Black Mail

by Fluttercheer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Derpy Hooves, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo
Length: 7889

Rainbow Dash and Tank got off cheaply when the weather factory exploded. However, three days after the incident, Rainbow Dash sees herself confronted with an aftermath of this event that should decide how she will spend her Winter.....

Sabotage is no small crime in Equestria. Especially not if a pony sabotages something of big importance for the kingdom. Like the weather factory in Cloudsdale. Several years in prison could await a pony for committing such an act. But Rainbow Dash is fine. She and Tank were alone in the weather factory when she destroyed the building to prevent her friend from hibernating. And nopony but her closest friends knew what happened.
At least that was what everypony thought.
As Rainbow Dash gets a mysterious letter a few days later, it becomes doubtful that nopony else knew what she did and questions arise.
How will she be spending the Winter now? And who is the pony that sent this letter to her anyway?

Written for the Writer's Training Grounds of Equestria Daily for "Tanks for the Memories".

The cover picture belongs to svecinkaT on Deviantart.

Published 2015-08-10 14:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-10 14:10:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Fluttershy yawned. She lay flat on her stomach, a disgruntled expression on her face, and listened grudgingly to the endless stream of words that was reaching her ears for an hour already. As she began to become convinced that the tale she had to listen to would never find an end, she finally heard the words: “And that's how it went! We almost didn't make it out at the end, but I had the great idea to hide us in one of the snowballs inside of the snow cannons to let us shoot out of the weather factory before it exploded!” Rainbow Dash stroke a pose and displayed a proud grin.

Fluttershy rolled with her eyes. It was the tenth time she had heard this story now. And it seemed to become a bit longer and more illogical every time it was reiterated. Twilight had noticed it too. “Rainbow Dash, they don't even have snow cannons in Cloudsdale. You know that they bring the snow directly with the clouds!”, Twilight scolded her for making that part up. “You and Tank were thrown out of the weather factory inside of a giant snow ball because it exploded.” A disapproving look from Twilight's eyes reached up to Rainbow Dash.

“Pfft!”, the fast pegasus answered. “Minor details! Who cares?” She stroke another heroic pose. “I was awesome anyway!”

“'Awesome' does not sound like the right way to describe it, darling”, Rarity put in a remark about Rainbow's proud exclamation. The fashionista was sitting at the other end of the table, her eyes fixated on an article in the newspaper in front of her.

More chain stores closed! Is this the end of the Rich Family business?, the headline said.

It was not often that Rarity read the economy pages of the Ponyville Express, but sometimes she wanted to be informed about possible competitors in her business.

“It was rather dangerous to do that. And..... reckless”, she continued after having read the headline.

Twilight nodded. “Rarity's right. You did not only destroy the weather factory, you also brought yourself and Tank in danger. If worse would have come to worst, Tank would sleep forever now. Not to mention the long prison sentence an act of sabotage like the one you committed gets punished with here in Equestria.”

“Hey, it's fine!”, Rainbow Dash answered on Twilight's concern. “Tank is still alive and nopony else knows who destroyed the factory. There's nothing to worry about anymore!”

Rainbow's answer resulted in a collective eye-rolling by everypony in the room. “Because you and Tank were lucky”, Twilight said then with a frown. The alicorn sighed. “Anyway, you shouldn't talk so loudly about it. If anypony else here in Sugarcube Corner hears about it, you might still get into trouble.”

That was something that seemed to work. The pegasus' face turned pale and she slowly let herself sink from the air and back into her chair. The last thing she would have liked to happen was a prison sentence like Twilight mentioned it. Especially not if that would mean that she couldn't be here once Tank returned. “Ok, ok”, she said feebly. “I won't talk about it in public anymore. But it's still an awesome story.” Rainbow Dash did a look out of the window. The sun was going down behind the horizon like a giant ball of fire and slowly, but steady, it became dark.

“I've got to go now”, she announced to her friends after turning her attention back to the table. “It was a hard day and I want to go to bed early tonight!” She paid her glass of cider, exchanged a hoofbump with each of her friends and then left through the door.
Outside, she immediately took flight back to her home. As she had arrived there, the rainbow-maned pegasus wasted no time. She grabbed a quick snack from the fridge in the kitchen and drank a glass of water, then she trotted upstairs into her bedroom and let herself fall into the soft cloud pillows. A moment later, she was asleep.

On the next morning, Rainbow Dash was woken up by a clattering sound. Not able to recognize it at first, she sat up in her bed and yawned heartily. Her sleepy mind needed a moment to process the sound, but then she realized what it was.

