Author's Note
So, here's my first shot at a My Little Pony fanfiction. This was supposed to be a one-shot and just end here, but it sort of took on a life of its own...I'm almost done with the third chapter...
The rest is all planned out, including a mini series and sequel.
All criticism is welcome, I 'd love to hear what you have to say. Everything is self edited, please let me know if I missed anything. And please, please, please let me know if I need to work on my character development! I want to get everypony as close to their animated selves as possible.
Chapter 1: Quality Time
Quality Time
By
Safaia Bara
Rainbow Dash was bored.
Absolutely bored.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky that needed busting.
Twilight was holed up in the library working on a new assignment Princess Celestia had given her.
Applejack was helping Granny Smith and Big Mac get ready for their week-long trip to Appleloosa.
Pinkie Pie was in charge of watching the Cake twins and Sugarcube Corner.
Rarity was working on a large order for a new high-end client in Fillydelphia.
And Fluttershy was busy teaching orphaned baby cardinals how to fly.
So, with all of her friends out of commission for the day, and sleep evading her, what was the most awesome Pegasus in all of Equestria supposed to do? Her prayers were answered with the ringing of the school bell in the distance.
Scootaloo!
“I just wanted you to hang out with me and see how cool I was so you take me under your wing and teach me everything you know and become like my big sister.”
“So… you’re looking for somepony to take you under their wing, huh?”
“Mm–hm.”
“Yeah I might be up for something like that.”
“Really?”
“As long as you don’t go falling into anymore rivers in the middle of the night.”
“It’s a deal.”
That conversation had happened nearly a week ago, and Rainbow hadn’t seen hide nor mane of the little pony since.
Rainbow Dash frowned to herself, “Hmph, some big sister I’m turning out to be,” she sighed, “Well, better late than never, right?” So, with a shake of her head and a flap of her wings, she was headed straight towards the Ponyville schoolhouse.
As she flew, Rainbow’s mind wandered to the young, orange Pegasus. She was a pretty cool filly. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how much Scootaloo reminded her of herself as a kid. The same competitive nature. The same stubborn streak. And, of course, the same loyalty to her friends; she hadn't been at Diamond Tiara’s party, but she'd heard from Twilight and Applejack how the filly had stood up for Apple Bloom at the risk of revealing that she didn’t have her Cutie Mark either. That took real guts, and she was extremely proud of her little sister.
Dash quickly arrived at the school and landed in a nearby tree. Seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders chatting, Rainbow Dash decided to let the girls finish their conversation before joining them. However, when two more fillies walked over, the cyan mare could feel the tension shift and leaned in closer to listen.
“So, what kind of Cutie Marks are you going to try for this time? Being lame?” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed, “Blank Flanks!”
“Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away,” Scootaloo suggested, “Ready to go to the clubhouse?”
“Actually…Um…”
“Apple Bloom!”
“Sweetie Belle!”
“Applejack wanted me ta help clean up the orchard b’fore the next family reunion. It’s gonna be tough without Big Mac around ta do the heavy liftin’, so Applejack really needs me.”
“And Rarity promised that I could model her new filly clothing line for her client in Fillydelphia. She said it’s really important.” Both girls looked at their friend apologetically.
Scootaloo hid her disappointment well with a fake smile, “Oh, well, that’s great! You guys have fun.”
“Scoots…”
“We can go crusadin’ next weekend, right?”
“Of – of course! Y’know what? I’ll spend this weekend thinking up ways for us to earn our Cutie Marks!” she said, trying to act cool.
Rarity and Applejack joined the three fillies. The unicorn mare tilted her head to the side, “Next weekend? Why wait until then, girls?”
Sweetie Belle sighed and gave her sister an exasperated look, “Next Saturday is the Family Fun Fair, remember? Everypony in class has to be there and has to set up a booth or something to show off our families’ special skills. You promised that you’d help me set up a fashion show.”
