Do It For Her

Chapters

00 - Prologue
01 - The Quiet Pair
03 - New Friend
04 - Rainbow Streak
05 - Falling Up
06 - Shifting Things Down
07 - Sisters
08 - School's Daze
09 - Everything is Going to be Okay
02 - Late Night Conversation

00 - Prologue

“Thank you for your help today, Miss Fluttershy!” The old stallion exclaimed. He trotted with a bounce in his step, head lifted high above. “I don’t rightly think I’ve seen the foals warm up to anypony faster than you! It’s almost a miracle!” He gushed.

“O-Oh, um- it was no problem. Really, Doctor Sunshine.” She said quietly and sweetly, hiding behind her long pink mane, creating an artificial curtain from the rest of the world.

Doctor Sunshine was an Earth-pony. He looked like he was getting on in his years. His coat, that one point might’ve shone like the sun, had dulled over the years into a graying dark yellow. His black mane had began it’s slow descent into the whiteness that hair did. His Cutiemark was a stack of building blocks, either being built up or falling over. Bags dragged under his eyes, giving them a hollowed and bony look. But, despite the aging, creaking bones, and longer naps, he still wore a soft exuberant smile. He was a stallion on the cusps of retirement, and it showed.

The Pegasus next to him was a mare named Fluttershy, none other than Ponyville’s resident animal expert. Much like the stallion’s, her coat was a bright yellow. She was young, as apposed to the Doctor. Her mane flowed elegantly, almost touching the unusually clean and kept wooden floorboards. It created a safe space, one that she was currently utilizing as she was in the terribly unfamiliar environment. Her Cutiemark was a picture of three butterflies, giving herself the unique talent to communicate to animals.

“I’m serious!” He said, laughing something sharp and raspy, reminiscent of a smoker’s lungs full of mold. “Most ponies I’ve seen come through the orphanage can’t deal with the amount of foals. You? I’ve never seen a pony juggle like that before!”

“Oh- um- I don’t know how to juggle…” She admitted sheepishly. The Doctor merely cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at the Pegasus. Fluttershy noticed the silence, giving a quick peek at the stallion’s gaze. “Oh, I mean- no- thank you, Doctor.” She looked back at the floor, blushing in embarrassment. They were walking down one of the many wings of the orphanage, doors winding on either side of them infinitely.

She was far from her comfort zone. Ponyville didn’t have an orphanage due to it’s relatively small size. The closest orphanage geographically was Canterlot, a place that Fluttershy had been many times before. But, as a sort of vacation,she decided to mail an application to the Manehattan’s orphanage under a temporary volunteer's position for a week. They were happy to let Fluttershy help, and so without a second thought, she left for Manehattan. Alone.

Looking back she decided it was a terrible, no good, horrid idea.

Of course, she couldn’t deny the smiles on the foal’s faces made her anxiety dissipate that little bit extra. A pocket of air in a sea of harsh waves. But the problem with being in a sea of harsh waves and small pockets of air- you’re still drowning.

She forced the blush to exit her face. Blinking hard and looking back up to Doctor Sunshine. She was about to ask a question, when behind the Doctor’s ear, she spotted a door.

There were an infinite amount of doors, even more per floor. Finding a door was nothing big. As a matter of fact, in a place full of doors, a single door wasn’t anything even significant.

Except, for the fact, that every door that belonged to a pair of foals was completely decorated head-to-hoof in decorations. One door full of pink party streamers with the name Bright Spark and Mustang. The next door had a hoof paintings of a sea landscape with little crabs and dolphins.

That's why it stood out.

It was completely bare. Not a speck of party streamers, blue paint, or crabs anywhere on it. On the chalkboard reserved for the names of the foals was blank. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t even evidence the sign had anything ever written on it in the first place. At the bare minimum, there would’ve been a white smudge of afaded name. That would’ve at least signaled the fact the room was open for another foal.

But there wasn’t. It was an unassuming door. And it was odd in a place full of unexpected happiness.

It took Doctor Sunshine a moment, but he soon realized he was no longer being followed. He stopped, turning around with a raised eyebrow and finding the yellow Pegasus in the hall. She was staring at the door. The only piece of signage being a small bronze plate that said Room 6. Almost instantly, he recognized the door, sucking air between his teeth as a blight of panic twisted in his chest.

“Miss Fluttershy?” He asked. When the pony kept staring at the door, he raised his voice above an inside level. “Miss Fluttershy?” He repeated. This time, she suddenly became aware that she had stopped walking, and with another flushed blush, she began walking forwards again.

She got a total of two steps before she stopped again.

“Um- if you don’t mind me asking, that is- um- who’s in there?” She asked, nodding her heads towards Room 6. Doctor Sunshine cringed, shying away from the mare. He rubbed a hoof over his temple.

“It’s not important. There’s another group of foals waiting in the lounge-”

“No, I think it’s important.” Fluttershy said loudly. The Doctor looked taken aback for a moment, his eyes widening at the sudden increase in volume from the Pegasus that had barely talked above a whisper the whole time. She shrinked back into her mane, mouthing a quiet sorry.

The Doctor stared for a moment. His eyes shrunk into a voiceless glare as he stared at the Pegasus. She kicked a hoof idly at the floor, pretending not to notice the hole he was currently beaming into the top of her head. She looked up when she heard him give a hearty, raspy sigh.

“Room 6.” He said, his demeanor changing into a slightly more reserved and closed off pony. His jubilant eyes seemed more cold and closed off as he reminisced. “Scootaloo Blazer. Ten years old. Pegasus filly. She’s-” He coughed. “She’s a special case.”

Fluttershy cocked her head to the side at the word special.Her heart gave a little flutter.

“Well…” She swayed her body towards the door, still looking at the stallion. “Is she in there?”

“She doesn’t like to come out…” He admitted. “We’ve tried… several therapists.” He awkwardly cleared his throat, diverting his eyes. “She’s… had a hard life, to say the least. She’s probably seen more than any adult should. She doesn’t like many ponies… if any at all.”

“What do you mean she’s had a hard life?” Fluttershy asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I-I really can’t explain.” He steeled his resolve, his face becoming stoic and unreadable, like a statue. “I’m asking you to follow me. You should just- wait, no!” He shouted suddenly. Fluttershy had turned towards the door, reaching her hoof out to knock. Before he could even begin walking forwards, she did just that. She knocked.

…

Nothing. Doctor Sunshine had one hoof forwards, his mane suddenly sticking out at awkward angles as he held a crazed look in his eye, mouth held half open in a perpetual silent scream. She just gave him a questioning gaze as she turned back to the door, putting an ear forwards.

“Scootaloo?” She asked through the bare wood. “Is it alright if I come in?” She listened intently. There was a sudden shuffling in the room, the sounds of papers being ruffled, and then silence. As if a switch was flipped, something in her gut told her something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. Like a calm before a huge storm. Against, or rather with her instincts, she turned the door knob and let the door swing inwards.

The first thing that surprised her was drawings.

The walls were coated with them. In an unexpected reverse of the blank door leading into the room, every square hoof of the room was covered in paper. There were two tall windows towards the back of the room, leading a view out into the street below. But even they were hard to see out of, as the pane of glass had been completely coated in papers of one color, randomly spread across. It gave the sunlight pouring into the room a distinct and quite creative hue of reds, blues, and purples. It was a little bit like the stained glass found in Canterlot’s Castle.

Every other foal’s room in the orphanage was a two-pony room. Sometimes special cases fit even more into a single room, like triplets, or special requests of friends. Usually, it was two beds on opposite sides of the room, one for each foal. Instead, in this room, it seemed the usual two bed design was forfeited for a one bed, one desk design, which was quite unusual. The desk was full of papers and crayons, even bits of the wood grain itself having crude drawings of ponies running down the length.

A desk, a bed, drawers, and a few shelves…

But where was the pony of the hour? Where was Scootaloo? The room was completely desolate, asides from Fluttershy herself.

“Scootaloo?” She asked, walking further into the room. She accidentally stepped on an unfinished drawing, accidentally kicking away a crayon, watching it as it rolled away. Doctor Sunshine stepped into the room a few moments later, an almost scared expression on his face, peering around the room inquisitively.

“Miss Fluttershy..?” He asked, looking at the drawings on the walls. “You are amazing with foals, but…” He let out a small laugh at the apparent very familiar room. “We’ve had Equestria’s top foal psychologists in to try and help Scootaloo. We’ve done everything, and… well, she just wants to be left alone, okay?”

“Uh-huh.” Fluttershy absentmindedly nodded along, peeking around a corner of the desk. Her head turned to the side as she watched the crayon she had kicked roll under the bed, then strangely enough, roll back out from under the bed.

“We’re gonna-” He swallowed his dry spit, feeling his throat tighten with every word. “We’re gonna just stop. Stop trying. She- she made her choice, and she wants to be left alone, and we’re gonna let her. She had her help, and it didn’t work.”

“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked, peering under the bed. “Come on out, it’s alright.”

From under the bed, she could barely make the outline of a small filly. She was scrunched up against the wall, her back perched in a flight-or-fight like response, her large magenta eyes darting back and forth between Fluttershy, the door, and Doctor Sunshine.

Her heart twisted as she saw the sight. She had to deal with scared animals before. It was almost a daily occurrence, but never, never, had she been looked at by another pony with the same fear and destain that animals could hold. What could’ve hurt a pony this bad? No less, a filly?

“Miss Fluttershy, we should really leave-”

“I-If you don’t mind…” She started sweetly, turning to look at the stallion. “Leave.” She demanded, her voice gaining a darker tone. The stallion looked like he wanted to argue, but merely shut his mouth, once again swallowing the little built up spit as he turned around and bolted from the room. Right as he was closing the door, he let out a sigh.

“Just- don’t expect anything, okay?” He said, latching the door shut on it’s hinges.

And then there were two.

It suddenly hit Fluttershy that, although she was good with foals, she wasn’t very good with damaged foals. What exactly did Doctor Sunshine mean when he said she had a hard life? Was this an abuse victim? Homelessness? Mental condition undefined? What exactly did she plan to solve by being here for the better part of a day?

And why did she even care? Who was this foal to her?

Fluttershy tilted her head to the side, getting up and walking back towards the center of the room. She stopped, stumped for ideas. It was obvious Scootaloo liked drawing… so… lets draw!

She crossed the distance to the desk, grabbing an idle white sheet of paper, completely blank on both sides. She let it flutter to the floor beneath her, making sure to lay it completely flat on the floor, smoothing out any wrinkles that happened to develop on it’s journey down. Fluttershy found the discarded crayon that had caused this in the first place, then gripping it with her wing, began to draw.

What to draw? How about herself? The crayon was red, but it was probably good enough. Like she was a foal again, she began tracing out a pony’s body. Every once in a while, the crayon would catch on a divot in the floor, creasing the paper unexpectedly and giving the path an unexpected jut every couple centimeters.

Fluttershy, for her credit, didn’t do a terrible job. Even for a few minutes, she began getting really invested, almost loosing herself in the process of drawing a sketched pony. She thought about grabbing different colored crayons, but decided against it in fear of accidentally peeving off the lonesome filly in the room. Her drawing wasn’t exactly elementary school level, but it wasn’t exactly art student level either. Somewhere in between a sketch- like one a certain fashionista might use to began rough drafts of a dress or suit. Because of the red, the drawing didn’t look like her. Merely a pony with her hair, and due to the blunt tip of the red crayon, her Cutiemark came out as three- maybe two- blobs of color.

She set down her crayon, properly taking a step back and observing the work she had put into it. Perhaps it was a bit too much work for the end result.

It wasn’t too much longer when a second pair of hooves joined in. It was unexpected, startling Fluttershy as the small filly was sneaky. Scootaloo laid down, and began to draw too.

Now was the time to observe her. For the first time, Fluttershy was getting a full view of the filly, and not just her magenta eyes. She had a bright orange coat that seemed almost impossibly well groomed. Her mane was purple, but strangely enough, was cut short, a little bit like a buzz cut. If she didn’t know better, there was a serious chance she would’ve called her a colt by accident.

But in the back of her mind, she distinctly remembered Doctor Sunshine calling her a ‘Pegasus Filly.’ Which was strange, considering-

Oh.

There they were. Right on the crook of her back were two impossibly small wings. They didn’t even take up half of the space of a regular filly’s wings. Most Pegasi had a multitude of feathers, being secondaries and primaries. Secondaries grew back, even if it took a few weeks to do so, while primaries didn’t grow back until Pegasi’s molting cycle, which could take an entire year to do so, as molting is seasonal.

Scootaloo’s wings- well, Fluttershy wasn’t even sure if she had any primaries. To the untrained eye, her wings looked just like a combination of idly placed secondaries, completely unable to lift her off of the ground.

Worry struck through the elder Pegasus. This could’ve provided a little bit more insight into the filly’s apparent ‘hard’ life. And Fluttershy didn’t like what her brain was suggesting.

Fluttershy blinked, swallowing her concern for the filly and flashing her a soft smile. The filly, if she saw, didn’t say anything. She instead continued to draw using a box of crayons Fluttershy didn’t realize she had until now. The filly used her hooves, maneuvering different colors to draw on the paper. Fluttershy looked down at the paper, observing her work.

She was using a dark red crayon to draw brick buildings. Tall, monolithic structures. The drawing didn’t contain any perspective, instead being just 2d and flat. It looked almost depressing, but that might’ve been just because Fluttershy grew up in the cities of Cloudsdale. All she knew were open skies and the occasional clump of structures that made up a suburb. Not boring, old, and limiting brick buildings. Perhaps she was biased, perhaps not.

Fluttershy thought this impromptu play date was going quite swimmingly. Apparently, Scootaloo felt comfortable to not immediately dart back under the bed. All she drew was a landscape, buildings and wild and unkempt looking clouds, that unfortunately cut directly across Fluttershy’s own blobby drawing of herself.

Scootaloo set the crayon back down, and looked up at Fluttershy.

There was… something there. A glint in the eye. Was it… hope? Sadness? The staring only lasted for a few seconds, before Scootaloo looked back down, pushing a crayon idly with her hoof.

“Do you like drawing?” Fluttershy asked. Scootaloo’s only response was a quiet hum.Fluttershy didn’t know what that meant, but decided not to push. She nodded her head, smiling. “You’re very good at it.” She ventured again. Scootaloo hummed once more.

Scootaloo stood up. Fluttershy decided she didn’t dare move to break this young filly’s trust, instead watching intently as she trotted towards a nearby wall. She gripped a piece of paper with her teeth, careful to not salivate on the wax, and pulled it off the loose-fitting tape that held it there.

With that same spark in her eyes, Scootaloo approached Fluttershy, sitting down in front of her and showing her the drawing.

The drawing was that of a plate of food. Perhaps hay fries. Not Fluttershy’s first choice for a healthy meal for a developing filly, nor as a treat for it wasn’t exactly hitting the top shelf of sweetness. Fluttershy just gave a half-confused smile, looking at the Pegasus.

“It’s very pretty.” She observed. Scootaloo, between the paper in her mouth, smiled slightly. Scootaloo laid the paper on the ground, directly atop the old drawing, and pushed it forwards. Fluttershy looked at it, not daring to say something to break her trust. But, eventually, the silence extended too long. “For me?” She asked. Surprisingly, Scootaloo nodded.

“Thank you!” She said with a smile, picking up the paper. “I’ll- um- hang it on my ice-box!” Scootaloo beamed, diverting her eyes to the side.

Just then, the door clicked open.

“I should’ve probably warned you, she doesn’t like-” Doctor Sunshine stopped, his head peeking in. His words died right in his mouth as he stared at the scene, Scootaloo out from under the bed, with Fluttershy clutching a drawing to her chest. He tilted his head, opening the door fully. Fluttershy observed as Scootaloo’s smile died. “Well, I’d never!” He whispered mostly to himself.

“She’s very good at drawing.” Fluttershy complimented while standing up. Scootaloo didn’t react, only reading the grain of the floorboards below her.

“Yes- um- like I had said before… um… she’s a special case.” He pawed at the floor, suddenly looking nervous. “Would you- I understand if you don’t want to, as you live far away, but-” He looked up, meeting her eyes. “Would you mind coming back for her? You’re the only pony whose gotten this far, and I don’t want to ruin the opportunity.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay.” She said, waving a hoof. Scootaloo’s head popped up, looking at Fluttershy with wide eyes. “I really don’t mind coming back.”

Much to her animal-sitter’s delight, taking a trip to Manehattan once a week didn’t seem nearly as insane as it had a few months prior. It suddenly became a constant in her life, and more than not, something to actually look forwards to doing, as Scootaloo’s own happiness suddenly became front and center in her mind. Like her friend, Rarity, this was like a spa day, in some ways. A day to destress. This was Fluttershy’s spa day.

Speaking of which- her friend, Rarity, had gladly agreed to come along for the weekly trips. Apparently not only to expand her clothesline, but also as a method of relaxation. Rarity’s eyes practically exploded out of her head when she saw the amount of nearby spas in the tourist’s travel brochure.Thankfully, Rarity was happy to oblige Fluttershy’s privacy, as unfortunately, Fluttershy hadn’t yet disclosed to her the nature of her trips. Perhaps Rarity thought she was seeing somepony. She wasn’t exactly wrong, but just not in the same way Rarity thought.

This week, they chose a hotel that was apparently owned by Sapphire Shores. Whether this went past her name on the hotel, they weren’t sure. But the interior and modern amenities certainly felt like it was owned by Sapphire Shores. Rarity was at the top floor, lavishing in the supreme-spa service that made Ponyville’s feel borderline barbaric in nature.

While Rarity was probably having her shoulder blades removed forcefully, Fluttershy was trotting through the iron-clad gates that lead to the orphanage. Somehow, the intimidating red brick walls that made up the orphanage’s visage somehow gained a more friendly appearance that made the place feel more welcoming than it had during her first visit.

Like the last several visits, she nosed open the door to the main foyer. The sound of screaming foals playing filled her ears as a group of them ran directly in front of her. Fluttershy took a moment to let the chaos pass before walking towards the front desk. There, like every other visit, was a blue unicorn ponying the front desk.

“Fluttershy!” She laughed. “You don’t have to keep asking for a visitor’s pass! You practically work here already.”

Despite her words, Fluttershy still wore the lanyard around her neck and set off down the same hallway. She followed the same path, same familiar rooms, and paused for a moment to wave at a group of four foals that were amicably chatting by Room 30’s door.

Once again, she knocked twice on room six’s door. Once again, there was no response. Once again, inside, Scootaloo was at her desk, scrawling at a drawing intensely.

The filly was very non-verbal, to say the least. Although she had warmed up even more since Fluttershy had begun visiting, she barely said anything. The most she had done was hum to herself while drawing. She hadn’t said a peep outside of that. Not a yes, no, thank you, nothing. Not a word. Her version of talking seemed to be reciprocated in gentle hums. Even more worryingly was the fact she didn’t like to be touched physically. The closest Fluttershy had come into contact would’ve been helping her out of cabs around Manehattan on many of their trips around. That, and tucking her into bed at night. Outside of that, the filly had kept a healthy gap between them. Fluttershy didn’t mind, because really, if Scootaloo was happy, Fluttershy was happy. Simple as that.

Fluttershy sat down on the bed, letting herself sink into it’s plush surface. A moment later, Scootaloo set down a crayon, gripping the piece of paper in her teeth and jumping down from her chair. She trotted towards the bed, proudly displaying her drawing.

“For me?” Fluttershy asked, looking at it. She did appreciate Scootaloo’s drawings. As a matter of fact, her ice-box at home had become covered in them. Every time this happened, Fluttershy adored the personality gushing from it. Her drawings weren’t always about physical objects, but sometimes just random shapes and lines that made no coherent sense.

A somewhat recent addition, however, was a certain yellow Pegasus being added to her more grounded in reality drawings. There was a definite difference between pre-Fluttershy and post-Fluttershy. It became a sort of where’s Waldo of Fluttershy origin.

Fluttershy grabbed the drawing, holding it close to her chest, a genuine smile forming over her lips.

Then, a familiar pony walked through the doors. Almost immediately, Scootaloo turned around and scampered back to her desk. It wasn’t that Fluttershy didn’t like Doctor Sunshine. She just didn’t like that Scootaloo didn’t like him, which in turn made Fluttershy not like him. Fluttershy’s gaze hardened as she set the paper to her side, staring at the stallion.

“Excuse me, Miss Fluttershy.” Doctor Sunshine said. Scootaloo glanced at him for a second, already beginning on a new drawing. “I’ve been… meaning to talk to you.”

“Sure.” She said surprisingly harshly. Doctor Sunshine didn’t seem to notice, however, as he just glanced around the room.

“I don’t think you really… realize what you’ve done for Scootaloo.” He let out a nervous laugh. “I think you’re rubbing off on her.”

“Oh, really?” She asked, leaning into her mane. “What do you mean?”

“Take a look around.” He trotted further into the room, letting the door latch onto it’s hinges. This might’ve even been the furthest he’s been into the room in months. He waved a hoof at a drawing, and Fluttershy almost scoffed.

“I’m in a lot of her drawings.” She said obviously.

“Yeah…” He rubbed a hoof against his wrist, looking a little nervous. “Yeah, about that…” Something in the tone of his voice made Fluttershy sit up a little straighter, a pain of concern latching through her front chest as she tried to read the stallion.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, suddenly afraid.

“I think Scootaloo has made up her mind. I don’t mean to talk to her, but…” He turned to look at Scootaloo, whose ears were folded down as she tried her hardest to ignore the lumbering stallion. “She hasn’t been this attached to anypony… ever.It’s like she sees something special in you, Fluttershy.” Scootaloo stopped her crayon right in it’s path.

“What are you talking about?” She asked, her voice wavering.

“It might not be my spot, but… I think you should seriously start considering.”

“Consider what.”

“Consider adopting her.”

Scootaloo let the crayon drop from her hoof as she turned to look at the two ponies, a little gasp escaping.

The world stopped. Life started to slow, and Fluttershy could feel her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She didn’t care she was staring like a fool, but she did not just hear what she heard. Fluttershy slowly turned to look at Scootaloo, who expectantly looked back. It was that same glimpse. That same spark in her eyes. One of hope. Pure, actual unadulterated hope.

It killed Fluttershy to break away from her.

“C-Can I think about it?” She asked. Scootaloo looked betrayed, suddenly whipping her head back towards the drawing. The stallion sucked air between his teeth.

“Of course-” Before he could finish talking, she dashed out of the room.

Rarity wasn’t bored.

Actually, far from it.

If somepony were to intrude into the luxurious hotel suite, all they would see was a white-coated unicorn with gorgeous purple hair laying idly on a hotel bed, a wet washcloth draped over her eyes as she merely existed in the space.

That was what was on the outside. On the inside, she had quite possibly one of the most dazzling spa experiences she had ever had. It was like every molecule in her body had been reassembled at the perfect frequency to make a pony whole again. Yes, it cost her about six times more than it would’ve costed the Ponyville spa, but she couldn’t deny the results. Personal trainers, hooficures, and a healthy dose of mud. She was perfectly at zen.

That was, until the hotel room opened.

“Oh, Fluttershyyy!” She yelled out, her vision still blocked by the washcloth. “I’ve just come back from the spa! Oh, I simply must tell you all about it!” She gushed, still laying on the bed. She heard the noise of dainty hoof steps come from the hall, and then stop.

Suddenly, Rarity was overcome with an uneasy feeling. Rarity furrowed her eyebrows, suddenly realizing the compromising position she was in. What if that wasn’t Fluttershy? What if somepony just walked in? Especially in one of the big apples like Manehattan! “Fluttershy?” She asked, pushing herself up with one hoof and removing the washcloth.

When she opened her eyes, it definitely was Fluttershy. Just…

“Dear, is it just me, or do you seem a little pale?” She asked, suddenly full of concern. Her fur was jumbled up around her eyes, and Rarity instantly recognized it as a sign of crying. “Dear, have you been crying?” The Unicorn’s eyes suddenly shot open as Fluttershy began warily wobbling on the spot. In a matter of moments, she let her perfectly hooficured hooves pound against the floor, leaning up against the almost fainting Pegasus.

“Dear, dear!” She said, holding a hoof around her withers. “Come! One of the beds is right here!” With an awkward heave, Fluttershy found herself in a very similar pose Rarity was in not ten seconds before, her hooves splayed to the side, and belly facing upwards.

Rarity observed the Pegasus for a second, tapping her hooves concernedly on the ground. In the corner of her eyes, she spotted a sink. A quick a-ha moment later, Rarity levitated a clean glass over, using her magic to turn the faucet and pouring water.

