Chapter 1. The dreams.
“Any last words?” The Scarlet coated Rainbow Dash Said through angrily gritted teeth.
“You. Have. Beautiful. Eyes.” Scootaloo said through the sadness and pain in her voice.
And everything went dark.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!” Scootaloo awoke with a scream and sat up. While panting from her horrendous nightmare, she realized the had wet the bed out of pure terror. “Scoots! What is it!” Rainbow shouted, flying so fast upstairs to help her little sister she almost caused a rainboom. “Scootaloo, are you ok?” Rainbow said, concern practically dripping from her mouth. She landed next to the terrified filly, locking her into a tight loving embrace. “I. I.” Scootaloo said through pants, still scared from her nightmare. “H-Had the w-worst dream e-e…” Scootaloo took a deep breath in to somewhat calm herself down. “I had a terrible nightmare about failing my flight test.” Scootaloo said, almost bursting into tears. Even the thought of her dream was scary.
“Scoots, it’ll all be fine. I’m here now, and your safe. Forever and always, as long as we’re sisters.” Rainbow said reassuringly. “Do, do you want to talk about it?” Scootaloo looked at her clock.
3:47 am.
“Not right now. I’d,” Scootaloo trailed off, looking for the right words. She never realized how fast Rainbow made her calm down. “I’d like to try and get a little s-sleep. Maybe on the way to school tomorrow?” Scootaloo said with a yawn. She never figured herself as a morning pony, and her voice felt rough enough as it was from her scream.
Scootaloo layed back down in her bed. The urine, having cooled, gave her a slightly odd comfort, but she decided to change her bed sheets to keep clean. The though of sleeping like that grossed her out. She changed from her simple plaid sheets to her old Wonderbolt ones, then climbed back into her bed, threw the covers over her, layed her head down on her pillow, closed her eyes, and blacked out.
She woke up later, her sleep dreamless, and looked at the clock.
7:42
She had time to sleep I an extra 15-ish minutes, but decided to get up earlier, and shower. As she finished, she noticed the mirror. I had to be her imagination, but it looked like it said “Don’t trust the rainbow.” She finished up, got out, ate a breakfast of: cereal, milk, and an orange. And decided to show rainbow dash the mysterious note.
“Hey, Dash?”
“Hey kiddo, ready for your flight test today?”
Scootaloo felt the colour drain from her face. “Wha-What?!” Scootaloo stammered out.
“Look Squirt, I.” Rainbow trailed off, most likely looking for the right words. She must have known she was about to enter a touchy area for Scootaloo. “I know you don’t want to because of your dream, but,” She trailed off again. “But you can’t let a bad dream take you away from what you want in life. You’d be surprised by how many times I’ve had bad dreams about flying.” Rainbow walked from behind the kitchen island and stopped next to Scootaloo, Dash pulled her into another loving embrace. “Besides, I know you can do it. I believe in you. And with what I taught you, you physically CAN’T FAIL.” Rainbow Dash said, confidently, and putting emphasis on the ‘can’t fail’ part. She genuinely believed in her little sister.
“Now squirt, you had a question?”
Scootaloo looked at the clock, 8:15, and decided not to tell her about the note.
“Oh, uh, what time are we leaving?”
Rainbow looked at the clock. “We should leave in five, that enough time for you?”
“Yep.” Scooaloo replied, hiding the fear in her voice. She wasn’t sure how today was going to go. She was nervous, ‘but it was just a dream. That can’t mean anything, right? I mean, it’s not like the rainbow factory is real or anything, right?’ Scootaloo thought, concerned.
It was time to leave. She looked to Rainbow Dash and smiled. The two mares started on their way. They were only a 7-minute flight away from the academy, so they knew they would make it.
As Scootaloo took off, something didn’t quite feel right. She brushed it off as just a feeling. Nothing more.
As they landed at the academy Scootaloo thought It was time to ask her older sister.
“H-Hey Dash, how are rainbows made?” Scootaloo asked, internally petrified of the answer to come.
“I. Don’t actually know. I’ve never seen how, so I can’t say. But now that you mention it, I’ve never even seen supplies brought in.” Rainbow thought for a moment. “I might have to talk to my boss about that. It’ll be fun trying to find her though.” Rainbow concluded. Something in her tone made Scootaloo think that Rainbow didn’t really like her boss. Whoever she was.
Scootaloo walked through the doors of the academy with Rainbow, the two of them taking in the scenery. She looked to Rainbow, “I love you sis, see you after school.” Scootaloo said to rainbow, locking her in an embrace. As Scootaloo begrudgingly let go and turned around, she saw another note, this time on a board. ‘There is no gold at the end of a rainbow...’ She stopped, and read it over again. ‘There is no gold at the end of a rainbow…’ ‘What does that even fucking mean?’ Scootaloo thought, ‘And what’s with the three dots after it?’ She walked to her class, completely lost in thought, and completely oblivious to whatever it was that Rainbow Dash called to her.
She got to her class, sat down, and plopped her head down on her desk.
