Finding your Wings

Most of the rest of the day was filled up with organization, paperwork, and some non-intrusive tests run by Twilight. Simple things, like heart rate, blood pressure, reflexes, vision and hearing. Using Spike's results as a baseline of what to look for, she determined that Scootaloo seemed to be perfectly healthy, at least as far as she could tell.

As Twilight was really the only one interested in collecting data, and Spike was along for the ride, the day wasn't all that much fun. There were some things that Scootaloo was interested in, such as looking around Spike's room. If she was to be sleeping there, it was at least nice to have a tour.

Perhaps the most interesting thing, though, was dinner. Spike insisted that she add some sapphires to at least one bite of her spaghetti. Scootaloo had never eaten a sapphire before, being a pegasus for most of her life, but Twilight was also insistent that she taste the spaghetti both ways. Without, first, to see if there was any change to the flavour with her new tongue (there was not), and then with the sapphires to be able to translate the flavour of something she'd never been able to taste, either. Turns out they were sweet, but also a little bit spicy. It was comparable to quite a bit more basil in the marinara, and a few extra shakes of crushed red pepper.

They curled up next to each other in bed and drifted off to sleep. Normally, Twilight would be against it, but since they already admitted to having sex, she was okay with the two sleeping in the same bed, with the promise that they would at least wear protection. If they weren't going to wait, and they weren't going to ask the permission of their legal guardians, they least they could do was wrap up.

Even with that, they didn't. There was already too much excitement through the day, so they opted to just fall asleep together. Even without having sex, it was nice just to fall asleep in Spike's arms.

Spike was the first awake, as was the norm. Scootaloo woke up to him sliding out from underneath her, and followed him to the kitchen, watching him make breakfast.

"Are you usually up that early?" she asked. "Is that something I need to account for?"

"I don't think it's a dragon thing. I do it because I'm supposed to help Twilight with her duties and such, and not having to worry about breakfast is helpful to starting her day. I had to leave early yesterday due to a problem at the optometrist, so I don't know what she had for breakfast."

"It was a pretzel," nodded Scootaloo.

Spike nodded and flipped another slice of cinnamon toast onto the stack.

"That's quite a bit you're making for breakfast. I mean, I like cinnamon toast as much as the next filly, but you've gone through almost an entire loaf of bread."

"And two dozen eggs," added Spike. "We're expecting company."

"Are we?"

Spike looked up, confused at first, then understanding washed across his face. "You were in the bath when I told Twilight. I remember now."

"Remember what?"

"Your aunts are coming to see you."

Scootaloo swallowed hard. She knew she would have to tell them eventually, and sooner was probably for the best, but she hadn't expected it to be this soon. "G-great. Fantastic."

"We're also expecting Rainbow Dash to come back today, and she usually arrives in the morning if she can, because she likes to invite herself to a free breakfast." He froze for a minute. "Hey, uh... don't tell Twilight that I typically buy Rainbow's punctuality. She's still here to help Twilight, she'll just hop to it better if she thinks she can grab a snack."

Scootaloo smiled. "I'll keep it a secret, but now you have to teach me how to make breakfast so I can bribe her over to my place."

"Deal," chuckled Spike.

There was a rush of air, and part of the stack disappeared in a string of colours. "Breakfast time!" called Rainbow, hovering in the air for a moment before landing.

"See?" said Spike, refilling the stack with two fresh ones. "What'd I say? Shows up early if there's food involved."

"Did you just call me a glutton?" retorted Rainbow through a mouthful of toast, egg yolk dripping down her lip toward her chin.

"Not at all," insisted Spike. "You're here because you have to report to Twilight. You wouldn't decide to show up early just for a free breakfast. You came to deliver the information to Twilight so she can start as soon as possible."

"And don't you forget it," chuckled Rainbow. She nudged Scootaloo. "Can you believe that inference?"

"He-hey, Rainbow," blushed Scootaloo.

"Already a fan, huh? I shouldn't be surprised."

"You'd better tell Rainbow what's going on," suggested Spike. "She can stay and talk to your aunts with you. Probably best to have her looking after your best interests."

"Whoa, slow your roll, Spike," waved Rainbow. "I try not to involve myself in familial arguments."

Scootaloo didn't know if she could say. Rainbow Dash was her hero. Having her back her up would be the biggest boon anypony could ever want. Rainbow had no problem smacking dragons around, so she'd be plenty brave enough to face her aunts. Then again, Rainbow walking out on her would destroy her, and she didn't want to completely scare off her aunts.

Spike put a claw on her shoulder. As if reading her mind, he assured her, "Rainbow Dash is the element of loyalty. She won't leave you to face them alone, I guarantee."

"There you go again, putting words in my mouth. You're on thin ice, Spike." She turned to Scootaloo. "While it is true that I'm the kind of pony that does that, and I'd totally go up to bat for you if we were friends, the fact is that I don't even know who you are, so it's against my principles to promise to be at your side. I would have to know your side of the argument before I could make such a statement. I don't even know your name, kid."

"It's Scootaloo."

Rainbow chuckled. "You, know, there's a pony here in town named Scootaloo. Great kid, real tough, a whiz with her scooter. Nice moves, too." She chuckled. "You know what's funny, you kind of look like her. Same colours, even your eyes."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Be nice if you meet her, though. If I catch you makin' fun of her, I've been known to throw hooves, and I ain't scared a' no dragons."

Scootaloo blushed. She was about to respond when Aunty Lofty burst through the door. "Where is my neice?!"

Rainbow was about to direct her upstairs, but Scootaloo lowered her head. "Hi, Aunty Lofty..."

Realization washed over Rainbow's face as the details clicked together. "Oooohh..."