She lost. My hero lost. I couldn’t believe it. She was the fastest pony in all Equestria and she lost. My heart pounded and my chest heaved. I could feel my heart in my throat and my stomach dropped at the same time. I walked towards her on shaky legs.
“R-rainbow Dash?”
The hero sat on the ground heaving and sweating. I could smell the salt and tears from the effort. There was a look of utter disbelief in her eyes. Then she stared at me and thought I saw a tear. Those eyes were haunted and small.
“Scootaloo, I-I gave it my all,” she croaked. “I couldn’t catch her. I can’t believe it. How? How did she get so fast?”
I didn’t know what to say. I looked over at the victor. Derpy was prancing around shouting with the rest of the crowd like it wasn’t her that won. She had taken those goggles off that Doctor Whooves made her. She said they helped her see but how did she get so fast?
“Rainbow I..”
“Don’t say it!” cried the defeated champion. Tears were starting to fall from her face unchecked. Even her mane dropped. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry! I’m the sorry one. I let everypony down. I let you down. I…I just need to be left alone!”
The pegasus leapt into the air where I couldn’t follow. A gust of wind hit me in the face and filled my mouth with dust. I tried to call out but I was blinded by a rainbow streak as she fled. She flew away!
I couldn’t help it. My jaw fell open and my flanks hit the dirt. The world around me spun. Ponies cheered but I didn’t notice. I’ve never seen Rainbow like that. Ever. Not even when she thought I liked the Wash Outs more than her.
The fuzziness remained until a hoof touched my shoulder. I knew who it was without looking and felt another hoof on the other side. My friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“It’s ok, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said behind me. “She’ll bounce back. She always does.”
“Yeah. Rainbow Dash always bounces back,” Applebloom assured. “She’ll probably just do more training or something.”
“I hope so. But she lost Applebloom. She lost to Derpy.” The words coming out of my mouth sounded so foreign that they felt like a different language. “What the heck is a muffincloud blast? How could it be faster than a sonic rainboom?”
“How did it make all the clouds muffin shaped?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked at the white puffy muffins that filled the sky. “They kind of look delicious.”
“Not now Sweetie Belle.” Applebloom’s tone was hushed but harsh. I could still hear. I don’t know why she bothered. “Can’t you see Scootaloo’s upset?”
“I’m not!” The shake in my voice and tear in my eye betrayed me. “I’m just worried about Rainbow Dash. Derpy must have cheated or used magic or something.”
“Derpy? Cheating?” Sweetie and Applebloom glanced at each other in disbelief. Then looked at the bewildered mare as she found out she won.
“Yeah, there is no way that pegasus could beat Rainbow Dash in a fair race. She’s never been that fast before!”
“Well she umm couldn’t see well before,” Applebloom reasoned. Why were they defending her? This was Rainbow Dash. Their friend. My hero. How could they not want to find out the truth?
“Since when does seeing better make you faster?” I knew I was right. I had to prove it. Rainbow Dash was the fastest pony in all Equestria. She just was. “We have to investigate!”
“Investigate a race?” Sweetie asked. Her face looked more concerned than curious. I wanted to shout at her. I’m not crazy. This was some trick. I knew it.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Applebloom was thinking. That was a good sign. She always came up with the best plans. “We could ask around. See if any pony saw anything fishy before the race.”
“I can get us detective hats from my sister’s shop!”
Sweetie was always one for costumes. I knew we didn’t need them but agreed because I needed all the Crusader might to solve this.
“I’m going to sneak around and take a good look at these goggles. Just seems suspicious how they increased her speed like that.” It had to be. It just had to.
The Crusaders nodded to each other then to me. I knew we would crack this case.
I found myself weaving through the crowd. Each happy smile made me madder. They were celebrating a cheater. Didn’t they know how much it hurt Rainbow Dash? But I pushed through. I knew Rainbow would feel a lot better when we found out how she lost.
I just had to get to Derpy without being spotted. I knew how to sneak. It was one of the benefits of being small.