Rarity smiled sheepishly, “Oh, yes, right. Well,” she cleared her throat, “if things remain on schedule, as they should, I’ll be finished with the Fillydelphia order by the end of this weekend. Then I’m all yours.” The unicorn filly grinned.
Scootaloo looked on with a sad smile as she wished for the same sisterly bond that her friends had.
Rainbow Dash smirked to herself. Scoots was gonna be so surprised!
“Ya want us ta walk ya home, Sugarcube?”
Scootaloo paled slightly and waved her hooves in front of her face, “No, no. I’ll be fine. I live on the other side of town. I wouldn’t want to be an incon- incon-”
“Inconvenience?” Sweetie Belle offered.
“Yeah, that.”
“If you’re sure, Darling…”
“Oh, yeah! I’ve done it tons of times before.”
Even from her vantage point in the tree, Dash could tell that her smile was forced.
“Okay, then…”
“See ya later, Scootaloo!”
“Bye!”
“Take care!”
The orange filly waved until her friends were out of sight before allowing her ears to flatten and her tail to droop. Sighing, she cast her eyes away. Suddenly, there was an unwanted presence beside her.
"Go away, Diamond Tiara. Just go away and leave me alone."
"Aw, even your blank flank friends abandoned you. I don't blame them, though. Who would want to be friends with a Pegasus pony who can't even fly, anyway?" the pink earth filly said, her voice filled with mock pity.
"Knock it off," Scootaloo growled through clenched teeth.
"What? I'm just telling the truth."
"Shut up or I'm going to tell."
"Ooh, who are you going to tell? Your parents?" Diamond Tiara sneered.
Silver Spoon trotted up to the orange filly's other side and added, "What parents? I haven't seen them. I bet she doesn't even have any."
"I'm going to tell my big sister."
The two earth ponies were taken aback for a moment before breaking out into fits of laughter.
"Big sister? Yeah, right."
"Who?"
Scootaloo grinned triumphantly, "Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow's heart filled with joy. At that moment, she was even more proud to have the little orange pony for a sister. To know that the young Pegasus had so much faith in her was an overwhelming feeling.
That feeling was destroyed, however, as the bullies' peals of laughter grew louder.
"Rainbow Dash? Ha!"
"Why in all of Equestria would an awesome pony like Rainbow Dash want to be your sister, Scootaloser?"
The young Pegasus filly puffed out her cheeks in anger, hiding the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
That was all the cyan mare could take. With a light flap of her wings, Rainbow silently glided down to the three fillies, landing right behind Scootaloo.
"Heya, Kiddo," she said. The three fillies jumped.
"R-Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo squeaked, spinning around to face her idol, "What's up? What are you doing here?"
The older Pegasus grinned at her, "What? Applejack and Rarity can pick their sisters up from school, but I can't? That doesn't seem very fair, does it?"
A wide smile lit up Scootaloo's face, melting the tears away, "Really?"
Rainbow mussed up Scoot's mane with an affectionate noogie, "'Course. 'Sides, I thought we could start your flyin' lessons today. What d'ya say, Squirt?"
"Definitely!"
"Wait, wait, wait,” Diamond Tiara shook her head in disbelief, "You're serious?"
The mare turned and openly glowered at the two earth ponies, "As a thunderstorm."
"B-but, she can't even fly!"
Rainbow Dash arched a brow, "And? I'm going to teach her. Didn‘t I just say that?"
"She doesn't have a Cutie Mark, either!" said Silver Spoon, huffing indignantly.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, "So? She's a late bloomer is all. Actually, Fluttershy and I were two of the last ones in our class to get our Cutie Marks, too."
"No way!"
Dash gave her sister and encouraging smile, "Sure were. And we got the coolest ones of all,” she grinned, "and I'm sure the same is gonna happen to the three of you."
"Not possible. Everypony knows that we have the best Cutie Marks in class," Diamond Tiara scoffed.
