Life's Lessons

Rainbow Dash flew through the sky at great speed. It didn’t take her long to reach the school building on the edge of town. She landed on the dirt road at the entrance to the school and let the little orange filly jump off her back.

Rainbow smiled. “Have a good day Squirt, I’ll be here to pick you up,” she said with a smile.

Scootaloo nodded and hugged the cyan mare quickly before galloping into the schoolhouse. Dash watched the filly before shooting off towards the Golden Oaks Library, she had a few things to discuss.

Meanwhile Scootaloo threw open the door to the classroom where a maroon mare was standing at the front of a classroom with her hoof pointed to an item on the chalkboard. She gave an annoyed look towards the small orange filly. “Scootaloo, late again?” she said raising an eyebrow.

Scootaloo nodded. “Sorry, Mrs Cheerilee.”

The maroon mare shook her head. “I don’t want to see this happen again, okay?” she replied before turning back to the black board. Scootaloo gave another nod before trotting over to her seat next to her two friends.

Both fillies look at the orange pony and smiled. Applebloom then leaned over and whispered. “Hey Scoots, where have ya been all this time?” she asked curiously.

Scootaloo sighed. “I’ll tell you later,” she replied with a slightly sad tone in her voice. Both her friends gave each other worried looks but went on with their schoolwork hoping they would get an answer soon enough.

Rainbow Dash landed outside the Library in Ponyville and knocked on the door before it was opened by Spike.

Rainbow smiled. “Hey Spike is Twilight home, I really gotta speak to her.”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, she’s here alright. She’s studying those death traps she calls books,” he said while motioning for the cyan mare to follow as they walked into the library. In the center of the home sat the purple unicorn who was in a sea of multiple history books.

Dash’s eyes widened at this. “Um, Twi ,how long have you been reading?”

The lavender mare blushed slightly at this.

Spike rolled his eyes. “About three hours after you left,” he said before walking into the kitchen.

Dash muffled a giggle at that whilst Twilight got herself up from the wooden floor and turned around to face the mare. “So what can I do for you, Dash?” she asked.

Dash pondered for a second as the whole scene had made her forget the whole reason why she had come here. After a few seconds she replied, “Oh um...I have a question to ask,” she said hesitantly.

Twilight nodded. “Sure thing Dash, ask away.”

Dash fumbled with her hooves. “What do you think of me as a good...carer?”

Twilight threw a confused look before speaking. “What do you mean Dash?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dash continued to fumble with her hooves. “Like do you think I’m good at taking care of ponies?” she asked.

Twilight’s face changed to a smile as she turned back to her books. “I think Tank’s probably as much as you can handle Dash.”

Dash shook her head. “Wait no, not pets…I mean… I wanna adopt, Twi,” she said finally letting the truth pass.

Twilight dropped the book she was levitating and turned back around to face the cyan mare. “Don’t tell me what I think you're doing,” she said with a worried tone.

Dash turned an annoyed look. “What do you mean!? I’ve got what it takes!” Dash retorted.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not that Dash. It’s just adoption is a lot harder than you think it is and that’s not just in the long run,” she pointed out.

Dash nodded. “I know, but that doesn’t matter,” she replied

Twilight sighed. “So I’m guessing Scootaloo’s the one you're wanting to adopt?” she asked trotting over to far side of the library.

Dash nodded. “Yeah.”

Twilight sighed. “Okay, Dash, but remember adoption processes take a while to complete as it has to go through town hall and somepony has to inspect your house,” she warned as she wrote something down on a letter.

Dash firmly nodded. “Fine by me, Twi,” she said happily.

Twilight nodded before going back to writing on the letter, once finished she shouted, “Spike!”

Moments later the little purple dragon came into the living room. The lavender mare handed the purple dragon the wrapped up letter, he took the parchment and blew it to ashes as it was sent on its way.

Twilight turned back to the cyan Pegasus. “Well, now that’s done any other life changing moves you want to make?” she asked sarcastically.

Dash shook her head playfully. “Nah, but could you get the others around for tonight?” she asked.

Twilight pondered before nodding. “Yeah, sure thing. But why?”

Rainbow smiled. “You’ll see,” she said before heading out the door.

Rainbow closed the door to the library before looking round at the midday sky. She sighed happily before flaring her wings and heading towards the outskirts of town for her cloud duties.

At the schoolhouse the fillies and colts had just been let out for lunch break. Scootaloo felt like a zombie after enduring all those math questions as well as the history of earth ponies. But since that was over and done with she could finally could have some fun… or so she thought.

Scootaloo made her way over to the bench where her friends were already seated. She sat down as her friends smiled. “Hey Scootaloo.” they said in unison

Scootaloo smiled. “Hey guys, what’s up?”

Sweetie-Belle sighed. “Nothing much. We’re still trying to figure out what to do for our next crusade,” she said putting a hoof to her chin with a glum look.

Scootaloo nodded and then looked over at Apple Bloom. “So what are we going to do for a new idea then?” she asked curiously.