I crawled my way to the center of the crowd. I could see Derpy shaking hooves like she deserved it. My blood boiled and my face burned. That silly filly should know better than to mess with Rainbow Dash.
Suddenly a pair of hooves grabbed my sides. I’ve been found! They lifted me into the air and put me on their shoulders.
“There you go, little filly,” a low gruff voice said. “Now you can see better. I’ll get you closer to Derpy.”
The dark earth pony under me began making his way through the crowd with me on his shoulders. I tried to squirm but it felt wrong to fight somepony “helping” you.
“Hey! Miss Derpy, I found you a little fan.” The stallion said.
My cheeks reddened. I wasn’t sure if I was embarrassed or just mad. That liar. She saw me coming and hugged me.
“Thanks little pegasus,” her stupid voice said to me. “But I really didn’t do much. Just flew.”
That big fat liar. She’s acting like it was no big deal. Of course it seemed easy for her. When you cheat. All the magic did the hard stuff.
I tried to get closer to the goggles on her head. I wasn’t sure how I could tell if it had magic in it but if I just touched it maybe I would feel the magic. Were they glowing? No it was just the light.
I reached my hoof out to touch them. Just one touch would let me know what they did. I could feel my muscles strain and burn. My shoulder started to ache from the elevation but I pushed past it.
“Can I help you?” Derpy asked innocently. She stared at me with one of her eyes. The other pointed at the sky it seemed. She slightly shook her head and both eyes focused on me. “Do you want something?”
My face burned again. My mouth went dry. My outstretched hoof started to shake. How dare she be so nice. Those eyes looked so innocent and kind of vacant. I felt my resolve start to falter. But I had to know.
“What did you do?”
“Oh I umm flew and then I landed here and everypony was happy to see me.” Derpy said it like it was no big deal. Like she didn’t just beat the fastest pony ever. Like she didn’t break my hero’s heart and hurt me.
“What did you do?! How did you do it?!”
Derpy’s face fell and the crowd began to move away from my fury. I could feel tears starting to form. They trickled down my cheeks.
Derpy bit her lower lip. “Did I do something bad?” Her ears fell and her eyes got wetter.
“Can I please see your goggles?”
Derpy nodded and gave them to me with no hesitation. I held them in my hooves and felt no difference. I didn’t feel any magic in them at all. How did it work? Was there a button on the side or something?
“Did you want to try them out?” Derpy asked with no fear at all.
I could still feel the liquid frustration run down my face. I nodded and the gentle pegasus placed the goggles on my face. I immediately got a headache. The view was so skewed I could barely tell where the ground and sky was. How did she win with these? What did she do?
“I’m getting kind of dizzy,” I said out loud. Suddenly the sky, ground confusion was blocked by a large brown blob.
“Of course you are, my little filly,” a stallion's voice exclaimed. “Your eyes are normal. Derpy has severe problems with hers. This merely corrects them.”
“And that’s all?” I tried to sound more accusing but it came off more pleading. I didn’t want to hear the answer I knew was coming.
“That is all,” the stallion echoed. I felt my stomach fill with pain. It felt like my heart was breaking. I was breathing fast. Too fast.
“Oh dear, are you alright?” Derpy’s voice cut through the pain. She was a nice pony. A good pony. She wouldn’t cheat. She just knew how to fly. She didn’t even know that she did it. There was no magic.
“No.” I said softly as I pulled the goggles of disappointment off. “No I’m not. My hero is hurt. She’s in pain and I don’t know what to do.”
Two sets of hooves wrapped around me. Derpy and the stallion’s. “Doc can fix it! He can fix anything.” Derpy cooed. “Right Doc?”
“I’m afraid I can’t. But maybe her friends can,” Doc Whooves pointed his hoof at the parting crowd. The group of ponies walking towards me were just shadows. I wiped the tear made veil from my eyes and realized it was just Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s friends. If anypony could help her they could.
“Scootaloo,” Princess Twilight called,” there you are. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom said you were upset.”
