Dominant Ideal

"Y... yeah." answered the, by now, very nervous pegasus.

"But uhh... because you didn't let me tie your wings you gotta ask me to do it."

"Do what?"

"You know. You gotta ask me to punish you. And tell me why."

"Do I really have to? It seems kinda silly..." Scootaloo tried to smile at the thought. It felt really silly. What did it even matter if she asked it or not?

"Yeah. Big Sis tells you to."

"Okay... err... Big Sis... would you... that is..." For some reason the words refused to come out.

"Well?"

"I... don't wanna say it."

"It's just a few words. You hafta say it."

"Big Sis... would you... please... Sweetie don't make me say it!" Scootaloo didn't know what was stopping her. It just felt so... wrong. Like admitting that she'd actually done something bad. Like... if she said it, it wouldn't be a game anymore, but real.

"Do it!"

"But... but if I... doesn't that mean it'd be a real punishment then? And not just... you know... us playing around?"

"Scootaloo... " Sweetie sat next to her friend on the table and gently stroked the bound pony's mane. "That's the whole point. I think you actually did something wrong, and now you're gonna get punished for it."

"But... I just said I don't wanna eat carrots."

"No that's not the point. You said you didn't eat anything cos you didn't like it. And I know it's wrong to say that about food and so do you. Didn't Miss Cheerilee say that we should be thankful for all the food we get cos some ponies can't even get food and go hungry all the time?"

"She did, yeah. But I didn't think it was about, you know... me."

"Scootaloo, I'm pretty disappointed with you. And I'm not talking as your Big Sis, but as your friend. I know you're alone a lot but you still should think about others. There's a lot of ponies around and they'd be really happy to eat whatever they like and play around like us."

"Sweetie... I'm... why are you saying all this? You sound like a grown-up all of a sudden or something."

"Well... A few months back I saw some flyers about it. About Zebrica and the things that happen there. They have to go days without food and they have to drink dirty water. I asked my parents about it and refused to eat dinner. I felt awful about not eating! And I couldn't sleep at night and mom had to come over and I... kinda cried. And that was just one dinner! I thought that there must be something I can do to help. We even started giving some bits to charity with my parents. It's not much, but at least I try to do something. But I've NEVER refused to eat after that."

"Gosh... I... " the pegasus filly couldn't even finish what she was trying to say. A lump had risen in her throat.

"And I think you've been really selfish and... I think you're a bad pony, Scootaloo!" Sweetie shouted, in a genuinely angry voice.

The orange pony could feel hot tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Am I... really a bad pony?"

"Yeah. I think you are." Her voice was cold, colder than she'd ever talked to a friend. She remembered the last time she'd felt so angry, and that had led to her running away from her big sister and trying to adopt Applejack as a sister.

Sweetie got up from the table and left the bound up filly lying on the table and walked away.

"Sweetie... "

"Yes, Scootaloo?"

"Would you... please give me a spanking for not eating carrots and ... and not thinking about others?" Her question was interrupted by small sobs.

"I don't know. I'd rather not even look at you right now"

"PLEASE! I'm so sorry! I don't wanna be a bad pony! It's just that I don't have anyone to tell these things! I didn't know!"

"Yeah, you knew. You just didn't care."

"I... You're right Sweetie. I'm so sorry."

"Uh-huh."

"Sweetie... would you please give me a spanking and help me be a good pony again?"

"I will, Scootaloo."

"Thank you!" Her relief was audible in her sobs. "And... umm... Sweetie. Could you... kinda... maybe... really be like a big sister for me? Cos I really think I need someone like you to... tell me when I'm bad... "

"I think... I'd like that, Scootaloo."

Sweetie went back to the crying filly with her own eyes watering up as well. She slipped her forehoof under her friend's chest and gave her a tight hug.

"I'd be happy to be your big sis. but that means that I won't always be nice to you."

"It's okay I guess. I think I need someone like that." Scootaloo said with tears flowing down her cheeks. "And... right now I REALLY wish I could hug you back."

"We'll do that later. But right now... I think we have something else to do."

"Yeah... right."

