Chapters Cool Down
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both arrived at Dash's cloud home after a long, exhausting day of flight training. They started walking to the door, and Scoots gently nuzzled Dash's neck.
"Thanks again, sis! That was intense! With training like that, I'll be doing sonic rainbooms all day long!" Scootaloo's wing muscles were still burning, but in a good way. At least, that's what she told herself.
Rainbow Dash laughed a gentle laugh at her adoptive sister's high spirits as they entered their home. "Yeah, well, just don't get too ahead of yourself. Your hover time is improving, but we need to actually get you moving through the air soon. Once that happens, then we'll talk about your daring dives through the clouds." She ruffled Scootaloo's hair and went into the kitchen.
She was rummaging through the fridge, taking her time as she let the cool air brush against her face. However, that sparked a bit of a reminder to her. "Hey, Scoots, don't forget to take that ice bath like I told you. You need to relax your muscles after a workout like that. Trust me, you'll thank me in the morning."
"Aww, but Rainbow Dash, it's always so cold! Besides, I don't ever see you doing it!"
Rainbow Dash deadpanned, "Duh, it's ice. I think it was made to be cold. Besides kid, I do mine when I work out on my own time. Now, march your little butt up to the tub and I'll be up there with some ice in a few minutes. I'm gonna eat first."
Scootaloo hung her head, and started walking toward the stairs. That is, until a little devious idea popped into her head. "Okay, you win. I'll do exactly what you told me to."
Rainbow Dash casually reached for a loaf of bread, smiling at Scootaloo's words. "Glad you're finally starting to listen. And no running off to your room again! Otherwise I'll have to yank you out from under your bed by your tail like I did last time."
Scootaloo made a beeline straight for Rainbow Dash's bathroom. Their cloud house had two bathrooms: one for Scootaloo, and one for Dash. This way, they could both take their time without rushing one another. Scootaloo went up to the bathtub just like her sister commanded, but Rainbow failed to mention which one she had to use. She quickly grabbed a towel from the closet, and hopped in.
Once in, she turned the knobs just to the right spot, letting the hot water trickle all over her aching body. She relaxed with a sigh and just let the water beat on her back for a while.
Rainbow Dash finished eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She burped loudly and sank into her chair, while sleep threatened to take her away. It didn't last long though - she snapped awake when she remembered Scootaloo. She scurried into the kitchen and got a bucket out from under the sink, and brought it to the freezer. She started to shovel ice into it, but stopped whenever she smelled something.
It was Lilacs.
"Wait...I'm not in the shower...what the?" As she realized what happened, she dropped the bucket, gritting her teeth and swearing under her breath, "Scoots, when I get up there, I'm gonna..." She stopped dead in her tracks though, as a brilliant idea popped into her head. Tapping her hoof to her chin, she thought out loud, "I'm gonna teach you a little lesson today..." She went to the sink, grabbed a cup and filled it quickly with water. She then raced quietly up the stairs to her bathroom. She could still smell the shampoo and it's matching conditioner being used. "Ugh, I hope she doesn't tell anypony about my girly shower stuff..."
Scootaloo was massaging her scalp with the floral shampoo. What is this stuff? 'Lilac Breeze'. I'm totally remembering this. I never knew Rainbow Dash could be so girly. Hehe, Wait till Rarity hears about this one... She started to hum to herself, thinking about the sweet feel of victory.
Rarely does victory come without a price, however. Rainbow Dash moved stealthily into her bathroom, quietly molding the clouds around the shower curtain using some water from the cup she had. Think you can outsmart the best prankster in all of Equestria, do you? Think you're smarter than your own big sister? We'll just see about that, now won't we? The added moisture made the clouds into a sticky material, almost like a vapor-cement. It wouldn't last long though, so Dash had to act fast. With one quick swoop, she quickly turned the cold water on to full blast, and the hot water completely off at the same time. Then, she finished her patch job with the cup of water, and sat quietly on the toilet bowl cover for the expected response:
"AAAAHHHHHH! COOOOLLLLLDDDDD!!!!!!!