Her mailbox. One of the local mailponies had just delivered her mail for today. That meant it must have been about six in the morning. A time where Rainbow Dash didn't wake up usually and if she wouldn't have gone to bed so early last night, she would ignore the delivered mail for now and lay down to sleep again. But not today. Despite her exhaustion from yesterday, she felt refreshed and awake enough to take on the challenges of this new day even at this early hour, much to the surprise of the sleep-addicted mare.

She yawned again, stretched her body a little and then she went out of bed and trotted down the stairs to the door of her house, thinking about what the new day may bring for her. The pegasus swung the door open, darted outside and opened the mailbox, all in one fast, fluid movement. Just a moment later she had the mail in her hooves and was back in her house. Rainbow Dash aimed for her living room, sat down on her couch and began to spread the mail over the small table in front of her. It was just the usual kind of mail Rainbow Dash always got; some bills and a sales letter by Quills & Sofas this time.

In the middle, though, was another white envelope. Rainbow Dash snatched it up and proceeded to open it. What was strange about this envelope was that there was no sender mentioned on it. It even missed the address of Rainbow Dash's house. It was just a blank, white envelope, without any word written on it.

As Rainbow Dash had opened the envelope, she pulled out the letter that was full with only a few, hoof-written sentences. The letters looked clunky. She began to read:

I know what you did three days ago. I have seen you in the weather factory. I have seen how you destroyed it and I have made photos of you as evidence. Now you will do what I want. If you don't, I will give the photos to the Cloudsdale Press and make everything public. You know what this means. I want that you buy ten chocolate chip muffins for me at Sugarcube Corner. Bring them to the schoolhouse at 12:00 PM and hide them under the stairs at the entrance. Then leave. And don't talk about this letter to anypony. I'm always watching you.

Rainbow Dash's hooves began to shake while she was reading the letter. Sweat began to run over her face and her eyes expressed nervousness. But despite what she just read, she knew she had to remain calm. It was only a small task. Something easy to do. She would just buy the demanded muffins, hide them where the letter mentioned it and then everything would be fine. She was sure of it. She took a deep breath and then she folded the letter and put it back into the envelope again. After having taken another breath, she slowly got up and went upstairs to the bathroom. What she needed now was a cool shower, despite the wintery cold outside.

As she was finished, she dried herself off and proceeded into the kitchen to eat something. Her appetite was low and her thoughts were constantly at the task that lied ahead of her.

What if something would go wrong? The fate that would befall her then was one that she couldn't endure, she knew that. But Rainbow Dash shook the thoughts away. It wouldn't go wrong. It was easy. The instructions in the letter were clear and she knew what she had to do.
She decided to finish her meal after just a few bites and put the rest of it back into the fridge. Since she didn't know what else to do, Rainbow Dash figured that it would be best to leave early.

She put on a scarf and a hat from her closet, went outside and began to fly through the chill air down to Ponyville. The cold breeze was cutting through her coat into her skin and she shivered. Usually, as the skilled flyer and the leader of the Ponyville weather team she was, cold air like this couldn't do anything to her, but today, her nervousness seemed to make her vulnerable. Grimacing, she pushed through the pain and ignored the clattering of her teeth until she had reached the town and landed on the ground, not far away from Sugarcube Corner. She went the last distance on her hooves and rushed into the bakery to flee from the cold.

Rainbow Dash looked around. It had just opened. The Cakes were still busy with placing freshly baked and decorated cupcakes into the vitrine where all the customers that should come today could see it and hopefully get convinced to buy one of them.

She approached the counter and wanted to tell Mrs. Cake her order as she heard faint crying from the upper floor. Mrs. Cake gave her an apologizing smile, then she went through a door behind the counter. Rainbow Dash could hear her hoofsteps heading up on the stairs. Mr. Cake came over to her to take her order. “Hi, Rainbow Dash! Looks like you are our first customer today. It's not often that a pony comes at this early time. What can I do for you?”

She hesitated to answer, but eventually, she managed to spill out the words. “I-I need ten chocolate chip muffins.”

“Ten chocolate chip muffins, coming up!”, the baker answered cheerfully and began to put Rainbow Dash's order into a box.

Rainbow Dash hoofed him the necessary bits, then she looked up to the clock on the wall to her left. It was only seven o'clock. Much too early to get to the schoolhouse. She looked back to Mr. Cake and set up a smile. “It's cold outside. I think I take a mug of warm cider before I leave.”

Mr: Cake gestured over to the still empty tables. “I bring it to you when it's ready. Just take a seat.”

The pegasus took the box with the muffins between her hooves, that were slightly shaking again now, and proceeded to do as she was told. Just a few hours later, the bakery would be fairly crowded with ponies eating cupcakes and all sorts of other treats, but right now, Rainbow Dash had it all for herself. She chose one of the tables in the corner of the room, preferring a place where she could be alone with her thoughts the most. Having the muffin box placed carefully on the table, she took seat to wait for her order.

