To Find a Rainbow

I felt like I could have heard a pin drop in the wake of Rainbow’s departure. She strode to the door but as her tail flicked out of sight I felt nothing.

A dull, cold nothing.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Scoots cried as she scrambled from my arms and slipped to the floor. She stumbled as she hit but was on her hooves again in a flash and bolted towards the door, leaving me alone.

Suddenly, I was sober again. The rush of the alcohol and party was gone, and I realized what I’d done. I’d kissed Scoots. Rainbow Dash’s little sister. My best friend’s little sister.

And I’d done it the night after I’d told Rainbow I wanted to be with her.

The weight of my fuck up hit me like a ton of bricks crashing down on my head. I reeled as the entire world fell off its axis.

I had to fix this. Now.

I took off after the two of them, bumping sharply into somepony as I sped by but I paid them no mind. All I cared about was catching Rainbow and Scoots before they got too far ahead of me. I tore open the front door and burst out onto the street.

Only to find Scoots.

Sitting alone on the cloud floor.

Shaking.

I looked around, scanning the street and the sky above, but there was no sign of her. Across the city, night had fallen and the only illumination was from the stars above. Everything was dark, with no rainbows in sight.

Giving a sigh of defeat, I sat down next to Scoots and let her lean her small body against mine. She was shivering, and though I knew it wasn’t from the cold, I wrapped my arm around her anyway.

“I-I couldn’t… I couldn’t catch her. I’ve never b-been the best flier,” she muttered.

“Nopony could catch Rainbow if she didn’t want them to,” I said quietly.

“What do we do now?”

“We should probably find Spitfire and Soarin’. Tell them we’re taking off.”

“No,” she snapped. “I mean what are we going to do about Rainbow Dash?”

What could we do? We’d have to find her before we could talk to her, but she could be anywhere in the city by now. And even when we did find her, what would I say? You told me no so I moved on? Yeah, that was really going to make her want me.

But… Did I even want her to?

I had Scoots, right? She was interested in me. She trusted me enough to tell me what she was feeling. She let me in; shared herself with me. She didn’t keep everything bottled up so that I never knew what she was thinking. What did I need Rainbow for?

Instantly I remembered all the days spent whiling away the time at my cottage or the park, always with a blue pegasus at my side. Her rainbow mane blowing in the breeze; her rose-colored eyes burning with excitement as she regaled me a tale of her and her friends’ heroic deeds. Months flashed by in my mind, every other day spent with only a single other pony: the only one that ever chose to be with me. My friend. My truest, most steadfast friend.

She had turned me down, yes. But it wasn’t over. I knew we hadn’t settled the matter. There was still so much to say, but instead of waiting to let things come out, I had jumped at the first bit of affection shown to me.

I didn’t regret agreeing to that date with Scoots, nor kissing her. But then again, maybe I did.

I didn’t know how to feel. And maybe that’s why I just felt cold.

“We’re going to find Spitfire and Soarin’,” I repeated. “And then we’re going to go home.”

“But we have to do something about Rainbow Dash!” Scoots pressed. She was glaring as she shoved my arm away and stood up. “We hafta… we hafta find her! We gotta tell her–”

“Yeah? And where exactly are we going to find her?” I snapped. “And what should we tell her? ‘Hey Rainbow, sorry I totally made out with your baby sister. My bad!’ Oh yeah, that’ll make her feel better!”

“I’m not a baby!” she shouted. She rounded on me, crouching down like she was about to charge. “I can make my own decisions and I chose to kiss you!”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” I said without thinking. It wasn’t until Scoots flinched away from me, her eyes wide in alarm, that I realized I was shouting, too.

I wanted to hit myself. I took a deep breath, trying to release the tension in my gut and slow the beat of my heart before tentatively touching her shoulder. It seemed to work, and she glumly returned to my side.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to yell. Especially at you. But I didn’t mean that I think you’re a baby, Scoots–”

“Just that Rainbow Dash does?” she interrupted. “Yeah, trust me; I know.” She puffed herself up into what I guessed was supposed to be an imitation of Rainbow’s larger-than-life presence. “’No, Scootaloo, you can’t have any cider because one drop will get you so drunk you’ll make a fool of yourself and make me look bad!’ ‘Scootaloo, I’m going to tell you not to drop out of school even though you weren’t even thinking about doing that because I know sooo much more than you about everything!’ ‘No, Scootaloo, I’m not going to tell you that I’m sleeping with the colt you have a crush on, because why would you need to know something like that?!’”