“Here! Drink some of-” She stopped, suddenly noticing how the water had come out gray from the spout. She let out a frustrated sigh, dumping out the cup and cleaning it with a rag. That’s what she got for renting a hotel in the district of Flint. Instead, she levitated a bottle of water from the fridge, pouring it into the cleaned cup. A clean bottle of water. “Here, take some water.” She some-what suggested. Fluttershy pushed herself up with an elbow, taking the glass with her hoof and drinking.

“I know it isn’t minty chocolate chip ice-cream, but it’ll do in a pinch!” She said, sitting down on the opposite edge of the bed. “Now- tell Rarity what’s the matter.”

For a moment, Fluttershy considered lying. What would be the harm in saying nothing?

Well, the harm in saying nothing was the fact that it wasn’t nothing. It was, so far, the biggest something of Fluttershy’s entire life. It was the kind of something that threatened to uproot her entire life, and change her directory permanently. Fluttershy just let an exasperated sigh, setting the drink on the end of the nearby nightstand. She had to be truthful.

“I-I haven’t been very honest with you.” She said, her voice wavering terribly.

“About what?” Rarity asked, leaning forwards.

“About… coming. Here.”

“Oh, pish-posh, darling!” Rarity waved a hoof, looking to the side. “I already know!” Fluttershy sat up quickly, her eyes opening wide. How? How did she already know? “You’ve met a dashing stallion!” Oh. “I’ve been there, darling. Break-ups only get easier with time.”

“N-No.” Fluttershy said quietly. Rarity’s ears perked up, looking at Fluttershy with a confused glance.

“Oh?” She asked. “Then why have you been coming here?”

“I…” She swallowed her spit. “I have been seeing a pony…” She admitted, rolling over onto her side, putting a hoof between her head and the mattress, her hair draping over her like a blanket. “I-I’ve been visiting the orphanage.”

Rarity gasped, looking up, and somehow, already knowing exactly how this was going to end.

“And- there’s a filly.” Despite her somberness, she let out a little laugh. “She’s a really great filly. But- she- or- her caretaker wants me to… adopt her.”

“Oh, dearie me!” Rarity quickly levitated the previously discarded towel from nearby to her forehead, dabbing liberally. “Is it just me, or did it get a little humid in here?” She cleared her eyes with her hooves, putting the towel down on the opposite bed. “You did say adopt, right?”

“Yes!” Fluttershy sobbed. “This is why I’ve been coming here!”

“Oh- Oh, wow!” Rarity swooned on the bed. “This is- this is some big news, Fluttershy!” She let out an unlady snort, slapping a hoof against her head. “I thought for sure Pinkie was going to be first!” Fluttershy ceased her sobbing, turning to look at Rarity with a confused face.

“What?”

“To be a parent, of course!” She laughed again. “I always thought it would be Pinkie. I guess my bits were on the wrong pony.” She giggled. “Oh, you know how much of a party-animal she can be sometimes.”

“Y-You don’t mean-” Fluttershy eeped, turning back over and grabbing a nearby pillow and pushing her face into the plushy surface. Rarity blushed, clearing her throat.

“You obviously seem split up about the issue.” She noticed the soggy pillow Fluttershy was crying into. “Why are you split up, dear?” Fluttershy sniffled harshly.

“I can’t be a mother!” She shouted into the pillow. She came up for air, hugging it tightly to her chest. “I-I can’t deal with- I- I don’t even know what foals are supposed to do! What did I do when I was younger?” She laid flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “I guess I stayed inside a lot. Like her.” She played with her hair, twirling it with a hoof. “I wasn’t exactly the most healthy of ponies back then…”

“Well…” Rarity shrugged, standing up and trotting off the bed. She trotted to a nearby window, tapping the glass that gave a grand view of the entire city. Fluttershy looked on in confusion. “Nopony is saying you have to be a parent. It’s your choice and your choice alone. If she trusts you well enough to adopt her, then I imagine she would be content being around you.”

“W-What are you saying?” Fluttershy asked.

“What I’m saying is…” Rarity sighed, still staring out the window. “I can’t make this decision for you. I’ve been in a similar situation.” She dropped her voice. “With Sweetie Belle. I’m probably the most qualified pony to talk to you about this.”

“Y-You’re her sister, though.” Fluttershy argued. “It was an easy decision! T-This filly isn’t related to me at all!” Rarity sucked air between her teeth.

“It was not easy.” She said, sounding almost threatening. “I can’t make this decision for you. This is your life, not mine.” She tapped a hoof to the glass again. “Did you know Cloudsdale is hovering near Manehattan this month?”

“Is it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Indeed it is.” She tapped her hoof again. “Fluttershy, where do your parents live?”

“C-Cloudsdale?”

“Interesting.” She nodded. There was only silence, only broken up by Rarity’s occasional tapping.

“You think I should talk to my parents?”

“Well, I do think they deserve to know whether they will be gaining a granddaughter.” Rarity smiled, looking up at the clouds in the distance.

“A-Alright.” Fluttershy let out a huge sigh. “I’ll go talk to them.

“There you go.” Rarity smiled. “Let the fun begin.”

“Nimbus, dear, could you get the door please?”

“Of course, honey.” Nimbus said, folding up the newspaper and sliding it into the crook of the armchair, between the armrest and cushion. He stood up, letting his old bones creak and stretch. He shook, trotting over the wispy surfaces of their cloud house’s floor. The Shy household didn’t get many visitors. The only visitors were predominately Pegasi, as the house itself was a mere six-thousand feet in the air. Outside of the post-pony, the last visitor ever had to be Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy’s old friend.

The turquoise Pegasus took a few moments to reach the entry way. He straightened the collar on his blue sweater, smoothening out his pink mustache, and taking a deep breath. Before opening the door, he caught himself in a nearby mirror, polishing his swirly mane cut. Then, with the confidence he built up in front of said mirror, he swung the door open with a bright smile. Only for his smile to fall into a genuine one.

“Fluttershy!” He said, stepping back excitedly. “Come in, come in! It isn’t everyday we get visitors!”

Fluttershy tentatively stepped into the interior. It had been a long time since she had last stepped on these very same clouds. Perhaps the last time had to of been when she left for flight camp. Outside of that, she drew a blank. Years of living on the ground had made her ill-adjusted for the sinking properties of the surface. She almost found it difficult to walk on the surface, which was strange considering she was a Pegasus. Yet she couldn’t deny the homely feeling of stepping back into the place she once spent every day in.

Each unaligned bit of wall gave hear a hearty dose of nostalgia. Through most of her childhood, she stayed inside due to her health. She became very accustomed to the unchanging scenery. Her only friend, Rainbow Dash, kept her plenty of company. Although the blue speedster would never admit it, her brash and sometimes coltish personality took a backseat while she was over.

It was only until she was older was she able to go outside. Of course, Flight Camp might’ve not been the greatest place for somepony like her as her only real outside experience. Most days at Flight Camp, she wished she was right back inside. She only went for Rainbow Dash. That was until she discovered her Cutiemark. Then, for a good few years, the concept of being inside was a foggy memory from the past.

It took her an embarrassing amount of time to realize that yes, ponies needed walls and ceilings, and no, she couldn’t live out in the white-tail woods forever.

She felt a little guilty for not visiting her parents more often. Maybe if she did, she would’ve never met Scootaloo. Maybe if she did, she wouldn’t have even been going through this moral crisis, and instead just responded with a resounding no. Would that have been better for her? If it was so easy to say no, then why was she so torn up about it? Did she already know the answer?

Right now, unfortunately, all that mattered was her mother was pouring a cup of tea.

“So.” Posey asked, sitting down and sliding a cup of tea across the table. “How’s that Angel bunny of your doing?” Fluttershy took it, blowing on the hot liquid and smiling.

“Thank you, mom.” She said, sipping. “He’s doing wonderfully.”

“What brings our oldest here, huh?” Nimbus came around the sofa, leaning into his armchair and wearing his best expensive smile. “Not that we don’t like your visits, of course, but they’re uncommon.”

“O-Oh, of course.” Fluttershy said, shuffling uncomfortably on the sofa. How would you even begin to bring up the topic? ‘Oh, hey, parents, I am going to give you a grandfoal!’ No, that wouldn’t work. Fluttershy cleared her throat, clinking the teacup against it’s plate. “I-I just had a few questions. N-Nothing big.” Fluttershy muffled herself by forcefully pushing a teacup to her mouth.

“Well…” Posey looked at Nimbus with a curious expression before looking back. “What is it?”

“Uhm…” Fluttershy set her teacup back down, shuffling again. She took a deep breath. Posey picked up her own drink, sipping at it’s surface. “What made you two decide to… have me?”

What Fluttershy did not expect, however, was her mother to snort her tea, having the brown liquid shoot involuntarily out of her nostrils as she started coughing.

“What?!” Nimbus said, perhaps the loudest he had ever shouted.

“Fluttershy got knocked up!” A new, fourth voice said from somewhere upstairs. Nimbus shot a warning glare through the clouds.

“Zephyr!” He shouted.

“No!” Fluttershy waved her hooves irradically, accidentally pouring a little bit of her tea onto the coffee table. “L-Let’s calm down, everypony! I’m not pregnant. Nopony is pregnant!”

“Eugh…” Posey sniffled, dabbing a napkin against her muzzle. She breathed in deep, trying to get her heart rate back down. “H-Have you found a dashing stallion? You don’t keep in touch with us very well.” She replaced her drenched napkin with a clean napkin. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“N-No.” She put her head down. Maybe she should find a stallion. That honestly might’ve made this whole ordeal easier. “I-I’ve been helping out at an orphanage…” Her parent’s faces shifted into one of understanding. “T-There’s a filly who- who want’s me to adopt her!” Fluttershy let a tear stream down her eyes, wiping it away with a hoof. “She’s sweet, but I’m scared! Really, really scared!”

“You didn’t think we were?” Nimbus almost instantly responded. Fluttershy looked up in surprise at her father.

“Oh, we were terrified!” Posey laughed. “You were our first! We could prepare as much as we wanted to, but at the end of the day, raising a foal isn’t anything you could expect in a million years.”

“Raising a foal isn’t easy.” Nimbus said. “It didn’t help when you were always sick, and we didn’t know why.” His voice lowered somberly, letting a shiver go down his spine. “I-I really thought we were going to loose our first daughter for a few nights, and we had no idea why. It was half relieving when the doctor told us about the autoimmune-thingy.”

“If you want to raise a foal, it isn’t going to be easy.” Posey nodded, agreeing. “I mean, I would like a grand-foal.” She let out a smile as Fluttershy blushed. She leaned forwards, whispering. “And I don’t think Zephyr is going to be giving us any time soon…” The two laughed again. Posey grabbed her hoof, holding it close in between them. “If you want to do this… we will always be there for you. Always.” She squeezed her hoof. “But if you’re going to do it, don’t do it for yourself. If you’re going to do anything, promise us something first.”

“What’s that?” She asked quietly. Nimbus took a step forwards, smiling too.

“If you’re going to do it, do it for her.”

Fluttershy stared up. Suddenly, she knew her choice. And it scared her.

Fluttershy creaked open the door. She was gone longer than she wanted to. Now, the sun had begun setting below the horizon. The room was desolate, the lamps turned off, and the sun no longer shining through the plastered window. Through the silence, she heard the quietest of sniffling.

Her heart melted as she observed the lump beneath the covers. She had done this. She had made her sad, and it tore her to pieces. Quietly, she walked in, latching the door shut behind her. Scootaloo already knew she was here, suddenly quieting down her sniffles into almost inaudible deep breaths. Fluttershy cringed, stopping for a moment.

This was it.

Deep breath in…

Deep breath out.

Fluttershy sat at the edge of the bed, near the lump in the blankets. She let her hooves dangles off of the surface, staring down at the floorboards below.

“Hey…” She whispered into the blank room. “I-I’m sorry for leaving you earlier…” If Scootaloo heard, she said nothing. “I-I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the better…” She sighed, looking at the motionless lump.

Slowly, she set a hoof down on her back, rubbing up and down.

“I’ll do it.” She said simply.

There was a moment of silence.

Scootaloo turned around in her bed, taking the blankets off her head and staring at Fluttershy through red eyes.

“I’ll take you with me.” Fluttershy said. “I-I may not be the… most qualified pony in the world. I-I don’t know what I’m doing, really, but-” Fluttershy was cut off when suddenly, her barrel was encompassed in a hug. Scootaloo had her eyes shut tight as for dear life, she held on.

Fluttershy hugged back, and for perhaps the tenth time that day, began crying.

01 - The Quiet Pair

The impossible place of Ponyville.

It was Fluttershy’s home. The place she fell to all those years ago. Literally. For the most part, it was also the place she swore to never leave. It was, in her opinion, one of the greatest places in Equestria. It wasn’t violent, it wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t exciting, and it wasn’t special.

That’s what made it so special. It was just a collection of houses.

Her home was far away from the populous city center. It was hidden and out of the way. Only a pony who knew of it’s existence would really be able to find it. That, and somehow the local post-mare found her way through the thick trees the first time. Then, when Fluttershy moved her mailbox to the front of her driveway, subsequently forgot where it was every time without fail. A river ran through her front yard, a bridge bridging the gap as slowly swaying trees covered the entire area in a shadow only best described as heavenly. The roof of the home was composed of grass, so even the flying Pegasi would have a hard time noticing the small discolored lump in the landscape.

Any passersbyer that did happen to notice the beige walls through the thick forest trees would assume the pony inside was retired, perhaps living out the rest of their days in peace. In reality, it was nothing but peace.

A small orange Pegasus rested peacefully on her belly underneath the swaying trees. Her orange coat illuminated a soft shade of green, the light bouncing off the grass, patches of the sun streaming through the canopy and creating a mesmerizing pattern on the floor.

Scootaloo’s attention wasn’t on the pattern, however. Her eyes were immensely focused on one… little… thing. Her head was resting on the ground, the cut grass tickling her nose as she stared intently at the offender, her brows furrowed in intense concentration. Slowly, she raised her back end, and started inching forwards like a cat. Stalking. Stalking that one little thing.

And then it jumped.

Quickly, Scootaloo jumped in parallel with the frog. She hit the ground a few hooves away, making one large swipe to grab it. Unfortunately, the green beast just jumped one more time, expertly avoiding her hoof. Scootaloo’s chin met grass as her hooves crossed her body, turning her upside-down. From her new found position of the ground, she watched as the frog merrily slid into the stream in her front yard.

Scootaloo let out a sigh of frustration, pushing her hooves up beneath her and standing up. She batted the dirt from her mane, letting the fine particulates fall and hit the ground. She looked up through the tree canopy, god rays beaming down and into her eyes. She let her eyelids flutter closed as she breathed in deeply.

This was peace. This was bliss. It was a stark contrast to how life used to be.

And it hadn’t always been like this.

…

Her thoughts were crudely interrupted as she felt the ground beneath her start to vibrate. Very, ever-so-slightly vibrated. Barely detectable to her, and certainly not detectable to any other pony. Years of listening to the floorboards in the orphanage for Doctor Sunshine had taught her how to feel for vibrations.

What day was it? Oh, right. He’s coming to visit.Scootaloo shuddered, turning around and galloping back to the house across the bridge, a grimace on her face of the now determined fate of awkwardness the stallion was going to bring.

It wasn’t necessarily that she hated the stallion. It was more the fact that every time he was around, he was always the bearer of bad news. Scootaloo, a new therapist is here to help you! He would torture her thoughts. Scootaloo, I know life hasn’t been the best to you, but we’re gonna cure you with this medicine!Perhaps the best thing he had ever done for her was introducing her to Fluttershy. And even that was apparently an unscheduled accident, so it was barely his doing to begin with.

Doctor Sunshine made her feel uncomfortable. Like he pretended to know Scootaloo, when in reality, she felt like he could barely remember the color of her coat.

The wooden door creaked open, and she slipped inside.

On the inside, the level of comfort observable from the outside only skyrocketed. It was a cozy two-bedroom cottage. The inside had it’s windows open, a gentle outside breeze fluttering through the home, making the curtains and loose paper wave in the wind. To her left was the kitchen, adjourned to a similar room with a dining table. In front of her was the living room, and above her was the two bedrooms and bathroom. A green sofa sat opposite of her, and an armchair. An empty armchair.

Which was peculiar, because usually, there would be a certain yellow Pegasus inhabiting that armchair. And Scootaloo would’ve likely noticed if she had sneaked out the back door. Plus, Fluttershy wouldn’t leave Scootaloo alone without informing her. Not on a day like this, anyways. When she wasn’t taking care of animals, coming down sick, or buying groceries, she would always find time to hang out with her friends. Or, more recently, care for Scootaloo.

It took Scootaloo all of two seconds to find Fluttershy. And, strangely enough, she wasn’t doing any of these things.

Fluttershy sat on a wooden chair by the front window overlooking the yard. It was obvious she was looking after Scootaloo while she played. But she also also wasn’t watching Scootaloo. She was slumped against the window, her eyes closed, and a light snoring coming from her throat. She had fallen asleep while watching Scootaloo.

Scootaloo didn’t know whether to feel offended, impressed, or sorry for the fact she had spent so much time worrying she fell asleep while watching her.

What does one do in this situation? Wake her up? There was still a pony coming down the driveway, so it would’ve been best. Scootaloo began to walk forwards when her ears twitched towards the sounds of a bunny’s feet jumping.

She turned around, looking at the bunny. The bunny had a furrowed brow. He patted the ground with a foot in an impatient manner, crossing his arms. Then, in one motion, he leaned forwards, and-

“A-HEM!” He cleared his throat. Louder than Scootaloo had ever heard a full-grown stallion clear their throat before. Scootaloo was left with her ears ringing at a high b-flat.

Fluttershy jumped up, her eyes shooting wide open as she looked around. She rubbed one eye with a hoof, looking around confusingly. Then, she spotted Scootaloo.

“O-Oh, dear!” She said, hopping down from the chair. “I-I’m sorry! I-I didn’t realize I fell asleep! Oh, how silly of me!” She rubbed a hoof over her eyes again. Scootaloo observed the concerningly dark bags under her eyes. Had this visit been tearing her up this much?

She didn’t know exactly what had caused it, but Fluttershy’s eyes were always… different. There was something behind them. Not like the cold and calculating eyes of a thousand different therapists, but nothing but unfiltered, raw, and blistering kindness.

Even in her obviously weakened state, she was still being kind to the source of these problems. The kindness was a stark contrast to the orphanage. Scootaloo had turned into a bit of an urban legend, especially after she left. An orphan who had been there the longest, and had the most tragic backstory. Rumors ranged from Scootaloo’s father being a ruthless dictator in Stalliongrad to her mother being Princess Celestia herself. It didn’t help that Scootaloo never came out of her room.

“What’s wrong, Angel?” Fluttershy asked, watching as the bunny’s hoof tapped the ground harder and harder, his impatience growing. He made a wide variety of gestures with his paws, pointing up, to the side, foot taps, and ear flops. “Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Is he coming now?” She turned around, looking at the clock hung above the fireplace. “Oh dear! He’s two minutes early!” Fluttershy took a moment to gather herself, doing a quick breathing exercise. She redirected her attention to Scootaloo. “Why don’t you go play?” She asked kindly.

The yellow Pegasus obviously knew of Scootaloo’s disdain towards the stallion. That was probably why shy was currently getting out a set of drawing paper. She trotted towards a particularly deep bookcase, pushing apart a few books with her muzzle in order to gain access to a completely hidden cardboard box. She gripped the edge with her teeth, sliding it out and onto the floor.

It had the essentials. Nice construction paper worth of any foal’s drawings, properly adorned with a 24 box set of crayons. Each tip had been entirely worn down and reshaped into a finer point. Even a few of the wrappings had been tore off in order to gain more crayon. As barbaric as it sounded, it was a massive upgrade compared to her old crayons back at the orphanage.

Fluttershy had not been the one to hide the crayons. She had no reason to. It wasn’t even really hidden, as the only three beings who lived in the house were currently in the living room. It was Scootaloo who hid the crayons. It should’ve been concerning, and it was, but she had already gotten used to Scootaloo’s quirks. Lack of contact. Lack of talking. It was her personality, and it was enough of an excuse for Fluttershy to look over the ominous meaning behind Scootaloo hiding away her personal effects.

Scootaloo dug through the box, scooping up a piece of paper and box of crayons. She balanced them on her back, looking around the living room for a place to work. She smiled when she spotted it: a little end table by the sofa. It was a nice, dark crevice for her to work in. Hidden away so the damned Doctor Sunshine couldn’t find her.

If felt safer under here. Behind and to her right was a wall. To her left was a green sofa. Above her was a wooden surface. From her position, she could see the door clearly, and even watching as Fluttershy dashed around the home rapidly straightening every picture frame. The light streaming in was at such an angle that Scootaloo was able to see her paper quite clearly. It would only be broken by the occasional hoof gliding across the paper.

Finally, she plucked an exquisite red from the box of crayons. Placing the crayon on the paper, it was only a matter of moments when she began falling into a trance, feeling the wood grain bump below the paper-

As quickly as the trance came, it went faster than a rock rolling off a cliff. The sound of knocking filled the house, startling the filly and making her head come within half a hoof of hitting the underside of the table. She gave the door an angry glance, adding more to the list of reasons to hate the stallion who was probably on the other side.

Fluttershy pulled open the door, flashing the greatest smile she could possibly bear without looking like a lunatic. Scootaloo’s heart rate returned to normal after the sudden scare, forcing herself to mute the sounds of talking. She stared down at the blank piece of paper, noticing the huge red gash going across the front side. With a huff of hot air, she flipped it over, starting over on the blank side. She began anew.

Unfortunately for her, a pair of dull-yellow hoofsteps stopped no less than a hoof away from her table. Scootaloo cringed, biting her tongue as she slowly looked up. Her hiding spot had been for nothing, as the same stallion that she feared would be here… was here.

“I see she’s settled in, then?” Doctor Sunshine asked Fluttershy, leaning down and observing Scootaloo. She stared at her paper harder, feeling the crayon pushing harder into the paper.

“Of course.” Fluttershy stated, nodding. “She’s a sweet filly once you get to know her.” She said uncharacteristically flat and monotone. It was hard to gauge her emotion, especially like this, but the side-long glare she was giving the stallion was enough evidence to suggest Fluttershy wasn’t looking towards this visit either. Scootaloo tuned them out for the second time, almost beaming a hole through her paper as she tried focusing.

But, all good things must come to an end. Fluttershy left Scootaloo alone with Doctor Sunshine as she did something in the kitchen, the sounds of clinking cups being audible. The awkward silence was unbearable, Scootaloo began pushing the crayon painfully into the frog of her hoof, trying her absolute hardest to ignore the stallion.

“How’ve you been, Scoots?” He asked, in Scootaloo’s personal opinion, authoritarian-like. She didn’t mind the nickname. Just not from him. “Your mane’s growing out. That’s good, right?” Scootaloo bit her lip, suddenly wanting to shave her head bald.

It took a few moments longer for the stallion to laugh, shaking his head, apparently dissatisfied with not getting a response. Finally, Scootaloo stopped tensing, not even realizing she was in the first place. The doctor moved his gaze away from her and towards the room the two were residing in.

He walked towards a nearby fireplace, observing the pictures on the mantle. He gave a small smile, moving his eyes across. One big picture in the middle had Fluttershy along with her friends of different tribes and colors. For some reason, there didn’t seem to be many pictures of Fluttershy with her family. More specifically, very little of Fluttershy being young. There were a few, but outside of the outliers, it was almost like Fluttershy’s life didn’t exist before she came to Ponyville.

Maybe their family just wasn’t all that big into photographs.

But besides that, a new collection of photos were growing. Although it had been less than a month, the amount of photos with Scootaloo would make a visitor believe she had lived there her whole life. Fluttershy, Angel, and Scootaloo. Covering the rest of the fireplace was a collection of drawings, much like her old room back at the orphanage. The collection was in it’s infancy, but was growing fast.

“Tea, Doctor Sunshine.” Fluttershy said, her wings extended with two cups on her left, one on the right. She slid it off with a wing onto the coffee table. A cup was conveniently nudged into Scootaloo’s periphery, which she took a break from drawing to indulge on. Lemon. Which also happened to be her favorite.

Fluttershy sat on the sofa, watching as Doctor Sunshine invited himself onto the armchair. He sipped on his own tea.

“I see you’ve removed the- the-” He waved his free hoof, as if he was forgetting something. “-the small staircases. Why?”

Fluttershy clinked her cup onto the plate. “I don’t let the animals inside anymore. Well, besides Angel, but he’s my pet. I didn’t think you’d like Scootaloo living with wild animals, so I commissioned my friend to help build a farm.”

“That’s great!” Doctor Sunshine said enthusiastically. “I like it. You’re adapting for her. Shows your invested.” He downed the rest of his drink. “Right. I’ll still need to look around the home. If all goes well, this should be my last visit.”