The cider mug was brought over fast, and she decided to pay for it immediately, but the hours until she had to place the muffins went by like a crawl. As nervous as she was, Rainbow Dash constantly went through the procedure.

“Leaving Sugarcube Corner, going to the schoolhouse, placing the muffins under the stairs, flying home”, she quietly muttered in intervals, only occasionally interrupted by a check on how much time she still had left.

She was barely nipping at her cider, trying to save the amount she had until she had to go, which of course meant it would be cold by then, but Rainbow Dash didn't care. Every hour or so, either Mr. or Mrs. Cake came up to her table and asked if she wanted to order something else and every time they did, she shook her head and answered with a concise “No”. Noticing the sweat on her forehead and her angsty expression, the Cakes worried about her, but every attempt to ask if something is wrong ended with a “I'm fine” that was not any less concise than her other answer. Eventually, they gave up asking.

As Rainbow Dash looked the last time to the clock on this morning, a cold chill shot through her body and her teeth began to clatter. It was ten minutes to noon. Realizing that she didn't have much time anymore, Rainbow Dash jumped and grabbed the muffins, rushing out of the door without taking the last sip from the cider that was now useless in keeping her warm on the inside.

As her fast-paced trot had almost let her reach the schoolhouse, she could hear the bell of it ringing and some moments later, she was surrounded by excited colts and fillies in winter clothing, happily chattering about their plans for the afternoon and visibly relieved that the dreadful school day was over.

“Hi Rainbow Dash!”, a familiar voice suddenly rang in her ears. She didn't recognize it at first among all the chattering and in her nervous condition. “Rainbow Dash, hey!”, the voice sounded again, more insisting this time. A second later, she saw an orange blur rushing past her and then Scootaloo excitedly jumping up and down in front of her. “Hi Rainbow Dash!”, she repeated again. “What are you doing here?”

“I-I-I just have to deliver these muffins here”, she stammered her answer.

“Cool!”, the excited filly replied. “For whom are they? Can I come with you?”

“I-I can't tell you. And I need to do it alone.”

The pegasus filly stopped jumping and dropped her ears. Her scarf slid off of her neck and fell to the ground. “But we haven't seen us for a while. I thought we could spend the afternoon together.....” She eyed the snowy ground in front of her hooves.

The older pegasus sighed as the warm feeling she always had when she saw Scootaloo began to spread through her body. She could not resist to act when she saw Scootaloo being sad like this. Rainbow Dash did a step closer, lifted up the scarf and wrapped it around Scootaloo's neck again. Then she ruffled through her mane. Bending down to her, she whispered: “I can tell you, but don't tell anypony else!”

With a quick jerk, Scootaloo's head was at face value with Rainbow Dash again. “Really? Who is it?”, she asked enthusiastically.

“Psst!”, Rainbow Dash put a hoof at her mouth and looked around fearfully.

“Sorry.” The little pegasus lowered her voice. “Who are the muffins for?”

After having made sure that nopony was looking over them, Rainbow Dash answered. “I don't know. Remember what I told you yesterday about the weather factory? I got a letter today. Somepony knows it, Scootaloo. Somepony knows what I did. And it has made me photos of me while I ruined the factory.”

Scootaloo gasped in shock, her eyes shrinking in size. “Is this what the muffins are for? Should you bring them to a pony that is blackmailing you?”

Rainbow Dash nodded silently. “Yeah. It told me I should place them under the stairs at the entrance of the schoolhouse at 12:00 PM.”

“Do you have an idea who it could be?”

Now the pegasus mare shook her head. “I have no idea. It could be any pony!”

“Don't you think it could be Derpy? The pony who sent the letter to you demanded muffins and Derpy loves muffins.”

“I can't tell”, the mare answered unsure. “I know that Derpy has a favor for muffins, but a lot of ponies like them. That's not enough to be sure. And Derpy is my friend. I can't believe she would do that.”

Scootaloo's face turned into a thoughtful expression and she looked to the ground for a moment. Then she suddenly jumped up. “I have an idea! We're going to find out who it is!” Without hesitation, she took Rainbow Dash's hoof and pulled her into the direction of a rental shop for costumes.

“But I have to place those muffins! There's not much time anymore!, the rainbow-maned pegasus protested.

“Don't worry, it won't take much time!”, Scootaloo answered, then they disappeared inside of the building.

As they came out of it again, both of them were equipped with a trenchcoat, a broad hat and a pair of sunglasses. “What's your plan, Scoots?” Rainbow Dash let her eyes wander over the clothes they had just borrowed with a confused look on her face.