Rainbow Dash lost all composure at that point. She had never heard Scootaloo scream at that particular octave. Rainbow was laughing, snickering, and gasping for air all at the same time. There was even a snort or two snuck in there. "Hey, Scoots, I guess you don't have to take that ice bath today! That'll teach you to mess with me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" If she saw the this-water-is-so-cold dance that Scootaloo was doing in the shower, she would have probably died from laughing too hard.
Scootaloo tried her best to rip the curtain open, but to no avail as it was stuck in place. "Dash! Oh my gosh, what did you DO?!"
"Tough luck kid! This is sealed shut for at least another three minutes! Just do me a favor, okay? Try and enjoy yourself? Hahahaha!"
Scootaloo was shivering more than she ever did in the winter time. All that time she took balancing the "hot" and "cold" knobs in the shower was wasted! Light shed at the end of the tunnel though; the cloud-cement wore off, and Scootaloo jumped out. She glared daggers at her sister who was still laughing and giggling. "Hey, Squirt, you realize you could have just turned it off while you were in there, right?"
Scootaloo's expression dropped at the sudden realization. She was still standing wide-eyed and frozen in place, (quite literally), as Rainbow Dash drooped a towel over her sister's head. "Dinner's on in a half hour. You know, after I get my shower." She gently scooted her little sister out of the bathroom, and proceeded to take her own shower. Scootaloo was standing in the hallway still dripping, when she smiled deviously.
"Oh, it's on!"
Author's Note
Just a short little tid-bit I came up with. I've been taking cold showers lately because it's really healthy for you, and I felt inspired. I may follow this up, I'm not too sure. I hope you enjoy and God bless!
All was quiet on Saturday. Scootaloo was enjoying some time home from school reading a comic book, while Dash was at work pulling some overtime to help pay the bills. It had been less than a week since the ice bath incident, and she was still trying to figure out a way to get back at Dash for what she did. She knew deep down somewhere that it was her fault. Still, Rainbow Dash had a price to pay.
She fiddled with the pages lamely and started to stretch them in her hooves, noticing that the paper would stretch just a little bit before tearing. Hmm...something stretchy could be fun. But what would she use that could be stretchy for a prank? Elastic bands? No, that was too kiddish. She decided to go to the kitchen and make a sandwich as brain food. Maybe then her gears would turn a little easier.
She got some fresh daisies from the fridge and some wheat bread. She carefully placed the flowers on the bread and spread some jelly on top for some extra flavor. She then got out some saran wrap from the drawer and pulled it, tearing it along the sharp blade and covering the daisies up to put them back in the fridge. Huh. The saran wrap was stretchier than the pages on her book. She looked down at the saran wrap again, suddenly bursting with an idea. This prank was either going to wind up with Scootaloo getting grounded for life, or murdered in her sleep. But that was simply a risk she'd have to take.
Rainbow Dash hated working Saturdays. The cloud shipments just seemed to keep coming in, which meant no rest for the weary Dash. Her wings were burning, she was sweating bullets, and for some reason other pegasi kept bumping into her for no apparent reason. Plus, to top it all off, the hot sun on top of it was killing her. It was one thing to be on the ground working, because then one would have the shade of an occasional tree or cloud to rest under for a moment. But when you were working in the middle of the sky, in full blast of the sun's rays, there was no rest. So, on top of straining her body to almost maximum capacity to pull and push heavy clouds about, she was feeling rather thirsty by break time.
When her break came, she flew faster than a shooting star to the lemonade stand. It was a humble little stand in the sky, made of some enchanted clouds held together to make a nice little area for the hard working pegasi to wind down and enjoy a cool beverage. Rainbow Dash was among the first there, gulping down ridiculous amounts of lemonade and demanding more. Thunderlane was watching in awe, but realized that she needed someone to stop her. "Uh, Rainbow Dash - I mean, boss? I uh, I think you need to kind of chill on the lemonade. You may regret it since there's not another break for the next four hours."
