Scootaloo had a problem, like a really big problem. She could be possibly dying, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had always heard that feelings were a dangerous thing if left unsorted and she was close to that tipping point. It had nearly been four weeks since her first symptoms and no matter what the small orange pegasus did, the symptoms would come back and hit her ten times harder. Flying as fast as she could, Scootaloo had to have an answer for her problem now and she knew just the pony to give it to her.
Looking down over Ponyville the orange pegasus bolted down to Carousel Boutique. Landing right in front of the door, Scootaloo immediately darted a few feet away from it to pick up a cool shiny bit she saw from the skies. Now one bit richer, she immediately tucked it away and took back to the skies to resume her search for the one who’d have all her answers. Elevating herself to a point where she was above the cloudline she could see at least a half dozen or so Pegasi working hard preparing the cloudy weather forecast for the day. However among them was not who she was looking for, honestly she had no idea it would be so hard to find a flying epilepsy hazard. The young mare debated going down to ask the weather workers, but she knew better than to interrupt them and waste their time… Because nine times out of ten they had less of a clue than she did.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, she was just about to give up and return to her room where her pillow would at least provide fantasy. Right before she was about to turn tail and give up, she saw it. About a half mile away floating over Sweet Apple Acres was an oddly bed shaped cloud with an oddly shaped cyan lump on-top of it. Seeing her answers blissfully sleeping less than a few seconds away, Scootaloo kicked it into overdrive. With one mighty flap, she had propelled herself like a wild spell in the right direction, and with a few more powerful wing motions she was on a collision course with the cyan lump.
Hearing the familiar sound of cutting wind, the cyan lump rustled a little bit to expose a single ear that swiveled in the direction of the light noise. It had taken less than a second for the lone ear to perk up in alarm, sending distress signals all the way down to the brain. In which the brain reacted by pounding the snooze like a beast possessed, after all potential sleep versus potential survival… Evolution had come a far way.
In effect, Scootaloo’s momentum was at it’s peak just a few yards away before she employed one of the techniques she had learned from her mentor. Right before colliding with the bed shaped cloud she tilting her wings at an angle that would exponentially slow her momentum while causing her to peel upward. Yet all that forward energy was still there, just she was not riding it anymore, instead a powerful gust of wind crashed right into the bed shaped cloud, effectively destroying it. The cyan lump that was once on it was now falling like a rock, but before there was any thud to be heard. The lump transformed into that of a conscious and confused Pegasus scrambling to right themselves to gain lift. Luckily for the former lump now Pegasus, they had successfully achieved the necessary lift to get floating again.
“Scootaloo, I swear your next training session will be in Tartarus…” The cyan Pegasus grumbled while floating up to her sheepish sworn sister.
“You say that every time, and we both know that’s the best way to get you up… Works every time Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo retorted with a goofy grin on her face.
“Yea yea, and you know that you don’t always have to call me by my full name right?” Rainbow Dash question.
“I know, but I just like the full thing that’s all,” Just before her entire reason for messing with Rainbow’s sleeping schedule was delayed, it hit her like a ton of bricks. Causing her goofy expression to transform into that of a concerned one. “ That’s right, I still need your help!”
Rainbow was almost taken back by the swiftness of the attitude change in her little sister. There wasn’t much that concerned Scootaloo anymore, especially since she learned how to fly a few years back. Meaning it must be something serious, looking around for another good cloud to sit on, she couldn’t find one that wasn't being tampered with by the weather team. Now getting a little miffed with the fact that her perfect cloud bed was now dust in the wind, she settled on gesturing to the shady spot under a tree on the ground. Gliding down to it with Scootaloo in tow, she gracefully landed perfectly on her haunches as did her little sister.
With the both of them sitting side by side, Rainbow was waiting for Scootaloo to say something. However it seemed like Scootaloo was waiting for the same exact reason, with the both of them sitting in awkward silence they both looked up into the large apple tree that obstructed their view of the sky. Still at the same time Scootaloo’s mind was racing on how to present her problem to her role model without seeming soft or weak. She knew there was no real reason to worry about that, but it was now more of a personal thing for her than anything else. Averting her eyes from the tree looming over them, she turn her purple eyes to face her cyan role model.