“Easy!”, the energetic pegasus filly answered. “You place the muffins under the stairs, then we put on these clothes and sit down on the bench on the playground. That way, we can see who comes to get the muffins without getting recognized!”

“Sure, why not? That might work”, Rainbow Dash answered on the filly's plan.

They sat themselves into motion, the older sister heading for the stairs, while Scootaloo took a different route to the bench. As Rainbow Dash came back and joined her there, Scootaloo had already put on her disguise. Rainbow Dash followed her example swiftly and took seat at her side. Curiously, they began to observe the stairs to find out who the mysterious blackmailer was.

The time went by slowly while they were observing the spot attentively. Half an hour had passed, but nopony came to fetch up the muffins. After another thirty minutes Cheerilee left the building, but she did not even attempt to look under the stairs and went straight towards her way home. She also didn't notice them, was not even looking into their direction.

As an hour had passed after they saw Cheerilee leaving the building and nothing suspicious had happened, several other ponies were passing by the schoolhouse, but none of them came even close to the stairs and Derpy was not among them, the two sisters started a conversation and found themselves quickly caught up in a discussion about the fastest member of the Wonderbolts, but without leaving the stairs out of sight.

After another two hours of waiting that followed the same pattern, Rainbow Dash suddenly got up on her hooves. “I think it's useless to wait longer. The pony won't come.”

“Are you sure?”, Scootaloo asked her surprised. “Maybe we just need to wait a little longer.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “Yeah, I'm sure”, she added then. “The muffins are frozen now with how cold it is and I doubt that whoever sent the letter would come and get them now. And maybe it was all just a hoax anyway and somepony was playing a prank on me.”

A sad expression appeared on Scootaloo's face again that Rainbow Dash noticed. “Hey champ, there is no reason to be sad! We just had a nice talk, didn't we?”

Scootaloo looked up to her surrogate big sister. She nodded and a smile flashed over her face. But a part of the sadness remained.

“Come on, let's bring back these clothes and then I'll bring you home! You look like you could need something warm now anyway!”

Scootaloo slid down the bench and then they made their way back to the nearby costume rental.

As Rainbow Dash had returned home on this day, she went straight into her living room. Sitting down on the couch, she took the letter, that was still in it's envelope on the table, again and read it a second time. As she was finished, a relieved sigh escaped her lips and she put the letter back into the envelope and placed it inside of a drawer. Then she went into the kitchen to make dinner.

On the next day, Rainbow Dash was sleeping in, like it was the norm for her. After she ate dinner, she went to a spontaneous meeting with her friends and after the meeting was over, she spent the rest of the night with reading. It was one of these nights where she pulled an all-nighter with Daring Do and horror novels. As she finally got too tired to keep her eyes open, the sun went up already and sent it's first rays over the land.

When Rainbow Dash woke up again, a look on her alarm clock showed her that it was already 1:00 PM. It was Saturday and somepony else from the weather team was scheduled for work today, so she knew she could afford it. Groaning, she put off the alarm and rolled to the other side. It was not unusual for her that she needed a few more moments before she was fully awake and could get out of bed, so she enjoyed the soft cloud pillows a few minutes longer while her mind slowly became active.

After she was up, she went down the stairs on her way to check the mail as usual, cheerfully whistling a song on her lips. Her mood changed, though, as she was sitting in the living room and sorted through the mail like on the day before. Another white envelope without address on it lied in front of her. As she began to read the letter that was inside of it, her breath became quicker and she gulped hearable.

You have not done what I wanted. I have seen you together with this filly. Your disguise was easy to figure out. Do you not understand how serious your situation is? I just have to go to the press and everything is over for you. You will be charged with sabotage and end up in prison for many years. Don't play with me, Rainbow Dash. I give you a second chance to proof that you have learned from your foolishness yesterday. This time I want double-sugared muffins. The same number as yesterday. But you will bring them to a different place this time. This filly you met yesterday. I know about the clubhouse of her and her two friends. You will go there and place the muffins behind the tree. Then you will leave again. I await the muffins at 03:00 PM. And come ALONE this time. I won't give you another chance.

Rainbow Dash broke out in sweat over what she just read. But she tried to remain calm. “It's okay. It's just the same as yesterday, right? Buying ten muffins and delivering them. That's easy. Only the place is different. I can make this”, she muttered to herself. She put the letter back into the envelope and then proceeded to make breakfast. She was forcing herself to eat more this time. This was something she needed to be rested up for her task.

It was almost 02:30 PM when she left her house and made her way towards Ponyville for the local bakery, after she had finished her breakfast and taken another cold shower. The Cakes seemed endeavored to be especially nice to her. “Are you okay, Rainbow Dash?”, Mr. Cake asked for her condition while his wife was preparing her order.

“Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry!”, the athletic pegasus replied. “I felt just a little..... anxious yesterday. Maybe I'm getting a cold.”

The Cakes told her to take care after she had paid her order and Rainbow Dash left Sugarcube Corner to head for Sweet Apple Acres. This time she was flying, the box with the muffins on her back safely tucked in between her wings. As she had arrived at the clubhouse, she found everything quiet. Rainbow Dash looked around. It was snowing slightly, but the sight was still good. She was alone. That's something she could say without a doubt. There was no other pony anywhere.

As she began to approach the tree, she regretted her assumption. Scootaloo suddenly walked around the tree and headed towards her. And she immediately noticed the box of muffins on her back.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! Have you gotten another letter?” She eyed the box on her back.

“Yeah.....”, she answered slowly. “I have. And I need to deliver it here today.”

The little filly began to jump eagerly, like yesterday. “Oh, should we try to find out who it is again? If you fly fast I'm sure we can get the costumes in time!”

“No, not this time, squirt. The pony wrote me that it has seen us together yesterday. And it looked through our disguise. It told me to come alone or else.....”

Rainbow Dash did not complete her sentence, but the filly understood. A sad expression was on her face again, but this time she listened to what Rainbow Dash said. “Okay”, she replied quietly, her head slighty low. “I would like to spend some time with you again today, but I don't want that you get turned in because of me.”

Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a short noogie, that was answered by an unexpected, passionate hug by the filly, and then the little pegasus went away, her head still hanging low.

It pained Rainbow Dash to let her go like that, but it had to be done. She had to follow the procedure. When Scootaloo was out of sight, she went the rest of the way to the tree and behind it. Carefully, she took the muffins off of her back and placed them on the snow blanket. When the job was done, she immediately took flight and aimed for her cloud home.

At the morning of the next day, or at least what Rainbow Dash would describe as morning, something happened that Rainbow Dash was expecting: Another letter.

Being familiar with the procedure now, she remained more calm than on the last two days when she began to read the clunky lines.

I have seen how you have sent the filly away this time. You have done good, Rainbow Dash. I forgive you what you did yesterday. The evidence will stay with me. As long as you do what I want. Now you will buy ten muffins for me every day. The place will stay the same for now. Today I want ten muffins with rainbow-colored frosting. And because you did so good yesterday, I might even be fine with it if you take one or two for yourself this time. As a reward. Bring the muffins to the clubhouse at the same time as yesterday.

Rainbow Dash still gulped a little after she had read the new letter. But this time it was easier. She knew the procedure now and was used to it. The only thing that would be a little hard was to afford ten muffins every day. But she felt convinced that she would find a way.

After her usual morning routine, Rainbow Dash found herself on the way to Sugarcube Corner once more. It almost felt mechanically to her now. As she had arrived at the clubhouse, everything was quiet again and nopony was in sight. She did not even meet Scootaloo behind the tree like yesterday. Having placed the box behind the tree, she remembered the one special sentence of the letter again.

“And because you did so good yesterday, I might even be fine with it if you take one or two for yourself this time.”

She reached down and opened the box and took two of the muffins out of it. Done. Now she only needed to leave this place and spend the day however she wanted. She trotted around the tree again and wanted to take flight, as she was interrupted by a familiar sight in the near distance, that was followed by a not less familiar voice.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo waved at her from the distance, then she gallopped over to her. “I hoped you would be here today too.” She looked at the two muffins in her hooves, her eyes growing from fascination when she noticed which kinds of muffins they were. “Are they from the box? Do you think it's really okay if you take them for yourself?”, she asked her astounded and a bit worried.

“Yeah, it is. The text in the letter said I could take one or two because I did so good yesterday. But let's better leave now. I don't want to get into trouble again.”

As they went their way through the snowy orchard back to Ponyville at each others' side, Rainbow Dash noticed the plate-sized eyes with which Scootaloo still focused on the two muffins. “Do you want one of those? They are your favourite muffins, right?” She held one of the muffins in front of her face.

That was nothing she needed to tell Scootaloo twice. “Yeah, I would like one, thanks.” With a quick move, she had taken one of the muffins from Rainbow Dash and bit into it with relish, a satisfied sound leaving her mouth when she tasted the delicious, multi-colored frosting.

Rainbow Dash laughed and then bit into her muffin. Somehow, she felt much more relaxed then on the last two days.

“Hey, can we go to Sugarcube Corner and get some more of those?”, Scootaloo asked her as she has finished her muffin.

A surprised expression appeared on Rainbow Dash's face and she looked down at her younger companion. “Sure! But only under one condition, you must pay for your own muffins. I might get broke this month if I invite you.” A sheepish smile graced her face now.