Throughout her tirade, her voice continued to rise in pitch and volume until she was practically screeching. The moment she was done she let out a frustrated sob and stomped her hoof on the ground.

She looked so upset that I had to do something, so I picked her up in my arms and cradled her against my chest. She didn’t nothing to stop me, if anything she barely even seemed to register it as she continued to fume with the barest traces of wetness in the corners of her eyes.

And in spite of everything that had happened, of everything I was feeling, I found myself talking.

“Scoots, you… You know Rainbow only acts like that because she worries about you, right?” I asked.

“She doesn’t need to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

I found myself smiling. “Yeah, but that’d be like telling your dad to not worry about you. How do you think he’d take that?”

She looked away from me and grumbled. “Probably just make him worry more.”

“Exactly,” I said lightly. “Rainbow loves you. And I know she can be really bad at… at expressing that. She has a hard time saying things sometimes… Especially when those things are important. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel them. That she doesn’t care. She’s just… Rainbow.”

I realized it as I was speaking, like a forgotten memory bubbling to the surface. Suddenly, so much seemed to make sense. Why she had been acting the way she was. Why she had been trying to talk to me. Why she took off.

Why are things so obvious only in hindsight?

“You really do love her, don’t you?” Scoots asked.

That snapped me out of my thoughts. Scoots, though, didn’t look upset like I’d have imagined. If anything, she was completely expressionless. That is, until she gave a small giggle.

“I’m not mad. I knew you liked her before,” she said. She gave a long weary sigh and settled back against my arms with a small smile on her face. “Though I didn’t know you loved her. Heh, to be honest… I, of all ponies, can’t blame you for that.”

“I don’t love her,” I said. “I like her, yes; I even would have liked to be with her. But it’s not love.”

Rainbow’s been my best friend for months. I cared about her more than I would ever be able to tell her, but that didn’t mean I loved her.

And yet for some reason even to my own ears it didn’t sound convincing.

It took a moment, but eventually the last thing Scoots had said hit me. “Wait, what do you mean ‘you, of all ponies?’”

A tinge of bashfulness crept into her smile as she rolled her eyes. “It’s… kind of a long story. Why don’t we start heading back? It’s cold out here.”

As soon as she said it I shivered. She was right, with the sun having gone down, it was understandably cold up in the clouds. I suddenly regretted not bringing a jacket with me.

Regardless I agreed and we got up together. I sadly let her down to the ground so she could walk for herself as we made our way back to the club’s door. Inside we were met by the grouchy-looking bouncer from before who denied us entry. Thankfully Spitfire and Soarin’ were on their way out so we left together. After quickly explaining what happened –leaving out why Rainbow had taken off so suddenly– and promising we’d make sure Rainbow was okay, we set off back towards her parents’ house.

We had passed through a few dark, empty blocks before I brought the conversation back up. Scoots sighed as she fluttered in the air beside me.

“So… You probably know that I really looked up to Rainbow Dash when I was younger?”

“She said it was a little more than ‘looking up’ to her. She made it sound like you idolized her.”

She somehow laughed and cringed at the same time. “Even ‘idolized’ might not be quite enough. I may have been the founding member and president of the Ponyville Rainbow Dash fanclub…”

“A… a fanclub?” I asked, not completely able to believe what I was hearing.

“I know, it’s so lame!” Scoots cried. “But I thought she was so cool! I was… okay, I was obsessed. And when she actually wanted to be my big sister? I was so excited I thought I could die! It was like a dream come true. And then once we started spending time together, it was even better than I’d imagined.”

She paused to take a long breath. “Well, about that time, everypony in my class was starting to, you know… get their first crushes and stuff, right? Sweetie was talking all the time about some singer she liked and AB even went on a ‘date’” –she made air quotes with her hooves– “with Featherweight, which was really just them getting milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner while pretending to do homework together.

“But while they were thinking about colts, I sorta… I might have had a massive crush on Rainbow Dash!”

She used a hoof to hide her face from my view, probably thinking I was going to laugh at her sudden admission. But while the rushed way she’d said it might have been a little funny, I wasn’t about to do something like that.