“I thought I only liked this stallion friend of mines for the longest time now and I recently realized that I might be seriously falling in love, and I don’t know what to do,” With that spoken, Rainbow gave a ghostly grimace. Scootaloo had no idea why, but either way she decided to continue. “I mean were really good friends and have helped each other for a while now. It hurts to keep it from him, but it would also even hurt more to get rejected… I’ve never dated or liked anypony before, I don’t even know what makes him so special! I just need help to understand what I need to do to get it through to him.”
“So squirt, your asking for stallion advice, huh?” The cyan’s question came of a bit odd, still Scootaloo ignored it.
“You could say that I guess, I just don’t know what to do. It’s been nearly a month and I still don’t have an answer, Sweetie Belle always want to get all romantic and Applebloom doesn’t seem to understand what all the fuss is about. I just need some advice I can really rely on, and you always give the best advice, after all I wouldn’t be flying without it. Also not to mention that you are, ‘The’ Rainbow Dash, you’ve must have some experience with stallions.”
Scootaloo expected a instant response, one that would instill a fever in her to accomplish something, to scale a mountain. After all Rainbow Dash was the best at those type of spiels and that was what she wanted to hear. Instead though, they sat in silence for a little bit longer, a little longer than Scootaloo would have liked. She was prepared to finally ask her big sister what was up, but luckily Rainbow spoke up before it came to that.
“Squirt, I hate to disappoint you, but you asked the wrong pony for two reasons,” Scootaloo’s jaw nearly dropped at hearing that, she was almost ready to start babbling to herself that was before Rainbow continued once again. “First I’m like… Unbelievably gay, and secondly even with that said I still suck at all the romance junk.”
“Oh…” That was all the stunned orange Pegasus could udder.
Rainbow saw the disappointment etched across her little sister's face, it sucked. Yet there was little she could really do to change that now. That was the part of being a big sister she always hated, the part of where she would had to disappoint her little fan with the fact that she never would have all of her answers. But she did have the reality of her own life though, and she knew that could help in a way.
Letting her eyes sail back up to the apple tree, Rainbow begun her little story. “ Scootaloo, once upon a time I fell in love with a princess… It was the most awesomest feeling in the world when I finally worked up the courage to ask that princess to date me. I had no idea whether or not she was straight, bi, or whatever. I just flew up to her and dropped the bomb, and to this day I still never understood why she said yes. It’s just that first date had to have been the best date I ever had in my life.”
“W-what happened?”
“It didn’t work out, I did somethings that she didn’t agree with and in the end I made a fool of myself. I couldn’t tell myself back then to slow down ya know, I was rushing things and made her uncomfortable or something. Whatever, we're still good friends though and I will always care for her a little more than I should. But that’s just love and I’ll never regret a second of the time I spent with her.”
“I don’t get it, how is that suppose to help me?” Scootaloo asked, now seriously confused.
Rainbow again turned her full attention to the young mare before her, and with that there was a moment of realization that sparked up inside her. Like an unkempt fire that had been burning for ages, but only now just found the fuel to explode into a fiery blaze. With a wicked grin that only Rainbow Dash herself could accomplish, she was prepared to sum it all up to her little sister the best way she’d understand.
“To like somepony is one thing, but to say you love them is another more painful thing. I won’t tell you it will all work out in the end or that there is no chance of complete failure. But by Celestia you have to try and at least grip a second of awesomeness before falling back down to reality. Love hurts Scoots, and even when you succeed it will still try to hurt you from time to time. Soo I don’t know who this stallion of yours is, but you better go take him on a ride the neither of you will ever forget!” The cyan pegasus looked down to Scootaloo to see her seriously contemplating her words.
“So you're basically saying that there is no answer, and I should place all my bets on myself and go in head first?” Scootaloo inquisitively responds.
“Don’t start quoting me, just go do something about it squirt.” Rainbow said while pushing Scootaloo up from her sitting position.
Giving each other their equivalents of a cocky grin, the orange pegasus gave her big sister a salute before giving a strong push and propelling herself into the late skies to go possible find that little stallion friend of hers.
Sighing heavily, the cyan pegasus knew she had just possibly gave Scootaloo the worst advice that anypony could have given her. But hey, since when was any advice on love considered good. Craning her head back to the tree that she was laying under, Rainbow was surprised by the fact that Scoots had missed the old crude etching in the tree. It was nothing more that a heart with two names scratched out in the bark. Giving one last grin, the Wonderbolt laid back in the grass mewling over what could have been if she had done it right.
“Whatever.”
Author's Note
This one was written through a personal experience of some sorts.