“Hm.” Fluttershy hummed, watching as he put the cup onto the coffee table. He stood up, stretching.

“Being an Element of Harmony definitely helps speed up the court, tell you what.” He laughed, trotting towards the kitchen. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that judge look more scared in my life when Princess Celestia walked in to audit.” When not getting a response, Doctor Sunshine took a sharp breath in.

“Look…” He began. Fluttershy looked up to him. “Since I already know this is going to go over fine… I’m just gonna give you this.” He reached into his mane, grabbing a vanilla folder and placing it on the coffee table. Fluttershy leaned forwards, reading the title.

Her breath caught as she realized this was Scootaloo’s records.

“She’s had a hard life.” He started. “This will tell you everything. And- a fair warning…” He looked at Fluttershy in the eyes. “It’s not for the easy of heart.” He coughed, backing up. “Right. I’ll begin my look around.” He walked out of the room, leaving a confused and slightly scared Fluttershy.

She eyed the folder on the coffee table, like it had said something offensive. Slowly, a small orange filly came out from underneath the side-table, her head low as she stared at the folder back.

Fluttershy felt torn.

There, laying in an inconspicuous folder, was everything Fluttershy didn’t know she wanted to know. Scootaloo turned to look at Fluttershy, and strangely enough, flashing a comforting smile. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go- wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Wasn’t Fluttershy supposed to comfort her?

Fluttershy slid the folder off the table, picking it up in her hooves. It felt surprisingly light. For something holding all of the answers, she expected it to weight more. Instead, there must’ve been two or three lonely sheets of paper being contained inside.

Fluttershy looked down to Scootaloo once more.

“A-Are you sure?” She asked.

Scootaloo nodded.

Fluttershy flipped open the front cover.

There she was. Although it was full of static and black and white, displayed predominately on the front of the first page was a picture of when she was born. She was wrapped in a white towel, her presumably purple mane sticking to her coat as it appeared to be wet. On her hooves were wires, tubes, IVs, and a breathing mask connecting her to the outside world. Outside world, as the camera operator was behind a plastic box, evident by the white shine created by a nearby light bouncing off of it.

And then she closed the folder.

Scootaloo tilted her head to the side, looking up with confused yet silent eyes. Fluttershy smiled, putting the folder into the crack of the couch and turning back towards the stallion entering the room with an another smile.

“Well, Miss Fluttershy.” He said, stopping by the front door. “It seems you are able and willing to care for Scootaloo.” Sometime during his escapade around the home, he materialized a clipboard in his hooves. “I never had any doubt in the first place, you’ve been a gem.” He complimented. Fluttershy kept staring with an expectant smile.

“Well.” He sighed. “Guess this is the end of the road for you and me, Scootaloo.” He nodded his head, looking around the house one final time. “Seven years, you and me.” He let out a small chuckle. “And I think you can’t wait to get rid of me.” He sighed with a smile. “Take care, Miss Fluttershy. Scootaloo.”

He pushed open the door with his hooves, walking out into the blinding sunlight.

The door latched, leaving the two inside to ponder silently.

Scootaloo eyed the folder in the couch, while Fluttershy stood up, stretching like a cat and bouncing over to the kitchen.

“Oh, Scootaloo?” She asked, turning around. “Do you want some lunch?”

Scootaloo’s only response was a vulgar amount of nodding, not two seconds later hopping towards the kitchen. The folder could wait.

03 - New Friend

It was the next day. The sun was high in the sky as Celestia’s sunlight shone down upon them to enjoy. Rarity was locking up the shop, levitating an ‘out for lunch’ sign on the front of the Boutique’s door, while Sweetie waited patiently for her to finish. With a nod of the head, the two descended down the familiar village streets towards a particular destination. One Rarity had mapped out in her head due to the immense joy it put forth, and one Sweetie had mapped out in her head due to the total boredom it endured. It was none other than the Ponyville Spa.

Rarity and Sweetie both wore red scarves. It wasn’t necessarily ‘cold’ outside, but Rarity insisted she wore one due to the ‘spring fashion,’ and Sweetie wore a similar one because- if her sister wore one, then she might as well, too.

Both were particularly tired. Sweetie wasn’t quite ready to stay up that late into the night as they did last, and Rarity was emotionally exhausted from said talk last night. Despite this, they still walked along in comfortable silence.

Many considered Sweetie to be a carbon copy of her sister. A natural clone, despite having more than a decade of years between them. However, being a clone could not be further from the truth. Despite their uncanny similarity, Sweetie still could not be convinced to go willingly to any spa. Even if going to the spa mainly consisted of waiting for her sister to get finished whilst playing with a friend. She would rather be playing outside. However, as Sweetie followed her sister, it had seemed as if Tartarus had frozen over.

Spas had the tendency to either rock Sweetie to sleep, or creep her out from unfamiliar ponies touching her viciously. Her response would usually be falling asleep. To which she would be yelled at by the spa staff to wake up. And then she would fall asleep again. See- it was a vicious cycle. The last time Sweetie willingly participated in spa activities left her sore and uncomfortable. Never again, she swore. Which, to be fair, she had kept up her own deal. She wasn’t going to the spa to get spa’d, she was going to the spa on solely diplomatic means.

Rarity was positively itching to get her treatments underway. All that talking last night made her hooves begin to crack! Although- to be fair, any normal ponies wouldn’t see anything wrong… even with a microscope and a ten times zoom lens. But Rarity could feel it. And Rarity was positively disgusted with herself.

When the familiar purple roof of the spa came into sight, Rarity audibly let out a sigh of relief.

“I hope I didn’t keep poor Fluttershy waiting…” Rarity said, picking up her pace as she approached the front doors. “It’s never polite to keep a lady waiting! Even if you are one yourself!” She let out a laugh that sounded more like a tee-hee. Sweetie rolled her eyes.

“Let’s get this over with.” Sweetie said as she removed her scarf, rolling it around her hoof, and stepping inside the open doors.

The first thing she noticed was the tidal wave of heat.Nothing but steam and humidity clashed against her coat. Sweetie could feel the shower she took earlier that morning practically undoing itself as she immediately started sweating. So much for first impressions.

“(Hello!)” A high voice rang out from behind the counter. It was a mare with a pink coat and a slicked back baby blue mane held by a white headband. “(Welcome to the spa- Oh, Rarity!)” She said, her eyes alight with recognition. “(Our most valued customer!)”

“(Hello, darling!)” Rarity greeted, approaching the front desk. Sweetie could barely remember her name. It was a pair of twins. Was it… Aloe? No- she was Lotus. Or- was she? “(We should speak Ponish for my sister.)”

“Oh, uf courz, miss Rity.” Lotus said. “How eez you doing?”

Sweetie blinked in momentary confusion. They had been speaking Fancy no less than two seconds ago, and hearing somepony flick a mental switch like that was a little hard to wrap her head around.

“I’m doing fine, miss Lotus.” Sweetie greeted. This only garnered a laugh from the pink pony.

“Miss Sveetie. I am Aloe.”

“Right, sorry.” Sweetie sheepishly lowered her head. Aloe laughed again.

“Ees’ fine. Real. We mus’ta confuse ze ponies most times. Aha-” She turned tail, waiving along the two ponies to follow. They entered through a wall of beads, going deeper into the spa. “Miss Fluttershai and er’ plus one is deeper.”

They began descending. The doors along the halls split off into a million different spa activities. It was honestly amazing how so much could fit inside of a building. Perhaps Aloe and Lotus had commissioned Time Turner to create a bigger on the inside space.Every time she passed a door, she could see inside, where many mares were getting massages, dirt on their faces(?), and sinking into mud. Every once in a while, she even caught a glimpse of a stallion. Which was strange, because Sweetie assumed most stallions went to the Cobbler for their hoof-duty.

“Ooh, isn’t this exciting, Sweetie?” Rarity asked, leaning to the side to get closer to her sister.

“Oh- uhh- yeah.” Sweetie agreed, lost in her thoughts.

“What’s wrong, dear? I thought you’d be excited!”

“I-I am! It’s just-” Sweetie looked over at an open door, witnessing as a particularly muscled stallion drove an elbow into the crook of the local postmare. She gulped. “I-I’m scared of messing up, okay?”

“Oh, Sweetie…” Rarity soothed, placing a comforting hoof over her sister’s withers. “Before I got my Cutiemark, I didn’t have any friends, either!”

“What?”

“It took me realizing my special talent to make the prettiest outfits for our pla-”

“Rarity!” Sweetie said, breaking her sister for a moment. “That’s not what I meant- I have friends! It’s just- I’m scared of not making a friend.”

“Oh.”

…

“Alright.”

Sweetie felt even worse now.

This place scared Scootaloo.

She didn’t know exactly why, but the unsightly halls and blue walls of the spa made her feel a special type of insecure. They were in the exact middle of the spa, not a dose of sunlight coming through. Which was strange, considering the other rooms were massive and luxurious, sunlight streaming through the open roof all day long. Instead, this empty waiting room was only lit by the dull hum of fluorescent tubes.

It felt sterile. Like the hospitals she had once become accustomed to. And unlike those hospitals, this place had one big redeeming factor, like a candle in an otherwise all-consuming black void. That candle was Fluttershy. Fluttershy kept close right by her side, a feeling that she had become accustomed to. They were sitting on the ground, opting to not sit on the likely moldy red seats lining the walls.

Despite her close proximity, there was still a gap between the two. They were close, in terms of Scootaloo’s distance, but they weren’t that close. Scootaloo enjoyed the feeling, but actually physically touching a pony was a whole new level. Perhaps that’s why she hated the spa. It was a place where being touched, shoved, and dragged around was just something that was expected.

Fluttershy looked down, offering the small filly a comforting smile. Scootaloo’s gaze flashed up for a moment, before looking down in nervousness at the static of the linoleum tile floor. She was nervous. Hay, they were both nervous. Scootaloo was supposed to meet a new pony. The last pony she had meant turned into her caretaker- but this was a stranger outside of the carefully controlled environment of the orphanage. As much as she knew, this was just some pony off the street.

Even worse… it was a filly.

Who was her age.

Why did she ever agree to this?

Fluttershy gave yet another relaxed smile. Scootaloo took a deep breath.

Then immediately lost her breath when the door clicked open.

There wasn’t one new pony. There was two.

They both looked very similar to one another. They were both unicorns. The taller one had blue eyes, the smaller one having green. The tall one had an elegent purple mane and tail, swirling down into an expertly crafted style that must’ve taken hours. The smaller one’s hair looked significantly less timely, probably just having a brush go through it once or twice. Hers was a two-toned pink and purple with little curls. The way the two ponies walked into the room- the way they presented themselves upon seeing the orange foal- it was like they were mentally linked. Like they were on the same wavelength.

Scootaloo looked into their eyes. The two ponies were similar, yes, but different in soul. The taller one looked down upon Scootaloo in a very familiar gaze. Calculating. Scootaloo’s heart locked up when she recognized the gaze. It was the same gaze doctors and psychologists gave Scootaloo when they were going to try and fix her.

“My, my!” The tall one said. “Oh, your coat colors are marvelous!”

What.

“I could practically design an entire fall ensemble with your colors!”

What?

“Have you ever tried modeling?”

So the calculating gaze was not the same as the doctor’s and therapists gaze. Instead, it seemed her gaze was solely creative. And perhaps a dress-maker of some sort? Fluttershy cleared her throat, nodding her head towards the smaller pony. The tall one made a good attempt at a smile, instead coming off as slightly embarrassed.

“Oh, I do apolagize. Where are my manners?” She conducted herself. “My name is Rarity, and this is my sister, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity nodded towards the smaller unicorn.

Sweetie seemed to be observing Scootaloo from a distance. Her eyes were full of… understanding?It was a strange combination of emotions Scootaloo hadn’t seen before, and it was slightly confusing.

Sweetie looked conflicted for a moment, glancing between the two older ponies in the room before finally deciding to take a step forwards. And then another step forwards. And another. So many steps, in fact, that Scootaloo and Sweetie were separated by less than five hooves.

“Um- Hi?” Sweetie ventured nervously. Scootaloo kept her gaze locked onto Sweetie’s eyes, whose seemed to be darting around the room in a panic manner. “I- know you probably don’t trust me, um… I wouldn’t trust me neither.” She cringed. “I didn’t mean it like- ugh.” She mentally berated herself. She steeled herself, staring at Scootaloo with resolve. “I like your coat colors, too!” She said quite loudly.

Scootaloo blinked.

Fluttershy, despite looking like she didn’t want to, decided to leave the two fillies in their own privacy by walking over to Rarity and whispering something into her ear. She nodded, turning around and walking out of the room.

“Ta-ta, Sweetie and Scootaloo!” Rarity said, waving a hoof. “We’ll make our spa adventure short for you two. Be back soon!” Rarity left. Fluttershy was the only one left, looking at Scootaloo and giving her a reassuring nod of the head.

Sweetie waited until they were out of earshot.

“Hey- listen.” She laid down, much like how Scootaloo was. Her voice sounded somber, and she spoke slowly. Scootaloo was taken off guard, actually finding herself listening intently. “I know you don’t know me- and I don’t really know you- but um-” She cleared her throat, looking down. “My parents weren’t very nice to me, either.” That got her attention, Scootaloo’s ears straightening up. Sweetie tried to flash a smile, but it ended up looking creepy. She let out a frustrated grunt, looking back down.

“Um- If you’ll let me, um- I can help you.”

Those words.

She had heard it a thousand times before from a varying range of colorful and dull ponies, young and very old. They had all said the same thing. They had said the same thing each and every time there was a new doctor, a new therapist, and new prescription.

Those ponies wanted to help her.

She wants to help her.

No matter how hard Scootaloo looked, Sweetie’s eyes were full of understanding and optimism. The real kind. Not the fake kind handed out on a bruised silver platter at the therapist’s office, but rather eyes full of true optimism. The kind that was relatable.

Scootaloo warily eyed the pony in front of her. She felt a familiar tugging in her heart. She hoped, prayed, and believed…

Believed…

Believed what? That she would change for these ponies? That she would fall back into the same vicious cycle of despair. No. Trust isn’t handed out, it’s earned. If Sweetie wanted trust, she would have to…

Earn it.

But… Scootaloo couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted. Here was a pony willing to help, willing to put her neck out for her, and she was actively trying to stop it. How could a pony earn trust if they weren’t given a chance? Scootaloo had to give out a little first, right?

That was all it was, right? A big cycle? A large loop of trust-giving?

Scootaloo stood up suddenly. Sweetie flinched back, surprised at her sudden movements. She turned around, gripping an old magazine by the title of ‘ponies.’ She laid back down, flattening out the back page and grabbing a pen lodged randomly in one of the pages.

“Is this-?” Sweetie asked, observing her. “A game? We’re gonna draw?”

Scootaloo looked up, giving the smallest of nods.

“O-Okay. Alright!” Sweetie beamed a huge smile, getting up herself and gripping an old pen in her hoof. “Let’s draw!”

The two had moved to a darker room. Two beds sat side-by-side. Rarity was forcibly thrown barrel-first onto the left bed, a threatening elbow appearing not two seconds later. Like a bat from Tartarus, it landed directly in the middle of her spine. Rarity let out a shriek of pain.

And then a quiet sigh of relief.

Fluttershy was getting much of the same treatment on the right bed. Only less elbows. And less pain. Compared to Rarity’s idea of a spa day, Fluttershy’s treatment looked almost not worth paying for. Fluttershy was laying in much the same position, only one light hoof was pressing into her shoulder blade, barely giving any pressure at all.

A sickening crack filled the room as Rarity’s eyes fluttered closed, resting a cheek on her hoof. They then fluttered back open, smiling at Fluttershy’s horrified face.

“I insist,” she drawled through her cheek. “you must tell me- oh! -all about her!” She said excitedly. “She’s just an absolute- owh -cutiepie!”

“Oh, well-” She started. “She’s- um- very sweet?” She ventured. Rarity raised an eyebrow, almost beckoning Fluttershy to continue. “She doesn’t talk very much…” Rarity’s eyebrow went higher. “...or at all.”

“Please, darling.” Rarity laughed lightly. “I already know all that. You practically bawled it out at the hotel room.”

“Oh. Right.” Fluttershy cleared her throat politely, adding a quiet ‘I didn’t think I bawled that hard…’ Rarity adjusted her withers higher up on the mattress- before a very strong pair of hooves pulled her right back into place, following what appeared to be a karate-chop into her spine.

“No- darling, I want to know more about her history.”

“Oh. Right.” She rolled her withers. “I told you everything I know…”

“But you said so right in that letter you sent me! There’s an entire file with her history! Surely there must be something in there?”

“I didn’t read it.” Fluttershy admitted. Rarity gawked, her mouth wide open.

“Well, why not?” She asked. “I couldn’t have helped myself!”

“Um…” Fluttershy looked around the dark room. “Well- The past is in the past. Scootaloo shouldn’t be judged for what happened to her. It shouldn’t define her, and it shouldn’t be talked about unless- um- necessary?” Rarity figited uncomfortably, before letting out a sigh.

“I understand.” Rarity finally sighed.

“I already know more than I should…” She whispered. “Her wings are misshapen because… um… she was born kind of early? At least, I think so?”

“That would make sense…” Rarity let out a sigh as the massager got to work.

Then, Rarity’s eyes opened wide in confusion.

“Wings?” She asked. “She had wings? I thought she was an amputee!”

“Maybe a little more black?” Sweetie suggested, coloring the eyebrow a little bit darker. Scootaloo thought for a second before taking a slightly different angle viewing ti. She felt a crink in her neck pop and release as she tilted her head to the side. She let out a hum that sounded vaguely like an agreement, picking up her own pen and continuing her drawing escapade.

Sweetie adjusted her legs, turning to her other side as she began working on the jaw. As much as it pained her to admit, Scootaloo’s drawing skills were a few tiers higher than her own. As a matter of fact, the few parts where Sweetie drew were… noticeable.

But the message was there. It was still a perfectly fine piece of art. Only off-centered on the page, drawn from two half-dried ballpoint pens and on the back of an old issue of ‘ponies,’ depicting the top mare from over a year ago. Surprisingly, it was Baroness Bluebelle. (Which was strange, considering her own controversies about certain body-altering spells.) The picture they had been drawing was of a pony that bore a slight resemblance to Sweetie, only being a Pegasus instead of a unicorn, blowing on a wish flower to the wind.

Sweetie’s eyes momentarily drifted to the filly’s wings. She couldn’t help but feel bad every time she did. It was one of those things most ponies didn’t immediately notice. She surely didn’t. Hay, maybe Sweetie subconsciously assumed she was an Earth-pony on first glance, even after the conversation with her own sister last night. Although she didn’t know anything about wings, they looked unfortunately stubby. Perhaps something a new-born would grow out of within the first few months.

Guilt began at the forefront of her brain, so she forced herself to look back down.

Scootaloo was smiling to herself. She was over the moon. Was this what it felt like to have a family? Were they a family now? Well- she’s been taken care of before by the orphanage. More like she was being actually cared for now. Sweetie seemed to care for her, as much as it seemed impossible to the Pegasus.

Scootaloo let the pen drop, watching as it rolled off the paper. Sweetie blinked, stopping her own drawing.

“Are we finished?” She asked. Scootaloo looked up with a wild smile, nodding rapidly. “Sweet! Hold it up!” And she did, covering half of herself as she did. Sweetie let out a giggle, sitting up to get a better view. “I like it! We could be artists!” Scootaloo nodded, beaming. “You’re really good at drawing!” Scootaloo did a ‘so-so’ with her hoof, brushing it off. “I mean it!”

Both of them turned to witness the door opening. Suddenly, Scootaloo began noticing all of the small mistakes. The way the eye didn’t look quite right. Maybe her chin should’ve been further out. Her wings didn’t look right- not that she had a lot of space to argue about little wings.

Scootaloo’s real wings twitched.

“Why- I miss this old place.” Rarity said, walking through the door wobbily, as all of her bones had just been smashed into a million different pieces. “Something about humble spas are my favorite!”

“Oh, yes.” Fluttershy agreed. She looked up, noting Scootaloo in the room. Her eyes widened and her face fell into a real smile. “Scootaloo!”

“Why, hello you two!” Rarity gushed, trotting over. “I hope you had a good time with each other.”

“Sure did!” Sweetie hopped up, clutching Rarity’s leg. The two hugged for a moment. “Look what we drew!”

“Oh, it’s very nice!” Rarity said, looking at it up and down. Scootaloo laid it on the ground, pushing it forwards. Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Surely you should keep it. You drew it, after all!” But Scootaloo persisted, pushing it forwards again. “Doe, fine. I concur. This will look great on the ice-box!” She levitated it up, holding it next to her. “I do believe this is where we part.”

“Can we hang out again sometime?”

“Sure, dear.” Rarity nodded, turning to look at Fluttershy. “If you’re okay with it?”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” Fluttershy giggled. “I’m sure they could get into some… fun situations.”

“Indeed. Farewell now!” Rarity began walking out.

“Bye, Scootaloo!” Sweetie waved, immediately following her sister out.

A few moments of silence passed. Fluttershy warmly smiled.

“I guess we should go, too…” Fluttershy said quietly. “Let’s go home-” She was suddenly interrupted by the strangest of sensations.

Scootaloo had latched onto her hind leg. Fluttershy turned halfway around, observing the sudden shift in behavior. She cooed, sitting down and wrapping Scootaloo in a proper hug.

A barrier was broken.

“Hey, Rarity?” Sweetie asked, now wrapped back up in her red scarf.

“Yes, dear?” She responded, trotting forwards on the street. Due to it being early morning, even after the immersive spa visit, the streets were desolate and bare.

“Would it be weird if…” Sweetie scoffed. “Never mind.”

“What is it, dear?” Rarity slowed down, letting her sister catch up.

“It’s stupid.” She said, now parallel with her sister.

“It most certainly is not!” Rarity quietly screeched. “Come, you can tell me!”

“Would it be weird…” Sweetie carefully spoke, making sure not to trip over herself. “Would it be weird if I started calling you- like- ‘mom?’”

“Eugh-” Rarity stopped walking. She stood with a cocked head, staring at her sister who stopped further up on the path. Sweetie turned around slowly, a cringe on her face.

“I’m sorry- It’s nothing-”

“T-That’s okay.” Rarity interrupted. “Just- caught me off-guard, that’s all.” She slowly began walking again, a concerned expression on her brow. “Where did this come from?”

“I mean- you’ve been more of a mom to me than… she had ever been.” She looked away from Rarity as they began walking together again. “I mean- you’ve helped me with my homework. Washed off tree-sap.” She let out a little blush. “Even sang to me after nightmares…”

“D-Dear…” Rarity said, her eyebrow still creased. “Well- I wouldn’t be opposed to it… but…” She bit her tongue. “Are you really comfortable with that?”

“Yeah.” Sweetie nodded. “I mean- if you are.”

“No, only if you are.”

“That’s what-” Sweetie sighed. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s just go home… mom.”

04 - Rainbow Streak

It was the next day.

Today was different.

And she had no idea why.

Fluttershy had fed Angel Bunny, much to his delight. She had also bathed him, much to his dismay. She left extra pancake batter in the bowl for whenever Scootaloo decided to roll out of bed. Right now, due to her circumstance she wasn’t signed up for school yet, so getting her into a proper schedule wasn't top priority. Even so, she wasn't exactly sleeping in late or anything. School was definitely on the to-do list, but Fluttershy had decided to wait until she had become accustomed to living in Ponyville first.

She had cleaned the chicken pens, gathered the eggs, helped wrap a broken talon on a friendly owl, and fed the fish in the lake. Feed had been dispersed to the birds, and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon.

Her checklist was done. Done once, triple checked, and done again just in case she missed something. She felt like she was acting like a certain purple Unicorn she knew. But none of that helped resolve this terrible feeling in her gut.

She was missing something, and she had no idea what.

“Damn!” The Pegasus named Rainbow Dash peeked at the sun. She turned around, flying in the opposite direction. “Damn damn!” She checked the sun again, despite it practically not moving an inch in the blue sky. “Where the hay is Fluttershy?” She growled, landing on the grass with an extra give in her legs to prove to the green blades that yes, she was angry.

Rainbow Dash, by all accounts, wasn’t your average mare. She would boisterous, loud, and messy. Her mane screamed several different colors of the rainbow, and her coat was a bright cyan. Although, her cheeks were flushed a shade of red anger due to the absence of a certain yellow Pegasus.

“Maybe she just forgot.” A purple unicorn suggested, relaxing under the safe shade of a tree, face completely hidden by a massive book titled ‘Alternate Universes and You.’