Rainbow glanced at their flanks and smirked, but held her tongue. A tiara and a spoon? Aside from reminding other ponies of what their names were, she couldn't actually figure out what they meant. What exactly were their special talents supposed to be?
But she new better than to comment on it, she was more mature than that...
Even though it was oh so very tempting.
"Is there a problem here?" The four ponies turned towards the new voice.
"AJ? Rarity? What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going home," The two said mares, along with their younger siblings, were headed back towards the school. Rarity was levitating a piece of mail with her unicorn magic, and Sweetie Belle had a sour look on her face.
"We'll get ta that in a sec. Now, what in the hay is goin' on over here?"
Dash shrugged and jerked her head towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, "Not much. These two were just causing trouble again. I was thinking about going to talk to Miss Cheerilee about their bad attitudes." The two bullies went pale in the face.
Rarity and Applejack smirked.
"Really? Ah've been debatin' that fer a while now, too."
"I have as well. I'm sure that Cheerilee would be most interested to know how her students are spending their free time."
The retreating sound of galloping hooves sent a round of chuckles throughout the group.
As their laughter died down Dash turned to her friends, "So, what are you doing here, anyway?."
The unicorn mare sighed, "We were almost home when Derpy stopped us about halfway there and gave me this," she gestured to the letter with her hoof, "Apparently, my clients in Fillydelphia want to have a conference with me. They want me out on the next available train, and I'm going to be gone for at least three or four days,” Rarity brushed a hoof gently through her sister's mane apologetically. Sweetie Belle sighed in disappointment, but soon gave in and leaned towards Rarity's comforting touch.
"So, we decided that Sweetie is gonna stay with us on the farm ‘til Rares comes home. We wanted ta see if Scoots wanted ta spend the night, too."
The Pegasus filly flapped her wings excitedly and grinned. But Rainbow answered for her before she could even open her mouth to respond.
"Maybe later. Scoots and I have plans for today. Right, Squirt?" Dash wrapped her foreleg around Scootaloo and pulled her into a sideways hug.
The younger Pegasus just nodded wildly, her eyes filled with delight and awe.
Applejack and Rarity looked at each other and shared a secret smile.
“Alrigh’ then. See y’all tonight.”
Once the others were gone, Dash gave her sister another affectionate squeeze.
“Ya ready Scoots?”
“Sure am! I was born ready!”
“That’s what I like to hear,” she chuckled, “Hop on.” She turned around and allowed Scootaloo to climb onto her back.
“Hang on, Kiddo.” With a running leap, the two Pegasi were in the air, headed towards a small field at the edge of Ponyville.
As they landed, Scootaloo tumbled off of Rainbow Dash's back, rolling through the grass with a small grunt.
"Oof!"
Dash collapsed on the ground in laughter, "Y-you okay there, Scoots?"
"Yeah, I think so," she coughed as she stood up. Shaking the dirt from her mane and coat, she stumbled closer to her surrogate sister, "Stop laughing. It wasn't that funny," she whined, but her lips twitched trying to hide her own smile.
As she finished ruffling the remaining dust out of her wings, she may have accidentally smacked Rainbow Dash on the ear with her tail. Scootaloo gave the older Pegasus a cheeky grin. Rainbow smirked back.
"Ooh, you really shouldn't have done that, Squirt. You're messing with the wrong pony."
Before Scootaloo had a chance to blink, she was pinned flat on her back with the elder pony looming over her with a menacing grin on her face.
"No, no, no! Please Rainbow Dash! I'm sorry! I'm sor- hahaha! I'm- haha!" Her pleas fell on deaf ears as Rainbow ran her hooves up and down her sides and across her stomach mercilessly. The tickling lasted until the little filly had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. She hiccuped a few times before sighing in relief when Dash finally stepped away from her.
"Now, Scoots, what have we learned today?"
The orange Pegasus grinned up at her, "I should never mess with my big sister?"