Sweetie got up from the table and walked around her friend. She didn't feel like she had last time. Last time it had been a spur of the moment thing. Now she was actually feeling like she was punishing a little foal, even though she was the same age as Scootaloo. Was this how Rarity thought about her when she was bad? The mixture of disappointment, caring, anger and worry? She didn't want to hurt Scootaloo like last time. It was more like... she wanted to do it because she cared for her friend. It was a totally alien feeling for her, and it made her chest feel like it was aching. But she knew what she had to do.

"You know what, Scootaloo? Do you know why I went out?"

"To... make me nervous?"

"No... well... that too but... I actually got something." The white unicorn walked to the front door and came back with something in her mouth. The bound pony couldn't turn around enough to see what it was, but she had a sinking feeling of what it might be.

"You... didn't get a switch... right? You didn't right?!"

"I did. I was thinking of whether I was going to use it and... I think you should decide."

"But... I'm all bound here... What does it matter what I say? Won't you do what you want anyway?"

"I think you should ask yourself... do you think you deserve to get the switch today? If you honestly don't think so, then I'll toss it away."

"Then... I'll... I want you to give me the switch," the orange filly said in a nervous burst of words and shut her eyes tightly.

Sweetie smiled to herself. She felt proud for Scootaloo for choosing the harder punishment. She looked the switch over on the floor. It was a long piece of thin branch that Sweetie had bitten away from a small tree. Her jaws were still sore from the task, but it was going to be worth it. She'd nibbled the leaves away, and also taken out all the smaller twigs that came out fo the branch. Now it was barely half as think as her own horn. She took it in her mouth and gave it a tentative swish through the air. The wind made a whistling sound in the thin instrument's wake. For a moment she thought whether she could actually use it on Scootaloo. It looked like it'd hurt a lot. But the orange pegasus had asked for it herself.

"Here it comes, Scootaloo."

The only answer she got was a silent nervous whinny.

Sweetie lightly tapped the switch onto the orange rear of her friend. She'd expected the effect, and was overjoyed to see the small buttocks clench once again like she'd stuck them with something sharp. She pulled the switch back, but decided to bring it back up to Scootaloo's backside, and just gently moved it on the surface, making her victim squirm in anticipation.

She moved back so that just the tip was touching the orange fur, drawing circles all over the pegasus' backside, flanks, hooves and sides with it, like she was using a brush. She even tickled the base of Scootaloo's purple tail, making her target move around from side to side. Scootaloo let out a small moan, which surprised Sweetie somewhat. She decided to continue teasing her bound friend, giving light raps on her flanks and rear, not really hitting yet, just to make her squirm a bit. The pegasus was fluttering her wings, trying to keep balance and just to move at least something. Every tap made the pegasus filly move her backside forward, but the tight strings in her hooves made her correct her posture immediately. Sweetie was almost beside herself from how well her idea of tying Scootaloo up was working. The unicorn knew she could do anything she wanted to her friend.

Scootaloo was clearly sweating now, and her breathing had become shallow and rushed. This was not something Sweetie had been expecting, but decided it was finally time to get to business. Without any warning she reared back, bit down hard on the switch's handle, and brought it whistling down on Scootaloo's exposed backside. The bound filly let out a small cry and rocked forward, trying to escape the pain with no success. Sweetie Belle watched in amazement as a red stripe appeared where the switch had landed, crossing both of her target's buttocks in the middle. She heard Scootaloo clearly sniffing back tears — it must have really hurt if she was crying from the first hit. She could only imagine how hard it hurt when a grown-up pony did the same to a filly's butt. An image of Applejack and Apple Bloom immediately came into her mind, and she had to shake her head to get the horrible image to go away.

Sweetie once again brought the switch closer to the pegasus' backside and gave it a light snap. This made Scootaloo whinny again, just like she'd done when the unicorn had given her the first spanking of her life. She pulled back and brought the switch down on the upraised rump in full force, a bit lower than last time. The table nudged forward, colliding with the corner it was set against.