“Forgot?” Rainbow shrieked, hopping back into the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. “Fluttershy doesn’t just forget! She never forgets!” She itched her chin with a hoof, slowly hovering back down. “Well… maybe something came up? She was going on those trips to Manehattan a little while ago… Do you think she’s modeling again?”

“After last time’s fiasco? No.”

“But she wouldn’t miss a practice session! I need my cheering team!”

“Practice?” The purple Unicorn put the book down, giving a raised eyebrow at Rainbow. “Dash, this isn’t practice. This is just showing off.”

“Well- I mean-” She itched her mane, slicking it back as she landed back onto the ground. “Well- I still miss her. And I still want to hang out with her.”

“That’s fair.” The book was shuffled back to position, hiding his entire face, before he pushed it back down again. “Just don’t push too hard.”

“Push too hard?” She cocked her head to the side. “What does that mean?”

“I mean- what if she’s going through something?” The purple Unicorn asked. “It might be personal.”

“When have I ever pushed too hard?” All that Rainbow got in response was a dead-pan stare. “Alright, alright. I’m gonna go find Flutters. If I’m not back in…” She glanced up at the sun, suddenly aware of the fact that it still hasn’t moved. “...twenty minutes. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, assume the worst.”

“Assume the worst? What’s the worst?”

“I died fighting a dragon while protecting Fluttershy.” She stated simply. The Unicorn blinked.

“Wait- twenty minutes?” Panic set in. “I-I’m gonna need five more books! This one is already halfway done!”

“Halfway?” Rainbow leaned in close, reading the title. “Alternate Universes and You? Dusk, you just started reading this book! You could kill somepony with how thick this book is! How are you halfway done?”

“It’s just really gripping!” Dusk flipped back a few pages. “Get this: When two particles are quantum-linked, stimuli on one particle will happen to the other particle, no matter it’s distance! Think of the potential, Dash!” He laughed. “Imagine a universe where I was a mare! There’s a chance that out there somewhere, that’s actually happen-” Dusk put down the book. “Dash?” He looked around at the empty field. He just let out a sigh, leaning back into the tree. “Right. Twenty minutes.”

The sound of knocking woke up Scootaloo.

The blankets were cool, covering her fur with a sensation akin to a light breeze. She, for the first time in ages, felt comfortable in her own skin. Especially after she had hugged Fluttershy yesterday. Something about that had seemed right. Blearily, she blinked, the entire room dimly lit a pale blue streaming through the drawn blinds. In the time she had been living with Fluttershy, her room had slowly transformed into a place- her kingdom palace- not too dissimilar from her humble abode back in the orphanage. Slowly, the walls were being draped in drawings. Perhaps there was less than two walls visible all together under the thick sheets of crayon.

Her ear twitched as she heard the downstairs door open, loud excited talking, and then the voices muted down to almost silence.

The silence was the scariest part. With a huff of hot air, Scootaloo decided ten-thirty was a good enough time to get out of bed. She slinked out, taking good care to remake her bed after. She slowly walked towards the door, trying to make as little noise as possible against the old wood floor boards. She nosed it open, walking into the open hallway, and then finally stopping at the top of the staircase.

“-never see you anymore!” A surprisingly raspy voice said. It was a new voice, and Scootaloo stood a little straighter.

“Oh, um- I-I’m sorry. I only forgot this one meeting, though…” Fluttershy said. She sounded genuinely apologetic, and that frightened Scootaloo. She put her weight slowly onto the top step, slowly drawing out it’s creak to an almost inaudible silence in order to not draw attention to herself.

“Do you even have time for your friends anymore?” Scootaloo leaned all the way around the banister railing, peering just the pupil of her eye out. There was a mare in the living room, standing by the door. She had a cyan coat with the most eccentric mane she had ever seen, being composed of every color of the rainbow. “Fluttershyy, what’s draggin’ ya down? I’m not the only one that’s noticed, either. Rarity’s acting all weird when I talk to her about you, Applejack’s been asking where you’ve been, Pinkie’s been on a bender for the past month, talking about some kind of cute-ceanera, and Dusk is… well, okay, Dusk didn’t notice. But that’s- never mind.”
“W-Well- u-um- p-promise you won’t be mad?” Scootaloo leaned further in, having both her eyes peer.

“Mad? Why would I get- Flutters, I would never be mad at you.” The Pegasus lowered her voice, leaning in slightly. As did Scootaloo, as she leaned down on the next step.

“Okay…” Scootaloo could now see Fluttershy. She was dancing on the tips of her hooves, nervously hiding behind her mane. This was a new angle that Scootaloo hadn’t seen before. Fluttershy was strong. Strong enough to wrestle Harry the Bear. Strong enough to adopt Scootaloo. Not this mare hiding behind her mane. “I-I’ve had a new resident in my home… um… she’s very sweet, and-”

*Creeak*

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. She glanced down, glaring at the offending floorboard that had made the sound. When she looked back up, she was taken back by two violet orbs staring right back at her. Two piercing violet orbs being worn by a very confused mare.

“Flutters? Who’s that?” She asked. Scootaloo wilted on the stairs. Now or never… Taking a deep breath, she lowered her head and walked down to the bottom. She kept her head down, feeling the new mare’s eyes on her.

“W-Well- that’s- um- I’m like her guardian…”

“Guardian?” The rainbow creature asked, playing with the word in her mouth. “You’re her guardian?” Fluttershy put a reassuring wing over Scootaloo. She felt that same electric buzz she felt when Fluttershy hugged her- it was something that she felt like she was missing, and it made this confrontation feel less scary.

Rainbow went silent for a moment, tilting her head into the air and breathing deeply. Her eyes widened as a dopey smile was plastered onto her face. “Is that pancakes?” She asked dreamily. “Flutters- your mom used to make pancakes all the time- Flutters! You’re totally a mom!”

“What?” Fluttershy asked, her cheeks gaining a rosy tint. “W-Well, mom is… far-fetched.”

“Dude!” The cyan mare jumped excitedly, her wings helping her jump gain a little more height than usually possible. “Your moming her! Mothering- Dude, you’re mothering her! Oh, Sweet Celestia those pancakes!” The mystery mare had begun walking towards the kitchen when Fluttershy used her other wing to block her.

“Wait.” She commanded. The Pegasus looked confused, backing up and falling onto her flank as she eyed between Fluttershy and the kitchen where the pancakes were located. “Scootaloo, this is Rainbow Dash, my foal hood friend. She's like my sister.” She nodded, turning to look at Rainbow. “Rainbow, this is Scootaloo, my adoptive… daughter.” She let the word roll off her tongue, sounding unsure and forced.

“Nice ta meat’cha!” Rainbow said, standing out and holding her hoof. Scootaloo warily bumped it. “I’m like- the fastest flier ever! You know- pretty cool- and um- stuff!” She plastered the fakest smile Scootaloo had ever seen on a pony. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she leaned over to Fluttershy in a sad attempt at a whisper. “Fluttershy, I’m terrible with foals.”

“I can tell.” Fluttershy whispered back. “We can break the ice over pancakes.” She began talking louder. “There is enough batter for everypony.” She declared. Rainbow excitedly tapped her hooves, standing up and darting in front of Fluttershy with a flap of her wings and into the kitchen. Fluttershy, for all her self-control, rolled her eyes. She shot the filly under her wing a comforting smile, and-

She was surprised to see another smile back at her.

Scootaloo didn’t like new ponies. She would usually shrink and hide, and to be fair, she hadn’t had a lot of new ponies in the recent months ever since Fluttershy had entered her life. But right now- actually, as Fluttershy thought of it, Scootaloo was the one to come out of her room. Scootaloo was the one to come down the staircase, and she was the one to then not run away.

Fluttershy flashed a genuine smile, tapping Scootaloo’s withers with her wing.

“Yo, Flutters! Why is the pancake mix turning black?” Rainbow called from the kitchen. Fluttershy raised her snout to the air, inhaling a healthy dose of burnt food coating the inside of her nostrils.

“Rainbow!” She shouted, suddenly darting into the kitchen. Scootaloo hovered for a moment. This was… too strange. She just shrugged, following Fluttershy in.

After this mishap with the burning pancakes, there not wasn’t as much batter left in the bowl. And, coincidentally, Fluttershy happened to run out of flour to make a second batch. So, for now, they all got one pancake each. It’s not like Scootaloo minded, and Fluttershy already had one earlier in the day for her own breakfast.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, looked sadly at her single pancake. She had offered to eat the one she had burnt due to impatience, but Fluttershy was adamant that she didn’t eat the thing that was harder than the brick from a house. The three ponies sat around the round table in the dining room, a bright window behind them, showing the table with light. Once Fluttershy sat down, Rainbow was the first one to start ripping her pancakes to shreds.

“Awh-” Rainbow Dash said through a mouth of food. “Jus’ like mum’ use’ to make’em.” She muffled. Scootaloo stifled a giggle as she watched Rainbow struggle to breathe though the pancake. She was practically choking. It’s like she hadn’t had food in weeks. Fluttershy merely glared as she cut into her own pancake politely with a knife and fork.

Scootaloo thought the pancakes were good. Pretty good, actually. But it did make her wonder whether Rainbow’s taste buds were cranked to eleven. Scootaloo observed the cyan Pegasus ascend to cloud nine because of a simple pancake, while her and Fluttershy were eating theirs quite politely.

“So.” Rainbow scooched her chair forwards, licking the pancake residue off of her teeth. “How’s school?” She asked, leaning in with her elbows crossed on the table. Scootaloo merely darted her eyes forwards in an embarrassed manner. Rainbow’s response was a light chuckle. “Yeah, I dropped out of flight-camp. School’s a total pain in the- Euph!” Rainbow recoiled as a yellow elbow was jammed into her ribs.

“What Dashie means to say is-” Fluttershy cut in. “School is very important, and all foals approach it differently.”

“Wh- I mean- yeah, that.” Dash nodded, rubbing her ribs. “Stay in school, kids.”

“Yeah.” Fluttershy ate another slice. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy, then leaned towards Scootaloo.

“Is it just me, or is Flutters a slow eater?” Rainbow asked, pointing a hoof at the pony who gave a death-stare.

Silence and a blank stare was all Scootaloo gave her in return.

“Not much of a talker, huh?” Dash itched her mane, leaning back into her wooden chair. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t much of a talker, either!” She let out a little laugh. “Grew out of it, though. Now, I’m certifiably awesome!”

Silence reigned supreme. Scootaloo observed the Pegasus in front of her. The way she was conducting herself, constantly shuffling in the seat over. It was almost like she had a hard time staying still. Perhaps she had ADHD?

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, leaning forwards again.

“I know all you Earth-ponies have their own special earth talents, but nothing beats flying.” She fluttered her wings excitedly, just the thought itself getting her riled up. Scootaloo noticed the movement. More ADHD? “I mean- the big open skies! The awesome stunts! Going as fast as ponily possible! It’s-”

“Earth-ponies?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow turned, blinking.

“Yeah. Earth-ponies.” She shrugged. “She’s an Earth-pony, so-”

“She’s a Pegasus?” Fluttershy responded, not angrily, but in a confused manner. Rainbow furrowed her brow, turning and looking at Scootaloo, leaning far enough to start to invade her personal space.

“Woah!” Rainbow exclaimed, leaning back again. She was surprised- taken off guard by the two little wings on her back. “Those things are tiny! I mean- how can you even fly like- Phuck!” For the second time, in the already bruising spot, Rainbow was punched in the ribs. This time much, much harder. Scootaloo cringed, feeling for the poor Pegasus. She mouthed the word ‘ow,’ as she rubbed the sore spot again.

“I think…” Fluttershy flashed Scootaloo a comforting smile, despite having just physically harmed another pony. “Your wings are fine they way they are.”

The fact was that Scootaloo herself never paid attention to her own wings. They weren’t even really a thing she thought about day-to-day. The most she thought about them was when she slept the wrong way, or had a feather growing painfully incorrect. She never really stopped to think what was wrong with her wings. They were small, and that was that.

Was she underdeveloped? Truth be told, she had no idea. She had no reason to wonder why they were the way they were. Did she have an accident? Born early? Trauma? Plain bad genes?

Scootaloo craned her neck, using the little muscle she had to push out one of her wings. They were small, limp, and useless. Just like Rainbow had said. Fluttershy observed her doing this, sucking in air through her teeth when Scootaloo looked.

“Aw, geez, kid.” Rainbow said, rubbing her mane uncomfortably. “I’m really sorry. Didn’t mean to insult you- oh, look.” She drummed her hooves on the table, suddenly becoming scared as Fluttershy slowly turned her head with an ‘I'll kill you’ look plain on her face. “Look- um- if you’d want, I could- um-” She drummed her hooves harder, stopping with one big thrust on the table. “I could take you flying with me?”

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy screeched, standing aggressively onto her hind legs. She stopped at the crescendo of her yell when she noticed Scootaloo look up at Rainbow with an affirmative smile. She instantly sat back down. “THInkthat’s a wonderful idea.”

“Flying?” Dash’s wings beat faster. “You wanna go flying?” Rainbow asked. Scootaloo let her smile escape as she nodded quickly. Fluttershy looked on in surprise. “Well- if mom is okay with it…” Rainbow swiveled her head over, smiling.

“You drop her, I’ll drop you.” Fluttershy stated with no emotion.

Both Scootaloo and Rainbow simultaneously blinked.

“Right. Okay.” Rainbow nodded, suddenly feeling nervous sweat dripping from her brow. “Well- it’s still early in the morning, and I have an important Stallion waiting in a field… somewhere.” She stood up, stretching like a cat. “C’mon, Scoots! We have a ride to catch!”

Scootaloo nodded, happily jumping down. Fluttershy shot a nervous smile as she walked by, but instantly faded when they were both clear of the kitchen. Suddenly, her half-eaten pancake didn’t seem nearly as appetizing as it did a few moments prior.

The ground was rumbling with snoring.

Rainbow landed on the grass, less forcefully than last time, and straightened up, giving a side-eyed glance at the stallion who was literally face-down in the book he was reading. Which was strange, seeing as Dusk very rarely fell asleep. Especially while reading.

A moment later, the sound of hooves filled her ears, and she turned to see the two ponies trotting up the hill. It was a strange feeling as she watched them approach the lone tree. They were a family. Fluttershy. Her Fluttershy had her own family. The one she had grown up with. She had grown up, and was now taking care of her own filly. When did they get old?

Rainbow shook her head. The sky had since grown into an overcast, darkening the mood significantly. The once bright sun had been all but hidden behind gray clouds. Everything had been given a unified shade of gray, and the warm weather had cooled.

She walked towards the stallion, stomping her hoof next to his head.

“Hu-Wuzzah?” The slurred speech of Dusk grumbled.

“Wakey wakey…” Rainbow whispered, poking Dusk in the side. “We’ve got company!”

“Uh-” Dusk yawned, swatting the hoof away as his entire side flinched. “Did- did you find Butterscotch- or- Fluttershy?” He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his muzzle. “Was I asleep?”

“Nope!” Rainbow giggled behind a hoof upon witnessing the matted fur of Dusk. “Not at all!” Dusk shot her a sleepy glare.

Scootaloo glanced around the area. It was a good walk away from Ponyville, the Everfree forest being a little more than a healthy distance away. From this angle, it was very apparent Ponyville was kind of built in a valley. The ground was hilly only around Ponyville, but this far out, the lands stretched into a barely bumpy flat surface. It was perhaps the perfect place to start practicing flying- which was great news for Rainbow and Scootaloo. The tree the Unicorn apparently named Dusk was laying under was the only tree for a good distance, at least until the Everfree.

Dusk grumbled, blinking blearily.

“Hey, Fluttershy.” He greeted. “Nice to finally see you again. It’s been a while- oh, who’s this?” Dusk’s eyes landed on the filly. “And who’s this?”

“This is Scootaloo.” Fluttershy hid a laugh behind a hoof, draping a wing over Scootaloo’s withers. Scootaloo was also trying not to giggle uncontrollably.

“Nice to meet you.” He lowered his head in a respectful bow. Fluttershy smiled, and especially after laughing, felt a little bit better. This introduction seemed to be going better than Rainbow’s disaster. “I’m Dusk Shine, the local librarian. Can’t say I’ve seen you around, though- okay, why is everypony laughing?”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but redirect her eyes away from the stallion. Rainbow rolled her eyes, also trying not to laugh.

“Just Dusk things…” Rainbow said, smile evident.

“What? What’s funny?” He looked around at himself, poking a hoof between his molars. “Do I have something in my teef?”

“No-no.” Fluttershy said, also now laughing even more than she was before. “Just- um- what did you have for breakfast?”

“Oh, a bowl of oats-”

“The dictionary?” Fluttershy finished. Rainbow finally fully lost it, starting to roll on the ground as she belted out laughter.

“What?” He asked, genuinely confused.

“Dude!” Rainbow shouted, stopping her rolling belly-up. “You literally have words on your face!”

“What?” Dusk looked down into his book, finally noticing the fact that the page was wet, and the letters on his current page was gone. “What?” He shouted a little louder. His horn lit up, and in an impressive display of magic, poofed a hand-held mirror from his bathroom back at the Golden-oaks. Dusk gasped, seeing as his drool from sleeping had transmutated the letters from the page onto his face. About two paragraphs of words relating to theoretical physics printed onto his muzzle, only flipped in reverse.

“No! The spell!” Dusk sighed angrily. “I was gonna use that to travel to an alternate dimension!”

“Oh- Oh my Celestia!” Rainbow took a deep breath in from laughing. “Maybe it’s a good thing that spell was ruined!”

“It’s not funny!” Dusk shot a glare, now using a handkerchief form the same bathroom, teleporting the mirror back. Fluttershy held Scootaloo close, the two of them laughing together. “I’m still gonna cast the spell- now I just have to translate it from my face!”

The laughter under the tree finally died down, leaving a bunch of heavy-breathing behind. Fluttershy felt a little better about the upcoming flight.

“Alright, kid. Hop on.”

And that worry came back twice as terrible.

“Wait- what’s happening?” Dusk asked. Rainbow leaned down, turning her wing into a passenger staircase. Fluttershy held her breath as Scootaloo happily dashed out from Fluttershy’s own protective wing, climbing onto Rainbow like she was an actual Wright Flyer.

“Takin’ Scoots for a test drive!” Rainbow said, doing a quick hop as Scootaloo figited, getting comfortable around the mare’s neck. “Wow- you’re lighter than Sweetie Belle, that’s for sure.” She stretched. Scootaloo’s ears perked up, looking towards Rainbow in surprise. Rainbow giggled. “What, you know Sweetie?”

“They’re best friends!” Fluttershy said, tapping her hooves in nervousness.

“Wait- this isn’t a very good idea!” Dusk raised his voice, interrupting them.

“It’s fine. We ought’a introduce her to Apple Bloom next.” Rainbow said, looking up and spreading her wings, feeling the air currents rippling through her feathers.

“Be careful!” Fluttershy said.

“Ready? Set?” Rainbow asked. Scootaloo hugged her neck tighter, nodding her head sharply. “Then let’s- Go!” With one powerful flap, Rainbow was dozens of hooves in the air.

Fluttershy felt lightheaded with anxiety, watching as the Rainbow dot became smaller and smaller in the atmosphere. Eventually, the two pierced the cloud layer…

And they were gone.

Dusk approached Fluttershy, stopping by her side. He was also watching, the big monotonous layer of clouds making it hard to focus on one spot for too long. Fluttershy just kept staring, her stomach twisting.

“Is she your sister?” Dusk asked after a moment. Fluttershy’s eyes darted towards Dusk for less than a second.

“No.”

“Huh.” Dusk levitated his book into his saddlebag, apparently done with reading it for the day. “She seemed awfully quiet.”

“Yeah.”

…

“What happened to her?”

The question caught Fluttershy off guard. She blinked, looking away from the formless clouds and at Dusk. She mentally kicked herself, realizing that she hadn’t even considered the fact that Dusk was smart. He took the empirical evidence, and probably in his head, was already drawing up a chalk-board worth of stuff he noticed about Scootaloo.

“Something bad.” She responded simply after a moment of silence.

“Right.” Dusk sighed. “Sorry- I was just curious.”

…

“You’re very brave for doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“I’m assuming… fostering her?” Dusk itched his fetlock. “I dunno, at least I think you are. You two are close- maybe closer than fostering.” Fluttershy’s eyes went unfocused as she stared up at the sky.

“Adopted.” She finally said. “I… adopted her.”

“Oh.” Dusk smiled. “That’s great news. But- I’m not lying. You are very brave for doing that. For her.”

“I did it for her.”

“I would hope so.” Dusk smiled, contently looking back up at the sky.

“Alright, Scoots!” Rainbow called over the wind. “This is called an ‘inside-loop’ by the eggheads!” She began turning in a large circle. Scootaloo felt her stomach drop as the cloud layer began turning unnaturally towards her. “I like to call it the loop-de-loop!” Rainbow was leaning to one side, doing a large loop horizontally, and thankfully, not vertically.

She continued on in a straight line. Scootaloo hugged her neck tighter. “Okay- this next one is called a spiral! I think!” She began gently loosing altitude, doing huge loops in the sky. It was like the loop-de-loop, but consistently going down.

“Okay, let’s get back up!” She began flapping, gaining height once again. “Actually- let’s do a quick climb! Hold on!” Scootaloo felt her back legs suddenly become limp as gravity took over, and Rainbow Dash began flapping straight up.

This high up, the sky was no longer gray. The once familiar blue sky shone brightly, and the sun burned brilliantly. The sun looked like it was thinner, like being this high up changed it in some way. Scootaloo peeked over the edge of Rainbow, and for some reason, didn’t feel the same dropping sensation as earlier. Admittedly, it was actually really cool to be this high up.

A switch flipped.

It was just so high up! In the bright blue sky- brilliant colors- she started to stand up.

“Woah- champ!” Rainbow began experiencing turbulence as Scootaloo let go of her neck, knocking her off balance. “Uh- Excuse me, but please remain seated!” Rainbow stopped talking, putting all of her focus onto not spiraling out of control.

Scootaloo put her hooves onto Rainbow’s head, almost standing straight up. Rainbow cringed, feeling the hooves dig into her scalp. “Kid, can you please sit down?”

Scootaloo wasn’t listening. Her little wings spread all the way out. She could… feel it. The wind. Like a sixth sense she didn’t know she had. A whole new dimension. She could feel the structure of the wind blowing across her wings, flowing across Equestria like a blanket. A genuine smile crossed her face.

And then she jumped.

05 - Falling Up

Rainbow couldn’t even begin to describe the fear that coursed through her veins.

Scootaloo jumped, and all at once, the world stopped. Somepony must’ve accidentally stuffed cotton into Rainbow’s ears, as all sound immediately canceled, the rushing wind turning on mute as Rainbow watched the filly leap.

Rainbow immediately lost her center of balance, her world becoming a blur of blue feathers and rapidly rotating skies. It took her a good few precious moments to reorientate herself, seeing the horizon slowly level out as her brain took a moment to stop making her dizzy. She shook her head, rapidly looking around, before finally looking down.

An orange speck on the cloud layer. Before she knew it, Scootaloo dipped below.

“Fuck!” She screamed, suddenly turning down and blasting off quicker than a cannonball.

Her name was Rainbow-freaking-Dash. There wasn’t ever going to be a chance of Scootaloo hitting the ground. She probably had enough time to go grab lunch, take a bathroom break, and reapply for the Wonderbolts in the time that Scootaloo was falling. It would’ve taken the filly minutes to reach the ground.

But that didn’t mean Rainbow didn’t panic. In the moment, all senses went out the window when it felt like the world was ending. The universe was folding in on itself, as she focused on the one point where Scootaloo dipped below the cloud layer.

Good going, Dash! She chastised herself. You just met this freakin’ filly, and you’re gonna end up killing her!

She burst through the cloud layer. Luckily, the clouds were only wispy clouds, meaning they were impossible to stand on. More luckily, that also meant Scootaloo wasn’t a red dot on the cloud layer instead of an orange one. She blasted a hole where she left behind, finding the little filly once more. It was darker down here, but she could still see her.

Rainbow had to let off her flying, feeling a familiar static-buzz in her hooves as her body threatened to break the sound barrier. She grit her teeth, reached her hooves out far, and grabbed Scootaloo. Immediately, her wings flared, pulling out of the glide with more than enough G’s to stretch her face.

Poof, they both hit a more solid cloud. Rainbow stood up, shaking like a dog in an attempt to get her mane dried from the rainwater they had just thrown themselves in. The cloud couldn’t have been any larger than a small room, but Rainbow found herself pacing to the other side.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rainbow shouted, turning back around. “You- You could’ve gotten yourself killed! I- I don’t even-”

Giggling was not an appropriate response to being yelled at. But, for some reason, she was giggling like a mad mare. Scootaloo’s face was split into a smile, rolling on her back as her stomach clenched from the amount of laughing she had done. It took Rainbow more than a few seconds for her brain to catch up.

