The train had barely arrived in Ponyville when Flash Sentry bolted out as fast as he could. He then quickly took to the air, flying for his destination as fast as he could.
He’d still couldn’t believe he’d missed the big day.
He continued to fly through the air, skillfully dodging any pegasi who were in his way. In spite of his speed, he managed to avoid crashing into any objects floating in the sky, whether they were clouds or ponies. Finally, he saw the house in the distance, and he began to slow down.
Even though he was more excited than he had been in years, he managed to maintain a calm and collected exterior as he raised his hoof to knock on the door.
For a brief moment, he waited with bated breath. Then, the door opened to reveal an orange pegasus filly. Though she seemed confused at first, her face quickly widened into a huge smile.
“Flash!”
The yellow stallion had just a second of warning before Scootaloo tackled him, wrapping her arms around him for the first time in months.
“I can’t believe you’re here!”
Flash smiled as he hugged his little sister back.
“I can’t believe it either, Scootie. You wouldn’t believe how hard I had to beg for them to let me get off for just a couple days.”
The two siblings hugged each other for a moment, before Flash spoke up.
“So, I got your letter, and I just had to come see for myself! I mean, I can’t believe you finally got your cutie mark!”
Scootaloo grinned, and then turned around to give her brother a good look.
“Check it out!”
Flash gasped as he finally got a good look at Scootaloo’s cutie mark: a tri-colored shield with a wing and a thunderbolt in the center.
“It’s so cool, isn’t it?”
Flash didn’t answer. He simply wrapped his hooves around Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug. As he did, a few tears began to roll down his eyes.
“Flash? Are you crying?”
“No!” Flash said quickly. “It’s liquid pride. Totally different.”
Scootaloo smirked as she pulled herself out.
“Yeah. Totally different.”
Flash chuckled, though his smile quickly faded away. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.
“Flash? What’s wrong?”
The orange stallion sighed as he looked away.
“Do you remember how we always hung out when you were little?”
“Well, of course!” Scootaloo replied enthusiastically. “You and I did everything together! We never had any fights, and we shared all our hopes and dreams!”
Flash chuckled at his sister's enthusiasm. However, it was quickly replaced with a look of sadness.
“Yeah, we did. But now we hardly ever see each other anymore. I'm a high-ranking guard in the Crystal Empire, and you're still learning how to fly. I'm on my way to achieving all my goals, but you… you're still nowhere near that.”
Scootaloo looked worriedly at her brother as he looked downwards.
“It feels like I'm leaving you behind.”
As he finished, Flash sighed sadly and closed his eyes. True, many of his hopes and dreams were closer than ever. But was any of it worthwhile? He hardly ever got to see his sister, and his duties kept him so busy that he often didn't even have time to write to her.
What was the point of accomplishing anything if he couldn't share it with her?
“No you're not.”
Flash looked back up in surprise. He saw Scootaloo looking at him with a determined smile.
“What do you mean I'm not?”
“Just because you're not spending time with me like you used to doesn't mean you're leaving me behind, Flash. In fact, I'm glad you're accomplishing all your goals, because it means that I can do the same with mine.”
For a moment, Flash didn't answer. He simply stared at his little sister in awe.
“That’s… amazing, Scootie!” he said finally. “And I'm so glad you're fulfilling your goals at the same time as me!”
“I know, right?” Scootaloo said happily. “Just you wait! I'm going to learn how to fly, join the Wonderbolts, and help fillies and colts everywhere find their cutie marks along the way!”
Flash smiled as his little sister continued to discuss the many plans she had for the future. He was amazed at how much more determined she was now that she had finally found her true calling. And he felt so happy to see her joy.
However, even with all the joy, there was still one tiny nagging feeling in the back of his head.
“Scootie… what if we forget each other?”
Scootaloo stopped talking and looked back towards her brother.
“You really think we'll forget about each other?” she asked incredulously. “You really think I could forget the best big brother in all of Equestria?”
Flash chuckled. “Well, maybe not the best… and you never know. I might become so focused that I forget to visit you, or even write back home! And then if you do come back, you're going to be all angry at me for not caring about you, and it'll open a big difference between us, and we'll end up hating each other foreve-”
Before Flash could continue, Scootaloo shoved her hoof into his face.
“Calm down, Flash. You're starting to sound like Princess Twilight.”
Flash's face went red with embarrassment, and he looked downwards.
“Sorry.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, then walked up to her brother.
“Take a look at my cutie mark, Flash.”
Flash stared at her in confusion. “Why? I saw it already.”
“Look at it again,” Scootaloo insisted.
With a sigh, Flash turned his gaze towards his sister's flank. He saw the shield once again, though he couldn't see what was so special about it.