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak but another voice cut her off, “Well well well if it isn’t Scootaloo. Haven’t seen you around, blank flank,” Diamond Tiara snorted as she approached the three fillies with Silver Spoon not far behind.

Apple Bloom turned an angry look towards the pink filly. “Leave it, Tiara,” she growled.

Diamond turned a glare towards the farm pony. “Shut up dweeb! I’m too busy talking to looserloo,” she said before turning back to the now slightly cowering pony

Diamond smirked. “So where have you been then, face down in the bottom of the gutter, living in a cardboard box?” she asked.

Scootaloo was trying to keep a straight face but it was slowly fading as her fears started to come to the front of her mind.

This time it was Sweetie-Belle to speak up. “Just leave her alone, Diamond!” she said aggressively.

Diamond only needed to repeat her glare for the white unicorn to back away.

Diamond then turned back to the orange filly and continued. “So where have you been then, blank flank?”

At this point Scootaloo had her head buried in her hooves. Diamond laughed. ”Ha, the worthless runt can't even respond. Probably gets it from a relative that she doesn’t have!”

Just then a loud thud came from behind all the fillies. Diamond turned around and her eyes widened when she saw Rainbow Dash towering over her with an angry look on her features as she stood on all fours defensively.

Rainbow spoke with a voice that of an angry dragon. “Leave. Her. Alone!” she shouted in a death gripping voice.

Diamond Tiara gulped hard as all the other fillies besides Scootaloo looked up in shock to see the furious rainbow maned mare.

The cyan mare leaned in so she was muzzle to muzzle with the pink bully. “How dare you say that to my sister!”

By now Rainbow’s usually calming magenta eyes looked liked the burning sun itself. She continued, “From now on you’re gonna stay far away from my little sis, you got it!?” she said raising her voice at the end as she flared her wings.

Diamond nodded frantically before galloping away, that was until she was caught by the rainbow mare. “Oh no you don’t! You’re coming with me to Miss Cheerilee,” she said before trotting off with the filly towards the schoolhouse.

Scootaloo watched as her sister carted the bully away. She turned back to her friends who had equally large grins. Sweetie-Belle was first to speak. “Did you see that, Rainbow was all like BOOM and then she was like WHAM and it was soo cool!” she said with a girlish squee.

Scootaloo smiled at her friends she then felt a soft, gentle, hoof on her shoulder. She turned around and looked up to see the cyan mare in question.

Rainbow smiled and leaned down to the little filly. “Hey Scoots, you okay?” she asked nuzzling the fillies cheek softly.

Scootaloo nodded.

Dash grinned. “Okay then, I’ll see you after school,” she said trotting away, but then the cyan mare felt something on her hind leg. She turned around to see Scootaloo hugging it tightly.

Scootaloo looked up to her older sibling, “Thank you, Dash.”

Rainbow smiled and picked up the filly as she hugged her tightly. ”I always keep my promises,” she softly whispered in her ear before letting the orange pony down as she started trotting away again. Scootaloo looked at her sister in pure awe. Dash turned around and smirked at the little filly. She gave her a wink before darting off into the clouds again.

The rest of the day for Scootaloo went by quickly, she hadn’t seen any sign of Diamond Tiara since lunch break and Silver Spoon wasn’t the pony for starting the teasing. Soon after a few more moments Scootaloo found herself watching the clock as it ticked down the last few seconds of school.

Scootaloo watched as the seconds reached the top number of the clock and relief poured over her as she heard the ring of the school bell.

Miss Cheerilee smiled. “Have a great day, class. I’ll see you all tomorrow!” she said waving the foals off as they all rushed outside.

Scootaloo smiled when she opened the door of the school-house to see Rainbow Dash in the crowd of parents giving the filly a smile. She galloped from the building as she ran up and hugged the mare tightly.

Rainbow ruffled the fillies mane. “How was your day squirt?” she asked happily.

Scootaloo smiled. “It was awesome! Thanks for getting rid of Tiara again” she said, nuzzling the mare under her chin.

Dash smiled and nodded in acceptance before two more mares turned up. Dash smiled. “Hey Rarity, Applejack you guys coming over to Twilight’s?” she asked.

Both mares nodded as Apple Bloom and Sweetie-Belle came over from the schoolhouse. Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow with a quizzical look. “Why are we going to Twilight’s?” she asked curiously.

Dash smiled. “It’s just a little...get together,” she replied happily as the filly got onto her back.

Scootaloo nodded in response.

Dash turned to the other ponies who were all still standing next to them. “You guys ready?” she asked. Both mares and fillies smiled and nodded.

Dash grinned and flared her wings, ready for action. “Then lets go!” she said before soaring into the air with Scootaloo tightly holding her neck as they made their way towards the library.

Dash was still hesitant about all of this...she hoped that Scootaloo would accept telling everypony the truth. But it was the only way she could make this work...she knew everything with the adoption would work out soon...she just hoped what had happened at the school earlier wouldn't cause more problems.