“I- I don’t-” She stopped. “W-What?” The adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins finally took a back seat. She took a deep breath, and grabbed Scootaloo in a bear hug, breathing deeply. Her wings suddenly felt sore, and she began developing a rapid headache. “You are a menace, and I hate you.”

Scootaloo’s only response was more giggles. Rainbow pushed Scootaloo back, looking at her in the eyes.

“You cannot trust ponies like that…” She sighed. “I’m some stranger to you! What if I wasn’t so quick, huh? You seriously could’ve died!” She grumbled, annoyed that Scootaloo wasn’t listening. “You remind me of… me.” She bit her lip.

She had just met this filly, and had just saved her life. Fluttershy was going to be mad.

Rainbow split into a wicked grin.

“If you like falling so much, why don’t you- uh- just go marry it!” In one big swift motion, Rainbow, quite literally, kicked Scootaloo off of the cloud. All that Scootaloo did was make a quiet little gasp as she went over the edge. Rainbow waited for a moment, tapping her hoof.

Then she went to go grab her.

Just like last time, Rainbow dashed ahead, gripping Scootaloo around the barrel and pulling her up.

“How’s that?” Rainbow asked. Scootaloo was still giggling. “Is there anything going through your brain? Did I cross your wires? The fear wire replace the laughing one? Are you Pinkie Pie?” She started to regain altitude, breaking through the cloud layer and back towards the sunny portion. “I’m going to make you scream.” She said threateningly to the Scootaloo between her forelegs. She threw Scootaloo on her back, and almost immediately dipped into a loop-de-loop. Vertically. And fast.

The loops began getting tighter and tighter. All the while, Rainbow felt the little hooves of an orange filly digging into her neck. She was just laughing.

“Did I break something in you?” Rainbow asked, leveling out and feeling a little bit nauseous from the circles. Scootaloo, however, didn’t seem any worse for wear. Rainbow let out a frustrated shout, once again flinging Scootaloo into the air. She hit zero-g, going back down the curve, and being caught by Rainbow one more time.

Scootaloo was having the time of her life. It was like all of her senses were cracked up to eleven. Even more so when the previously locked-off and ignored little wings suddenly could feel every micro-movement. The sky was just so… empty. Impressively so. There was nothing above nor below! It was just air.

Maybe it wasn’t kind to think like this, but Scootaloo couldn’t help but imagine Rainbow as her ship, and she was the captain. Even if the captain kept continuously walking the plank by herself. And if her ship was also forcing her to walk the plank.

“Scream in fear!” The cyan-colored ship yelled. “Are you broken?”

The captain didn’t care. Once again, she delved into the deep waters, sinking quicker than a cannonball. The ship used her hoof to grab the captain, yanking her out of the water.

Rainbow settled Scootaloo on her back, and she began dipping in and out of the cloud, much like an ocean surfer. Scootaloo leaned to the side, using her hoof and watching the cloud conform around her. Her face was bright red from giggling and the constant amount of wind. Her hooves felt numb, and her wings were tingly. She didn’t care. She didn’t care.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Rainbow admitted, defeatidly. “It’s time to go back-”

“Again!” Scootaloo shouted.

The world froze. The only thing in Scootaloo’s ears was the rushing sound of wind. She let out a gasp right after the foreign words escape her.

That wasn’t her. That was Rainbow, right?

“Alright, one more time!” Rainbow shouted.

No. That wasn’t Rainbow. That high, squeaky, and honestly a little rough voice came from her. No other pony was up here. In a sea of infinite nothingness, they were the only two up here.

A question pierced the forefront of her brain.

Why did it matter?

Why did it matter if she spoke? She was having fun! So- Celestia be damned, she was going to have fun!

Rainbow threw her, this time following her through the cloud layer, falling side-by-side with her. Scootaloo’s smile broke into a huge grin, turning to look at the Pegasus falling with her. In one flap of her tiny wings, she grabbed Rainbow in a hug.

“Squirt-” Rainbow let out a sigh that was barely audible over the sound of the whipping wind. “You’re pretty cool, you know that? We could hang.” Rainbow let herself laugh, rolling her eyes. “Hay, you’re like my little sister, or something.” Her face split into a smile. “Yeah. Sister. I like that.”

As soon as it started, Rainbow pulled out of the dive, heading towards a lonely tree on top of a hill.

“Rainbow, I’m going to break your neck!” A gruff voice yelled, running directly at Rainbow Dash, who had just landed and was currently in the process of letting Scootaloo climb down. She put her hooves up, waving them erratically as Scootaloo scampered away.

“No-no-no, wait-!” Was all she managed to get out before she was, quite literally, tackled to the ground. Scootaloo squeaked in fear, backing up a few paces. Dusk trotted quickly, lighting up his horn quickly and encasing the two mares in his violet aura. With a flick, the two mares were separated.

“Agh- geez!” Rainbow yelled, feeling the violet aura dissipate from her. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was still being held by the aura. She spit out a mouthful of yellow feathers, still holding an earth-shattering glare leveled directly at the prismatic Pegasus.

“I told you not to drop her!” Fluttershy screamed. “I told you specifically not to drop her! You didn’t drop her, you threw her!” All ponies with free hooves covered their ears. Miles away, in the small town of Ponyville, a granny rocking on her chair raised her head, swearing she could’ve heard somepony talking in the distance. With a shrug, she rested her chin back down, falling back asleep.

“She wanted to!” Rainbow yelled back, still covering her ears. Fluttershy took a ragged breath, blinking quickly.

“She… what?”

“Alright, Scoots is a daredevil, kay?” Rainbow slowly removed her hooves from her ears, feeling her head ringing horribly. Scootaloo and Dusk also slowly removed their hooves, albiet even more cautiously. “She got some spunk, and she just jumped from my back! I swear, I didn’t drop her, she jumped!”

“No she didn’t.” Fluttershy relaxed, letting her body go limp in the violet aura.

“Yes she did- tell her, Scoots!” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, looking at her. Scootaloo just swallowed her spit, and nodded, looking down sheepishly. Fluttershy’s eyes widened.

“S-Scootaloo!” She wriggled in the aura, shooting Dusk a glare. Dusk finally relented, dropping her from the aura. Fluttershy got to her hooves, trotting forwards and ruffling her mane. “That was very dangerous! What if you gotten yourself killed?” Rainbow let out a sigh. Fluttershy caught the sigh, turning to shoot her yet another angry glare. “You’re not done yet! Why did you keep dropping Scootaloo?”

“Because she liked it!” Rainbow explained exasperatedly. “It’s like her wires are crossed or something!” Fluttershy sat down, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

“I find that hard to believe.” She said after a moment of hesitation, turning to look at Scootaloo. “Is this true?” Once again, to her utter disbelief, Scootaloo nodded. She let out a huff of hot air, stroking Scootaloo’s mane as she sat down next to the yellow mare.

“I think it’s irresponsible.” Dusk said, stepping forwards. “What if you couldn’t catch her? What then?”

“Err- I dunno.” Rainbow shrugged. “I would catch her, that’s for sure. I mean-” She flexed her hing legs, striking a pose. “I’m Rainbow-freaking-Dash.”

“But what if you couldn’t-”

“I could!” She exclaimed. Dusk opened his mouth to retort, but soon shook his head realizing that arguing with Rainbow-freaking-Dash would’ve been akin to arguing with a brick wall. Rainbow itched her fetlock, looking wary for a moment. “I know you’re probably all angry at me, or whatever, but- Scootaloo is cool. I was wondering if she could come to our next practice session.”

Fluttershy bit her lip. She sighed, standing up. “I’ll think about it.” With a heavy head, she turned to start walking back. “C’mon, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo shot Rainbow a comforting glance, before following Fluttershy down the hill.

Dusk approached Rainbow from behind, placing a comforting hoof on her withers. Rainbow, to say the least, looked a little broken. Her lip quivered, watching the two ponies get smaller as they got further. Rainbow let out a resigned sigh.

“Sorry.” Dusk said after a moment. “I’m not really good with this… mare stuff.”

“Mare stuff?” Rainbow asked, shooting Dusk a side-glance. “What mare stuff?”

“I dunno.” He shrugged, removing his hoof. “Emotions, I guess. I had to pry Fluttershy off of you.”

“Yeah- whatever.” Rainbow shook her head. “I like that filly. If I had a sister- man, she’d be my sister.” Rainbow looked over at Dusk. “I don’t suppose you have a secret sister or something? Mare-to-mare talk?”

Dusk put a hoof on his chin, tapping for a moment. “Geez, I don’t think I-” He stopped, his eyes going huge. “Wait.”

“What?” Rainbow asked, watching as Dusk levitated the tomb he had been reading earlier out from under the nearby tree. “Do you actually have a secret sister- Dusk, I swear to Celestia, you had a secret brother, you’re telling me you have a secret sister?”

“No-no.” Dusk flipped through the pages, landing on the page that had been smeared by drool earlier in the day. He could just barely make out the letters- residue left behind that hadn’t been quite wiped away yet. He read, re-read, and confirmed in his mind. This would take a little while to translate, but it might just be possible.

Dusk looked at Rainbow with the largest smile she had ever seen.

“No- I don’t have a secret sister. And I can’t help with mare-to-mare talk.” His smile, if possible, grew wider. “But I know somepony who can.”

Scootaloo and Fluttershy were walking in silence. It was honestly a terrible feeling. A wave of guilt was rushing over Scootaloo’s face, every step she took felt like glue was holding her back. She had just gotten her new friend yelled at by a very stern Fluttershy. It was scary to see Fluttershy that angry. It almost reminded her of-

Well, never mind.

Scootaloo let her gaze flicked up to the Pegasus next to her. Fluttershy was walking forwards with a completely blank stare on her face. If one didn’t know better, they would’ve had no idea she just pulled several primaries from another pony by force. Scootaloo flickered her gaze back to the ground.

She had talked in the sky.

Now, it was time to make a mark on the ground.

“Are you mad at Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked in a timid voice. Fluttershy stopped immediately in her tracks, whipping around to face Scootaloo. Her stoic expression was instead replaced with one completely and utterly taken back and masked in confusion.

“What?” Fluttershy asked. “Did you just- talk?” A strange feeling of pride welled in her chest.

“Please don’t be mad at Rainbow.” Scootaloo whispered, head down to the grass. “It was my fault…”

“No-no!” Fluttershy sat down, pulling Scootaloo into a hug. “I-I’m sorry. I’m not mad at Rainbow, I’m just-” She licked her lips, feeling incredibly strange about talking to Scootaloo. “I’m not mad, I’m just dissappointed in her.”

“Sorry.” Scootaloo whispered.

“No need to be sorry.” Fluttershy broke the hug, putting a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder and holding her at distance. “It wasn’t your fault. Rainbow just got- a little carried away.”

“But I wanted it…”

“Okay…” Fluttershy sighed. “Okay. We can join Rainbow for her next… practice session.”

“Really?” Scootaloo looked up. “Can we really?”

“Of course, but- no falling. We’ll be watching. Okay?”

“Okay.” Scootaloo said quietly. Fluttershy bear-hugged her once more.

“I’m so proud, you’re finally talking!” Fluttershy almost shouted. She broke her hug again. “How does a treat at Sugarcube Corner sound?” Scootaloo debated it for a moment, before vigorously nodding her head.

06 - Shifting Things Down

Dusk whirled around, letting the tomb he was currently reading drop from his magical aura.

“A book about what?” He asked, his face full of sudden concern.

For the past hour, his friend’s sister had been skating on the edge of what he deemed appropriate questions for a filly her age. They were currently in the lower levels of the Golden-Oaks Library, the space that was open to the pony public. Whether this was yet another ploy to get her Cutiemark before the upcoming Cutecenara remained completely elusive, but the fact the filly apparently knew her line of questioning was inappropriate raised more than a few red flags.

“Abuse victims.” Sweetie Belle responded confidentially. “I want a book about abuse victims.”

“Wh-Why would you ever want a book about that?” Dusk asked agape. He pushed the paper he had been writing translated spell incantations from for his upcoming experiment to the side. True was the never ending curiosity of a growing foal, but some things were best left unanswered until a later time. Abuse being one of them.

Abuse comes in many forms. Physical, emotional, mental, and even negligence.One that Dusk was more than confident Sweetie knew a little too much about already. The face Sweetie was making, one of confidence, scared him even more.

“I just need to know a few things.” Sweetie responded. She sat down in the middle of the library, crossing her hooves in a pout. “And I won’t leave until you give me that book.”

Dusk stomped his hoof, threatened by the prospect of having to spend another hour with the filly. “And I won’t give it to you until you tell me why you need it!”

“But-” That seemed to stump Sweetie. Her crossed hooves loosened slightly as she diverted her eyes to the floor, biting her cheek as she considered. Finally, she closed her eyes, letting out a hearty sigh. By the time she reopened them, Dusk was still standing, waiting for an answer.

“Fine.” She fully uncrossed her hooves, pointing at Dusk menacingly. “But you need to Pinkie Promise you won’t tell anypony.” Her gaze steeled. “And I mean nopony!”

“Do I have to?” Dusk asked, slightly annoyed.

“Yes!”

“The science behind the Pinkie Promise isn’t even sound! What stops me from-”

“Promise it!”

“Fine!” Dusk relented, sitting down and doing the motions. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye- ouch. There, happy?”

“Happy.” Sweetie smiled, turning around and walking to the front door. Dusk watched inquisitively. Unfortunately, that inquisitiveness turned to concern and fear as Sweetie reached up, locking the front door. She turned back, looking at Dusk. “Is anypony else here?”

“Spines is, but she’s sleeping upstairs.” Dusk rolled his eyes. Igniting his magic, every blind and shutter simultaneously snapped shut, concealing them from the outside world. Then, every candle positioned in the chandelier, or strewn about semi-randomly, was ignited, bathing the library in a flickering orange light. Despite Dusk being the older and more powerful Unicorn in the room, he couldn’t deny that seeing Sweetie’s confident face in such a darkened setting seemed intensely terrifying.

Especially when she’s menacingly walking forwards.

“You can’t tell anypony.” She said again.

“I heard!” Dusk started backing up. “I promised! Now, tell me! Why do you need that book?” Sweetie stopped walking, Dusk having his back pushed all the way against a shelf full of books. She sighed, sitting down, and inhaling a large chunk of air.

“There’s this new filly who is really really really sad and she needs my help like Rarity said but I don’t know how to help her so I thought I should come and find a book about it but I can’t find it under the A section so I thought I would ask you but I kind of can’t ask you outright because now we’re sitting in a dark library while I spill my guts to- mph!” Sweetie’s mouth was clamped shut by Dusk using his magic.

“Sad how?” He said, cutting off his magic.

“Sad like- like bad.” She shuddered. “Rarity said she had it real bad. Like- really bad.”

“Rarity, huh?” Dusk tapped his chin. “New filly who is really sad?” His thoughts drifted back towards earlier that day. It wasn’t that much of a stretch… “Say, this filly wouldn’t be an orange Pegasus by chance, would they?” Sweetie gasped.

“With a purple mane?”

“And little wings?”

“Name’s Scootaloo?”

“I think we’re talking about the same filly here.” Dusk concluded. “Unfortunately, I can’t give you the book.”

“What?” Sweetie shrieked. “But you promised!”

“I didn’t promise I would give you the book. I promised I wouldn’t tell anypony.” While saying this, his horn lit ablaze as every shutter whipped back up, bathing the dank library with bright white light. All the candles instantly were snuffed out, leaving a faint burning smell lingering stagnantly in the air. “That being said, I didn’t agree to not help.”

“So…” Sweetie rolled her haunches. “You’ll help me?”

“Depends on what help means in this context.” Sweetie let out a frustrated sigh. “You can’t try and forcefully change a pony. I believe there is somepony still hiding under Scootaloo, but that doesn’t mean that pony has to act like you.”

“I’m not trying to make anypony act like me!” Sweetie huffed. “I want to be a better friend! What if I do something to like- reignite old memories around her?” Dusk let out a sigh.

“That’s not gonna happen.” Dusk stood up. “Listen- I’m sorry I can’t help you more, but I really have to finish this spell.” He walked back towards his writing desk, pulling out the piece of paper with runes he had pushed away earlier. “I’m taking a sort of-” He rolled his head. “Think of it like a vacation.”

“You’re going on vacation?” Sweetie asked, putting her front hooves on his desk and leaning forwards, reading the incantations. “Where? Who’ll run the library when your gone?”

“I’m not going that far.” He rolled his hoof, picking up the quill with his magic. “And besides, I have somepony taking my place that I would trust with my life.”

“Ah- well…” Sweetie sighed. “Will they be able to help Scootaloo?”

“Maybe-maybe not.” Dusk looked at Sweetie. “Why don’t you go ask… Cheerilee for help? She’s trained in helping foals.”

“Cheerilee?” Sweetie shuddered. “School’s not starting until next week. I’m not gonna see Miss Cheerilee more than I have to.”

“Hey! School’s important, and Miss Cheerilee is nice.”

“Okay, fine.” Sweetie sighed. “I’ll go- I don’t know, ask Cheerilee?” She walked away from the table. “Thanks for… trying to help, I guess.” She half-heartily said, pushing open the doo-

*Thunkk*

“Ow!” Sweetie had rammed into the locked door, expecting it to be open. Dusk turned around in his seat, watching as the filly rubbed her horn. Angrily, she threw the lock open, and ran quite quickly outside. Dusk let out a little chuckle.

Truth be told, he did want to help. But he couldn’t go meddling in other ponies lives. It really wasn’t his place to be. And Rainbow had already inspired him enough to try out this new spell. He had more than enough going on right now.

Cheerilee was a patient mare. She had to be. After all, she was the teacher of a classroom full of foals. Not right now, however, as the entire one-room school was desolate, leaving a neatly arranged few rows of desks. It was the calm before the storm. Before dozens of foals began scratching their initials on the wooden surfaces, sticking gum to the undersides. To be fair, Ponyville was Cheerilee’s favorite place to teach. She had bounced around city-to-city over her beginning years. It always seemed the larger the city, the more rowdy and uncontrollable the foals got. Ponyville was a nice balance. Even if there was one or two bad seeds in the batch.

Cheerilee sat at her desk, looking over her teaching plan. She had a pair of spectacles on, scratching out what she assumed was a lesson too boring to properly captivate the student’s attention. It would have to be reworked later into something more engaging. She sighed, looking up-

“Gah!” She shouted, leaning so far back into her chair that she almost fell over. She stabilized herself, her spectacles accidentally falling off the bridge of her muzzle and onto the floor. She blinked, rubbing her now glasses-free eyes and staring at the pony in front of her. “Sweetie Belle?” She asked confusedly.

“Hello, Miss Cheerilee.” She sat low down, looking up and over the desk. Cheerilee put a hoof over her heart, almost commanding it to slow down.

“What are you doing here?” Cheerilee asked. “Surely you would want to be outside on a beautiful day like today?”

“Beautiful?” Sweetie looked out one of the many windows. The sky had certainly cleared since earlier in the morning, but she still wouldn’t describe it as beautiful. “I just wanted some… help.” She stated slowly, tapping her hooves together menacingly.

“Help with what?” Cheerilee pushed her paper to the side, leaning forwards inquisitively. “School doesn’t start for another week. As far as I’m aware, I haven’t handed out any homework yet either.”

“Well, uh… this is gonna sound- how do I say this- weird?”

“Uh-huh- I’m sure it isn’t weird.” Cheerilee felt like she was going to say something wild. What she didn’t expect, however, was the ramblings of a student who deserved a big fat F for their grammatical grade.

“Well- um- like, there’s this- how do I say this? There’s a filly. Who’s my friend. Like-” She cleared her throat. “She like- um- isn’t in school- because she’s weird, right? And um- I was wondering if you could- we- We could sign her up?”

Cheerilee stared blankly.

“What?” She asked.

“Um- I mean- if that’s okay?” She met her teacher’s eyes, smiling sweetly. Cheerilee's gaze drifted towards her desk, nodding, trying to decipher what Sweetie had just said.

“If you could say that again…” Cheerilee started, looking back at Sweetie. “But slower.”

“Oh- um-” Sweetie cleared her throat louder. “I have a friend who’s kind of… special? She doesn’t act like you or me, and she doesn’t like to talk. I was wondering if we could… sign her up? For school?”

Cheerilee leaned her head back, a genuine smile crossing her face. A student that was willing to go to school? Exotic. A one in a million chance of happening.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Sweetie.” Cheerilee beamed. “Of course, it’s still up to her parents whether or not she should attend. If she needs special treatment, then maybe the classroom isn’t for her.”

“She’s not dumb.” Sweetie stated bluntly. Cheerilee looked surprised, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head. “She’s- well, I think she’s pretty smart. It’s just that she- um, went through some things.” Cheerilee furrowed her brow, suddenly filled with concern. As much as she hated to admit it, Sweetie was probably the pony who knew the most about going through things.

“Okay…” Cheerilee nodded. “Well- I’m actually free this afternoon. I would love to meet her parents. Do you know where they live?”

“It’s just her mom. They live on the outside of the Everfree.”

“Everfree, huh?” Cheerilee tapped her hoof. “Is her mom Zecora?”

“No-no.” Sweetie shook her head. “She’s a Pegasus.”

“Well…” Cheerilee stood up from her desk, looking side-to-side for a moment, finding her saddlebags. With expertly practiced Earth-pony might, she chucked them over her withers. “If you’re also free, I’d love to give them a visit!”

“I’m free, too!” Sweetie hopped onto her hooves, prancing in place. She stopped, watching as Cheerilee shoved a couple random papers into her saddlebags. “What are you grabbing.”

“In case she does want to sign up for school, I’m grabbing the sign-up sheets.” She buckled her saddlebags, turning to walk out the door. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Sugarcube Corner was lightly packed. Mr Cake was manning the front desk, taking the few ponies orders and dishing them out to Ms Cake, who was running the back. Pinkie Pie, the hyper active and bubbly Earth-pony mare, was bouncing from table-to-table, taking the orders of the sit down customers.

The second the pink pony laid eyes on Fluttershy and Scootaloo, however, all other premonitions of responsibility was immediately forgotten.

Scootaloo observed the interior. From the outside, the building looked like one huge ginger-bread house. Perhaps like a cooked pastry. Inside, the walls almost looked appetizing, and if Scootaloo was any lesser of a pony, she would’ve tried licking it.

“Oooh! Hello!” The voice of a high-pitched party pony cut through her focus. Scootaloo tore her gaze away from the wall that she was fairly confident was made of white chocolate, and towards the pony bouncing towards them.

“Hello, Pinkie.” Fluttershy greeted politely. “I want you to meet my-”

“Ohmygosh, you are adorable!” Pinkie exclaimed, breaking any sense of personal space by gripping both of Scootaloo’s cheeks and holding them close to her. Scootaloo, for better or for worse, let it happen, staring back at Pinkie’s bright blue eyes. She smelled like bubblegum.

“Pinkie-”

“When’s your birthday?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, did I miss it?” She pulled Scootaloo unwillingly into a hug, patting her mane as Pinkie’s eyes started to water. “I would never forgive myself if I missed somepony’s birthday!”

“It’s August 30th-”

“Oh, thank hoofness!” Pinkie let Scootaloo out of the hug. Scootaloo took a deep breath, backing away from the crazy party mare. Pinkie, being as persistent as she was, took Scootaloo’s hoof in her own, shaking it. “My name is Pinkamena Diana Pie. But you can just call me Pinkie Pie!”

“Pinkie.” Fluttershy commanded. Pinkie looked surprised for a moment, immediately recognizing Fluttershy’s stern voice. Fluttershy’s stern voice wasn’t any difference from her normal speaking voice, however, and was only something that only Pinkie Pie could pick up on.

If Pinkie Pie heard Fluttershy about thirty minutes earlier, she would’ve collapsed on the spot.

“This is my new daughter, Scootaloo.” Fluttershy laid a hoof on Scootaloo. Pinkie’s eyes went wide, darting from the two ponies. Pinkie made a sound akin to a hissing teapot as she squished her own cheeks together in excitement.

“This is so exciting!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Oh, I-I would give you a party, but-” Pinkie sighed. “I’m sorry, but it’s going to have to wait.” She said sadly. “I’m throwing a Cutecenera for a little filly, and I'm a little overrun...”

Scootaloo felt bad, watching as the pony deflated like a balloon. Scootaloo looked to Fluttershy for help, but Fluttershy was looking at her for help, too!

“S-Sorry...”

Pinkie didn’t respond right away. She took a minute, raising her head and observing the small filly. It was like she saw something in that response, but didn’t know exactly what she saw. Two seconds later, she shook her head.