“Aww, Scoots, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush on someone you look up to that much, particularly when you’re that age. You have all these weird new feelings happening and none of it makes sense. But… I thought you said you weren’t really into fillies?”

“I’m not! Well, not really… I mean, there were a few times when I was in heat and thought…” She trailed off with a shake of her head. “Rainbow Dash is the only other filly I’ve ever had those kind of thoughts about. So, I’m not into fillies, but maybe I’m into Rainbow Dash?”

“Not ‘used to be’ into her?” I asked.

“I don’t know… It’s not like I want to, you know, be with her or anything. But I guess I think she’s good looking.”

I hadn’t seen that coming. I knew that Rainbow liked it both ways but I wouldn’t have imagined that Scoots did too, even if it was only for one pony. “Why didn’t you say anything before? Like when I was telling you I had feelings for her?”

She shrugged. “Didn’t think it mattered. Do you really want to talk about every crush we’ve ever had?”

That was fair enough, I supposed. It was just one little crush from forever ago. It’s not like it meant she didn’t want to be with me now. It was harmless and I should really just let it go. Jealousy is not attractive.

I cursed silently. Tonight just really wasn’t my night.

Thankfully it wasn’t long before the Residential District came into view. The streets there were just as empty as the Heights had been and in no time we were letting ourselves into the unlocked front door to Prism and Firefly’s house. Only the light of the curio cabinet-slash-shrine was on, leaving the living room cast in a sleepy dimness. A quick check of the clock showed the reason why: it was nearly 2:30 in the morning. They were probably both asleep.

Scoots trotted off towards Rainbow’s room while I got the couch ready for bed. Fishing some clothes out of my bag I went to the bathroom to change and by the time I got back, Scoots was sitting next to my pillow looking downcast.

“Her door was locked and she wouldn’t answer me,” she mumbled in response to my unasked question.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me tonight,” I said, trying to cheer her up as I sat down by her.

“I thought she’d at least let me in…” she said quietly.

I shook her shoulders comfortingly. “Maybe by morning everyone will have calmed down a little and we can talk about things? We should probably just get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I guess…” she said. She wasted no time curling up into a ball against the pillow with her muzzle under her wing while I settled around her against the couch’s back. Her warmth was welcome against my chest as I rubbed her back softly until we both fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning to a hoof insistently shaking my shoulder. After clearing the sleep out of my eyes I was greeted with the frowning face of Firefly. She gave a curt nod of her head towards the kitchen and strode away without another word.

It took me a moment to realize she wanted me to follow her. After very carefully extracting myself from Scoots, who at some point during the night had decided my arm would make a better pillow than a real one, I made my way into the kitchen to find Firefly sitting at the table and Prism fixing coffee. He placed a mug before each of us before taking a seat himself.

When he was done, Firefly fixed me with a stern glare. “So Rainbow wasn’t in her room this morning,” she said.

“What?” I asked, alarmed. “Where is she?”

Her only answer to my question was to slide a piece of paper across the table to me. I grabbed it up to find Rainbow’s mouth-writing.

Mom and Dad,

Had to jet back to Ponyville. Sorry I couldn’t say goodbye.

Dash

I looked up, dazed at the idea. Rainbow had really just… ditched us and ran off home? I knew she wasn’t going to stop being pissed after one night, but damn. I never expected this.

“Care to fill me in on what’s going on here?” Firefly barked.

I hung my head and cursed under my breath. I did not want to have to talk about this shit with them. My love life was not up for discussion, particularly with the parents of somepony involved therein.

But there were understandably worried about their daughter. It’s not like I was getting out of telling them something.

“I don’t know,” I tried. That only seemed to incense Firefly more.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?!” she pressed. “She was just fine before you all went out last night. What the hay happened?”

“Look, I don’t know what to say, alright?!” I snapped.

“How about the damn truth?!”

“I kissed him!” a small voice said behind us.

We all turned to see Scoots standing in the door to the living room, her mane in uneven, wild spikes and several feathers out of place but wearing a determined frown all the same.

“I kissed him and Rainbow got pissed,” she said. “It’s my fault she left.”

Dammit. Why did she have to tell them that? I knew she was just trying to protect me, but they were never going to believe that she was the instigator. Something that was almost instantly proven true.