I tried to put a brave face on for them. I know Rainbow was only a pony. But it just didn’t seem right. How could she not be the fastest? She trained all the time. My ears slumped and my lip quivered. I didn’t want to look like a cry filly but it was so hard to hold in the hurt.
“Oooh come here Scootaloo,” Twilight said with a gentle face. She pulled me into an embrace. She was so soft and a little thicker than I remembered. Not the muscle covered goddess of the sky like Rainbow Dash was.
“I know this is hard for you, to see your hero fall but no pony can be the best all the time. There will always be some pony better.” The kind words of wisdom calmed me a little but when I thought about how Rainbow felt my body tensed and I wanted to throw up.
“So every pony loses?” I knew she was right but I needed to hear it. I needed to know it was ok.
“There is always some pony better.”
“Even than you?”
Twilight’s eye twitched and she squeezed a little harder for a second. “Yes. I’m sure one day Starlight and Sunburst will know more about magic than I do. There are ponies that know more about friendship that I learn from all the time. And I’m the Princess of Friendship.”
“I guess that makes sense.” I felt like a foal still. So much to really soak in. Rainbow wasn’t immortal. But it was just something I never thought of before. I hoped that Rainbow did. “So will you cheer her up?”
Twilight shook her head with a sad smile. Then looked at me. “No. I don’t think she needs a friend right now. I think she needs a sister.”
“But Rainbow Dash doesn’t have a sister! She’s an only foal.”
“She doesn’t?” Twilight raised an inquisitive eyebrow. She did that when I should know the answer to something. I knew everything about Rainbow Dash. I was like her little… oh.
“Me?!”
“You’ve been by her side, cheering her on like a little sister for years.”
“But I can’t cheer her up! I think I’m just as sad as her.”
Twilight snickered a little bit and patted my head. “I think she needs that. She doesn’t need somepony to cheer her up. She suffered a big blow. But I think somepony that feels just as bad as her will actually make her feel better. She won’t be alone. You two can console each other. Like sisters do.”
“But but does that help? Just being sad together?” I couldn’t understand it. Why would anypony want to be sad? Why wouldn’t they want to cheer Dash up?
“Yes. Sometimes sharing sadness is the best thing you can do..for family,” Twilight said solemnly. There was a look in her eye that she knew this first hoof. I wanted to ask her but I decided not to press.
“C’mon, I’ll take you to her house.” Twilight took off the ground and grabbed me by my middle. I watched the ground as it began to shrink from me.
My hooves brushed cloud and a longing filled me. This was what I was meant to do. Soar through the skies. Touch the clouds and dive at the ground. The wind wiped across my face, drying my tears.
I spread my little wings and felt the feathers hit the breeze. They shifted and adjusted to the air like they were supposed to. It felt so good. Like a muscle that hadn’t been stretched in a long time. I thought I was going to tear up and miss the entire flight.
The sun, the clouds, the wind all felt so natural. Like a home I had never been to. Or visited in a long time. I saw Rainbow Dash’s large cloud built home rushing to meet us. The flight would be over. And I had to talk to my hero on her worst day.
My wings retracted as Twilight touched down. She was huffing and puffing. Sweat trickled down her royal brow. “Are you ok?” I asked tentatively. I hoped she didn’t pass out. I didn’t know how to help.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just …need to exercise more. Too many hayburgers I guess. You’re growing up so fast. Probably getting stronger. That’s probably it,” the Princess nodded to herself. Then pushed me a little closer to Rainbow Dash’s door. “You have a sister mission so don’t worry about me or potential heart attacks and things like that. I’ll be outside when you need me, not dying at all.”
I slowly walked up to larger than life doors. I expected wailing or screaming inside. But I heard nothing. It was eerily quiet. I lifted my hoof to knock but remembered what Twilight said. Rainbow needed a sister not a fan.
I took a shaky breath and pushed open the door. What I saw shook me to my core. It wasn’t horrifying exactly but it was something I never expected to see. Rainbow Dash lay on her couch in a robe with one or two empty pints of ice cream around her. She stared at my entrance with tear soaked eyes and a spoon in her mouth. Her mouth was covered in chocolate and her mane was matted from rolling around on the couch.
