at the mare. Dash mentally kicked herself before sighing as she spoke, “Okay Twi, you got me...but I-I can't...I don't-” she began before being cut off by her friend.

“It’s okay Dash, if you don’t want to say anything then that’s fine, just so long as you don't keep it a secret for too long, especially if its something serious. We can help Dash, we’re here if you need us.” the purple mare said. Dash nodded happily. “Thanks Twi, I knew you would understand!” she said with a smirk as she got up to leave.

Just before Rainbow made her way out of the library a book was levitated in front of the mare along with a set of saddlebags. Dash took the items in her hooves as she read the title of the book ‘Taking care of small ponies: a reference guide’. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Again with the books, Twi!” she said sarcastically as she put the book in the saddlebags and took off into the night sky.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of Derpy’s house and knocked on the door and waited for a response. A few moments later the door was opened by the dull grey mare. “Hey Dash! Come on in.” the mare said happily as she let the cyan mare into the house. Dash looked into the living room to see the orange filly still snoozing happily on the couch.

Derpy rolled her eyes as she came into the room. “She’s been out like a light since you left, that must have been some pretty hard training Dash.” she said with a grin.

Rainbow smiled. “Yeah, you could say that.” she replied whilst leaning down to pick up the filly. She gently laid the orange pony onto her back and making her way to the door.

Dash stopped at the doorway and looked back to the dull mare. “Thanks for the help Derpy!” she said happily as she waved to the mare.

The wall eyed mare smiled back. “No problem Dash, anytime!” she replied before the cyan mare took to the skies once again and made way towards her home in the sky.

A few moments later the cyan mare landed on the front steps of her cloud home. In the day the house was quite a sight with its rainbow waterfalls and sculptures. But during the night most of it was just barely visible. Dash unlocked the door before opening it and trotted into the home. She then set the saddlebags down in the main hallway before trotting up the spiral stairs to her bedroom.

The mare opened the door to the master bedroom of the home; which was littered with Wonderbolt memorabilia and a few other things that currently occupied the floor of the room. Rainbow carefully maneuvered herself past the objects before laying the filly down onto the bed. Suddenly, the filly started to awaken. “Dash?” she said in a groggy voice as her eyes adjusted to the world around her. The cyan mare smiled and nodded. “Sure is squirt.” she said getting into the cloud bed with the filly and pulling the covers over them.

Scootaloo smiled. “Thanks for not being mad at me today Dash.” she said as she cuddled up next to the mare. Dash grinned. “How could I could ever stay mad at my little sister?” she asked, muffling a giggle. The little filly’s smile grew wider. “S-sister?” she said dreamily; still only half awake.

Dash nodded before nuzzling the filly’s neck and wrapped a wing around Scootaloo’s small frame; hugging her tightly. “You sure are Scoots, you're the best sis I could ask for!” she said wholeheartedly before laying her head down on the cloud pillow and let her mind drift off to sleep. That was until she heard the small filly say something which made her mind stop.

“I love you, big sis.” Scootaloo said, trailing off as she went back to her deep sleep. Dash was shocked at this, but her lips soon turned into a smirk and she held the filly tighter in her embrace and whispered, “I love you too kid... more than you know.” She then layed her head back down onto the pillow as she too fell into a well needed rest.

Dash hoped everything would be okay with Scootaloo now, but she still needed to do a lot more before she could be totally sure. She knew her friends could help her if she needed it, but she wanted to first make sure her sister was okay with everypony knowing about the truth. She still needed to get the filly enrolled into school properly which brought round a lot of work in itself... she just hoped it would all be okay soon.