Let's Have A Chat

The awkward silence only seemed to rise as the three ponies stared at each other in shock, the only sound being the crash as a bowl slid off the kitchen table. Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but no words seemed to leave her mouth.

“We were… going to clean up before you got back…” Soarin said rather sheepishly as he lowered his hoof.

Rainbow’s eyes swung directly towards her coltfriend. Raising an eyebrow, she slowly trotted up to him, pressing her snout against his when Soarin tried his best to back away. Suddenly, Rainbow began to smirk. “Liar,” she simply said, to which Soarin’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. The two then began to share knowing glances at one another as each backed away a little.

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said in a low tone as she came up to the pair, a solemn look on her muzzle.

Dash turned to Scootaloo, her smirk fading a little as she remembered her reason for coming back home. Pondering to herself, she came up with a plan. “It’s okay, Squirt,” she said happily, making the filly’s smile return as she continued, “Loverboy here is just gonna have to clean up the whole place while we have a chat,” Dash finished, looking back to Soarin who held a saddened look in his punishment. Scootaloo didn’t question the reason why Rainbow wanted to talk and instead simply complied, following her up the stairs while Soarin got to work.

“I swear, I’ll need to get him a maid outfit with the amount of times he ruins the house,” Rainbow said to herself, as she let out a chuckle. Opening the door to her room, she let the filly walk in before shutting it, turning to face the curious foal she said, “Here, Scoots, why don’t you sit on the bed and we can chat about this.”

Scootaloo again did as she was asked, but her face wore a quizzical expression, “Okay… what are we talking about?” she asked nervously.

“You're not in trouble, kid,” Rainbow informed as she sat down next to her, “But, I do want to talk about something important… I talked to Sky Heart this morning.”

Rainbow saw Scootaloo’s body tense up when she heard the words, “Like I said, Squirt, it’s nothing bad,” she reassured the filly, “All I want to know is why you never told me about it.”

Scootaloo took a few moments as Rainbow waited patiently for an answer, and eventually a mumble escaped her mouth.

“Didn’t quite catch that, Squirt,” Rainbow replied.

“I said… because there was never a reason to talk about it,” the filly started as she took a long sigh before continuing, “I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t want to involve you in something that doesn’t sound cool.”

Rainbow watched as Scootaloo turned her head up towards her, eyes slightly glazed like she was trying to hold back something. Dash didn’t want to push too far, but she wanted to know the basics, at least. She put a wing around Scootaloo as the filly went back to staring at the ground.

“So… you live with Sky Heart?” Dash asked.

“Yeah, we live near where the old Library used to be,” Scootaloo explained, “My parents got a job in Filly, so I had to go stay with her, she’s nice… but-”

“Not like having a proper family?” Rainbow finished as Scootaloo looked back at the mare, surprised, “Yeah, she told me that,” Dash finished.

“I-I guess you’re right,” Scootaloo said, her ears flopping to the ground. Rainbow found her heart slowly rising to form a lump in her throat, sighing, she made a decision.

Scootaloo didn’t get the chance to gauge the situation as she was lifted up into the air and caught within two large wings, her body now lying on the soft fur of Rainbow’s chest. Her eyes scanned the soft surroundings to find Rainbow staring at the her with a content smile.

“Well, maybe I’m not right,” Rainbow started, “What if you had a loving family already?” she asked.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, confused by the question, “I don’t get it.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “You’ve got ponies around you who love you Scootaloo, me and Soarin included,” she started, “Now, I don’t want to rush into things… I haven’t even talked to Sky about it, but what if we helped out? Sky said she had a busy life, so why don’t me and Soarin take you home some days, would you like that?”

Rainbow felt like she already knew the answer before she’d given the question, but with Scootaloo’s nod of approval, she felt a lot more secure about going to Sky about the proposition. Rainbow ruffled the filly’s mane as Scootaloo nuzzled in return, before a knock on the door caught their attention.

“Cleaning is done,” Soarin said from the other side of the cloud mass.

“That quickly?” Dash asked with a raised eyebrow as Scootaloo giggled.

Soarin opened the door with a smirk, “Maybe I’m just a better cleaner than you think.”

