"Haha! Heh, I can't wait for tonight! It's gonna be so awesome! Especially with you there, Dash!" came the enthusiastic voice of a young filly, bouncing at the waist of a teenage mare. The mare in question bore a mane and tail of shimmering colors, and a body of bright sky blue. Even on the colorful streets of Ponyville she stuck out like a sore thumb. But despite her vibrancy, her physical excitement left quite a bit to be desired.
In comparison, the young tangerine filly was bursting with so much emotion that one might mistake her for a relative of Pinkie Pie.
"Seriously, kiddo, it's nothing that incredible. It's just a sleepover. You and your friends already had one with Fluttershy that one time, didn't you? With the Cocka...the Cocka...you know, that thing that turned Fluttershy's chicken to stone."
Scootaloo skipped merrily around the cobblestone road, sometimes circling the older pegasus, other times going off behind her, in front of her, or off to the side.
"Not incredible? This is going to be the first time we've all hung out together!" Scootaloo explained, coming to a normal paced walk along-side the weather pony and glancing up at her, eyes shimmering with admiration. "And, pfft, that was cool and all with that Cockatrice and Fluttershy's stare, but having you there is going to make this sleepover even cooler than that!"
"Heh, well, I suppose you're right, kid." Rainbow Dash chuckled with a smirk, accepting the free fan praise and roughly pushing a hoof down onto Scootaloo's head. After dealing a few quick noogies, the filly's mane was rendered a frizzy mess. It did nothing but make Scootaloo grin.
"Any sleepover with even a sprinkle of Dash has a pretty good chance of being significantly cool." Dash continued, turning her attention back to the road in front of her.
The two pegasi trotted over one of the many curved bridges scattered throughout the town. For someone like Rainbow Dash, walking around on hoof almost felt...unnatural. Her wings had always been her second pair of legs, and she used them to float about in the air most of the time. But ever since she had started playing 'big sister' for the squirt, she found herself trotting along on the ground whenever the filly was with her. No friends had badgered her into it though, like one might guess. She guessed it just made more sense for now, since the pony still couldn't fly yet.
That reminded her. One of these days she'd have to get the kid to fly. Oh a joy that was going to be.
"Rainbow Dash, are you even listening to me?"
The rainbow pony's mind snapped back to the present, and with it her awareness of where they were. She came to an abrupt stop just outside a large decorated building. Though it possessed no sign, it was more than obvious by the pony dress stands located through the windows, and the elegant pony craftsmanship all along the building's exterior that the building was a boutique.
Dash felt a hoof poke her side, and it made her wing twitch. Scootaloo was burrowing into her aloof sister with a confused stare.
"Didn't you hear me a minute ago?" the filly pressed, getting notably more irked that the silly weather pony wasn't paying attention.
"Hear what, pipsqueak?" Dash responded absently, purple eyes traveling over the building as she casually approached it. She rapped on the front door with a hoof, and only moments later, the sound of two voices from inside rang out pleasantly. One was full of sophistication, while the other was the squeaky voice of a filly.
"Oh, dear. Um, coming! Sweetie, would you be a dear and get the door? My hooves are full."
"I bet it's Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash!"
The sound of trotting was followed by the decorated front door swinging open. Standing there in the doorway was a small marshmallow pony. Sweetie Belle gleamed at the two pegasi with bright green eyes.
"I was right! It is Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash!" Sweetie exclaimed with another high-pitched voice crack, beckoning them inside. As soon as Dash took four steps through the door, the smell of fabrics and freshly washed clothes whisked by her nose, making her wrinkle it.
"Oh hello, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo." a distraught and completely distracted Rarity said over her shoulder, tending to another of her 'fabulous creations' under the sewing machine. "I wasn't expecting to see you come by so early. If I had known, I'd have dealt with these orders a bit earlier."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Dash said unconvincingly. "I kinda wanted to get my weather duties over with sooner, today..." the blue pegasus felt two small hooves pull up a body atop her back. Scootaloo turned onto her side and put her hooves behind her head, using the back of Dash's neck as a pillow, grinning all the while. The weather pony cocked an eyebrow and snorted a little. "Or, more correctly, somepony wouldn't stop yammering in my ear this morning about the sleepover, so I got up way earlier than usual, and got bored. You still don't mind watching after her, do you?"
"Of course not, dear," Rarity assured, flipping her twisting mane out of her face and smiling. "Her and Sweetie can play together until I've finished the rest of my orders. Then we'll meet up with you over at Sweet Apple Acres like we planned, right?"
"Right. Sounds good. Alright squirt, the Awesomeness Express is leaving, and this is your stop."
Dash promptly sat on her haunches, and Scootaloo went tumbling to the boutique floor. Landing upside-down, the tiny pony's fluffy purple tail landed on her face, causing Scootaloo to huffily blow it out of her eyes.
"See you fillies later! And don't cause Rarity any trouble, kid, or else you'll be answering to me!" Dash yelled, giving the orange pony and her marshmallow friend a wink just before bursting out the open doorway. Scootaloo could feel her mane fly in the wind created from the vacuum of air.