“It's okay! Come, I’ll get you your seats.” She stood up, walking towards a booth. Fluttershy shot Scootaloo a comforting smile, and they both followed the pink mare to a booth seat. It was red and comfy, Scootaloo sinking a healthy distance into it’s surface. She faced Fluttershy, who also got into the seat across from her.

“I’ll take the strawberry milkshake, please.” Fluttershy asked. Pinkie Pie nodded, almost like she already knew what she was going to ask. Scootaloo rubbed her hooves together for a moment, trying to read the menu behind Pinkie’s head on the wall.

“U-Um…” Scootaloo said nervously. “Do you have- um- chocolate milkshake?”

“Sure we do!” Pinkie said. There was no hesitation this time, but Pinkie still flashed a strange look. “I’ll be back in a minute!” She turned around, bouncing away towards the kitchen.

Fluttershy looked sweetly at Scootaloo. She opened her mouth to talk, and-

“Aw man, I really thought they would be home!” A familiar squeaky voice said. Scootaloo’s ears perked up, leaning out of the booth to stare at the two ponies who had just entered the bakery.

Scootaloo’s eyes lit up with delight upon seeing the small unicorn. It was Sweetie Belle. Although it had only been about a day since they had last interacted, Scootaloo was filled with a sensation of delight. Like somepony had swelled a balloon in her chest. Scootaloo leaned even further out, waving her hoof rapidly. Fluttershy perked up, turning around in her booth and spotting the two ponies.

The second pony, however, was a pony she had never seen before. An Earth-pony mare with a purple coat and pink mane. She was tall. Surprisingly so. Earth-ponies were known for being big and bulky, but that was usually the stallions.

Sweetie Belle noticed the rapid movement out of the corner of her eye, turning to look. Her face, similarly, also lit up with recognition and an open smile. She turned around, tapping the Earth-pony on the shin. She looked down, following Sweetie’s hoof to the booth.

“Hello!” The mare said, trotting towards the booth. Scootaloo scooted over quickly, making room for Sweetie, who gladly accepted the extra space. Although Fluttershy also moved to the side, the purple mare just stood idly at the front of the table. “Is this the filly I’ve been hearing so much about?”

Scootaloo shrugged awkwardly. The mare just laughed politely.

“Don’t worry- only good things from Sweetie.” This made Scootaloo smile a little bit, shooting her friend a quick glance. Sweetie laughed.

“Nice to see you, Miss Cheerilee.” Fluttershy greeted, patting the seat. “Don’t you want to take a seat?”

“Oh, I guess it couldn’t hurt.” The mare named Cheerilee said, sitting down next to Fluttershy. “So I understand you aren’t enlisted in school yet?” She asked. Scootaloo shook her head. “Well- from the glowing words Sweetie sent your way, would you like to?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

“Well- we don’t really know yet.” She started.

Scootaloo, however, mulled the idea over in her head for a moment. What would be the harm in going to school?

The harm was meeting a thousand more foals. Not literally a thousand more, but enough to make Scootaloo’s head spin. Sweetie was a solo example. Hardly enough to get an accurate reading of how her experiences would go with every foal at the school. There was always the chance she would become the popular filly- but being honest with herself, that was slim to none.

But…

She did want to learn. She did want to be like the other kids. Scootaloo let out a quiet huff, looking up to Cheerilee.

“Y-Yeah.” She said reservedly. “I-I wanna go.”

Sweetie let out a huge gasp, turning to Scootaloo with a shocked face.

“You can talk!” She exclaimed. “This is so awesome!”

“Scootaloo, are you sure?” Fluttershy asked concernedly, leaning forwards and over the table.

“I-I’m sure.” She nodded. “I-I want to meet new ponies… I think. I’m sorry.”

“No- it’s okay.” Fluttershy sighed. “I’m just a little concerned-”

“Oh my gosh!” Sweetie exclaimed, pulling Sweetie into a hug. “This is gonna be so awesome! We’re gonna sit next to each other- and we’re gonna study together- and-” Sweetie began rambling. Scootaloo merely leaned into it. If she knew anything, these next few days were going to be… interesting.

07 - Sisters

Today was beautiful.

Somehow, the skies seemed to brighten a few extra shades of blue. Even the white clouds looked whiter, and the grass far, far below was almost painful to look at. The air was warm, the wind was barely whispering by, and Rainbow Dash was flying.

She was flying to a familiar cloud house. It was on the outskirts of Cloudsdale, far away from any busyness of normal city living. It wasn’t part of the city, it wasn’t part of a suburb, it was it’s own floating platform being disconnected from any and all roads. If one wasn’t a Pegasus, it would’ve been nearly impossible to gain access to the humble abode. Even if one had something like a hot air balloon, it still would’ve taken an impressive amount of manuverability to land on the front lawn of the home.

Rainbow Dash, being a Pegasus, merely landed on the white surface, barely sinking in a smudge as the cloud kicked up from her wing beats. She shook her mane wildly, stretching like a cat as she felt her bones crack and muscles relax after a long day of Flight-camp.

This place, by all definitions, was friendly. It was a fluffy cloud-house, the welcoming blue walls calling and inviting to all. It’s front door was a soft, quiet, and not loud red. It had cloud roses, and it’s cloud front lawn was modest and pretty.

But it was the anticipation that was making the structure seem intimidating and scary.

She quickly trotted up the front steps, standing confidentially in front of the door. She took a deep breath in, and knocked twice. Sounds of quiet muffled talking, followed by hooves silently clicking on the soft cloud, the sound of a deadbolt, and then the welcoming face of a very light green stallion. His eyes initially glanced over the Pegasus, expecting probably a pony about three times as tall, before he looked down and landed on the small filly on his doorstep.

“Rainbow Dash!” Mr Shy beamed, opening the door wider. “Come in! Come in!” Rainbow, not one to turn down an offer, happily trudged forwards into the small hall connecting the front door to the other rooms of the house, including a staircase upstairs. Without waiting for the stallion to close the door, she immediately entered the living room, looking around for her friend.

She was not there.

Nopony was there.

Rainbow’s smile she wore brightly slowly faded, looking around the living room.

“Where’s Flutters?” Rainbow asked. She turned back around, watching the stallion enter the living room adorning a remorseful face. Rainbow felt a heavy weight settle in her stomach, feeling sweat beginning to built on her forehead. This was just like how it happened in her nightmares.

“She’s got it bad this week.” He said. “She’s up in her room right now-”

“Thank Celestia!” Rainbow shouted, letting a huge breath she had been holding out. She ran past the stallion at full tilt, not even giving him any time to react as he was involentarily spun around by the rushing air coming off of the filly’s wings.

Her little hooves thundered silently up the staircase. The lights were off up here, the only source coming from a small window at the end of the hall. Even the usually vibrant yellow walls looked dull and faded. She began walking towards it, suddenly feeling a huge feeling of vertigo as her senses began to calm down from the almost-panic attack she had experienced.

The door she was walking to latched open, another mare coming out of Fluttershy’s room. She exited quickly, latching it shut behind her. The mare took a deep breath, turning around and accidentially running into Rainbow.

“Oh, dear!” She said quietly, taking a step back. “Oh, I’m so sorry, dear.”

“It’s okay, Ms Shy.” Rainbow stood up, fluttering the cloud off her wings. “Is she in there?” Ms Shy also looked remorseful.

“She’s only gotten worse from last week.” She said quietly, lowering her voice even more than it was before. “The doctor said to let her ride it out, and if it gets any worse…” Her voice trailed off, but Rainbow knew the implication very well. “I told her to go to sleep- she’s probably still awake.” Ms Shy walked past Rainbow. “She’ll be happy to see you again.” She said as she walked down the staircase.

Rainbow looked at the door, taking one long deep breath, and pushing it open.

The door glided across the cloud noiselessly. The cloud on the ground barely kicked up anything as it crossed the threshold into the dark room. The blinds were cast shut, and the usually pink walls looked an almost black.

Rainbow walked further into the room, accidentially kicking a few loose clothes on the floor. Fluttershy’s a natural at sewing- honestly, it would probably be her Cutiemark if she wasn’t stuck here. Not that Rainbow had one herself, mind.

“Dashie?” A weak voice asked, piercing the silence. Rainbow felt that weight in her stomach quickly rise to her throat, hearing how terribly scratchy her voice sounded. Rainbow blinked quickly, directing her eyes anywhere else but the pony in the queen-sized bed.

“Yeah, It’s me, Shyster.” Rainbow said, trying to keep her voice as level and as strong as posible. “I’m here.” For a pony who was often sick, it was a wonder how she managed to keep the room from smelling. Most days, it was like the room was full of strawberries. “You okay?” Rainbow asked, approaching the bed, finally laying her eyes on the lump. She had to swallow the weight back down this time.

“I’ve been…” Fluttershy let out a raspy sigh. “No…” She admitted quietly. Dash started blinking again, sitting down next to the bed. Fluttershy took a substantial amount of effort to rotate in her bed, turning to look at Rainbow with faded cheekbones. It was almost like she was a walking skeleton.

“Do you need anything?” Rainbow asked quickly. “I-I can go grab some water if you’d like!”

“No thank you.” Fluttershy said. “I don’t feel like drinking anything…” She rolled her head on her pillow. “Why are you here? T-This is one of your only free days this week, and you’re spending it here… with me.”

“Shut up.” Rainbow said harshly, letting her voice fully vibrate. Fluttershy looked taken aback, her ears folding down at the sudden words. “I wouldn’t leave you for anything. Are you kidding me?” She quickly wiped away the water leaking from her eyes. “You’re like my sister. I-I would never leave you.” They were silent for a moment, Rainbow occasionally clearing her throat. She could barely make out Fluttershy’s sickly face, thinking for a moment.

“Y-You think I’m your sister?” She asked.

“Of course I think that.” Rainbow stated. She bit her cheek, mumbling something incomprehensible. “This isn’t fucking fair!” She stomped her hooves against the cloudy floor. “Why can’t you be flying with me? Why do you have to be sick?”

“I can’t help it, Dashie-”

“I-I know.” She cut her off. “I-I’m sorry- I-I wish-” Rainbow forced herself to sigh, forcing herself to calm down. “Every t-time I come to your house… I’m so scared that one day, you w-won’t be here.” Rainbow took Fluttershy’s hoof in her own. “P-Promise me you’re gonna get through this. Please.”

“Dashie, I can’t-”

“Please.” Rainbow laid her head onto the blanket, still holding Fluttershy’s hoof with her own. “We’re gonna kick your Immune System’s ass into high gear and- and we’ll be out flying in no time.”

“You said I’d be flying years ago.”

Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut, her muzle scrunching up as her throat began to burn her. Against her will, a small sniffle came out. She buried her face into the matress.

“Please.” Rainbow begged, quieter than Fluttershy. “Trust me. Please.”

Fluttershy just stayed silent.

Rainbow opened her eyes a thousand feet above in the air.

She had made it. Fluttershy had flown with her, and she remembered it as the day the doctor had cleared her strong enough to fly. It was one of the greatest days in her memory. Perhaps even ranking higher than the day she had performed her first Sonic Rainboom and gained her Cutiemark. The days where Fluttershy’s illness had gotten the worst still held a very specific place in her brain, and as much as she hated to admit it, still gave her nightmares. Nightmares of a filly-version of herself arriving at the Shy household, only to be met with an empty room and an empty bed.

And now, eight years later, Rainbow screwed up.

She had broken Fluttershy’s trust by doing stunts with her new adoptive daughter. The same mare that barely had the strength to roll over in bed had adopted a daughter. Although Rainbow was technically okay to do it, with Scootaloo actively encouraging it from the moment she leapt off of her back, the performance was still a gross breaking of trust. And she decided to make up for it.

Who was this filly to Dash? If Fluttershy and Rainbow were sisters, then would Scootaloo be her niece? That didn’t sound right, and in Rainbow’s personal opinion, they were still way too young to be thinking of themselves like that. Although Fluttershy was not a mother, she didn’t feel like one, just as Dash didn’t feel like an aunt. Scootaloo was arising the same emotions she felt when swearing in sisterhood with Fluttershy. Would it be weird to call Scootaloo a sister? Just like she swore years ago with Fluttershy? If she called Scootaloo her sister, what would that make Fluttershy? Also Scootaloo’s sister?

These thoughts were utterly confusing and, in the end, only made Rainbow develop a headache. She cleared her thoughts, landing on the pebble path leading up to the yellow Pegasus’s house. She walked forwards with only one objective in her mind: Apologize to Fluttershy. She broke her trust, and she had to make up for it. Simple as that.

And that was also why Rainbow currently had a box of chocolates balanced on her back. Mares like chocolate, right? Rainbow certainly did, and she was a mare. So far, all evidence points to yes, maresdolike chocolate. Well- that was also why there were several chocolates missing from the box, and why Rainbow was currently licking her teeth clean of said chocolate. So what if she got a little hungry on the way over? There was still the majority of the box left!

Okay- maybe she shouldn’t of ate half the box. But- it was still the thought that counted, right?

Rainbow straightened her back. She smoothed her spiky and wild mane with a hoof, and then in one swift and thoughtful motion, knocked on the door.

Immediately, she regretted it. It had been one full day since their flying incident. That was enough time, right? Enough time to forgive? Perhaps it wasn’t enough time, and Fluttershy was more than still angry at her! What would she say? Maybe she should just drop the box of chocolates and dip. Yes, that sounds like a great idea-

It didn’t matter what Rainbow thought, as before she could act upon her instincts, the door swung inwards. She began contemplating all the ways this could go wrong. She stood even straighter than before, plastering her most expensive smile, and trying to look as not-guilty as possible.

“Oh, Dash!” Fluttershy greeted with a smile. “Come in!”

Rainbow’s dashing and charming smile faded into confusion as Fluttershy moved out of the way to let her in. “Uh- thanks, Flutters.” Rainbow said awkwardly, shuffling inside. She looked around the living room. The inside of the house looked exactly the same as she had left it. Which- to be fair, the last time she was here was yesterday. “Where’s Scoots?”

“Oh, she’s upstairs.” Fluttershy said, walking around Rainbow and towards the sofa. “She started talking yesterday, and I think she’s practicing for school in front of her mirror.”

“She started talking? Was she not before?”

“Oh, not at all.” Fluttershy sat down. In front of her on the table was a fancy plate full of tea supplies, including cups and pots. Why was she making herself a cup of tea? Was it just that time of day? “Scootaloo was very quiet. Did you notice during breakfast yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t.” Rainbow shook her head. “I thought she was pretty cool. Awesome how she’s going to school, though.” Rainbow shuffled her wings awkwardly, suddenly remembering that the presence on her back was a box of chocolates, and why she was here in the first place. “Oh, right!” She said, sliding the box of chocolates off of her wing and using her feathers as a slide for the box to ride onto the table. “I brought you chocolates!”

“C-Chocolates?” Fluttershy asked. Her muzzle lit on fire as it began to glow a bright red. “W-Why?”

“Err-” Rainbow leaned forwards, reading the little message stamped onto the front of the heart-shaped box. “Forgiveness Chocolates. For when you need to make amends.” She looked back to Fluttershy. “I mean- I’m here to do that, so…”

“S-Special somepony!” Fluttershy said loudly. “These chocolates are for your special somepony!”

“Whaat? We’re not dating.” Rainbow looked down at the floor in embarrassment. “You’re like my special somepony, because your my sister, and I made a mistake.” She said quietly. Fluttershy’s face twisted into confusion, tilting her head to the side.

“What mistake?” She asked innocently. Rainbow looked up, now adorning a similar face full of similar confusion.

“I like- dropped Scootaloo?”

“Oh. Right.” Fluttershy let out a sigh, rolling her eyes. She moved over on the sofa, patting the space next to her invitingly. “Come. Sit.” Rainbow cringed, knowing full well how the conversation was going to go. Sheepishly, she rounded the coffee table, plopping onto the sofa. Fluttershy gripped the sides of the sofa, not ready for how violent she sat down, bouncing up and down uncontrollably.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, grabbing Rainbow’s hoof in her own. Rainbow looked up, still cringing.

“Dashie, I’m not mad at you.” She said. Rainbow’s ears perked up. “I’m just disappointed.” Her ears fell. She would rather Fluttershy be mad. “That wasn’t… the smartest thing you’ve done… and Scootaloo could’ve been hurt…”

“But…” Fluttershy continued. “I realize it was also partially Scootaloo’s fault. And I can’t blame you for something that was out of your control.” She moved her hoof around Rainbow’s withers, pulling her in close for a half-hug. “And I forgive you.”

“Really?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes.” She laughed. “It’s okay, really.”

“Thanks, Flutters.” Rainbow breathed, glancing back at the chocolates laying deliciously on the table. “Are you gonna eat those?” Fluttershy looked.

“I think I’ll save them for Scootaloo.” Fluttershy shrugged. “I was never big into chocolates.”

Rainbow’s brain almost melted at that information. Yes, it was true Fluttershy usually ordered Strawberry shakes, but she never realized Fluttershy actively avoided chocolate.

So far, Rainbow’s testing group consisted of two mares: herself and Fluttershy. So far, fifty percent of mares liked chocolate, and if Scootaloo liked chocolate, then sixty-six percent of mares liked chocolate. Or- because Scootaloo was young, did she count towards a second group of fillies?

All these numbers hurt Rainbow’s brain, so she moved on.

“So…” She started. “I-I wanted to ask you something.” Rainbow looked at Fluttershy’s telling eyes, egging her to go on. “You remember when I said that… um… we were sisters?”

“I…barely do.” Fluttershy rubbed her head. “I was really sick back then. Everything blurs together.”

“Well… what if I said that I felt the same way about Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked. Fluttershy tilted her head. Without her talking, she continued again. “Like- don’t get me wrong, I barely know the filly, but- there’s like this kind of connection I feel, you know? Remember how I protected you at Flight-camp?”

“I still don’t think that filly can walk straight.” Fluttershy shuddered.

“Right. Well- I want to protect Scootaloo the same way, you know?” Rainbow mouthed something incomprehensible, shaking her head and finally spilling it. “I want Scootaloo to be my sister, too!” She waved her hooves rapidly, breaking from the half-hug. “Like- I still want you to be my sister! But I also want Scootaloo to be my sister!”

“It think that’s okay.” Fluttershy said. “As long as she’s okay with it, then I am too.”

“Thanks, Flutters.” Rainbow hugged her again. Fluttershy let out a giggle, being the first one to break.

“School starts tomorrow. How would you like to take her?”

“Oh, what? Tomorrow? Isn’t that a little short notice? For her?”

“Um- yes?”

“I’ll do it!”

08 - School's Daze

Scootaloo knew it was common to have first-day jitters.

It was not common to have first-day panic attacks.

That’s what this was, right? A panic attack? She didn’t know why she was feeling like this. Hay, a few hours ago, she was even excited at the prospect of going to school. The orphanage did their best to educate foals, but at the end of the day, it was nothing compared to physically going to a school house and learning.

Sure, there was probably foals that weren’t the nicest of ponies on the planet, but there were plenty more who were nice, and probably willing to befriend her. Did these thoughts mean she was forever predetermined to become nothing more than a social outcast? Of course, she knew the answer. Right? Right?

She hadn’t ever gotten up this early. Miss Cheerilee was more than happy to let Scootaloo attend the morning classes, as school was split into two bodies, being morning classes and afternoon classes. Cheerilee must’ve taken pity on how buddy-buddy Scootaloo had become with Sweetie Belle and let her attend the same classes, and to that she was grateful.

“If I’m so grateful, why can’t I get my heart under control?” Scootaloo said out loud to herself in the mirror. She had been swiveling back and forth on the black stool she was sitting on, aggressively combing her mane for a little more than ten minutes, even though her mane looked fine after the first thirty seconds. The sky was still dark outside her drawn blinds. It was a strange feeling. Waking up meant the sky was supposed to be bright, right? Not dark?

She grit her teeth, letting out an aggressive sigh. She was mentally fine, but staring at herself in the mirror told her she wasn’t physically fine. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, watching as a bead of sweat dripped from somewhere higher up in her mane. For some inexplicable reason, she felt physically sick, like she was staring down from a skyscraper with her wings tied to her back. Not that her wings would’ve helped her, anyways.

She let the brush drop, clanking against the desk.

“You’re fine.” She said to herself. “It’s just school. Everypony does school.” She put her head onto her desk with a quiet thunk, sighing out. “I’m fine.”

Two knocks resounded through the room, it’s source coming from the bedroom door. She took one more sharp breath in, raising her head and looking at the offending wooden structure.

“Come in!” She said. The door creaked open slowly- which was why she was surprised when it wasn’t a butter yellow Pegasus, but rather a cyan one with explosive mane of colors. Through Scootaloo’s own wild mane, suspended entirely by static electricity, her eyes widened.

“Hey, squirt.” Rainbow Dash said, stopping in the door frame. “How’s my favorite filly doing?”

“O-Oh- I’m doing- um- fine.” Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. Fine.”

“Really?” Dash asked, meandering into the room casually. The door swung closed via the forces of gravity, making a quiet latching sound as it clicked into it’s closing place. Dash’s eyes glossed over the many drawings on the walls. It was honestly beginning to look a little bit like her old room. Rainbow stopped trotting when her eyes fixated on a heart-shaped container laying open on the bed.

“Did you like those chocolates?” Dash asked. Scootaloo’s gut clenched with shame as she had devoured the box no less than ten minutes ago while combing her mane. She wasn’t even sure why she did it. It’s not like she was particularly hungry.

“Y-Yeah.” Scootaloo nodded, eyeing the container like it had said something profane. Her stomach actually hurt a little bit from the lack of a proper breakfast, and from being filled with chocolate. “Fluttershy said she didn’t have any, but- um- half the box was empty.”

“O-Oh.” Dash coughed, turning away from the box. “Strange.”

“Yeah…”

Scootaloo began, once again, idly swiveling her chair back and forth, looking up at Rainbow. The silence that permeated across the duo was awkward and tense. Almost instinctively, Scootaloo reached out to the comb, picking it up, and starting to brush her hair again. Rainbow furrowed her brow, leaning in slightly, even if she was across the room.

“You sure you’re good?” She asked.

“Yeah! Fine.” Scootaloo quickly stopped her swiveling, now staring at herself through the mirror. “Fine.” She repeated. Dash didn’t say anything further yet, only walking towards Scootaloo with a thoughtful expression on her face. She stopped over her shoulder, staring at Scootaloo through the reflective surface.

“You know…” Dash started. “Is it alright if I call her Mom?” Scootaloo hesitated, eventually nodding. “Right. I’ve been around your Mom for a long, long time, and I know when she’s having a panic attack.”

Scootaloo cringed, squeezing her eyes shut. She let her comb drop to her lap, opening her eyes again. “That obvious, huh?

“Well… you talk pretty loudly when trying to be quiet.” Rainbow put a hoof on Scootaloo’s head, moving it back and forth. “You’ve combed your hair so much your starting to look like Rarity.” It was true. Her hair now descended way past where it would usually sit, curving around her neck and flicking off towards the bottom, much like how Rarity’s did. Scootaloo sighed again, squeezing her eyes shut.

“I’m just…” She let out a harsh sigh. When one hasn’t been using words their whole life, suddenly starting is very painful to do. “I’m scared, I think? I-I don’t know. I-I don’t know why I’m- I’m acting up like- I’m acting up like this- it’s- it’s-” Scootaloo wasn’t even sure when she began hyperventilating.

“Hey- squirt!” Rainbow grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around in the chair. Rainbow sat down in front of her. “Look at me. It’s okay, okay? Follow me.” Rainbow took a deep breath in, holding a hoof to her own chest. “Breathe in…” Scootaloo hesitantly followed. “Breathe out, kay? Okay- one more time. Breathe in… breathe out.” Scootaloo followed, feeling blood rushing from her head. “I did the same thing with Flutters way back when she had severe panic attacks. Keep going.” She ushered. Scootaloo followed as Rainbow began a story.

“I was the only one who could really calm Mom down. Hay, I was the only one who could calm the Shyster down.” She let out a quick laugh. “Keep breathing. Once or twice, I had Flutter’s old man come to flight-camp to get me. Imagine explaining to a very strict principal that this random pony wasn’t trying to foalnap me, and I had to calm his daughter down.” Rainbow rubbed her hoof up and down on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“I-I think?” She still felt a little lightheaded. “I-I’m sorry. This has never… really happened to me like that…”

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Rainbow took off her hoof, standing up. “It’s not your fault.” She rolled her hoof, looking at a nearby clock on the wall. “Hey, we still got a good thirty minutes ‘till school starts. Wanna hit up Mom for some breakfast?”