"Owww! That thing really hurts!" Scootaloo was clearly trying to brave it out, trying to fight the tears. Sweetie knew it was just a matter of a few more strikes to make the bound filly cry all out. She didn't let her friend catch her breath, and brought the switch down hard oh the orange-and-red rump. Once, twice, three times. Each one as hard as she could.

"Owoowooowooowoowwwwwww!" Scootaloo shouted and gasped for air. She squirmed around, trying to turn away from the hits, but nothing she could do would allow her to move. It was only now dawning on her how helpless she was, and the only thing she could do was cry and flutter her wings. Or at least try to. It seemed like even her wings had abandoned her, standing out completely flared to the full extent of their tiny wingspan. She tried moving them, but they only ached as she tried to get them to relax.

Sweetie was also looking at her friend's wings in amazement. They were completely open, not even beating anymore. She gave them a puzzled look, but when she noticed that the pegasus' sobs had died down again, she got back to the business at hand. She aimed the next strike at the base of her victim's tail, making her cry out and wiggle her whole lower body, trying to jump out of the strings. The next hit landed at the lower end of the orange filly's buttocks.

"AUUUGHH!" Scootaloo cried at full volume, her voice breaking into sobs in the middle. The unicorn made a mental note about that spot being more tender.

Sweetie decided to see how many more her bound friend could take before giving up. She reared back once more, and started raining blows repeatedly on the red-striped backside. Scootaloo only wailed and cried, and tried all she could to get away, but the twine held fast and she couldn't move anything except her mouth. She pulled futilely at her bonds, trying with all her strenght to break the strings keeping her in place. She tried to buck and kick, and even to reach down to her forehooves to bite down on the knots. She cried out again and again, but to Sweetie's amazement, didn't give up.

The unicorn filly kept smacking, her neck aching from all the swinging, and the rump in front of her jiggled and danced under her strikes, making circles and figure-eights, trying to escape the beating, but it had nowhere to go. It was getting harder for Sweetie to breathe because of the handle of the switch in her mouth. She'd bitten so hard on it that it was completely crushed and the taste of bark and fresh wood filled her mouth. She took a deep breath and continued, repeatedly landing blows on the formerly orange rump of the pegasus, but suddenly she heard what she'd been waiting for.

"AIIIIHHHHGGHHH! NO MORE! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE! PLEASE! PLEASE! STOP SWEETIE! NO MORE!" The filly kept on shouting even after Sweetie had dropped the switch on the floor and gone over to her friend. The pegasus had tried to curl up into a ball, but the tight bonds in her hindhooves had kept her still. Sweetie lifted her friends upper body up with a small grunt and sat down beneat it, resting Scootaloo's head on her lap. She held the shaking pegasus gently, stroking and soothing her mane and her face. The hot tears rolled down her legs and onto the floor, leaving small lines of damp fur after them. It didn't feel awkward for Sweetie to sit like that. Maybe this is how her mother had felt when the unicorn filly had been crying on the adult mare's lap?

Finally the tears started to dry up, and Sweetie whispered to her friend.

"There you go, Scootaloo. You did it. I didn't think you'd take that many hits before giving up."

"I... wanted... to stop... after the first... few," she managed to answer amidst sobs and sniffles, "but... then I... thought about what you said... about how bad I've been... and I kinda thought about the other ponies... I never thought about them... "

"Shhhh. It's over now, Scoots."

"Yeah I know... but I've never even thought about them. And now... I kinda wanted to pay them back. I think I owed them or something."

"Shh... I'm so proud of you Scoots."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm really, really proud of you."

Scootaloo just closed her eyes and let out a few more sobs, but she was smiling through her tears. And her smile wasn't her normal coltish smirk, but a gentler, sweeter smile. The unicorn holding her felt a similar smile come on her lips as well. It was the cutest face she'd ever seen on her pegasus friend. A smile she thought no-pony had ever seen.

"So now do you think you've learned your lesson, Scoots?"

"Yeah. And a lot more I think. Maybe now you could open these strings? They're kinda starting to hurt... "

"Well then... " Sweetie gently got away from under her friend and walked to her saddlebags. "Before we do that, I think there's something you need to do." The unicorn came back to the tear-stained table and opened up her lunch bag and dropped it's contents on the table. Three carrots landed in the wooden surface and rolled a small way before coming to a stop in front of the panicked wide eyes of Scootaloo.