“Mornin’, Scoots” Scootaloo looked up, and saw Orion.
“Hey Orion, what’s up?” Scootaloo said with a big yawn. She never realised how bad her sleep was. She would probably have to start taking melatonin at night to help her sleep.
“You ready for the test?”
“Fuck no, I wanna nap.”
“Dear Celestia, what’s got you up so late?”
“Nightmares of failing this.” Scootaloo said with another yawn, and a small shudder.
“Oh cut the crap, you’ve been training with one of, if not the, best flyer in EQUESTRIA! There’s no way you can fail!”
“I know, it’s just, it was worse than just that. It was...” Scootaloo paused, and licked her lips. “It was just, wrong. In every way possible, it was just wrong.”
“Oh, I see.” Orion smirked “You’re just chicken. It’s ok, I understa-” Orion was cut off by Scootaloo, who’s face alone said ‘Don’t fuck with me, bitch.’
“Don’t EVER fucking call me that AGAIN!” Scootaloo said. Orion usually called her names, as did she to him, but he crossed a line with calling her that.
“O-Okay Scoots, come on, lets go do our tests.”
As Scootaloo and Orion walk out the door, on their way to the testing area, Scootaloo’s wings itch, almost like they’re telling her not to do the test at all, it was almost like they were telling her to ditch school, like there’s nothing good will happen.
“Hey, Orion, do your wings itch, or is it just me?”
“Itching as in what? Itching as in wanting to get this test over with, or what?”
“Itching as in,” Scootaloo trailed off, looking for he right words.
“Itching as in, this isn’t a good idea, itching as in, we need to get out of here. ASAP.”
“Huh, no. I’m just itching to get this over with.” Orion said with impatience in his tone, He did want to get this over with, but he and Scootaloo had completely different attitudes towards this test. He was eager to get this over with, whereas she was petrified, not wanting to do this at all.
Scootaloo was lost in thought, Orion must have noticed this because he was completely silent, unlike his usual talkative self. How polite. For once.
Orion tapped Scootaloo on the shoulder, “We’re there Scoot. Scoots?”
Scootaloo was completely zoned out so she didn’t hear Orion and walked into the door.
“Fucking Tartarus! Who put that damn door there?”
“You zoned out, I tried to warn you.” Orion said with a small chuckle.
“Fucking shake me next time! That hurt.” Scootaloo said, realizing that it really did hurt.
Scootaloo and Orion walked through the door, Scootaloo making it through this time, and made their way to the arena/coliseum where they were to take their tests. They were some of the last ponies to arrive for the testing. Scootaloo looked around, looking for Aurora.
‘If she’s not here, my dream CAN’T come true.” Scootaloo thought, still looking for the green maned mare.
“FIVE MINUTES ‘TILL TESTING!” A loud voice boomed. It was the instructor.
Those five minutes felt like hours, they also felt like they blinked by. The instructor listed off all the rules: Don’t fly too far this way, stay in the judges’ sight, Blah blah blah. Scootaloo knew the spiel by now. She had it memorized by now, seeing as Rainbow kept telling her the rules, along with stories about fillies failing because of it
“Aurora Dawn!” The instructor called.
No response. Scootaloo thought she was in the clear.
“Final call for Aurora Dawn!” The instructor called. There was a shuffling in the crowd, and a familiar green mane was in front of the crowd. Scootaloo felt herself go white for the second time today.
‘Shit, she’s here.’ Scootaloo thought in a panic. She didn’t want her to fail. She needed her to make it though. Then they could become friends, like in her dream. But without the tragic ending.
“Sorry I’m late. Slept in. Clear, fly, fall, complete. Right?”
The instructor nodded and stepped aside for Aurora to pass.
Scootaloo watched as Aurora did everything she needed to do. She Cleared, and She flew. All that was left was the fall. Scootaloo braced for what was going to happen.
‘She’s going to make it.’ Scootaloo thought, knowing that this was going to be her future friend.
Aurora closed her wings for the three seconds needed. And opened them. All that was heard was a loud hollow snap. Scootaloo watched as the green and yellow fell to the cloud floor, accompanied with a third colour. Blood red.
“No.” Scootaloo said softly, looking at the judges. Three hooves, pointing down.
She felt Orion shifting uneasily next to her.
The instructor called the next pony in line for their test.
Scootaloo felt herself go liquid inside.
“No one is helping her.” Orion said, gritting his teeth.
“Oh no. Th-This can’t be happening” Scootaloo said. Her voice barley audible, even to herself from the shock.
She forced herself to watch everyone else complete their test.
“Orion Solstice.” The instructor called.
“No.” Orion said defiantly.
“Orion, do it.” Scootaloo said louder than she expected. Orion looked at her shocked at her outburst.
“Please, for me.” She said softer, looking at him pleadingly.
Orion said nothing and took off towards Aurora. He landed next to her and said something. But Scootaloo couldn’t hear it. All she could hear was a ringing as she fell to the side.
And everything went black.
Author's Note
WOOO
Took about a week to get this damn thing out.
I think it went well, but tell me what you think.