Rainbow Dash didn't say a word in reply. She merely paused from her drinking to look at him with that evil eye girls are notorious for giving the opposite sex. Fluttershy had some competition in the stare department this time.
He quickly fumbled once he saw her stare, and scampered off to find something to do far away from his extremely dehydrated boss. As he left, Rainbow finished her third pitcher of lemonade, and, feeling refreshed, went back to work.
That was the mistake of a lifetime! Why didn't anyone tell her that there wasn't anymore breaks for the next four hours of her shift?! All she knew was that she needed a toilet, and fast. It was as if her bladder was a ticking time bomb, and even the slightest motion her body so much as thought about making just made the seconds tick faster. She was crossing her hind legs in horror and flying over ponyville in record speeds toward her humble abode in the sky.
Scootaloo emerged from the bathroom, grinning as she just made sure the final touches were put in place for her ingenious, if not purely evil prank. It was then that Rainbow Dash threw the front door to her house open in a wide-eyed panic. "SCOOTS! Are you in the bathroom at all?!"
Scootaloo just cocked her head in confusion. "Uh, no, sis. I'm right here."
Rainbow Dash looked embarassed as she realized that her sister was right in front of her. "Oh. Okay. Well, make way, because I gotta go!" She flew through the house, desperate to relieve herself like she had never done before.
Scootaloo grinned.
Rainbow dash slammed the door shut on her cloud bathroom. It didn't make a loud sound, just a firm thud. She lifted up the toilet seat cover, but failed to notice what was awaiting her. She sat down, and began to let her body do its thing. However, something went horribly wrong horribly fast. She noticed that when she began to pee, there was not the satisfying sound of water hitting water, but there was more of a dull spraying sound. She looked down in shock and confusion, and saw that her urine was now forming a loose puddle underneath her, and running off the edges of the toilet onto the floor. In a panic, she tried to use her hoof to punch a hole through the see-through barrier, and wound up succeeding - only to have her hoof drenched in pee. She just sat there, peed, and stared at her hoof.
Her ear flicked.
She then began to think of all the wonderful times her and Scootaloo shared together. How many times they had laughed together, went camping together, and talked about life together.
Then, she began to think of all the different items she could use to kill Scootaloo with.
Scooatloo was flipping through another one of her comic books in her room, when she heard it -
SCOOTALOOOOOOO! YOU'RE GOING DOWN! DO YOU HEAR ME? YOUR ASS IS GRASS, AND I'M THE LAWNMOWER!
That wasn't good. Rainbow Dash never really swore, (at least not around Scootaloo). But, when she did, that usually meant that Scoots was in deep.
And, somehow, Scootaloo had a hunch on what it was about.
Rainbow Dash had washed herself down. Actually, she had taken a quick shower after cleaning up her little accident in the bathroom. She marched proudly up the stairs with an odd calm about her, knowing what kind of anguish she was about to throw down on her little beloved adopted sibling.
However, she realized that anguish was going to have to wait for a while. This kind of hell to pay required thorough planning and deep thought. This made her frown a little, knowing she wouldn't be able to exact her revenge for a week. But, she smiled, knowing it would be totally worth it. She came to Scootaloo's room and took a deep breath.
Phase one: psychological warfare.
She opened the door to find Scootaloo cowering in the corner. "Oh, hey Squirt. Whatcha doin'?"
Scootaloo was immediately confused, as she didn't expect this kind of calm from Rainbow Dash. "Uh, heh, nothing much, sis. Uh, I'm sorry about that prank. I was just trying to get you back for last week! I didn't mean to make you mad! Can you ever forgive me?" Scootaloo put on her best puppy-dog eyes. She figured that if she played the cute innocent sister card, she might bring her sentencing down to a mere 40 years of grounding instead of her whole life.
Rainbow just smiled. "Oh, is that what that was? Wow, you sure got me! I never saw that coming! Say, Scoots, hows about you and I go camping next weekend? Weather's gonna be great, and it'll be in the middle of the woods!" Where no one will hear you scream
Dash smirked at that thought.