"Carrots? No no no Sweetie please no! Just untie me!"

"Nu-uuh. Not before you show me you've learned your lesson."

"Please! Sweetie no! Anything but carrots!"

"So... you haven't learned your lesson?" Sweetie's voice was disappointed as she sat down on the floor next to the table. "Did you lie to me?"

"No! It's not like that! I... I'll eat anything! Just... not carrots!"

"Why?"

"I really don't wanna talk about it!"

"I can't believe you Scoots! You lied to me! You told me you were sorry and now you just try to do the same thing over again! I think I have to give you some more!"

"Sweetie! No please! Let me explain! I'll tell you!"

Sweetie Belle shot up from the floor and took the switch back into her mouth. She didn't even listen to her friend, just immediately started smacking again, landing a good two dozen blows on the sore backside of the pegasus. Only then did she hear what her friend was trying to say. Scootaloo's voice was completely broken, and she kept repeating in a small voice. "I'll tell you! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"

The white unicorn stood trembling behind her friend. She looked at the now dark red and blue rear of her pegasus friend. Did she really do that just now? She'd been so angry but... She ran to her friends side, trying to tell the broken pegasus how sorry she was. But Scootaloo just kept repeating, "I'll tell you!".

Sweetie felt the panic rising in her chest. What was happening? What had she done? Her limbs were freezing, and cold beads of sweat ran down her back and sides. She couldn't even say anything because her tongue felt like it was glued to the top of her mouth. Scootaloo took a few deep breaths and, to the unicorn's relief, started talking again, though in a very raspy voice.

"Sorry for not telling you... it's just... It's my worst memory. And it's a stupid thing."

"Shhh, Scoots. Just tell me." Sweetie replied, and after a moment of thought added, "I won't laugh."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"When I was in kindergarten... all the kids would always call me a carrot-pony or Carrot-Loo. They'd hide carrots everywhere; in my saddlebags, clothes, just about anywhere and whenever we ate our lunch they'd always try to hide carrots in my food and they always yelled "Carrot-Loo is eating herself and I know it's just little foals being nasty and stuff but every time I see carrots I start hearing them bullying me." She was left panting after saying so much in one breath.

"Oh no, Scoots. I had no idea."

"Yeah... well... I've never told anypony."

"Not even your parents?"

"Why would I? They'd just laugh and call me foalish."

"It's not foalish. They were really nasty. Let's put these away—" She started to fidget around with her lunchbag but was interrupted.

"Could... I have a carrot now?"

"Didn't you just tell me—"

"Yeah. But you're the only one who knows. So it's... not so bad I guess."

Sweetie leaned on the table and picked one of the carrots between her hooves and gave it to her friend. With only a small hesitation, Scootaloo bit a small of the vegetable and started munching, as tears once again started rolling down her cheeks. Neither of them said anything, Scootaloo just slowly munching away on the carrots, and Sweetie feeding them to her, occasionally stroking the wild purple mane of the pegasus. She'd never thought that Scootaloo could look so fragile and cute as she did now, lying on her stomach, being hand-fed by her big sister. After the last carrot had vanished down the orange pony's gullet, she once again gave that small, weird, gentle smile, and said. "I'd forgotten they actually taste kinda nice."

"I'll untie you now. So hold still for just a moment longer."

"I'm not going anywhere." Scootaloo managed a small laugh.

As Sweetie opened the knots and started pulling away the twine, she was shocked to see what was underneath. All the strings had cut deep into her friends skin, leaving sore, red gashes all over where they had been.

"Oh my gosh... Scoots... I'm so sorry... " Sweetie said. Her eyes were tearing up, making it harder for her to untie the knots. She tried desperately to use her teeth to pull at the jumble of strings, hoping to miraculously get it to open up. She was horrified to notice that some of the twine tasted metallic, and when she cleared away her eyes, she saw that the strings had been coloured crimson.

"Heh. It's not a problem. A few cuts and bruises is nothing to me. Remember I'm the toughest pegasus in Ponyville!"