“No problem, I have saved up enough!” She stretched out her hooves towards Rainbow Dash and crushed her with a hug, which caused both of them to fall to the ground and land in the cold, white mass that was covering it. They looked at each other and shared a laugh.

Today would be a good day. Scootaloo could feel it.

The next day was different. At least for Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo was right. It was a good day. Rainbow Dash and she had spent the whole afternoon in Sugarcube Corner; talking, eating Scootaloo's favourite muffins and drinking sweet cider. At some point, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle joined up with them, but most of the time, they were alone and all for themselves. It was a very good day. For both of them.

But this day wasn't good. Not for Rainbow Dash. It was shaping up to be a bad one. And that not just for her.

Instead of heading to Sugarcube Corner, Rainbow Dash went to Twilight's castle today. Her hooves hammered loudly against the crystalline doors before they were opened, so strongly, that Twilight almost feared they would shatter from the impact.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here so early?”, she asked sleepily. “And why are you–“ She could not end her sentence. A bunch of paper sheets were angrily flunged into her face. This made her awake. “What was that for? Have you lost your–“

“Don't play me for a fool!”, Rainbow Dash interrupted her harshly. “I know what you and the others are up to! It's Mare-Do-Well all over again like three years ago!”

“Mare-Do-Well?! What are you talking about, Rainbow Dash?”, Twilight asked her, visibly confused now.

“You know what I'm talking about! You and the others sent me all those letters and forced me to bring a box of ten muffins to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse on Sweet Apple Acres every day by pretending that you are somepony who has seen what I did in the weather factory and made photos of me!”

Twilight took a deep breath, then looked down to the sheets on the floor, of which she now recognized that they are indeed letters. Then she looked back up to Rainbow Dash again. “No, Rainbow Dash, this is not true”, she said in a calmer tone. “Whoever sent these letters to you, it was none of us.”

“Don't lie to me, Twilight!”, Rainbow continued furiously. She reached down on the floor and picked up the four letters again. “The proof is right here!” She held the first letter in front of her face. “It speaks about chocolate chip muffins. Your favourite muffins.” She switched to the second letter and held it to Twilight's face too so that she could read it. “This here says 'double-sugared muffins'. Pinkie's favourite!” She replaced the letter once again and held now the fourth and last letter that she received today in front of the Alicorn's face. “And this one here is about apple-spiced muffins, the muffins Applejack likes the most!” Angrily, she threw the letters to the ground again. “How do you explain that?”

“Rainbow Dash, calm down. I can assure you that we haven't sent you any letters. The choice of the muffins must be a coincidence. Or it's somepony that tries to bring you up against us.” The last part of her explanation made a lot of sense and she hoped that Rainbow Dash would see that. But her hopes were in vain. She ignored what Twilight said.

“I know why you're doing this! You just told me that what I did was dangerous and that I shouldn't brag about it in public before all of this started and now you're trying to teach me a lesson by making me think somepony who knows everything is blackmailing me. That's the same kind of stuff you did when you pretended to be Mare-Do-Well to show me that my success as Ponyville's super hero has went to my head!”

Twilight was about to say another word on the matter, but Rainbow Dash didn't even let her. “And this time you even made fun of me, you wrote about the muffins I love the most in the third letter! I guess that's what friends are for! But I'm not falling for it this time, Twilight! I have looked through your plan and I won't play this game anymore, so you can finally stop with this nonsense!” Without saying another word, the pegasus turned around and took rapidly off into the air, leaving a completely dumbfounded alicorn princess behind.

Twilight looked after her angry friend. Then an idea struck her. She smiled mischievously. Turning around, she called for her assistant. “Spike! We need to go and buy some muffins!”

Twilight looked behind the tree that was accomodating the clubhouse. Perfect. Everything went according to plan. Where she had placed a box containing ten apple-spiced muffins, freshly baked at Sugarcube Corner, hours earlier, there was now only the snowy ground and the roots of the tree. Twilight grinned. Now she would soon know who was behind everything.

She closed her eyes and was pointing her horn at the ground where the box was, activated it and the air around it took on a green color. Slowly, the magical aura that was surrounding it was invading her horn until it was fully absorbed by it. Twilight's eyes shot open and emanated a bright, green light. A picture began to manifest itself in her mind.

The first thing she could see was the pony's head. No horn. Not a unicorn. The picture continued to steadily build itself up. The neck. The chest. The forelegs. The back. The wings. Definitely a pegasus.

The rest of the pony's body got manifested in Twilight's mind and as the mane, the tail and the eyes were added, the colors of the pony appeared and made the picture complete.

Grey coat. Blonde mane and tail. And crossed eyes.