Rainbow was now seriously considering the maid’s outfit as she and Scootaloo righted themselves on the cloud mattress, “Well, Soarin, I need a word with you now,” she said, turning to Scootaloo, “How about you go get your things ready for me to take you to Sky?”

Scootaloo smiled sweetly and nodded before trotting out of the room, leaving a confused Soarin alone with Rainbow.

“You’ve got a lot of explaining haven’t you?” Soarin asked, knowing full well the answer of Rainbow’s reply. The mare only nodding sheepishly in return as the stallion came and sat down.

“So, let me get this straight,” Soarin said, trying to put everything together. “You’re going to ask Sky, who is Scootaloo’s cousin, if you can take care of Scootaloo on weekdays.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow said happily, oblivious to Soarin’s deadpanned look.

“Have you thought about this?” The stallion asked hesitantly.

Rainbow sensed her coltfriend’s nervousness, bringing a hoof over to his cheek she leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, “Soar, I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days now. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but everything about this just feels right to me.”

A silence fell over the pair as Rainbow awaited an answer. Up until this point in time she hadn’t checked her heartbeat, but it was now thumping rather fast. Soarin opened his mouth, letting out a long sigh, before shutting his eyes and speaking, “Just… give me one more day with her, okay? I mean, I like her a lot too.”

“Yeah, the house kinda shows that,” Rainbow said with a smug grin.

Soarin rolled his eyes, chuckling, “Look, just one more day with her and you’ll have my answer, okay?”

Rainbow knew that was a good answer, considering what she had just dumped on him in the last few minutes. Reaching out, she wrapped her forehooves around her stallions neck as the pair shared a loving nuzzle.

“Thanks Soar,” Dash said, smiling.

“Can always count on me,” Soarin replied with a wink. Dash giggled in response.

“Hey, Dash! I’m ready now!” Scootaloo called from downstairs.

“Guess you’ll be taking her back now?” Soarin asked. Rainbow nodded as she gave the stallion a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room and heading downstairs to retrieve the filly. As she descended the stairs, she saw Scootaloo near the front entrance, waiting patiently.

“Ready to go, squirt?” Dash asked, leaning down so Scootaloo could hop on.

“Think you can get me down in ten seconds flat?” Scootaloo asked competively.

“You know I can kid,” Rainbow said, opening the door to the world as she spread her wings in preparation.

Within moments, the two were in the air, the cold brisk air brushing past their coats as they looked over the dusk sky above them. Rainbow kept true to her words, getting down to the ground within a matter of moments. Soaring over the roof tops and ponies as they rounded Sugarcube Corner on their way towards the designated house.

“It’s right there!” Scootaloo called, pointing a forehoof over to a small house nestled with in rows of similar looking buildings. Rainbow adjusted her angle as the two swooped down into the front garden of the home. The small cut grass and plant pots made the home look neat and tidy, a typical home for the working pony, much different than Rainbow’s cloud castle.

Rainbow let Scootaloo stay on her back as she trotted up and knocked on the door, which was quickly opened by Sky herself.

“Hey, Dash, see you brought Scoots back on time!” the mare said happily.

“Sure did!” Rainbow said as Scootaloo slid of her back and headed into the home, “Soarin and I had a ton of fun with her, didn’t we, Squirt?”

“It was awesome!” Scootaloo replied, coming up next to Sky as the mare ruffled her mane.

“Well, I guess that means more sleep overs huh?” Sky asked as she looked at the smiling duo.

“Well, me and Soarin are always happy to come by,” Dash said as Scootaloo beamed up at her cousin.

“Well…” Sky said pondering, “I’m taking all the kids at the orphanage to see a play in Canterlot tomorrow, Scoots here really wants to go with her crusader friends to the park… could you?” the mare asked hopefully.

Rainbow nodded, “Sure thing!” she said, smiling, “I’ll come by to pick her up tomorrow.”

“See you then!” Sky said, going back into the house. Rainbow turned back to the sky as she waved goodbye to Scootaloo one last time as she took off back into the sky, hoping to see the filly again soon. Even to a pony like Rainbow Dash the feat seemed rather big for taking care of a foal, but if it made Scootaloo happy, then that was all she needed to try.