Sweetie had finally remembered the scissors she brought with her and managed to open up the ties around Scootaloo's forehooves and tail. As the pegasus got up, rubbing some circulation back into her forehooves, the unicorn moved behind her friend, trying to avoid looking at the damage she'd done to the pegasus' backside. When she sat down and started working the scissor on the strings near her friends hooves, she noticed something else.

"Hey Scoots... I think you did it again."

"What?"

"You know... the... 'not pee' -thing."

"Yeah. I kinda did. You sorta tied me so close to the corner of the table that I couldn't help myself."

"Huh?"

"Well... I rubbed against the edge every time you spanked me."

Sweetie looked at the corner of the table in amazement and then a bit higher up. It was usual to see what ponies had between their legs, of course, but the sight she now saw in front of her surprised her still. She knew what fillies were supposed to look down there, mostly just the hole near the tail, and a small slit for peeing. But Scootaloo's slit was all swollen and red, like someone had stuck a pink handkerchief inside. It was all covered in some liquid, and some of the stuff got on Sweetie as she worked on the strings. She looked in wonder at the weird stuff, which felt cold and slippery on her hooves.

"You're all swollen and... leaky down here."

"I guess I am. It happens, right?." Sweetie was too occupied to notice how the bent-over pegasus was blushing once again.

"Doesn't it hurt? Did I hit you there or something?"

"No... it's not that. And it didn't really hurt. Well maybe a bit."

"Scoots... "

"Ummm... Sweetie Belle... the strings."

"YEAH! Sorry!" She immediately returned back to cutting the few remaining strings off.

Scootaloo was finally free from her ties. She walked around the room stiffly a few times, and then sat down on the floor. And got up with a yelp.

"Ouch! That's so much worse than last time."

"I know... I went really overboard. Can you forgive me, Scootaloo?"

"Hey it's okay. I had it coming, right? If I'd trusted you from the beginning, you wouldn't have done it, right?"

"Yeah... well... I guess so. But I still shouldn't have," Sweetie looked to her friend sheepishly. "Is there anything I can do? You know, to help with the pain?"

"I guess... do we have a towel?"

"Yeah there's one in our beach bag. Why?"

"Well... if it's not too much... could you get some cold water for the towel? My butt is REALLY hurting."

"Why don't we just go swimming like last time?"

"Well... duh? What'd happen if someone saw me?"

"Yeah! Sorry! I'm on it!" Sweetie grabbed a bucket from beside the door and ran for the stream. She returned a few
minutes later, not having stopped once on her mad dash, and walked up the slope to the Clubhouse. When she was about to open the door, she heard something weird from the inside. Scootaloo was panting hard, and letting out small moans. At first Sweetie thought she was crying again, but when the unicorn carefully opened the door to peer inside, she saw something quite different. Her orange pegasus friend was lying on the floor, with her rear held up. The orange filly was stroking the fork between her hindlegs with her right forehoof. Her eyes were closed but her back was arced backwards, and her wings were once again spread to their full wingspan against the floor.

"What are you doing, Scoots?" the unicorn filly asked as she lifted the bucket inside. The pegasus quickly tried to roll on to her stomach, but her stiff wings got into her way and she ended up having to stand up.awkwardly, while trying to avoid sitting on her sore rump. Her face was almost as red as her rear end.

"Oh, hehe... nothing. just waiting for you."

"I saw everything, you know?"

"You did? Geez! Why'd you have to be so good at sneaking?"

"I wasn't sneaking! You were just making so much noise that you didn't hear me."

Scootaloo could only cough and try to look away from her friend.

"So what were you doing?"

"Could... we just let it go?"

"Well if you really want to but... It's just like last time, right? And it has something to do with your... crotch, right? Are you sick or something?"

"No! Nothing like that... it's just... I promised mom I wouldn't tell other fillies about the stuff she taught me."

"Your mom taught you to roll on the floor and—"

"No! Ewww! Of course not! She just... I can't tell you! I promised! And you weren't supposed to see. I just had to do it after all that. If I didn't know better, I'd say you did it on purpose!"

"Did what? I don't understand, Scoots!"