“You did what?!” Firefly asked direly, rounding on me again.

Prism reached over and put a hoof on her shoulder, gently holding her back. “Lightning bug, let’s hear them out, okay?”

After a moment, Firefly relented and settled back into her chair, affixing me with the brunt of her bad mood while Scoots hopped up into the chair next to me. I took a long drink of my coffee before offering her the mug. She took it slowly, sticking her tongue out in a grimace after getting a taste.

“You kissed my daughter,” Firefly stated.

“I told you: I kissed him, Mom!” Scoots said.

“So he didn’t kiss you back at all?”

“N-no…”

“I thought as much.” She pointed an accusing hoof at me. “What in the hay were you thinking?! You come into my house and think you can kiss my baby filly?!”

Suddenly Prism stood from the table. “Alright, everypony calm down.”

Firefly turned her glare on him, but he didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, he calmly picked up his mug and took it over to the sink where he dumped it out before heading for the fridge. He took out two green glass bottles in the crook of his hoof and walked towards the living room door.

“I have an idea. Will, how about you join me outside for a beer?” he asked.

I’ll say I was… uneasy at the prospect. Being offered a beer was not what I’d been expecting, and unless I was greatly mistaken, it sounded like a very, very bad thing.

But the way I saw it, prospect of dealing with an angry parent was better with alcohol than without.

I caught Scoots’s eye before I got up, and after getting a nod, I followed Prism through the living room and out the front door onto the balcony.

He offered me a bottle before rearing up onto the railing, leaning his chest against it as he gazed out upon Cloudsdale. The sun was just beginning to come up over the horizon, its light reflecting off of every cloud surface in sight. The normally white and blue city was suddenly a thousand brilliant shades of gold.

Showing some remarkable dexterity, he managed to twist off the cap to his bottle with a hoof and tossed it aside. Following his example, I braced the cap of my own bottle against the railing and gave it a sharp tap, sending it spiraling through the air. He gave a laugh as I joined him on the railing.

The beer was a surprisingly good citrus ale, at the perfect chilled temperature and with just the right balance of bitter and sweet. I downed nearly half the bottle in the first swig, if for no other reason than to not have to say anything for a moment longer.

Prism, meanwhile, was taking more measured sips, simply watching the city wake up around us. I couldn’t begin to imagine what was going through his mind. He wasn’t yelling. His brow wasn’t furrowed with burning rage. He wasn’t even frowning. Instead, he was completely expressionless. He wore a neutral mask like behind that bottle he was contemplating the secrets of the world.

Or what the weather was going to be like today. It was really that hard to tell.

As I approached the bottom of my glass, I was beginning to get restless. The curiosity of whether he was pissed at me or not was like a prickling sensation on the back of your neck that you can’t quite scratch. It just kept eating away at me, festering and throwing more fuel on the fire boiling my blood. Finally, it got to be too much and I snapped under the pressure.

“Alright, I kissed Scoots! Is that what you want to hear?” I said.

He said nothing, nor did his expression change in the slightest as he took another drink. As he put his glass back down, he thoughtfully licked his lips and gestured towards my bottle.

“You want another one?” he asked.

“I– what?”

“Do you want another beer?” he asked again. “I can go get another if you’d like.”

I couldn’t figure out if it was some sort of ruse; a trap to lull me into a false sense of security or something. Treat me to a couple of beers so that he could… what? Yell at me? Hit me? The latter didn’t seem like him and I was pretty sure I could take the former. I guess the worst he could do was turn me into the guard for taking a minor to a nightclub, but even assuming that was illegal he’d just be getting Rainbow in trouble too.

Regardless, I still didn’t want a second beer so early in the morning, so I politely turned him down.

“Suit yourself,” was all he said.

Once again, he returned to his bottle like that was his only care in the world.

“So… that’s it?” I asked, unbelieving. “We’re not going to talk about Scoots or Rainbow?”

He pondered that for a moment before saying, “You can give a pony water, but you can’t make her drink it. Figured that might hold true for humans, too.”

“So that’s it? Get me a couple of beers and I’ll tell you whatever you want?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I can’t make you talk if you don’t want to.”

In a fit of petulance at such a pathetic attempt at manipulation, I drained my bottle, set it down on the railing next to him and turned to walk away. I had barely made it a couple of steps when he sighed.