“Um, yeah,” he said. “It's a shield with a lightning bolt in it.”
“A shield with a lightning bolt,” Scootaloo repeated. “Now, who else has a shield with a lightning bolt on their flank?”
For a moment, Flash stared at her in confusion. However, he then gasped in realization, and turned towards his own flank, which was adorned with a blue shield with a lightning bolt.
“I… I never thought about it that way,” he said. “But now that you mention it, that's amazing!”
Scootaloo grinned as Flash turned back between the two cutie marks. “See? Even if we don't do everything, we still have a lot in common.”
As she said raised a stray thought entered Flash's mind. “So, what does your shield symbolize?”
Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer, only to close it again. She then raised her hoof to her temple as she tried to think about what her shield meant.
“I don't know,” she said finally. “My friends both have the same shield on their cutie marks, so I think it's something we all have in common.”
“You're the agents of the shield, then?”
The two siblings laughed together for a moment, before Flash remembered something he'd read in Scootaloo’s letter.
“Didn't you say you got your cutie marks when you helped some filly figure out the real meaning of her cutie mark?”
Scootaloo’s face quickly brightened up. “On yeah! When Diamond Tiara figured out what she was supposed to do with her talent, we realized that we were really good at helping ponies find their purpose! And that's when we got our marks!”
Flash scratched his chin at this. He then grinned in understanding.
“Well, of course you'd have a shield. You're good at helping other ponies.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “I thought shields meant protecting other ponies from danger.”
“Well, usually they do,” explained Flash. “But protecting ponies can take many forms, Scootie. Even if you aren't defending Equestria from danger, you can protect them from things like peer pressure, bullies, or-”
“Abusive parents who won't let you express your true personality?” Scootaloo suggested, causing Flash to remember another detail from his sister's letter.
“Exactly! And besides, even if all that weren't true, you'd still be preventing a whole lot of fillies from getting stuck in tree sap over and over again.”
At this, both siblings laughed together and continued for a while.
“So,” Scootaloo said once they had calmed down a bit. “The shield we both have show how we help other ponies. But what about the lightning bolt?”
Flash took another look at his sister's mark, then turned back to his. “Well, I got my mark when I realized that I was really fast, and that I could use that speed to help other ponies. So I guess my lightning bolt represents how I fly as fast as I can in order to be present for whatever emergency crops up.”
Scootaloo scratched her chin as she thought about what Flash had just said. She then thought about what she did better than the other two crusaders. Her eyes then widened as a smile took over her face.
“Well, whenever the crusaders need somepony to go extra-super fast, I’m their go-to filly! With my scooter skills, I can get them to and from any place in the blink of an eye!”
Flash laughed. “So, you keep things going fast?”
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “After all, the faster we get things done, the faster we can get to doing important things, like trying to find cutie marks. Only now they won’t be our cutie marks we’re looking for…”
“But the cutie marks of other fillies and colts,” concluded Flash.
The two pegasi smiled at each other in silence, both contemplating what they had just shared.
“You know,” said Scootaloo, “the funny thing is, I didn't even notice how much my cutie mark looks like yours at first. After all, my friends also had similar cutie marks, and we were so excited about how we were all connected that I never thought about how mine could connect me to you.”
“Huh,” said Flash. “I guess if my friends and I all got our curie marks together, and had them all share a single unifying theme, I guess it would take me a while to look at how ponies outside that group influenced my own mark.”
Scootaloo looked down at her brother's cutie mark, and then back towards her own. She then looked up to Flash and smiled.
“And you know what, Flash? Even if we're apart, you can always remember me by the shields we share.”
At that moment, a huge grin spread over Flash's face, and he wrapped his arms around Scootaloo and hugged her tightly. The little orange pegasus smiled and pulled out her own arms to hug him as well.
The tender moment of bonding was then abruptly broken when a sudden thought came to Scootaloo.
“Of course, my cutie mark has a wing too, which yours doesn't have. So obviously I'm going to be better at flying than you.”
Flash immediately pushed his mischievous sister out of his embrace.
“Oh, in your dreams!” he said in his most dismissive voice.
“The cutie marks don't lie, my dear brother,” Scootaloo retorted in as smug a tone as she could achieve. “If you're so much better at flying, then where's the wing on your cutie mark?”
Scootaloo smirked at her brother, only for the grin to vanish once he wrapped an arm around her.
“Oh, there's one thing you'll never beat me,” Flash said. “Noogies!”
“Nooooo!” Scootaloo laughed as her brother began to fiercely rub his hoof against her head.
“You asked for this, Scootie!”
“No I did not!”
The two pegasus siblings continued to laugh together as they wrestled playfully.
Author's Note
Seriously, though. Look at those cutie marks. There must be some kind of connection... right?