"Well... umm... could we just skip it this time?"

"I HATE not knowing stuff when people know it around me." Sweetie's voice once again cracked as she raised her voice."

"Yeah I know it's not fair. Sorry. But I gotta keep my word. It's one of the only things mom ever made me promise."

"Oh all right. But I'm gonna find out myself if you don't tell me!" the unicorn shouted while waving her forehoof around.

"I... kinda hope you will," answered the pegasus in a whisper.

"You say something?"

"Nothing. So can I have the towel now?"

"Hmmh, here," Sweetie said absentmindedly and pushed the bucket to her friend.

"Ahh. This feels real good. Thanks." The pegasus had wet the whole towel in the stream-cold water and was now lying on her stomach with the cloth covering her aching rump.

"I been thinking about one thing, Scoots."

"Yeah... what's that?"

"Why don't you care about getting hurt?"

"Of course I do!"

"Well... Well I don't think you do!" Sweetie once again raised her voice. "You're all bruised and you're butt's gonna be sore for a long time and... your hooves and the string... "

"I don't mind, Sweetie. Actually... " The voice of the orange filly had turned very quiet, and she wasn't even looking at her friend. "I... wanna tell you a secret. And I... I'm a bit scared."

"Why?"

"Well... cos... If you think I'm weird and don''t wanna be my... " the pegasus struggled to say the words, "friend anymore."

"Scootaloo... " Sweetie walked over to her friend, and unceremoniously punched the pegasus directly on top of her head.

"OWWCH! What the feather, Sweetie!?"

"You're so STUPID!"

"What? Why'dya... "

"How can you say something STUPID like that! How can you think I'd stop being your friend!" Sweetie kept flailing at Scootaloo's head, trying to hit the pegasus again, while tears started working their way to her eyes. "STUPID STUPID STUPID—"

"SORRY! PLEASE! OUCH!"

After a moment, the unicorn's charge relented. "Just... never say you don't wanna be my friend again, okay?"

"Sorry! I... but... That's the point!"

"What are you talking about, stupid... Scootaloo?"

"It really is stupid!" the orange filly admitted, "but when I go home and there's nopony there... I feel really awful. I mean... I'm cooking something for myself and my friends are home eating dinner with their parents or sister and... it feels so bad it HURTS!. But... the REALLY stupid thing is that... when I have all the scratches and bruises and pinesap and stuff... I kinda remember that I have friends and got hurt doing fun stuff with them and... I don't feel so bad any mo—" She never got to finish that sentence, because a white unicorn filly had tackled her on her back and was now hugging her tightly in her forehooves.

"Why didn't you say anything!?"

"But... I've been alone so long and—"

"Just... shut up!" Sweetie Belle said in a raised voice, not shouting anymore, and hugged the orange filly even tighter. "I don't care if you've been lonely! Scoots, I'm here right now. And you're NOT alone you stupidhead pegasus!"

"T-t-t-thanks, S-sweetie," was all Scootaloo could say, having finally lost the last bit of bravado she'd been trying to hold onto. Now she was no longer the spaeed-demon tomcolt Rainbow Dash fanfilly. She was just a little, crying, weak filly, who wasn't feeling alone for the first time in a long, long time.

She never wanted to let go of her new sister, but after a while the orange pegasus noticed the clock on the wall.

"Uhm... Sweetie... What time were you supposed to be home?"

"Around fi—OMIGOSH! It's almost six! I'm gonna get into trouble! But... what... how can I... "

"I think I'm okay. Like... for the first time in a long time, I think I'm okay, Sweetie."

"But you said you don't wanna go to the stream and swim cos someone might see you? Well how are you gonna get home without anyone seeing?"

Scootaloo managed a small giggle. "I actually already figured that out when you were away. I'll just put the Cutie Mark Crusader cape on. It'll hide my rump and sides, and the adults don't care about it. Most of them are already inside so nopony'll look at me twice. I'll just have to walk slow so it won't fly up."

"So... you gotta walk all the way home... slowly?"

"Yeah... guess that's the worst part of my punishment?" she answered, with her familiar coltish grin.