“Fine. Would you please stay and talk to me?” he asked. Something in the tone of his voice caused me to stop and listen. “Dashie’s my little filly. Ever since she was a tiny little scamp she’s always been trying to take care of herself. Fight her own battles, you know? But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to help when I can.

“And I know something else is going on here. Besides whatever you did with Scootaloo last night.”

Now that… was better. Worrying about a family member was something I could certainly understand. “What do you mean? Why would there be something else?” I asked.

“Rainbow is probably one of the only ponies more protective of Scootaloo than Firefly is. If she thought you were doing something you shouldn’t be, she’d have never left the two of you alone. That tells me that something else is bugging her.

“Now, it’s been more than a few years since I was her age, but I remember what it’s like. You think Firefly and I wouldn’t be a little suspicious about Dashie bringing home a new friend?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said cautiously, to which he just laughed.

“How long have you been seeing my daughter?” he asked.

A sudden chill rushed through me at his words until I realized he didn’t sound angry. In fact, he was smiling.

“I figured as much,” he said smugly, like he had solved a riddle.

“Rainbow and I are not seeing each other,” I said.

“But one of you wants to be, don’t you?” he countered. The fact that I couldn’t think of what to say back must have been confirmation enough for him. “It’s none of my business, of course. Dashie’s an adult, even if she doesn’t act like it sometimes. But she can make her own decisions and I’m not going to butt in.”

“Then what’s all this?” I asked, throwing my arms wide and gesturing around. “Seems like a lot of butting in to me.”

“Because Scootaloo is not an adult,” he said sharply. Suddenly his carefree grin was gone and was replaced with a dark glower pointed in my direction.

“We kissed; nothing more!”

“So what is it, then?” he asked. “Hook up with Dashie’s sister when she turns you down? Or do you just like them young?”

“Fuck you,” I said. I didn’t know where this sudden attitude of his was coming from, but I didn’t need this shit. He didn’t know the first thing about me and he wanted to judge me like that? He could go to hell.

I stormed towards the door with every intention of tearing it off its hinges just to get the hell out of there, but my hand had barely grasped the knob when I heard him speak again.

“Wait!” he called. Even through the blinding red of rage I was seeing through at the moment, there was something in his voice that actually managed to make me hold short.

“Please,” he said, quieter. Barely above a mumble. “She’s… Scootaloo may not be mine and Firefly’s, but she’s every bit our daughter just like Rainbow is. If you’re just toying around with her…”

“I would never do that to her!” I shouted. Finally, it was too much. Everything that had been building up came bursting out in a torrent of words that I couldn’t begin to control. “Scoots is one of the most important ponies in my life and I would never hurt her! And it is not my damn fault that Rainbow didn’t want what I did! If she didn’t want me moving on, she should have told me what she wanted when she had the chance! I didn’t ask to like her! I didn’t ask to want to be more than just her friend! And I sure didn’t ever ask to get stuck in this godforsaken world!

“But I’m doing the best I can, alright? And if you or anypony else doesn’t like it, then too damn bad. Because I don’t care anymore. I’m done.”

And with that, all of the burning anger and hurt evaporated like water on a summer day, leaving only the cold condensation trickling down into the depths of my stomach. With a shaky hand, I wiped at my suddenly wet eyes. I don’t know when it started, but I wasn’t going to let it continue. Clearing my throat, I made to stare down the target of my tirade, only for a furry body to slam into me.

Only to pull me into a hug.

Two strong, blue forelegs wrapped about my neck and a close-but-not-familiar rainbow mane concealed my vision. Feeling the need to hold something close, I clung to Prism’s body like it might disappear at any second. Thoughts of how his forelegs suddenly felt a bit like my father’s arms only added to the empty hole growing in my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I choked.

“Don’t be,” he whispered. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt Rainbow.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“I will never hurt Scoots.”

“… I know.”

Scoots and I didn’t hang around long after that.

Once I’d pulled myself back together and stopped being such a little bitch, Prism and I went back inside to find Scoots and Firefly on the couch. They were hugging and must have finished their talk as well as Firefly silently nodded at me and didn’t look like she wanted to kill me anymore. She said nothing as Scoots and I got our things together.