Now there was no doubt anymore. Twilight had found out who had taken the muffins. She knew who the pony was that was blackmailing Rainbow Dash. It was time to bring it to an end.

Twilight stood at the center of Sugarcube Corner. Her eyes wandered over the ponies that were present.

Rainbow Dash. Derpy Hooves. And all of their friends. As witnesses for the reveal she would make today. She was surprised to see Scootaloo at Rainbow Dash's side, but she didn't mind. She had not asked her to come. Scootaloo probably just went along with Rainbow Dash when she told her about everything. But it was fine. One more witness could not hurt.

“The reason why I have asked you to come today is because Rainbow Dash informed me the day before that a pony, who claims to know what she did in the weather factory five days ago, was blackmailing and threatening her”, Twilight began to explain why they were here today. A murmur went through the small crowd of ponies that were gathered in the bakery.

Twilight walked over to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, please give me the letter that you received today.”

Rainbow Dash did as she was told, her hooves shaking.

Twilight went back to the center of the bakery where everypony could see her the best. “This is the last threatening letter that Rainbow Dash got. It was delivered to her today.” She cleared her throat. Then she began to read the letter to the audience.

“You made another mistake. I have told you to not talk to anypony about it. I have seen the alicorn that you sent to bring the muffins from yesterday. I have not allowed you to assign another pony with this task. My patience has almost run out. If you make a third mistake, our deal is over and everypony will find out how you destroyed the weather factory. You should take this warning very seriously. Today I want ten muffins with diamond dust frosting. Bring them to the same place at the same time. No mistakes this time. You know that the stakes are high for you.”

More murmurs could be heard while Twilight was reading. Especially from Rarity. She shuddered when she heard her favourite kind of muffins mentioned.

Twilight continued. “As you can hear, the situation is very serious. Somepony knows what Rainbow Dash did and this pony seems to have the strong intention to turn Rainbow Dash in if she makes another 'mistake'. But I found out who this pony is.” She did a look at Rainbow Dash. Her face was anything but calm. A huge display of nervousness and anxiety was gracing it. “Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. This will soon be over”, she assured her.

The alicorn turned her attention to the whole audience again. “After Rainbow Dash came to me yesterday, I was buying the demanded muffins myself and placed them behind the big tree that accomodates the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse to find out who is behind everything. I was casting a spell around the box that scanned the pony who came to get the box and stored this information. I now know who it was and she is here with us.”

Instead of pointing to the culprit, Twilight activated her horn and projected the picture that was built in her mind yesterday into the air. The picture of Derpy appeared over the heads of all the ponies present and they gasped in shock. The eyes of the grey pegasus mare shrunk. Twilight looked across the room into her direction. “We know that it was you, Derpy. You sent Rainbow Dash these letters”, she said with a serious tone.

The shock over the sudden reveal was written all over Derpy's face. She could barely produce a word. “I-I”. She let her head hang, a guilty expression on her face. “I'm sorry” was the only thing she could say.

“Why have you done it, Derpy?”, Twilight asked her. “I always thought you are Rainbow Dash's friend.”

But the wall-eyed mare didn't answer. She just sat there, her eyes closed, some tears beginning to stream out of them.

Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash. The mare was eyeing Derpy and clenched her teeth. Her face showed a strange expression, something between nervousness and compassion. Scootaloo's eyes widened.

“Derpy, you–“

“No! It was me!”, Scootaloo bursted out suddenly, interrupting Rainbow Dash at the beginning of her sentence.

Twilight spun around. “What? Scootaloo? You? But, how?” The alicorn mare was now completely baffled. This just didn't fit to what she had found out.

All the eyes in the room were fixated on Scootaloo now. Even Derpy had opened her's and looked at the little pegasus.

“It's true”, Scootaloo confirmed. “Derpy has sent the letters to Rainbow Dash and she was writing them too. And she was also picking up the muffins every day. But it was all my idea! I wanted to spend more time with Rainbow Dash, but every time I asked her, she avoided me and said that she has something else to do. I asked Derpy for help to get Rainbow Dash to spend more time with me and so we made this plan. I knew where Rainbow Dash had to bring the muffins and when she had to deliver them, because Derpy told me what she had written into the letters and so I showed up every time when Rainbow Dash came with the muffins to meet her.”

Scootaloo paused for a moment and breathed in. “It was not Derpy's fault. She didn't even want to do it at first. But I kept asking her for help and then she said she felt bad for me and agreed. Please don't blame her! All of it was really just my fault.” Now it was Scootaloo who let her head hang with a guilty expression.

Twilight looked at Derpy again. “Is this true?”