"Whoa!" Sweetie squeaked, running over to the door and closing it after the azure pegasus, cutting off what was left of the breeze. She turned to grin at her friend. "It must be really cool to have Rainbow Dash as your big sister, huh Scootaloo?"
"Yeah, it sure is! She's super cool! I haven't had to use my scooter for anything but trick practicing for a week, cause Rainbow Dash let's me ride on her back everywhere! She's totally the best big sister ever!...hehe, uhh, no offense, Rarity."
The fashion pony simply giggled and turned away from her work station once more, sighing in relief in having finally completed another order. Whilst wrapping it up she eyed Scootaloo's excited expression. The filly's purple tail flicked periodically in content.
"Think nothing of it, dear. I'm just as thrilled as you are that Rainbow Dash is proving to have what it takes to be a good sister. Goodness knows I wasn't the greatest sister to start off with. Not until Applejack gave me some tips. But you seem happier than can be, so I'm assuming she's doing just fine on her own. Now, why don't you two run along now and play; we'll be heading out as soon as I've finished and packed away my things."
The two fillies hopped off into another room, leaving the sewing machine to drone loudly in the otherwise silent room as it stitched together dresses. But it didn't bother the fashion pony in the least. She had far too many important things to think about.
"Oh, will it be chilly outside? Perhaps I should bring a scarf. Oh, but which scarf? I wore my lovely lavender scarf that goes with my mane last week for Twilight's dinner party, so that's out of the question. Oh, perhaps my autumn orange scarf, it's lovely and has the softest touch. Hmm, so many choices, so little time to make them, hmhmhm." Rarity amused to herself.
"Let's build a fort out of pillows and chairs!" Sweetie broached with a squeak, coming to a screeching halt in front of Rarity's dining room table and eying it's chairs with ovalish, excited eyes. Scootaloo gave her a strange look, walking in casually behind her.
"Building forts? What kind of lame cutie mark would that be?"
"Well...maybe building pretend forts means you'd be good at building real forts!"
"Huh...alright then, even if Apple Bloom isn't here with us, there's no harm in trying!"
The two ponies each looked up towards the ceiling to allow their lungs the most air possible, before they yelled, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FORT BUILDERS, YEAH!"
--
"Mmmm..."
The old pony's ancient eyes observed her granddaughter's cheeky smile keenly. Though her legs wobbly and her hip bad, the eldest Apple Family member had the eyes of a hawk. Or, so she'd tell you if you ever asked her. Most of the time she could barely make out things ten feet in front of her.
"Now ya'll ar' sure you can handle things alone?" Granny Smith asked for what had to be the fourteenth time in the past eight minutes.
"Sure as the day is long, Granny Smith." Applejack replied firmly, her bright smile highlighted by her cute freckles.
"An' ah'm here too, Granny!" piped in Apple Bloom, barely over half her sister's height without her bow tie. "Ah can keep an eye on AJ while you n' Big Macintosh r' gone! Make sure she doesn' mess anythin' up too bad!"
"Heh, oh, now ah'm the one who needs a pony to look after her?" Applejack teased, firmly planting one hoof around the filly and pulling her in for a squeeze. "Last ah checked sugarcube, ah was the one bailin' your flank outta that overturned apple cart you took fer a joyride."
Apple Bloom giggled childishly and squirmed in the embrace. "Hehehe, ah told ya ah could handle it!"
"Well now Applejack, ah trust ya," Granny Smith said with her classic soft smile. "Yer brother n' me'll be gone fer just a day or two. Once yer Uncle Apple Strudel n' I finish our two day vacation tour of the all the sights n' such there is to see in Fillydelphia, we'll be high-tailin' it back quicker than a jack-rabbit in a tortoise race."
The old green pony hugged her twin granddaughters, and turned to slowly make her way down the main dirt road of Sweet Apple Acres. Before Big Macintosh could follow suit, his sister stepped to his side, lending his ear.
"A hella' lotta thanks fer takin' Granny away to visit Uncle Apple Strudel for a couple days, big brother. Ya'll know how anxious she gets when the Crusaders are bouncin' round the farm like Pinkie Pie after she's eaten one too many sweets."
"Eeeyup."
"Ya'll called Uncle Apple Strudel n' let him know you' n' Granny'd be comin' for a two day visit for a city tour, right?"
"Eeeyup."
"You packed all yer things, right? Didn't forget any of Granny's medication, yer map or yer toothbrush?"
"Nnnope."
"Alright. Well, I'll be seein' ya when ya get back. Love ya, Big Macintosh."
The stallion received a hug from both his sisters, before he trailed along behind after Granny Smith, who in this entire time only made it one fourth down the main road.
Applejack and Apple Bloom waved and called after them as they left, and didn't leave from their spots until after the red and green ponies had vanished completely from sight. Applejack let out a deep sigh, and smiled down at the filly next to her.
"Alright sugarcube, ah'm gonna need yer help fixin' up the house a bit before Rainbow n' Rarity get here. Let's get that done now so we don't have ta worry bout' it.'"