“Oh, wait,” Prism called just before we were about to leave. He hoofed us our train tickets and a shuttle pass. “Rainbow left these with her note.”

Well, at least she wasn’t so mad that she’d leave us stranded. Though I wouldn’t have been surprised if that was more for Scoots’s benefit than mine. I tucked them away in my bag and we finally left.

Luckily Scoots knew where the shuttle station was and led the way there. The trip back down wasn’t quite as exciting as the way up had been as a heavy cloud seemed to be hanging over us the entire time. Even as we boarded our train, neither of us had much we wanted to say.

It wasn’t until our train pulled into the Ponyville station that we were finally forced to speak. No matter where you are in the small town, you can’t miss the majestic cloud mansion hovering over everything like a king on high. Scoots and I both stopped in our tracks as we saw it.

“Do you… do you think I should go talk to her?” Scoots asked, fluttering her wings. For a moment I thought about telling her to go; after all, one of us needed to talk to her and it wasn’t like I could fly up there. But in the end I shook my head.

“We should probably give her some space for a while. Let her cool off.”

Her wings drooped pitifully. “Oh yeah… you’re probably right.”

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” I tried to say consolingly, but I’m not sure how confident I sounded. “Once everyone has some time to calm down, we’ll all sit down and work things out.”

“Do you really believe that?” she asked dully.

I couldn’t say anything in return. So instead I hitched my bag higher on my shoulder and cleared my throat.

“We should probably be getting home. Want me to walk you?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Actually, would you mind if I came over for a while? There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh, well… Sure, I don’t mind.”

Together, we slowly made the trek across Ponyville to my little cottage. It felt nice to finally be going home after the weekend I’d had, but I couldn’t notice that it seemed autumn had set in while we were gone. There was a surprising chill in the air, not enough to need a coat but enough to set goosebumps rising along my arms. Even the streets of the sleepy town, normally at least somewhat busy with ponies coming and going about their days were nearly empty as everypony hid inside the comfort of their homes.

My cottage was a welcome sight as we walked up the cobblestone path out front. After unlocking the door, I let us both inside where Scoots went about turning on the lights while I got a small fire going in the living room’s fireplace.

By the time I’d finished, Scoots came back with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and together we warmed our bodies and partook in its sugary goodness. Scoots had used a few too many marshmallows in hers, leaving her with an adorable white mustache that I gently wiped away with a thumb.

“It’s nice to be home,” she said, to which I couldn’t have agreed more.

“Aww, I’m so glad you consider my house home, Scoots!” I said teasingly, causing her to bat my elbow with her wing.

“You know what I mean!” she said, laughing.

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “Speaking of, your dad might be wondering where you are. You sure you shouldn’t go check in with him?”

“Nah, he can wait just a little bit.”

I guessed I couldn’t put it off much longer. “So what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Her laughter died out as her expression dropped. She paused, staring down at the marshmallows floating in her mug like she was looking for inspiration. Finally, she spoke.

“I was just kinda wondering about… us. About that date. I know you said you wanted to, but… Well, a lot’s changed since then. If you didn’t want to anymore, I’d understand.”

“I…”

I didn’t know what to say. Did I still want to go out with her? Rainbow was mad enough as it was about the kiss, how pissed would she be after a date? I didn’t know how I was going to win my friend back as it was. Making things any worse could destroy our friendship for good.

But…

Did I really want to live my life by what made Rainbow happy or not? What happened with the next mare that I wanted to be intimate with? Was she going to get pissed then, too? Was I supposed to just keep waiting around forever for her to make up her mind?

No, this wasn’t about Rainbow anymore. This was about what I wanted. I needed to think about what would make me happy.

And once I’d done that, my answer to Scoots was clear.

“What are you doing this weekend?” I asked. She just blinked at me in confusion so I clarified. “Saturday night? You have anything planned?”

“Uh… no.”

“Then we’ll go to dinner. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to go?” I asked.

She perked up, the hint of a smiling trying to take over her expression but she held it back. “You really want to?”

“Hell yeah, I do,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“But what about Rainbow Dash? You don’t think we should wait a while?” she asked.

“Scoots,” I said seriously, trying to find the words in my mug of hot chocolate like she had done only moments ago. “I like you. I like being with you. And so I want to go on a date with you and I don’t care who doesn’t like it.”

