An Unexpected Pick Up

The ear rattling sound of the school bell resonated, opening the building’s entrance as foals began to pour out onto the dirt road where many parents were waiting to pick up their children. Scootaloo was one of the last to emerge, trotting down slowly with her friends who were in full conversation.

“So, you guys want to come over to mine tonight?” Sweetie Belle asked kindly, “I’m sure my sister will say yes!”

Applebloom snorted, “Yeah, after the last time when y’all tried to get cutie marks in room decoratin’ an’ ended up showerin’ the place in glitter.”

Sweetie groaned, “Okay, maybe that was a bad idea,” she admitted, as the yellow filly attempted to stifle laughter at the recent memory. The two then looked over to Scootaloo, who had been absent from the recent conversation.

“So do you want to come over as well, Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked.

Scootaloo shook her head as she turned to her friends, “Sorry girls, I’m going to Rainbow’s tonight,” she informed, causing the other two to pout, “Don’t worry, we’ll do it tomorrow!”

“Fine,” the two other filly’s chorused with a somewhat annoyed tone, leaving Scootaloo to feel rather guilty.

“I’ll bring cakes from Sugarcube Corner...” Scootaloo offered with a grin. Both of her friends lighting up instantly and nodding, “Alright then, I’ll see you girls later,” she finished with a giggle, waving goodbye to them as she looked out onto the road. She was confused when her eyes didn’t spot a rainbow mane throughout the crowd of families as she began to trot over to them. As she looked all around she noticed Soarin leaning on the front gate to the school.

“Hey kiddo,” Soarin said with a smile, “Good day at school?” he asked as the filly trotted over to him.

Scootaloo nodded, “It was alright,” she said plainly.

Soarin’s smile faded a little, “Sorry Dash couldn’t pick you up, Scoots, something about Derpy heading north again?” he said, with a tone of confusion. Scootaloo looked back over to the school, seeing Dinky being escorted to her house by Flitter and Cloudchaser, confirming the mare’s absence.

“It’s cool,” Scootaloo said with a modest wave of a hoof, “You’re still awesome.”

Soarin chuckled, “I’m flattered, even after all of those pillows you threw at me,” he replied, thinking back to recent events in the cloud home.

“I could still kick your flank now,” Scootaloo shot back with a grin.

“I think that’s a good enough excuse for round two,” Soarin countered with a matching expression as he lowered himself to let Scootaloo hop onto his back.

“Thanks,” Scootaloo said, happy to take the weight off her hooves, “So, what are we gonna do now?”

Soarin pondered as he began to trot away from the school grounds, this was a perfect opportunity to cause some mischief - something he and Scootaloo were currently both very good at doing. However, the last strands of common sense tugged at him and changed his mind to something a little less messy, “Hey, you ever been cloud hopping?” he asked.

Scootaloo pondered before shaking her head innocently, “What’s that?”

“Well,” Soarin began, “It’s a simple idea, you jump from cloud to cloud,” he said gleefully.

“How’s that any fun?” Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It isn’t,” Soarin said with a smirk, “Unless you make it a race.”

Scootaloo’s eyes seemed to spark instantaneously, “Awesome! Let’s do it!”

Soarin beamed as he spread his wings, waiting for Scootaloo to latch around his neck before taking off into the sky above. Quickly getting to a high altitude, Soarin began surveying the sky around both of them, he noticed a patch of clouds not too far off in the distance as he began beating his wings in the general direction.

“Soarin?” Scootaloo asked behind him.

“What’s up?” the wonderbolt asked, turning back to her momentarily but keeping his eyes on the sky ahead.

“Do you do cloud hopping in the Wonderbolts?” she asked quizzically.

Soarin held back his laughter, knowing the filly didn’t have a clue about the training aspects of being a Wonderbolt. However, he knew himself if this was part of the training programme it would make mornings a lot more bearable.

“Nah, but it’s still a lot of fun!” he replied back after a few moments, fanning his wings out as the two came into contact with the soft surface of a nearby cloud, “I’ll show you what to do first,” he said, letting Scootaloo slide off his back before demonstrating. He stood on all fours, Scootaloo watching intently as he leaned onto his hind hooves before jumping. The spring from the fluffy mass sent him high in the air, and over the small gap onto another cloud not too far away from the one Scootaloo was sitting on.

Soarin turned back with a smile, “Think you can do it?” he asked.

“Totally!” Scootaloo exclaimed, getting up and trying the same with her hooves.

“It’s simple!” Soarin shouted back, “Just jump like you would do on the ground!”

With this added information Scootaloo did as was instructed, using her hind legs she pushed on the cloud surface feeling the elastic spring from the fluff shoot her up into the air, she quickly got her bearings and landed onto the soft cloud next to Soarin.

“There you go!” Soarin said happily, ruffling the filly’s mane, “Think you can race a Wonderbolt, then?” he asked narrowing his eyes in determination.

“Like I said before, I can still kick your flank,” she said giddily.

“Gotta catch me first!” Soarin said as he quickly jumped onto the next cloud, Scootaloo buzzing her smaller wings as she shot after him in hot pursuit. The sounds of laughter soon followed as the two raced around after one another with seemingly no finish line in sight, not that they had stopped to discuss one anyway.