“Rainbow Dash?” I knew it was her but it was so far from what I knew her to be I couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh. Heya Scoots,” she said, spitting the spoon out of her mouth and trying to hide the empty containers. “This ice cream was just about to go bad and I didn’t want to waste it.”
“Rainbow…it’s ok.”
“No really! I was just, you know, cleaning out the fridge.”
I nodded as I walked in close to her. My heart ached. My throat had a knot in it. My ears dropped and my tail dragged the ground. My stomach had butterflies.
“Scoots?” Rainbow’s facade dropped and pain started to enter her voice. “Scoots I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok,” I tried to say. It came out in a harsh whisper. I made it to the couch but Rainbow became a big blur. A big watery figure reaching out its blobby forehooves at me.
“I tried! I really did! I gave it all I had!” The blur cried in a hoarse voice.
“I know.”
“All I could see was that yellow tail ahead of me. The faster I went the further it got!”
I hugged Rainbow. It was all I could think of to do. The tears ran down my face and I could see her again. I could feel her soak into my mane.
“I guess I let you down huh.” The pegasus released her grip on me and looked me in the eyes. They were more sympathetic than I had ever seen. “Some hero. I couldn’t even win against Derpy.”
“I was never about winning,” I said without even realizing how true that was. “You never gave up. You never stopped trying to be better. And you encouraged everypony to be like that.”
“But now all those ponies will turn to Derpy. They won’t look at me at all. They crowded around her and didn’t even notice I left!”
“Rainbow.. you know you don’t need them right?” It was something I had always wondered about. Rainbow Dash always seemed to feel the need to show off. I loved it like any other pony in the beginning but as I got to know her it felt more like she was trying too hard for it.
The depressed mare sighed. “I think I do. I need that feeling of being the best. I need to be the best. Otherwise I’m just a regular pony. Speed is my thing. That's all I have.”
“That’s not true, Dash!” It felt weird calling her Dash. But a sister would.
“It is true. Most ponies see me as dumb jock. Sometimes I’m even a jerk. But when I’m fast, they can look past that. They can be proud of me.”
“We are. Everypony I know is proud of you. Me, your friends, your parents.”
“My parents are proud of everything!” She sighed. “It feels different when they do it. Like, it’s my parents, they have to do it. If ponies don’t know you cheer you on it means more. It’s like I’m important enough for even strangers to care.”
I never thought about it like that. I just thought she was awesome. But here she was really herself. Not a hero. Not a winner. Just Rainbow Dash.
“Well, huh, I don’t think I’m going cheer up today, Scoots,” the normal pegasus sighed. “Thanks for coming over to see me. It means a lot.”
“I’m not here to cheer you up.” I could hear the words Twilight spoke to me earlier. Sure they had impressed me and made sense. But would Rainbow see it that way? Could she seek me as more of a sister than a fan?
“Oh?”
“I’m here to be with you and help you feel better. Something about consoling or something. You don’t have to be cheery. You just have to be you.”
Rainbow looked at me shocked and then her face slowly relaxed. “You don’t know what Twilight was talking about do you?”
I gasped. She knew. She knew this was Twilight’s idea. I didn’t know what to say. What was I supposed to say?
“Ha ha. It’s ok Scoots. Twilight is pretty smart. She knows what she’s doing. So what were you supposed to say or do?”
“Nothing really. Just be here. Be sad with you. Be…a sister.” I bit my lower lip. It was an awkward line. It felt almost like I told her I liked her or something. But that’s not what it was. It was different than that. It was like being her equal or something. Being in on the in crowd.
Rainbow just stared at me for a while. Just quietly stared, mulling over what I said. Or thinking of something else. I couldn’t tell. Finally she said,'' Do you want some ice cream? I have a few pints left.``
“Yeah,” I said. It wasn’t my normal excited voice. It was a feeling of shared disappointment. The pegasus brought me a pint of ice cream and a spoon. She had a new one for herself. And we spent the night eating ice cream and being bummed. Like sisters.