“I like you, too,” she said quietly, toying with a lock of her short mane as she smiled at the floor. “I just don’t want to make things even worse. Rainbow’s never been this mad at me before…”

I put my mug down before lying on my side next to her, propping myself up on an elbow. “Scoots, I don’t think for a second that Rainbow is mad at you. At all. I’m the one that fucked up, not you.”

“It’s not your fault she turned you down! If anything, I’m at fault for asking out the colt I knew was involved with my sister!”

I sighed in frustration, already seeing this conversation going in circles. And I was tired of debating the same thing over and over.

“Look, Scoots. How about this: forget everything but us. Forget Rainbow, forget the drama, forget it all. Do you want to go out with me?”

She didn’t hesitate for even a second. “Yes.”

I smiled. “And I want to go out with you, too. So what else matters?”

She beamed back at me. “You’re right! Alright, this Saturday. Do you… think we could go to… Haute Cuisine?” she asked tentatively, like she was afraid to make the suggestion. I’d never heard of it before, but I was sure I could afford one night at even one of Ponyville’s nicer places. If it was the sort of place that needed reservations then one week may not be enough time, but I was willing to bet Rarity could help me out. She was in pretty tight with a lot of the more high-brow places around town. In the end, I couldn’t see a downside to Scoots’s proposition.

“Sure, it sounds great to me,” I said.

“Sweet!” Scoots cheered, pumping a forehoof. She grinned abashedly after she calmed back down. “Sweetie’s always told me she wanted to be taken there on a date, so… I thought it might be worth checking out.”

“You just want to rub it in her face that you went there first, don’t you?” I teased.

“Maybe just a little,” she admitted, sticking her tongue out at me. Then she got serious again. “Hey, Will, can I ask you one more thing?”

“Shoot,” I said.

She pawed at the floor, suddenly blushing. “Can… Can we k-kiss again?”

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I gently reached out and placed my hand behind her head, making her jump at the contact. Slowly, painfully slowly, I leaned towards her, her eyes fluttering closed as the inches between us melted.

And our lips touched.

Scoots is… not the most experienced kisser. Half the time she doesn’t seem to know if she should move at all and the other she’s practically trying to eat my lips, but what she lacked in expertise she made up for in eagerness. She threw herself into it, pushing against me even harder than I did to her and taking the lead. Her hoof slid up to my cheek, caressing and teasing as the world melted away around us.

Her mouth tasted like strawberries dipped in chocolate, sultry yet sweet in all the right ways. I drew her closer, savoring every drop between us. The traces of a lively scent I could only imagine was perfume filled my head like a fog, oranges and flowers I couldn’t hope to name blocking out any thought that wasn’t about the mare in my arms.

It was amazing.

Until hot chocolate splashed onto the floor.

While our attention had been elsewhere, her mug had slipped from her hoof and crashed to the floor, spilling her drink all across the carpet. We both jumped away as the hot liquid hit us, and she gave a horrified yelp when she saw the mess.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” she cried, hopping up and taking off for the kitchen. I had barely had the chance to even blink before she was back with a rag between her teeth which she used to start mopping things up. All the while she was still babbling apologies a mile a minute, looking like she might start crying at any moment.

“Scoots,” I said, firm enough to get her attention but gentle enough to not upset her more. I put on a disarming smile and rubbed her back, between her wings. “Hey, it’s just a stain, don’t worry about it. I’m sure Rarity knows a way to get them no problem. I’ll ask her later.”

She gave a half-hearted smile and chuckled. “Heh, sorry. We really need to figure out how to k-kiss without something going wrong, huh?”

This time, I laughed, something it felt like I hadn’t truly done in a long time. After a moment, I couldn’t get myself to stop. Out of the corner of my scrunched eyes, I managed to catch Scoots giving me a weird look before, unable to help herself either, she gave in as well.

By the time our mirth had run dry, we were reclining against each other on the floor, our foreheads pressed together. Every now and again, she’d give a small giggle while her large purple eyes struggled to meet mine without looking away. I paused to gently wipe away a single tear threatening to fall from her smiling eyes.

“Yeah, we don’t have a great track record for kisses, do we?” I asked. “But you know what we can do about that?”

She shook her head.

I grinned as I answered. “We practice until we get it right.”