“S-Sure.” Scootaloo had momentarily forgot her hunger pangs during her momentary freak-out. Her stomach wasn’t very happywith the chocolate she had uncontrollably devoured. She reopened the closed door, following Rainbow out of the room. Her head had began slowly coming off of the metaphorical high she was just surfing. Scootaloo let out a soft chuckle, slowly coming to her senses. “You’re calling her Mom, too.”

“Yeah? And?” Rainbow asked, opting to fly down instead of taking the stairs.

“Are we sisters now?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow made a buzzing sound with her lips, raising her eyebrows.

“Hey, you said it, not me.” Rainbow itched her chin as she landed at the bottom of the stairs. “I think that’s how that works, right?”

Both of them, at the same time, had their senses overfilled with the smell of waffles.Slowly, the two ponies met each others eyes. Then, systematically, both of their faces split into smiles.

“First one there is a rotten egg!” Rainbow shouted, attempting to bolt off. Scootaloo protested by biting Rainbow’s tail, making her fall flat on her stomach. Then, in a moment of clarity, she barreled over the older Pegasus.

This went on for some time as a confused Fluttershy watched from the kitchen.

After a hearty breakfast of waffles and hay-rolls, two ponies walked on a lonely path. The sun still hadn’t risen over the horizon. Instead, the sky was a bleak gray, barely pittering out enough light to illuminate the various clouds that hadn’t yet been cleared out yet. Mainly because the weather captain, who was supposed to clear out the clouds before sunrise, was currently walking an orange filly to class.

The quiet field erupted with two voices of laughter. One higher pitched, and one lower pitched.

“-and this colt’s gotta be twice my size!” Rainbow laughed, turning and looking at the trees dispersed infrequently around them. She gathered her thoughts for a moment, turning to look at the filly bouncing by her side. “I mean- you should’a seen the look on his face. He had this smirk, and then pow!” Scootaloo laughed, stopping her bouncing from pebble-to-pebble as she accidentally began drifting off path. Rainbow shook her head. “I had a prom date in like- ten seconds flat.” Scootaloo stopped her laughing, looking up to Rainbow.

“You went to prom?” Scootaloo asked, her voice much louder than she meant it to be.

“Course I went to prom.” Rainbow fluttered her feathers, looking a little bit uncomfortable at the question. It was unusual to see the Pegasus walking, especially for such a long duration of time. “Lotta’ cute colts in my class. Would’ve been stupid to turn them down.”

“But I thought you hated colts?”

“I hated that colt.” Rainbow gently corrected. “That would’ve been sexist if I hated all colts.”

“But- you said that you liked mares!”

“Shh!” Rainbow extended a wing, forcing it in front of Scootaloo’s face, covering her mouth. Scootaloo batted the wing away, looking back at Rainbow. “Not so loud, squirt. I don’t hate stallions. I just… don’t prefer them, ya know?” She shivered, looking around at the desolate walk path. Luckily, it was completely empty. “Not a’lotta folks around here take too kindly to ponies like me.”

“Why?”

“Just- they don’t. Don’t mention it, kay?” Rainbow bopped Scootaloo on the nose. She scrunched her muzzle, rubbing it as her attention was redirected. “You should’ve seen Mom’s brother. I mean- he was a real piece of work. He just- he didn’t get I swung that way.”

Scootaloo let out a quick laugh. “I have an uncle?”

“You’ll wish you didn’t.” Rainbow ruffled her mane. Scootaloo ducked her head. “Hay, I wonder if Mom wishes she didn’t have a brother sometimes.” Scootaloo smiled at Dash’s antics… before her smile slowly fell.

“You know, I had a brother once.” Scootaloo mentioned quietly. Rainbow blankly stared ahead for a moment before whipping her head down.

“What?”

“Oh, look. We’re here.” Scootaloo pointed ahead. “It’s a little… small.”

Rainbow kept staring for several seconds, before shaking her head and looking up. It was faintly illuminated by the early sun, but it’s general shape was still visible. It was a simple one-room schoolhouse, painted a bright and angry red that reflected even in the darkened sky. Atop the simple black roof was a golden bell that glinted beautifully in Luna’s night. Out the front, groups of foals played and yelled at each other, even if it was dark out.

“Well… it’s a small town.” Rainbow said, stopping in the path. Scootaloo followed suit too, stopping by her sister’s side. “Don’t really need a big school.”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo awkwardly itched her fetlock, looking down at the pebbles. “I-It’s a little… intimidating.”

“Is it?” Rainbow asked, gauging the size. “I’d think it’s about an average sized…” Rainbow looked down at filly, noticing how she had begun shivering. Rainbow held her tongue, crouching back down and grabbing the filly in a hug.

“Wh-”

“Hey.” Rainbow said, wrapping her in a wing-hug. “It’s okay, kay?”

“N-No- It’s just… cold.”

“No, it’s not.”

“No it isn’t.” Scootaloo agreed, leaning into the hug.

“Just… remember to breathe, kid.” Rainbow said, breaking from the hug first. Scootaloo momentarily kept holding, but broke away as the mare pulled. “Your gonna do fine.” Scootaloo looked at the schoolhouse. All those… foals. Groups of them. Which ones would she join first? Did any of them even want her to join?

Breathe in…

She spotted Sweetie Belle, waiting by the white fence out front.

Breathe out.

“Okay…” Scootaloo nodded. “Okay. I can do this.”

“Yeah, you can!” Rainbow held out her hoof. “C’mon, put it here.” Scootaloo looked up with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, rolling her eyes as she childishly bumped hooves. Rainbow let out a smile, ruffling her mane for perhaps the tenth time that day. So much in fact, that Scootaloo began to feel the burning spot where Rainbow had been rubbing.

“S-See you, sis.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow merely smiled, saluting like a royal guard, and taking off in flight.

Scootaloo kept sitting, staring up as the spot that had once been Rainbow began getting smaller and smaller in the distant sky. Scootaloo’s eyes began unfocusing as she became harder and harder to distinguish from the monotonous gray.

Breathe in…

“Scoots!”

Breathe out.

Scootaloo turned around, finding the sight of a white unicorn filly running as quickly as ponily possible kind of funny. Sweetie tried stopping, rolling a few hooves forwards as her hooves dug into the gravel.

“Hey!” Sweetie greeted, quickly hugging Scootaloo. “Ready for the big day?”

“I-I guess!” Scootaloo shrugged with a smile. “I dunno!”

“You don’t know?” She asked. “What, you’ve never been to school before?”

“No?”

“No?!” Sweetie yelled. She relented, just simply rolling her eyes. “C’mon, silly. I’ll show you.” She grabbed Scootaloo’s hoof in her own, tugging her along. Scootaloo, against her will, began following the exuberant white filly.

There were, to say the least, a lot of foals. This was expected, but in all honesty, it wasn’t nearly as many as she thought there would be. Was this a bonus or a negative? She wasn’t quite sure. More foals meant more anonymity among a large group. Less foals meant that everypony knew everypony, and that was a dangerous thing, especially for the potential social outcast.

Sweetie Belle let go of Scootaloo’s hoof, standing on her hindlegs and using her muzzle to unlatch the brown door, letting it freely swing open on it’s own weight. Sweetie trotted in confidentially, and as Scootaloo could guess, probably because this wasn’t her first year.

“Hey, Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie yelled. The blackboard and the teacher’s desk were at the far end of the room. Cheerilee was busy sitting idly at her desk, using a strange machine with a blade on the side of it to slice through a stack of papers. Probably some kind of worksheet, if Scootaloo had to guess. She pushed down on the handle, the blade making a satisfying slashing sound as she did.

“Hello, kids.” She greeted, pushing the stack of papers off of the slicing platform, and putting the strange machine on the floor next to her, away from any potentially too curious foals. She leaned forwards on her desk, smiling fondly as the two ponies crossed the rows and rows of desks. “Welcome to school, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo wilted under her friendly gaze. It was a strange feeling. Did Scootaloo not like the position of power this pony held? Whatever the case was, it seemed Cheerilee picked up on it almost immediately, turning to look at Sweetie.

“And I assume you’ve been treating her well?” Cheerilee asked, addressing the white Unicorn.

“Oh, yes!” Sweetie nodded. “I was gonna show her the skipping spot later today!”

“The-” Cheerilee leaned back in her chair, blinking rapidly. “The what?”

“Nothing!” Sweetie said, as if nothing had happened. “Hey- do you mind if we pick out our seats?” She asked, standing all the way on walls of her hooves. Cheerilee glanced behind her at the clock atop the blackboard.

“I don’t see why not… you might want to hurry, though.” She stood up from her chair. “It’s about time I call the kids to class.”

“Oh, c’mon, Scoots!” Sweetie turned around, blasting past the confused Pegasus. Scootaloo watched as Sweetie bounced between the rows of seats, stopping every few moments to properly gauge a specific spot she was at, and then continuing to bounce to the next spot.

Cheerilee rolled her eyes, walking past Scootaloo and out the door.

“Right here!” Sweetie said, suddenly sitting down. She pointed to the spot next to her. “Here, I saved you a window seat!” She beamed. “I thought you might like it.”

True, the spot she was pointing at was a window seat. Scootaloo smiled, grateful at her friend. She approached the desk, looking upon it’s wooden surface. It was leaning forwards at a drastic angle by design. The seat looked terrible, if she were being honest, more akin to a board of wood laying on the ground rather than an actual seat.

But, she took it anyways, sitting down. The desk already had supplies on it, being a red folder, a few pieces of first-day paper, and a pencil.

Pencil. Scootaloo let loose a little smile as she picked up the pencil, rolling it around on her frog. A pencil. A gateway into a thousand drawings. A gateway towards a million stories.

But, unfortunately, her thoughts of drawings were interrupted by the sound of a ringing bell. Scootaloo looked out the massive window to her left, watching as all of the foals stopped what they were doing, a range of talking or chasing, to suddenly all bolt towards the classroom.

The first foal through the door was a Unicorn filly. Her coat was an esquissette black, an uncommon color of coat usually found further north, where ponies coats were thicker and darker to absorb more heat in the harsh infinite winter. It was the opposite of why Rainbow’s mane was colorful and bright, to deflect the pounding sun. Dash’s heritage might’ve come from more tropical environments, where bright manes were more common.

The next pony was a colt with a gray coat and black mane. He was a Pegasus, and to Scootaloo’s dismay, was already flying. It made her wings feel even more useless. Would anypony notice hers? She sure hoped not.

The next was a pink Earth-pony, wearing a diamond-

Wait- no, the next was a silver Earth-pony-

Uhh-

Scootaloo suddenly began feeling lightheaded again. The amount of foals, although yes, less than she thought there was going to be, there still was a lot. One after another, they came pouring in. In total, it might’ve only been about fifteen students, but as Scootaloo sat patiently near her window, it felt like a lot more.

Was the floor always that far away? Was her brain just playing tricks on her? Why was it getting so hard to breathe?

Scootaloo slowly looked up, trying as hard as possible to not direct any attention towards herself. Sweetie Belle was sitting in her seat, her back straight, and attention firmly on the teacher, even though she hadn’t gotten up yet.

But Scootaloo leaned forwards. Just a little bit.

There, past Sweetie, was an Earth-pony filly she hadn’t seen yet. And apparently, she was staring back at her, too.

Scootaloo blinked.

She blinked.

The filly, who had a red mane with a large box fixed to the top of her head, observed Scootaloo for a moment. Then, she smiled, nodding her head, as if to say ‘are you okay?’Scootaloo took a moment to respond, also nodding her head.

She slumped back into her sitting position, as did Scootaloo.

She felt… well, not good, but she felt a little better.

Miss Cheerilee got up from her desk, looking at something on it as she walked away. Then, she cleared her throat, waiting for the class to quiet down.

“Good morning, class!” She said cheerfully. Scootaloo was taken off-guard as everypony around her responded with a resounding Good Morning, Cheerilee.Cheerilee laughed at the expense of the few ponies, Scootaloo included, who were taken off-guard by the sudden chorus.

“Who here remembers the tale about the founding of Equestria?” She asked, turning around and gripping a piece of chalk in her frog.

Scootaloo turned once more to look at the tan filly, but she was too busy to notice Scootaloo.

Weird.

Scootaloo let her shoulder’s relax.

09 - Everything is Going to be Okay

School was a breeze.

Seriously! With a straight face, Scootaloo could confidentially say that school was easy, if not a bit tiring at some places.

First period had been history, dedicated towards learning about the founding of Equestria. Although the story told around campfires and fireplaces alike was good fun for the whole family, it wasn’t exactly the most accurate description of events in the real world. For instance: the storytellers always neglected to tell the part where the three tribes went to war for half a decade. Although brutal, it was oddly engaging, and most importantly, awesome. When she got home, she would definitely tell Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

Weirdly enough, the stuff Miss Cheerilee taught was common knowledge among textbooks. It didn’t take a scholar to go down to the local library and peer into a history book to find the full detailed chronological events. To be fair to herself, though, she was not willing to spend an afternoon hunched over in the candlelight to read a book. It was better to hear from the horse’s mouth than from words printed with ink onto dead trees.

Miss Cheerilee was out on the front porch of the school. She had a rope in her mouth that connected somewhere into the roof, tugging it back and forth as the bell atop the schoolhouse rang out, signaling the end of the day. Foals barreled out the door, acting like they had been sitting for hours. In reality, they had been sitting for an hour and thirty minutes. An hour thirty for first period, a thirty minute recess, and then another hour thirty for second period, and the class was dismissed just in time for lunch.

Scootaloo and Sweetie were one of the last ones to leave the class. Scootaloo flexed her jaw as she descended the front steps, it feeling sore from second period’s Ponish. She had to practice, and for some reason, the Equestrian standard was mouth writing, even if she was totally fluent in hoof writing.

The sun had long since risen. It wasn’t cold before, but in contrast, the sun was blasting heatwaves like no other. Scootaloo took a moment to bask in the warmth, closing her eyes and letting the sun warm her bones.

“Hey-hey!” Sweetie said, suddenly apparating next to Scootaloo. Scootaloo opened her eyes, following the filly as she began bouncing up and down. “Do you want to come over to my Mo- err, Rarity’s?” She asked.

“Um- If it’s not too much trouble…” Scootaloo said with an awkward smile. The prospect of hanging out with her friend filled her with immense joy. Sweetie beamed, turning around and beginning her trot towards Ponyville.

“C’mon, Lazybones!” Sweetie said joyfully, giggling.

“Oh- um-!” Scootaloo started with a quick gallop to close the distance. She eventually kept pace with the white Unicorn. “Is that- um- how long school usually takes?”

“How long?” Sweetie asked, stopping her bouncing and returning to a normal pace. “Usually, yeah. I heard that folks in Canterlot have to spend the whole day doing school. The whole day!”

“Sounds… bad.”

“I think Dusk went to school up there. We should ask him about it.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Schools in Manehattan were like- the middle ground. They usually lasted until around two.”

“Wait, what?” She shot Scootaloo a questioning glance. “You come from Manehattan? I didn’t know that!” Scootaloo laughed lightly as Sweetie knocked a chip off her shoulder. “What was it like?”

“Noisy.” Scootaloo responded. “It’s really quiet out here. In Manehattan, there’s always something happening. Ponies were always rude, and you should never drink the tap water.”

“What’s tap water?” Sweetie asked.

“The water that comes out of the faucet.” She explained. Sweetie made an oh sound. They both exchanged some quick laughs as Scootaloo looked up towards the sky. The weather patrol had been really at it today. It was impressively clear, all blue horizon for miles and miles.

Except for the single cloud above them.

“Well, well, well!” Scootaloo and Sweetie both stopped in their tracks upon hearing a new voice. Sweetie sighed, closing her eyes in frustration. Scootaloo raised her eyebrow, and against her better judgment, turned around. “Hey, blank flanks!”

It was two earth-ponies. The front and center one, the one who was talking, was pink. Her mane was mostly purple with a streak of white going down the side. She was notable for being one of the only ponies she had seen to wear something, being a diamond tiara. Scootaloo could practically feel the waves of toxicity and entitlement rolling off of her in waves.

The second pony had a gray coat with an eccentric silver mane. Strangely enough, this pony was standing behind the pink one, and currently had her eyes diverted towards the floor. Scootaloo resolved herself, straightening her spine at these two.

“Hello.” Scootaloo said coldly. “My name is-”

“Doesn’t matter!” The pink pony said, raising her hoof in a shushing gesture. “All I care about is whether your coming to my party.”

“Party?” Scootaloo asked. “What party?”

“Ugh.” She shook her head while rolling her eyes, turning to her partner in crime. “Can you believe her, Silvy?”

“Oh, uh-” The silver pony looked up, swallowing her spit. “Er- no. I can’t.”

“Exactly.” She turned back around, her muzzle high up in the air. “I’m Diamond Tiara, and I’m a pretty big deal.” Scootaloo had to resist a snort. “You are cordially invited to attend my Cutecenera, happening at one today at Sugarcube Corner.” This time, Diamond Tiara resisted the urge to snort. “I say ‘invited,’ but you don’t wanna be a blank flank if you don’t show up…”

“What does my flank have to do with anything?”

“It’s a saying!” Diamond protested. “Ugh- whatever.” The pink filly turned to say something to, but stopped herself prematurely upon looking straight up. “Uh oh. It’s Rainbow Crash.” Diamond Tiara said, turning towards the silver pony. “C’mon, Silvy!” She giggled, barging straight through Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “Ta-ta! Be there!” She said, fading into the distance. The silver pony barely raised her head, keeping silent.

Rainbow Crash? Who was that?

Well- her answers were answered when a pony descended directly in front of them.

“Hey, Dash!” Scootaloo said loudly, approaching the landed pony with a half-hug.

“Sup, squirt!” Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo with both her wings, noogying her sister. “How was school?” She looked up at Sweetie. “Good to see you, too!”

“Hi!” Sweetie waved.

“School was great!” Scootaloo said. “We learned about war!”

“Oh, did you now?” Rainbow asked, raising her eyebrow. “Let me guess- the pre-Thestral war?”

“No! The Tribal War!” Scootaloo beamed. “Isn’t it awesome? I can tell you more later, but we gotta go!” Scootaloo dislocated herself from Rainbow, suddenly walking away. Rainbow might’ve seen something of herself in the filly, just rolling her eyes and trotting next to the filly.

“Where you going? I gotta tell Mom where you’re going.”

“We’re going to Diamond Tiara’s Cutecenera!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh… that filly?” Rainbow sucked air between her teeth. “Sure. Why not.” Rainbow took to the skies. “I’ll tell Mom, kay?” Scootaloo nodded, watching as Rainbow dissapeared towards the cottage somewhere in the woods. Scootaloo smiled at Sweetie, and they began their trek towards the towering sugar spiral somewhere in Ponyville.

Sugarcube Corner loomed in the distance. Outside, there was already a decent amount of ponies gathered around the general area. It wasn’t just a bunch of school foals- it was the whole town. Ponies from very frail and old to newborns, varying in colors and tribes.

“That’s… a lot of ponies.” Scootaloo said warily. Sweetie looked over with a questioning glance.

“You gonna be okay?” Sweetie asked, bumping Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“I’m fine.” She said. “Just… a lot of ponies.”

“Okay…” Sweetie nodded. “Tell me if you need a break, or something.” Scootaloo just laughed. It wouldn’t come to that. “Hey-” Sweetie stopped walking, pointing towards a pony to the side, sitting at a table near a small restaurant, seperate from Sugarcube Corner. “Is that… Dusk?” Sweetie asked. Scootaloo squinted her eyes, looking at the pony who certainly looked like Dusk.

It was a Unicorn mare, and she looked identical to Dusk in every way but gender. Purple coat, darker mane, and a pink stripe. The biggest difference had to be her height, being a multitude of inches shorter than Dusk himself. Scootaloo and Sweetie exchanged glances, approaching the mare.

“Dusk?” Sweetie asked. Dusk himself- or herself- was sitting down, talking with an orange earth-pony with a stetson. She turned around in her chair, looking down at the two fillies.

“Oh- Scooteroll!” Dusk smiled. “And Silver Bell! Aren’t you two just adorable?”

“What.” Scootaloo said. “Dusk, did you- um- turn yourself into a mare?”

“Oh, no.” Dusk shook his head. “I’m actually Dusk from an alternate dimension!” Scootaloo remembered briefly seeing the book Dusk had been reading before, the day Scootaloo went on that trip with Rainbow. It seemed like he had been able to translate that spell from his muzzle. “My name is Twilight Sparkle!”

“Are you here to replace Dusk?” Sweetie asked. Twilight blinked.

“Er- no? It’s like a science experiment-”

“Are you here to kill anypony?” Scootaloo asked. Twilight’s jaw opened slightly as she turned towards Scootaloo.

“N-No! I would never-”

“And you aren’t going to seduce anypony into making babies?”

“You fillies watch too many movies!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “I’m not going to do any of those-”

“Then your chill.” Sweetie said. She looked over to Scootaloo. “Come on! The party’s just starting!” They both let out a little giggle, galloping towards Sugarcube Corner. Twilight stared as the two fillies left. She let out a sigh, turning back to her table-mate.

“Aw, don’t mind them.” The orange earth-pony said. “Ah’ve yet to meet Scootaloo. Ah’ really wouldn’t mind havin’ her over.”

“Oh, I’m sure Apple Buck would love to hang out with her.” Twilight said, rolling her hoof.

“Apple Bloom’s her name over here.”

“Of course.” Twilight blushed a little. “I-I do wonder what happened to Scootaroll- or- Scootaloo, sometimes. Butterscotch only told me that something bad happened to her. I don’t even think he really knows.”

“Maybe one day.” The orange pony said. “Maybe one day.”

The two fillies slowly approached the crowd. From somewhere inside, they could faintly hear the sounds of a gramophone whirling away music. It was overshadowed by the sound of intense foal screaming. Scootaloo didn’t feel panicked… yet. And Sweetie was right by her side, too, so everything would be fine.

“Well…” Sweetie looked around the crowd. “Let’s go grab some food!”

“Y-Yeah.” Scootaloo’s voice wavered. Sweetie stopped, putting her front hoof on the step up into Sugarcube Corner. She turned her head, looking at Scootaloo concernedly.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Sweetie said slowly. Scootaloo opened her mouth, but closed it, shaking her head.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She said, partially by accident. “Just go.”

“Okay…” Sweetie jumped up the last few steps, pushing open the door to the inside. It swung close with Scootaloo still on the outside. Scootaloo took a deep breath, putting her forehead against the wood.

She was going to be fine.

Scootaloo used her head to push open the door, walking inside.

And then Tartarus began raining it’s fury on Scootaloo.

A colt. A filly. Another colt. Screaming.

There was just too much. Too much of everypony. Everything. The streamers were too bright, there were too many balloons, and there was just so much noise. From the foals screaming to the sound of the jukebox playing wildly. It entered one of her ears and straight out the other.

She tried looking to her hooves, but they felt farther away. Her hooves were filling with blood. Somepony came from behind and grabbed her throat, beginning to squeeze aggressively. The air left her lungs and refused to come back, no matter how much she tried breathing. She closed her eyes, feeling the world around her rotating like she was on a ship.

She reopened her eyes, and the lights streaming in from the outside began screaming. Her pupils felt constricted, and no matter how much she tried, she suddenly couldn’t move. Her body refused to listen as she was stuck. If could, she would’ve began screaming.

Suddenly, the blobby and unfocused face of Sweetie Belle entered her vision. She could barely make out the pink area that Sweetie’s mouth was supposed to be. She said something. Mumbled something incomprehensible. It came out as a stream of vowels and unintelligible words. She was underwater.

Scootaloo felt her knees give out. They quite painfully hit the floorboards. Sweetie began her mumbling again, this time louder and higher pitched. Scootaloo could barely watch as Sweetie began wildly looking around. Blackness appeared around her vision, slowly sucking in and reducing her consciousness.

The last thing she remembered was Sweetie grabbing her around the withers, and pulling her towards a far away objective.

Then everything went black.

Scootaloo woke up by inhaling a huge chunk of air. She came to with a start, jumping up from her resting position and hitting her head against something solid.

“You okay?” The concerned voice of Sweetie said. Scootaloo mumbled, rubbing her eyes blearily as she blinked back her focus. The place they were in was dark and quiet, Sweetie just barely having enough light to make out a little more than her outline.

“Where are we?” Scootaloo asked.

“You looked a little… sick?” Sweetie said slowly. “I thought it might’ve been because of all the foals, and I didn’t want you to pass out in front of everypony… so I dragged you under this table.”

Scootaloo blinked back confusion, looking around her. It was a decently sized circular table, and if Scootaloo had to guess, the table holding up the cake due to how circular it was. That, and the table was covered by a very thick white cloth with a black inner lining. Because of how thick it was, it let in a surprisingly little amount of light and sound.