The mare didn't answer at first. She looked at Scootaloo, then at Rainbow Dash, who was looking down at the filly at her side, her mouth wide open and her eyes expressing surprise like she had never seen it with any other pony before, then back to Scootaloo. She nodded slowly and turned her face towards Twilight. “Yes, it's true. Scootaloo and me were working together. We never wanted to harm Rainbow Dash. And we don't have any photos of how she destroyed the weather factory. I only know about it because Scootaloo had told me.”

Twilight sighed relieved. “Fine. Then we have finally gotten to the bottom of this. But all of it could have been easier.” She turned to Scootaloo again, who was still hanging her head. “Why have you never asked Rainbow Dash directly about it why she's avoiding you? You could have talked with her about it. That would have been better than creating such a big hoax.”

Scootaloo opened her eyes again and was rubbing away some tears that had started to appear in them. “I know. B-But I was afraid Rainbow Dash would told me that she just doesn't want to spend time with me like two sisters do. That's why I didn't ask her.” She sniffed.

Before Twilight could say something else, Rainbow Dash took the word. “You can't blame Scootaloo either. It's right what she says. I was really avoiding her. On purpose. I never had a little sister and I don't really know how to act as one. That's why I was always turning her down when she asked me to do something together or to accompany her. I'm just not used to be a big sister.”

Twilight's face took on a more gentle expression. “Well, I guess all three of you” – She let her eyes wander over Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Derpy – “have learned something today.”

The three pegasi just nodded silently, all three of them out of words now.

“I think”, Twilight continued, “it's best for all of you to go home now and think about what happened. But two of you should stay together for the rest of the day.” She gave Rainbow Dash a stern expression.

The cyan pegasus understood. She looked at Scootaloo again. “Come, champ! I think there's a lot we have to talk about and a lot we have to catch up on!” She ruffled through her mane to underline her words, then she slid off of the chair she was sitting on and waited until Scootaloo had done the same.

Scootaloo's face was still wet with tears, but a slight smile flashed over her lips now.

The mare that was now finally ready to be her big sister put a hoof around Scootaloo's shoulders and then they went out, closely followed by Derpy and the other ponies that were in the small bakery.

It was almost dark outside as Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash returned on this day. As Rainbow Dash had silently promised, she spent the whole rest of the day with Scootaloo together. And she was determined to keep it that way.

Now both of them were tired from all the fun they had today, but they couldn't be happier after the time they had spent together. And now a sleepover at Rainbow Dash's house should give this day the perfect end for Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash opened the door of her house and both of them walked in slowly, the door falling shut behind them. “That was really an exciting day today”, Rainbow Dash said as they were inside. “Especially the beginning of it. I feel really exhausted after all of this!”

Scootaloo answered with a yawn and then nodded weakly. “Yeah. But I'm really glad that everything happened like that. Now we can finally spend more time together and that even without everypony finding out about the secret that embarrasses you so much.”

“Yeah, me too”, Rainbow Dash agreed. “But, you know”, her face took on a slightly red color, “I wouldn't have needed it that you and Derpy lied for me.”

Scootaloo looked into her eyes, her expression a combination of surprise and cheekiness. “So you were not missing Tank so much that you wanted to spend more time with me instead? And you were not afraid that anypony could find out, because it was embarrassing to you that you felt so lonely without Tank, so that you made up the whole plan with the letters to being able to meet me by 'coincidence'?” She put a lot of emphasis on the last word in her sentence.

“Well, yes”, Rainbow Dash answered. “I were. But only a little. And I was about to tell everypony after Derpy confessed. You were just faster than me. If you wouldn't have taken the blame for me, I would have explained everything.”

“Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure”, Scootaloo answered in an ironic tone and stretched the word as long as possible. Then she rolled her eyes playfully in a way that Rainbow Dash could see it.

“Hey, is somepony questioning my competence as the Element of Loyalty here?” Rainbow Dash frowned at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo didn't answer. She just gave her a cheeky grin. But Rainbow Dash understood.

“I see. That's how it is. Looks like somepony also needs a little punishment here.”

She approached Scootaloo, wearing a grin on her own face now, and before the pegasus filly could escape, she was pinned down by her big sister who started to tickle her.

Scootaloo didn't last long. “Ok, ok, I give up! I give up!”, she bursted out in-between her laughs after just a few seconds. “You're the best! The most loyal pony that exists!”

“That sounds better!”, Rainbow Dash stopped tickling her and let her find her breath again.

As Scootaloo had recovered from Rainbow Dash's tickle attack, their eyes met. Silently, they exchanged a high-hoof, then they broke out in laughter together.

In the meanwhile, the sun had casted it's last rays over Rainbow Dash's house and disappeared behind the horizon completely, letting end the first day they had truly spent together as sisters.....