Scootaloo was thrown off by that last statement. "Uh, isn't camping always in the woods?"
"Heh, it's obvious as to why you're one of the best in your class. So, whadda ya say? Wanna spend some time with your big sis?"
Scootaloo knew something was up. Rainbow Dash was never this nice to her without a reason behind it. Okay, she usually was, but not after a legendary prank like that one. Although, she seemed kind of genuine, could she have forgiven Scootaloo? She was the element of loyalty after all, so that meant she was loyal enough to forgive Scootaloo.
Right?
"Uh, sure. Sounds great! Uh, you want me to let Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle know? Maybe they could come with us?"
Who knows, she might need them around to watch her back.
"Oh no, I want this to just be the two of us. Ya know, sisterly bonding and such." Nice try, Scoots.
Scootaloo smiled at that thought. She sure did love spending time with Rainbow Dash..."Okay, sounds great!"
Rainbow Dash just smiled, and nodded her head. "Great! Dinner will be ready in a few hours, why don't you go ahead and wash up now, and I'll meet you down in the kitchen, and we can hang out for a few."
"Okay sis, be down in a bit! " With that, Dash closed the door, and smiled evilly.
"Oh, you may have gotten me back today, Squirt. But next weekend, I claim my ultimate prize."
Author's Note
What do you guys think will happen next weekend?
Best Served Cold
“Scoots! You packing up your room or something? Come on, we’re burnin’ daylight here!”
Rainbow Dash tapped her front hoof on the floor of her cloud home, with her packed bag sitting next to her. This was the weekend she had been plotting for, and she finally got the chance coming to her to pull off what she thought would be the greatest prank ever. She smirked at the thought of what Scootaloo’s face would be after the payback was given. Her face fell a little though when she thought about what she was going to do to her sister. Was she going too far?
No, putting plastic wrap on the toilet seat was too far.
She put on her sunglasses.
This was justice.
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash walked down the forest trail, taking in the scenery around them. They laughed at the various stories that Scootaloo had remembered from her times with the Crusaders, and let the sounds of bugs buzzing and birds chirping fill their ears.
Dusk had settled by the time the two sisters found their campsite. Dash and Scootaloo had put up the tent, and Scootaloo volunteered to get firewood.
Rainbow took the opportunity to quip Scootaloo, “Just try not to run into any headless ponies on the way, kay squirt? I’m to tired to save your sorry butt if you do.”
Scootaloo smirked, “Yeah? Well who said I’d need your help, anyway?”
“Heh, looks like I’m finally rubbing off on ya!” Rainbow ruffled Scootaloo’s mane. “Now, go get some wood. I’m starting to get chilly, and the night’s just getting started!”
Scootaloo nodded, and skipped off into the woods. Rainbow Dash was quick, as Scootaloo wouldn’t be gone for too long.
She reached into her bag, and pulled out some ingredients for s’mores. She had graham crackers, marshmallows, and finally, two bars of chocolate. One had an “X” marked on the wrapper - that one was for Scootaloo.
Dash smiled deviously as she got the supplies ready. Her ears perked at the sound of Scootaloo returning, and was relieved when she saw the large bundle of wood on her sister’s back.
“I hope this is enough for now, if we need more I can always go get some.” Scootaloo panted slightly, the weight of the wood was a little more than she first estimated.
“That’s fine for now. Here, lemme get the fire started.” Rainbow rubbed two sticks together, and ignited the wood pile. Rainbow had a thought, and smiled. “Man, all that walking and fire starting is kinda making me a little hungry. Feel like eating something?” She leaned in a little towards Scootaloo’s direction.
“Sure! What do we have to eat?”
“Well, I bummed some stuff off of Pinkie Pie, so I guess we’re having s’mores for dinner!”
Scootaloo’s eyes lit up. “Woo! I haven’t had those in ages! Can I make them? Pretty please?”
Rainbow shrugged, “Sure, why not?” With that, she got the supplies together and made sure to give Scootaloo the proper candy bar.