Rainbow Dash returned the smile with a warm one of her own, "Ya got that right." She sat down and crossed her forelegs over her chest, "Okay, time to get to work. Show me whatcha got."
The filly jumped to her feet excitedly and began flapping her wings as fast and as hard as she could. She was hovering about half a foot off of the ground for all of five seconds when-
"Woah, woah, hold it. Stop for a sec, Scoots." Scootaloo dropped onto her stomach and frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Rainbow trotted over to her and helped her to her hooves, "I think I figured out what the problem is. Your form is all off."
"Form? What do you mean?"
Rainbow paused, mulling over her words, "There's a certain...artistry to flight," her voice became more serious, and Scootaloo leaned in closer, listening with rapt attention, "I like to call it the four 'S's. Speed, strength, stamina, and style. I've seen you on that scooter, and you've got the first three down, no problem. It's the last one we need to work on.
Scootaloo looked up at her in confusion, her head tilted to the side. Dash smiled.
"Watch me." The cyan mare began beating her wings in a steady rhythm and lifted herself off of the ground with ease. She allowed herself to float there for a few more moments before touching down lightly on her hooves, "Now, what did I do differently?"
Scootaloo looked at her mentor, then back at her own feeble wings, then back a t Dash again, "You have bigger wings than me," she muttered. Rainbow could detect a hint of jealousy hidden in her voice. She just smiled and shook her head.
"No, I asked you what I did that was different. The size of your wings has got nothing to do with it."
"But I thought-"
"A perfect example is Bulk Biceps. He's what, twenty times bigger than you? And his wings are only half the size of yours? If wing size mattered, there is no way he should even be able to pick himself up off the ground."
The younger pony pondered that for a moment before giggling. Dash grinned.
"See? If he can do it, I know you can, too. We just need to work on your technique."
The two Pegasi spent the next few hours practicing Scootaloo's flying technique. The orange filly was enthralled with how knowledgeable Rainbow was in aerodynamics and the mechanics of flight. She wasn't all that surprised, though; Dash was the best flyer in all of Equestria after all.
And Scootaloo picked it up extremely quickly. By the end of their first lesson, she was able to tell wind direction and catch the air currents to glide and change her course easily.
"Great job, Squirt. You're doing better than even I expected," Scootaloo beamed with pride, " I think this calls for a reward. How about...a round of milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner?"
The filly' eyes lit up, "Awesome! Can we? Please?"
Rainbow laughed, "Of course. Hop on, kid."
The orange Pegasus squeezed her eyes shut as the wind rushed past her face. The arrived at Ponyville's resident sweets shop in minutes.
"So, what flavor do you want?"
"Chocolate!"
Dash chuckled at her sister's enthusiasm, "Sure thing, Squirt. Why don't you go grab us a table while I get the drinks?"
Scootaloo gave her a playful salute and trotted off to find a window seat. While she was waiting for her drink, she reflected on how amazing her day was going. She was one lucky filly.
"Hey, Scootaloser."
Oh, great.
"Go. Away."
"What are you going to do? Sic Rainbow Dash on us?" Diamond Tiara looked around, "I don't see her. Did she abandon you, too?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. Looks like nopony wants to be around her." Silver Spoon added. Both of them laughed.
Scootaloo glared at them before a smirk found its way onto her face, "Leave me alone, or you're going to regret it."
"Oh, I'm so scared." Diamond mocked.
"You should be."
The two earth pony fillies jumped at the new voice behind them.
Rainbow walked around them and placed a tray of drinks on the table.
"You two again? I guess you didn't get the hint earlier, huh? Leave Scoots and the other Crusaders alone."
This time Diamond Tiara stood her ground and glared at Rainbow Dash, "Why should I listen to you. My daddy is the most powerful pony in Ponyville. He-"
The mare's laughter cut her off, "You honestly think that I'm afraid of you're father? Listen, kid. I've fought a possessed princess, an army of changelings, and the Master of Chaos himself. I think I can handle a spoiled little filly and her rich daddy," she glared out her wings, "Now scram. And leave my sister and her friends alone."