She nodded her head back up the road to the tall red farm house that stood at it's peak. As AJ began to trot off in that direction, Apple Bloom cocked her eyebrow and ran after her.
"Fixin' up the place? But since when do you care bout' impressions' and all that stuff?" the filly asked, trotting alongside her sister and making her way through the yard's white arch fence.
"Ah don't. But Rarity does, and the last thing ah wanna hear tonight is how 'uncooth' our house is, from her."
--
"Ugh, come on Rainbow, focus on your work!" the azure pegasus ordered herself, eyes scrunched and brows furrowed. She placed her front hooves on a particularly puffy cloud and began to fly it off to another section of the sky. The wind flowing through her mane remained the same, but the adrenaline and happiness she usually felt when flying was no longer there.
Or, rather, something of more importance was blocking her ability to enjoy it.
While she flew, all Rainbow's mind had room for was Scootaloo. Scootaloo, and that night that lead to what became the biggest decision of her life. Images popped up into her mind in rapid succession. Fluttershy's worried face, her own unsure face, and the face of a sad and hopeless filly becoming happy and filled with joy.
"Oh, but Rainbow Dash, she was living by herself!" a butter colored pony expressed with a pair of overly sympathetic eyes. "In that cold clubhouse with nopony to look after her...Angel and I were going to intervene and come ask her why she was alone, but she fell asleep, and I didn't want to disturb her."
Rainbow Dash continued through her routinely morning stretching exercises, listening to the butter pony talk to her while she sat on Dash's couch. Next to her, a white rabbit sat on the cushion with his arms crossed.
"Okay? Well, that's awful to hear Fluttershy, and, I feel for the kid, but, what do you expect me to do?" the weather pony asked, tossing her mane back and out of her face as she went down for some wing ups.
"Well, maybe you could offer her a place to stay for a while," Fluttershy began, instantaneously getting an 'are you crazy?' look from the blue pony. "Oh please, Rainbow Dash, fillies don't belong by themselves like that! She must be oh so scared, oh, and really sad, too..."
"I have a full work schedule that takes up all my time, Fluttershy." Dash said plainly. "And all the time I'm not pushing clouds, I'm spending time with you guys, or practicing moves. I mean...I really don't have the time to babysit a filly. Or the patience, for that matter."
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy scolded rather suddenly, causing Dash to jump and fall onto her side with a grunt. "That poor pony looks up to you. She follows you around on her little scooter all day long, and she only wishes she could be like you. Now, I've known you for a long time, and I'm sorry, wait, no, I'm not sorry when I say I know you're not nearly as busy as you say you are. I think the very least you could do is offer her a warm, welcoming place to stay at night."
Dash laid on her left ear and stared at her fillyhood friend with big, surprised eyes. The silence killed Fluttershy's outburst, and she squeaked weakly, retreating behind a throw pillow.
"Um...I-I mean, if you're really too busy m-maybe she could stay with me and Angel for a while, instead..."
Dash got up onto her hooves again and stretched out her back, sighing and looking at the Element of Kindness with a pleading expression. Geez, ever since that darn assertiveness training with that bull guy, Fluttershy sure could scold a pony...
"Probably gonna regret this, but, fine. Seeing as how the squirt's got nopony else to look after her, guess I'll give it a shot. I'll go find the kid first thing tonight. But only for a little bit, okay? I am NOT gonna play babysitter all the time."
Dash shook her head as the scene came to a close, and the vast sky of puffy clouds rushing towards her came into focus once again.
Boy, that promise sure didn't last long.
What, two whole weeks later and now everypony in town knew Dash was practically the fillies' long lost big sister. All the 'awwww's' Dash got from other mares when they saw Scootaloo bump noses with the rainbow pony as a greeting after Scootaloo got out of school each day made the tomboy's inner pride shrivel.
But what could she say? The bucking kid grew on her.
And...she was doing a good job so far, right?
She knew the kid thought so, at least.
...
But what did that even mean in the end, anyway? The filly was a laughter track waiting to be set on play at even the smallest jokes Dash made, and she practically spent all her time at Dash's side when she wasn't with her friends. Hell, Scootaloo had actually turned down Crusading a couple times for an opportunity to do something with Dash for an afternoon.
Pfft, the kid's worshiped me from day one. She'd probably love me no matter what kind of sister I was.
The puffy clouds got stacked and placed appropriately across the sky, but Rainbow was running off auto-piloted muscle memory at this point. Her usually cocky, completely overconfident expression was solemn and hard in thought. She kept getting the same questions over and over again. They buzzed around in her head like ravenous parasprites, and no matter how she looked at it, that little voice in the back of her head kept bugging her.
Am I doing things right?
What if I can't handle this sister thing, after all?
...Am I even cut out for this stuff?
Amidst her thoughts, Rainbow let out a loud, boastful laugh.
"Bwhaha! The heck is my problem, anyway? The squirt loves me, and my friends think I'm doing fine. Best flier in Equestria? Easy peasy. Best sister in Equestria? No sweat. I bet I'll even show up Applejack from how good I can be! Seriously, Rainbow, you've got nothing to worry about."
She wished the mild, nervous tickling feeling in her belly would go away.