Scootaloo grabbed the bar of chocolate from Rainbow’s hooves. She was about to tear it open, when something caught her eye. She turned the bar towards the light of the fire, examining it more closely. She saw an “X” marked on the side with the nutritional information on it, and looked back to Rainbow Dash. She was leaning over looking for something in her bag. Scootaloo figured this would be her only shot; she looked at her sister’s bar of chocolate, and saw that there were no additional markings on it. She blinked, then grinned. In the blink of an eye, she swapped her chocolate with Rainbow Dash’s.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo laid sprawled out under the stars. Various comets and constellations made themselves visible in the vibrant night sky, and stars twinkled as the sisters talked about various things.
Rainbow Dash had just got done telling Scootaloo about her time in middle school, hoping that some of her fillyhood stories would give Scootaloo something to hold onto. However, something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She felt a low rumbling in her stomach. Problem was, it wasn’t supposed to be her stomach that felt the rumbles. She sat up and looked over to Scootaloo with a raised brow. “So uh...how ya feelin’, squirt? You feeling alright?”
Scootaloo looked back at her sister and stammered a little. “Uh...yeah, I suppose. Are you alright? I mean, we’ve had some pretty deep conversations.”
Rainbow shook her head, “No no no, I mean, like, physically. Are you feeling okay? How’s your stomach?”
“My stomach?”
“Yeah. Like, are those s’mores sitting okay? That was a lot of chocolate, right? Just wanna make sure you don’t have a belly ache.”
Scootaloo paused. “I uh...I suppose?” Something was going on. Why was Rainbow Dash so concerned?
Then it clicked. The marked bar, the stomach problems, it all clicked! Scootaloo’s eyes went wide, and a grin appeared on her face. “Rainbow, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Rainbow started to sweat. “Uh, yeah. Hehe, never better! I’m always in peak physical condition!” Just as she finished that statement, she jumped to her hooves. A loud noise then emitted from her stomach; one that actually managed to echo slightly.
Scootaloo could barely contain her laughter. “Oh, okay.” She paused for a second, forming a wicked idea in her mind. She started her words slowly, savoring them like a piece of candy. “Then you wouldn’t mind a spontaneous wrestling match?”
Rainbow’s pupils dilated to pinpricks. “Uh...ya know, now that you mention it, I’m actually feeling kinda...tired! Yeah! Tired! I’m feeling tired!” She smirked at her lie, but it was short lived.
Scootaloo wasn’t buying it. She licked her lips, steadied her stance, and charged the pegasus in front of her.
She even let out a battle cry.
Rainbow Dash barely had time to think. “Scootaloo, wait!”
The next morning, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash walked back to where their cloud house was. Rainbow Dash’s blush still hadn't’ disappeared, and Scootaloo was silent as the grave. She gulped, and tried to initiate a conversation. “So, uh...you okay, big sister whom I love ever so much?”
Rainbow Dash responded without adjusting her line of sight. “I’m fine.”
Scootaloo nodded, and kept walking. “So uh...laxatives, huh? That uh...that would have been a good prank. Ya know, if it had been me who exploded and not uh...not you.” She finished her sentence with a chuckle.
Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched.
Scootaloo continued, “So...should we call it a truce?”
“Yep.”
Scootaloo smiled, “Hey, just think of all the funny stories we’ll have to tell, right?”
Rainbow stopped walking. She turned to Scootaloo, and leant down so she could look her dead in the eye. “We will never speak of this. Ever. Got me?”
Scootaloo gulped at hearing the darkness in her older sister’s voice. “Y-yes.”
Rainbow squinted at Scootaloo, “Good.” The two continued their walk in momentary silence, until Rainbow spoke up again. “What do you want for dinner?”
They both agreed to a treaty for their prank warfare: from now on, all pranks must be able to be cleaned up within five minutes or less, and no bodily fluids must be involved in any way, shape, or form.
The End
Author's Note
I hope you guys enjoyed this little story. It was super fun writing it!