Soarin smiled as he looked behind to see the filly running to jump onto the cloud he was currently on. It had been a few days since the two had done something together, the times they had always made Soarin crack a grin. He liked Scootaloo’s personality, it was like a reflection of both him and Rainbow in one pony, almost like she was his own daughter. Thinking this suddenly made Soarin pause as he processed the last thought. Could he really be a proper father figure for her?

“Come on, slow poke!” Scootaloo said as she quickly passed the slow stallion, jumping onto the next cloud. The action quickly pulled Soarin back to reality as he noticed the loss of his lead. Spreading his wings he grinned as another idea came to mind.

Scootaloo was still attempting to make a strong lead before she was quickly swept off her hooves and into the cloud, rolling over until she was pinned down by the stallion, with a feather dangerously close to her tummy. Scootaloo gave a look of ‘don’t you even dare,’ but Soarin’s grin said differently.

“So, guess that means I’ve won?” Soarin declared joyfully.

“This how you win all your races at the Wonderbolts?” Scootaloo giggled, not realising her quip had gotten her into a bad position as the feather began tickling her soft fur, “Ehehahaha, stop it!”

“Not until you say I won,” Soarin replied in a sing-song tone, watching as the filly tried to wrestle out of his grasp.

“Like Celestia you won!” Scootaloo announced in a fit of hysteria, only prolonging the tickling, “C-Come- ehehaha, come on!”

“Don’t say the Princess’s name in vain, Scootaloo,” Soarin playfully chided as he kept tickling, “You gonna take that back yet?”

“F-Fine, heheh, alright, you win!” Scootaloo exclaimed as she began to leak tears of laughter.

Finally Soarin stopped, a winning grin on his muzzle, “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” he asked, only for Scootaloo to use a forehoof to kick the stallion, making him topple over onto the cloud himself, Scootaloo giggling at the easy fall. Soarin smiled as pulled the filly into his chest with a wing as the two shared a laugh together.

“You’re awesome, Soarin,” Scootaloo said with a giggle, nuzzling into Soarin’s chest as he let a broad smile wash over his muzzle. The thoughts about being a father slowly came back to him as he watched the filly catch her breath once more, but he pushed those thoughts aside; he’d think about those things another time.

“Well, what do we have here?” came a voice as the two ponies looked back, seeing Rainbow Dash landing at the other edge of the cloud. Snickering slightly the mare continued, “Didn’t know you were this sappy around your fans, Soarin.”

The comment only served to leave a slight burn on the stallion’s cheeks as he and Scootaloo got back up. Scootaloo ran over to Dash, who leaned down to let the filly clamber onto her back, “So, what have you guys been up to?” she asked.

“Cloud hopping!” Scootaloo said happily, as Rainbow looked over to Soarin the mare giving him a genuine smile as he returned it, “It was great!” the filly continued.

“Sounds awesome!” Rainbow said as she turned her attention back to Scootaloo, “So, you ready for another sleepover?” she asked happily, to which the filly replied with a gleeful nod. Smirking, the fast mare turned to her coltfriend, “You wanna race there?”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way!” Soarin announced as they both spread wings and launched into the air, with one very ecstatic filly in tow.

The door to the cloud home creaked open, one very proud mare and filly trotting into the home with a rather dejected stallion behind them, the house was rather cold, but nopony had been in it since this morning. Dash let Scootaloo hop onto one of the sofas in the living area before cantering back over to Soarin in the kitchen.

“Enjoy having your flank kicked?” she asked with a giggle, nuzzling her stallion who smiled and playfully shoved her back a little.

“You’re such a bad winner, Dash,” Soarin remarked as he poured himself a glass of water.

“Maybe, but that’s not what you said last night,” Dash replied with a grin, watching Soarin’s cheeks and ears flush red.

“Tease,” he simply replied.

Rainbow reveled in her victory once more before helping the stallion to prepare some snacks and drinks for tonight. The two worked in relative silence with the small background noise of the television that Scootaloo was watching. It wasn’t until a little later that Soarin spoke up, the recent thoughts eating away at the back of his mind once more.

“Say, Dash… you remember in the park when I asked if I was a good parent?” Soarin said, a little quietly so a certain member of the house couldn’t hear.

Dash stopped and looked over to him, “What about it?” she asked, her tone concerned.

“D-Did you mean what you said? About me being a good parent?” he asked, “It’s just I’m not quite sure about-”

The pressure of Rainbow’s soft lips against his was enough to stop him dead, it was only a small kiss, but it was enough to let Rainbow take her turn to speak, “Soarin, you are a good parent. You wanna know why?” Dash asked, moving closer to him as the pair hugged, “I’ve never seen Scootaloo unhappy when she’s around you, and I know she never will be, trust me, you’re doing just fine.”

“Thanks Dash,” Soarin whispered with a small smile, the pair sharing another small kiss. It was one of the reasons he loved his mare, she was all he needed when he was in any kind of mood. And for Rainbow he knew it was the same way, the two had always clicked like puzzle pieces. Or at least, he liked to think of it that way. However cheesy it might sound.

“Ready to start another night of awesomeness?” Dash asked happily, taking one of the snack bowls in.

“You know it!” Soarin replied with a happy grin, following in straight after her to enjoy another night of fun.