Diamond Tiara stuck her muzzle in the air and trotted out of the shop with what little dignity she had left. Silver Spoon followed, but not before sticking her tongue out at them foalishly.
Dash waited and watched until the door swung shut behind them. She gave an indignant snort and started muttering under her breath.
"Pick on my sister, huh?" "Not on my watch, ya don't."
The cyan mare turned around and saw Scootaloo staring at her, slack-jawed. Dash looked at her with concern, "Scoots, you okay?"
The younger Pegasus swallowed audibly, "That...was...awesome! Nopony has ever told them off like that before! Not even Miss Cherilee! Rainbow Dash, you are the best big sister ever!"
Rainbow blushed as she trotted closer and sat down next to Scootaloo. She wrapped a foreleg around her withers and gave her an affectionate noogie, "Hey, nopony messes with my little sister. And if they even try, I'll kick they're flank from here to Canterlot."
And she meant it. Rainbow had always had a soft spot for the orange Pegasus filly, even before the camping incident. But, that night put their relationship into perspective for her. She finally understood how much of an influence she had on Scootaloo. And she planned on living up to the little girl's expectations.
If she wanted Rainbow Dash to be her big sister, then Rainbow Dash would be her big sister. Simple as that.
A calm silence enveloped them.
When their drinks were half gone, Rainbow started a new conversation, "So, Scoots, I was thinking. For that family fair next weekend...what if we did an aerobatics performance? With the progress you made today, I'm pretty sure we could get you up in the air for a few tricks. If not, those moves you do on that scooter of yours are radical! Maybe we could-"
Scootaloo stopped drinking mid-sip and choked on her shake. She coughed and sputtered while Dash patted her on the back. Eventually, she was able to take a few deep, slow breaths. She winced, her throat hurting. She took a long sip of her drink and sighed in relief, letting the cold milkshake soothe her sore throat. She looked up into Dash's concerned rose-colored eyes.
"Hey, you okay, Squirt? You scared me for a second there."
But a wide smile threatened to split her face in two. She started bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly, "The fair? You and me? Really?"
Rainbow Dash gave her a warm smile, "Sure. I mean, we are sisters, right? Unless you have other plans?" She arched a brow skeptically.
"Nope!" the filly grinned. Rainbow chuckled as she took a peek out the widow behind Scootaloo. The sun was starting to set, almost touching the snow capped mountains in the distance.
"Well, we'd better get going if we wanna make it to Sweet Apple Acres before dark. C'mon, kiddo."
Scootaloo nodded and chugged down the rest of her shake. She suddenly clutched her head and winced in pain.
"Scoots?"
"I'm...fine..." she let out a deep breath and chuckled, "Brain freeze..."
Rainbow Dash laughed and ruffled her sister's mane, "You're such a silly filly, you know that?" she grinned and hopped out of her chair, the orange Pegasus following close behind.
Once outside, Dash silently gestured for Scootaloo to climb onto her back. They were in the air seconds later, flying in the opposite direction of the Apple family's farm.
"Um, Rainbow? You do know that Sweet Apple Acres is the other way, right?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and snorted, "Pssh, of course I know that. But you can't have a sleepover without your sleeping bag, can you? So we've gotta hit your place first to pick it up," Even though she couldn't see the color drain from the filly's face, she felt Scootaloo's body tense up, "Hey, what's the matter?"
"Noth-nothing's the matter. Why would you think something was wrong? I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.
Dash sighed. She wasn't going to get any info out of the kid...at least, not at the moment.
"So, which house is yours?"
"That pinkish one on the left over there." Dash banked around and landed on the front doorstep with a soft thump. The house was almost completely dark, save for a small light emanating from the back room.
With a resigned sigh, Scootaloo slid off of the older pony's back and slowly trotted up to the door. It opened with a creak.
"Mom, I'm home."