“Thanks…” Scootaloo mumbled rearranging herself into a better sitting position. The table was high enough that she could sit somewhat comfortably, her mane barely brushing against the bottom of the wood.

“Scootaloo…” Sweetie took a deep breath in. Scootaloo turned to look at her with a confused expression. She looked almost nervous. “I-I’ve seen you get all loopy before… at school, but…” She took another deep breath in. “That was level ten. I mean- you passed out!” Scootaloo sighed, turning away from the Unicorn.

“I-I’m freakin’ stupid.” Scootaloo whispered. Sweetie gasped, reaching across the spacious underbelly of the table and laying a hoof on her wither.

“Don’t say that!” She whisper-shouted. “You’re not stupid-”

“Of course I am!” Scootaloo batted away Sweetie’s hoof. She gasped, pulling herself back to the other side of the table. “I get these- freaking manic episodes! I-I don’t even know why! They just-” She gritted her teeth, covering her face with her hooves. “It started when I started talking… maybe I should just stop.”

“Stop talking?” Sweetie said. “B-But I like it when you talk!” Sweetie blurted out. Scootaloo uncovered her face, raising a barely illuminated eyebrow. “I-It’s really fun to hang out with you, and-” Sweetie sighed. “I didn’t have a problem before you talked, but I don’t want you to go back!”

“I’m sorry.” Scootaloo whispered, burying her face into her hooves. “I’m sorry.”

The two sat in awkward silence. There was more than enough space for their own personal bubble. It was dark and quiet under this mat, even if the sounds of the party outside were still audilble. Sweetie could barely make out the sounds of Pinkie shouting about pinning the tail on the donkey.

Finally, Sweetie turned to look at Scootaloo.

“Let’s do therapy.” Sweetie said suddenly. Scootaloo slowly uncovered her face. She wasn’t crying, but she certainly felt like it.

“What?”

“I mean- let’s sit here, and let’s do therapy.” Sweetie turned to face Scootaloo. “I’m your therapist. Tell me what’s wrong.” Scootaloo kept staring at her for several seconds, before forcing herself to laugh. Her response was burying her face into her hooves once more.

“Why do you want to help?”

“Because I’m your friend, silly!” Sweetie laughed. “I care about you. Isn’t that what friends do?” Scootaloo grumbled into her hooves.

“I’ve been a terrible friend.”

“No, you haven’t-”

“Yes I have!” Scootaloo unburied her face, shooting her front hooves out in a wild gesture. “Y-You were there! I mean- at the spa with Rarity! I just sat there like an idiot! I didn’t even say anything!”

“That was before you started-”

“I know!” Scootaloo shouted. “I know, I know, I know! But-” Scootaloo adjusted herself on the wooden floor, turning her head away. “I just- I just willingly started talking because I wanted to. Why didn’t I before? I-I think I’m just a dumb attention seeker!”

“Scootaloo, you’re not an attention seeker.”

“Then what am I?” She shouted, turning back. “All of this- horseshit for me just to decide to be normal! W-Was I faking it? Did you know they sent the best foal psychologists in the country of Equestria to figure out why I wasn’t behaving normally? Gee, I wonder how much out-of-pocket money that cost Doctor Sunshine.” Scootaloo leaned back into one of the wooden posts of the table, closing her eyes.

Sweetie sat silently on the other side. Her features were crestfallen. She bit her lip, looking at the ground in contemplation. She looked at the grain visible below the area between the thick fabric and the floor. She could barely make out the shadows of moving foals.

“Tell me about your parents.”

Sweetie could almost feel the drop in temperature as Scootaloo slowly turned to look at Sweetie in her eyes. Her big, bright, violet eyes burning a hole into Sweetie’s soul.

“You’re feeling like this for a reason.” Sweetie shifted forwards. “Tell me about your-”

“No.” Scootaloo said emotionlessly.

Sweetie took a breath of her own, looking away from the pony and towards the ground. This was her friend, and she wanted to help her. And sometimes, in order to repair a crack, she has to drill the hole bigger.

“I had a mom and dad.” Sweetie said slowly. Scootaloo was still staring at Sweetie, her features still unreadable. “Had. I was an accident. My parents- real parents, didn’t want me. To them, I was an inconvene- inconvenece-” Scootaloo finally let her features rest, looking away from Sweetie.

“Inconvenience.”

“Inconvenience.” Sweetie nodded. “The moment I was old enough to take care of myself, they left.” Scootaloo stayed silent. “Sometimes, they didn’t even leave any food in the house. Or- not any food a little filly knew how to make, anyways.” Sweetie chuckled darkly. Scootaloo still stayed silent, looking at a spot on the floor. “But… they didn’t care enough to give me food, but they cared enough to hide me. Whenever Rarity came over for a visit, they would lock me in my room, and tell me to be quiet.”

Scootaloo’s eyes flashed up for a moment.

“One night… I was playing by myself like usual. I was by the front door, and…” Sweetie’s smile faded. “I heard keys in the lock. Rarity decided to come for a surprise visit, and… she wasn’t really ready to see me.” Sweetie shook her head. “My parents sent me to my room. All I remember that night was yelling. Lots and lots of yelling.” Sweetie rubbed her head, below the horn. “I woke up the next day, and there was a foal protective service agent knocking at the front door.”

Sweetie stopped talking. Scootaloo grumbled something incomprehensible, crossing her hooves and looking up at Sweetie with a side-eye.

“What happened next?”

“A legal battle.” Sweetie shivered. “I don’t know why they wanted to keep me. I-I really don’t. The court had a hard time figuring out what to do with me. It was obvious that my parents weren’t very… all there in the head. And- I didn’t want to stay with Rarity. I-I saw Rarity as this pony who destroyed my life. I… I really hated her.” Sweetie sighed. “I was fostered for the next year. Complete strangers I was forced to live with. I didn’t know who they were at the time…” Scootaloo noticed visibly as Sweetie smiled fondly. “The Cakes had the best food.” She knocked the wooden floorboards. “I lived here the longest. I remember that.” She sighed, looking up. “Oh, then I went to live with Lyra and Bon-bon. I don’t think they really knew what they were doing, but- they always tried to read to me before I fell asleep.” She scuffed the floor. “Ditzy and Time Turner loved me. So did Dinky.” Sweetie laughed. “I think I might’ve lived with everypony in town for a while.”

“Must’ve been nice.” Scootaloo said quietly.

“What?” Sweetie turned to look at Scootaloo, who was observing the wood grain of the table. “What was nice about that?”

“Being cared for.”

“Were you not fostered?” Sweetie asked. Scootaloo stayed silent, still staring at the table above them. Scootaloo breathed out sharply, squeezing her eyes shut.

“When did you realize… everything was going to be okay?” She asked quietly. It was obvious the question was forced. It almost sounded like she didn’t even want to ask it, but Sweetie knew it’s importance.

“After the first week.” Sweetie responded. “I cried. A lot. I hated her so, so much.” Sweetie sighed. “One night, I ran away into the Everfree.” She shrugged like it wasn’t anything big. Scootaloo’s eyes widened. Living on the edge of the Everfree let Scootaloo gain insight into what it was like inside, and she wanted nothing to do with it. “I ran until I couldn’t even recognize the stars anymore. There was this… massive timber wolf. It was going to eat me, and suddenly…” Sweetie sighed. “Rarity was there. She blasted it into a million pieces like it was nothing.” Sweetie lowered her head in shame. “I hugged her. Really tight. That was when I realized everything was going to be okay.”

Scootaloo was silent for a few moments. She flexed her jaw, instinctively biting her cheek as she stared at Sweetie. She looked content. And happy. While retelling her story, she didn’t even shed a single tear. It was like… it was almost like she had gotten over it.

Was it okay to get over it? Was it okay to forget everything you ever were? Was it okay just to drop it?

“I don’t think it’s happened yet.” Scootaloo admitted. Sweetie looked at her with her bright eyes.

“Don’t think what?”

“I… I don’t think I’ve realized it’s going to be okay.” Scootaloo’s lip quivered. She looked at the tablecloth for a moment. “I-I’m scared it’s going to go away… I think. I-It’s happened before.”

Memories. Memories of days long gone.

Scootaloo took a deep breath in, her voice quivering terribly. It wasn’t like she was going to cry like before- she was scared. She had no idea why she was scared. She only knew that she was.

“I-I never had a mom.” She said quietly. Sweetie froze up, suddenly staying completely silent and still. Like she was scared to scare away Scootaloo. “I- uhm… I-I killed her on the way out.” Scootaloo rubbed her knee, sliding down the pole slightly. “I-I was born four months early… not a lot of foals survive being born that early.”

Sweetie almost interjected, but bit her tongue. Her eyes involuntarily drifted to Scootaloo’s wings. The small and stubby wings. Almost like they didn’t have enough time to develop. Scootaloo took another shaky breath, like talking was wearing her out.

“I-I did have a dad.” She admitted, turning to her side. “He wasn’t ever… really happy, I guess. I-I don’t remember much of him, but um… He wasn’t happy I killed his wife- um- my mom.” Scootaloo cleared her throat. Her throat involuntarily flexed as she tried swallowing her spit. “I-I had a brother.”

This was news to Sweetie. Her ears perked up and her head tilted to the side.

“I remember my brother.” Scootaloo smiled, looking at Sweetie in her eyes. A single tear rolled down Scootaloo’s cheek. “I remember him being obsessed over me.” She laughed, smoothing her mane with a hoof. “M-My dad probably saw me as the thing that killed his wife. My brother saw me as his mom’s final gift.” She smiled again, leaning into the table leg. “My dad got fired from his job. And- my um- my brother made a pact with his friend group.” She genuinely laughed, smiling and looking to her side at Sweetie. “Imagine a group of teenage colts just… loosing it over a baby foal. Like- googly eyes. Like a bunch of fillies.”

“Were they your family?” Sweetie gained enough courage to finally asked.

“In a lot of ways… yeah.” She nodded. “My brother was the one always taking care of me. He fed me, changed me, rocked me to sleep. The other colts did little jobs around the city to keep us afloat. They… really cared about me. Every dime they earned went into buying diapers, toys, bottles… My brother didn’t mind that I killed his mom-”

“Please.” Sweetie held up her hoof. “You didn’t kill your mom.”

“Yes, I did-”

“You had no control-”

“But-”

“Stop.” Sweetie commanded. Scootaloo closed her mouth, biting her tongue. Sweetie shifted herself over to Scootaloo’s side, putting a hoof on her shoulder and getting close. “You didn’t kill your mom. It wasn’t your fault. You’re beating yourself up over something you had no control over.” Scootaloo let go of her tongue, looking away from Sweetie and towards the floor. Sweetie slowly let her hoof slide off her shoulder.

“He didn’t mind that I took away his mom.” Scootaloo finished. Sweetie nodded, egging her to continue. “Apparently I look like her, too, so…”

“And then… one day…” Scootaloo began. The smile vanished, leaving behind a cold and desolate visage. Sweetie understood where the story was going. “I-I must’ve been about three at the time. In my room, a few of the colts were in there. It was late at night- like two in the morning. They were acting kind of squirmy. Or, like antsy.” Scootaloo felt a lump form in her throat. “I-I remember hearing the front door open, and my brother…” Scootaloo suddenly let out a choked sob.

Sweetie was there in an instant. Scootaloo had tears streaming down her face as Sweetie sat next to her, hoof over her neck and letting her lean into her shoulder.

“M-My dad opened my bedroom door. T-There w-was the smell of a-alcohol. M-My brother put himself between me a-and him, a-and-” Scootaloo leaned into the crook of Sweetie’s neck. “M-My dad k-kept swinging u-until h-he wasn’t breathing!”

Sweetie held her tightly as she felt her shoulder becoming wet.

“T-The other colts t-tried to f-fight, but he wouldn’t go down!” Scootaloo yelled. “T-There was so much blood! I-I don’t even remember how my brother’s supposed to look like! I-I just remember h-how bloodied he was!”

Sweetie stayed silent, letting the smaller Pegasus sob. Over the sound of crying, Sweetie could still hear the party going. They were still dancing, playing, and talking like nothing had happened. Completely unaware to the stories told underneath the cake table.

They both closed their eyes, just reveling in the moment. It took a little while, but the crying slowly died down into sniffling.

“I-I’m sorry- It’s s-stupid, and-”

“Do you feel better?” Sweetie asked. Scootaloo slowly moved back, breaking the impromptu hug they were experiencing. She sniffled again, rubbing her eyes.

“Y-Yeah.” Scootaloo said. “I-I feel like- a-a weight is gone.” She sniffled again, rubbing her eyes even harder. “I-It’s s-stupid-”

“Maybe you should do this more often.” Sweetie suggested, patting Scootaloo on the shoulder. “That’s really messed up you had to go through that.”

“I-I’m-” Scootaloo shook her head, looking away. “Why-why do you care s-so much?”

“Because I’m your friend.” She stated simply. “And that’s what friends do.”

Scootaloo stared for a moment longer. She let a goofy smile spread across her muzzle as she hit a realization.

“You know…” Despite the tears streaming down her face, she let out a little laugh. “I think everything’s going to be okay.” Sweetie joined in a little laugh. They both hugged each other under the table.

“Wow! That is an amazing Cutiemark!” Scootaloo broke the hug, staring at Sweetie Belle. Just past the veil of the tablecloth, the party seemed to come to a complete halt. The music was no longer, and all that persisted was the laugh of two very annoying fillies.

“Nice try, blank flank!” Diamond Tiara said snobbishly. Scootaloo looked up to Sweetie Belle.

There was a fire in her gut. A fire she couldn't explain. A fire she never had before, and it began eating at her from the inside. Scootaloo tensed, pulling up the tablecloth, and yelling.

“You got a problem with blank flanks?!”

Author's Note

Do you want some behind the scenes?
Here is me, detailing some of the process that went into writing this story.
It was filmed a while ago, so be warned.

02 - Late Night Conversation

“Sweetie…” The voice’s owner cut through the silent interior of the boutique. “Care to come take a seat with me?” The unicorn named Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle, who was her sister, had woken up in the dead of night, craving a late-night snack. The gnawing hunger quickly turned into an empty pit of dread as a sense of horrible foreboding encompassed her soul.

Her hoof, still raised upwards in a stepping motion towards the kitchen pantry, was planted slowly back onto the ground as Sweetie stared at her sister through the motionless and dark rooms.

At the end of the dark hall, in the upper apartment of the boutique, her sister was sitting on a red love sofa, her back facing Sweetie. The fireplace in front of her was lit, illuminating Rarity’s features in a harsh, flickering orange glow. Her muzzle created a shadow that hid a quarter of her face, her purple mane helping cover the rest. Only a small portion of her blue eyes stared back at Sweetie. To say Sweetie suddenly wanted nothing to do with her sister right now might’ve been the understatement of the century, as if she didn’t know any better, she would’ve assumed her sister was a serial-killer with the way she was staring back at her.

Sweetie, still making up her mind on to whether turn around and bolt back to her room, or to accompany her sister by the fireplace, looked up at the clock above the archway leading towards the room Rarity currently resided in. The clock, although the hands were hard to read in the dark, displayed it’s hands somewhere around three in the morning. As far as the filly was concerned, there was no reason for Rarity to stay up this late. She couldn’t remember Rarity gushing about any huge dress orders to fill. Nor could she remember Rarity talking about a new and fancy prince from Canterlot she had to make an impression for. No, the reasoning behind her late-night voyage was entirely unknown.

But Sweetie trusted her sister.

Sweetie trusted her sister with her life. She owed it to her.

Perhaps Sweetie had done something wrong. But she knew Rarity wouldn’t be mad. Worst comes to worst, she would wear a disappointing frown and calmly explain why she did what she did was wrong. Which… Honestly, she would’ve preferred her sister to be mad.

Against better instincts, Sweetie slowly started her march towards the living room. Pictures framed on the wall showed Sweetie and Rarity, together. Picnics, walks, carnivals, first days of school... Only two adult ponies were noticeably absent from the pictures.

As she walked into the firelight, her hooves began refusing to walk, resisting the urge to go any farther. Yet, awkwardly, she hopped herself onto the sofa directly across from Rarity. This one wasn’t a love sofa. The love sofa was too… weird to sit on. She would’ve had to cross her hind-legs in order to sit on it properly. But for some reason, Rarity merely sat on it like a normal pony. Very uncharacteristic for such a ‘proper lady.’

Sweetie, now in the firelight, was much like her sister. She was also a white unicorn, adorning purple hair split two-tones across both sides of her mane. A lighter, and a darker. She was just a filly, and she felt the scrutinizing gaze of Rarity was much more effective due to her age.

Scrutinizing might have been a word too harsh. It wasn’t exactly an angry stare. Or a saddened stare. Perhaps she was having an internal conflict? The harsh shadows forming across her face didn’t exactly give Sweetie any meaningful hints.

Finally, her gaze softened, then broke towards the short coffee table in between the two. Both ponies landed their eyes on a small letter on the table. It was upside-down to Sweetie, and try as she might, the words were illegible. Even if it was facing towards her, the cursive writing wouldn’t have provided her any favors.

It was a simple letter. Not a letter from the princesses, because the paper looked too well-worn for that. Not a letter from the court. The sides would’ve been perfectly cut. Thank Celestia. Not a report card, either… well, because school wasn’t due to start until next month. It genuinely looked like a simple letter. Perhaps it came from a friend? What did Sweetie do to one of her four closest friends to warrant such a cold side from her sister?

Sweetie tried to think from this past day… nothing came up. Past week. Past month. Hay, even the past year.Nothing would’ve warranted such a cold-blooded stare. She thought herself as an angel!

“Before we start…” Rarity began, articulating her words carefully and slowly. “I want you to know that you did nothing wrong.” Sweetie audibly let out a sigh of relief. “Nopony is coming to take you, and everything is going to be alright.”

Now, Sweetie tensed up once more. Why would she say that? Unless- unless the court was rethinking…? No. No, it couldn’t come to that. It wouldn’t come to that.

“Sweetie, do you remember our parents?”

What a cruel question to ask. It had only been three years. Of course she still remembered her parents. Her gaze was suddenly snapped to the letter on the table once more. A sudden wave of nausea threatened to tip her over, even while she was sitting down.

Sweetie wiped a tear away from her eye that had suddenly formed.

“T-they’re not back, are they?” Sweetie whispered frightfully. Rarity cringed, apparently unaware of the effects her words were having on her sister.

“Oh, no, dear!” Rarity shook her head, leaning forwards and picking up the letter. “This isn’t from them. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She said with upmost sympathy. She spoke the truth. That was truly not her intention. In an instant, her cold display melted away. She went too far.

“Then why bring them up?” Sweetie asked, suddenly almost irritated. Rarity took a breather, looking up to the popcorn ceiling as she arranged her thoughts. While the ceiling didn’t hold the answers she needed, maybe if she stared long and hard enough…

“Do you remember how they treated you?” Rarity asked, looking back towards her sister. Sweetie’s eyes closed slowly, half-reminiscing on days-gone-by, and half out of trying to fight back the tears that seemed to be threatening her.

“I- I do remember.” Sweetie finally said, her eyes still closed. “They were- They were always away… and when they- when they were home, they acted like I wasn’t there…” Sweetie said, again, raising a hoof to wipe away an escaped prisoner. Rarity felt even worse as her sister began breaking down. “I- I guess I didn’t realize how bad it was until you came to visit.”

“I remember my surprise.” Rarity admitted. “Are you happier now?” She asked, fully aware of the answer. Sweetie wiped away the remaining tears before giving an earnest smile.

“Are you kidding? This is so much better, Rarity.” She spoke truthfully. Rarity smiled back, the tension in the room easing slightly. She was still safe. But, Rarity looked back down at the letter, her smile vanishing once more. The stoic features were back again.

Rarity cleared her throat.

“What if… Another filly had it worse?”

“What?” Sweetie asked, her breath caught in her throat. “How could’ve it been worse?”

“Sweetie- you always had a safe home, right?”

“Y-Yeah? I guess?” She said. The gears were slowly working, and Sweetie could already figure out where this story was going. Rarity flattened the letter with her hooves, before bringing it up to her face with her blue magic. It seemed she was reading it over for- perhaps the third time. Eventually, she spoke again.

“What if you… didn’t?” She said slowly. “What if every time your parents came home, you were scared. What if you were scared of a bully living in your home? A bully you couldn’t escape from?” Sweetie’s mouth slowly lowered as her sister spoke. “What if you couldn’t escape?” She repeated, even slower. Sweetie started forming new tears, mixing with the old ones.

“I-”

“Sweetie, there’s a filly who needs our help.” She finally said. “She grew up in… undesirable circumstances, and she’s different for it.” Rarity took a breath. “Her f- She was broken. But she needs our help to be… whole again. She needs us to… fill the gaps.”

Sweetie merely stared in abstract horror. Her sister was being dead serious. A pony like that actually existed. And a foal, no less. Sweetie’s time with her parents were long gone. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to see them for the rest of her life. And that made her happy. Only, her parents still earned a permanent spot burned into her brain for the rest of time.

Her parents were never mean to her. But, truth be told, she was ignored. Sweetie was thrown to the side because Rarity was planned, and she was not. That was as simple as it was. Not that she held any ill-will towards her sister. Maybe in the beginning, but not now, and not for a long time.

Rarity rarely, if ever, talked about it. Of course, Sweetie had her moments, in which the conversation was unavoidable. She had even went so far as to resent her own sister in the beginning. But that was the beginning. It was different now. Years healed her wounds, and talking about it wasn’t nearly as difficult as it once was.

Tonight was another one of those nights.

And Sweetie could still remember seeing her sister for the first time.

It was later in the summer night, a night much like this, when Rarity showed up for an unexpected visit. Her parents weren’t prepared, and before they knew what had happened, Rarity laid eyes on Sweetie.

To this day, Rarity doesn’t talk about it. But Sweetie was entirely convinced that up until that moment, Rarity had not a single clue that she had a sister.

Her parents were more than happy to give up Sweetie. Although she hated her in the beginning, she was more than in her debt for what she had done. Rarity had provided the same choices she had been given at her age. The same opportunities. She was more of a mother than her real mom had ever been to her, if you can even call her a real mom.

But, what if Rarity hadn’t showed up that night?

What if she decided to give her parents a head up she would be visiting? Or just skipping her house that night?

What if Rarity stayed in the dark about Sweetie’s existence? How much in common did she really share with the mystery filly she was talking about? Where would she be right now instead of the rambunctious little filly that occasionally terrorizes the town?

It was a thought too terrible to properly bear. She plucked it out of her brain and locked it in a vault. Right now, a filly needed her help. With a deep breath, Sweetie began a plan.

“What’s her name?” Sweetie asked, getting her breathing under control. Rarity elicited a face full of momentary surprise.

“Her name is Scootaloo.” She said, her eyes momentarily darting back towards the paper. “She’s half a year younger than you. Pegasus with an orange coat and purple mane.” She looked back at the letter again. “And she doesn’t have her Cutiemark yet, either.”

“Well…” Sweetie rolled her haunches. “What can we do to help her?”

If Rarity’s face wasn’t full of surprise before at Sweetie’s bluntness, she certainly was now. She tried to speak, but only found formless syllables forcing their way through her mouth. Eventually, she took a deep breath and stared at her sister for a few moments.

“You are my sister, you know that?” She said. Sweetie hid her genuine smile behind a carefully placed hoof.

“I’m just looking out for her, I guess…” Sweetie said bashfully.

“Well.” Rarity pretended not to notice her smiling. “We can start by meeting her. Perhaps tomorrow? Fluttershy and I have our weekly spa appointment. I was quite flustered when we kept missing them for our trips to Manehattan. The spas over there are amazing, but it’s not quite the same without dear Fluttershy.”

“Woah woah woah, wait-” Sweetie waved her hooves. “Fluttershy? What does she have to do with her?”

“Oh, yes dear.” Rarity laughing at her sister’s confused expression. “Fluttershy adopted her.”

“Oh my gosh!” Sweetie placed both hooves on her face. “Does this mean Fluttershy is the first one of your friends to become a mom?” To this, Rarity became quite flustered.

“Well- I- I think it’s more of a guardianship than- than a real mother-daughter… It’s not like that, I don’t think.” Rarity responded curtly. Sweetie raised a suspicious eyebrow at her sister’s apparent outburst. “It’s- It’s more like us, really.” She said. Then, it clicked. It clicked why Rarity became so… touchy.

Because it was exactly like them.

Rarity was Sweetie’s guardian. The court said so three years ago. They were sister-to-sister.

“Oh, okay.” Sweetie responded, suddenly feeling equally as uncomfortable as Rarity. “Is it alright if I go now?”

“Of course, dear.” Rarity said, relaxing her haunches. “Go on up to bed. You’ve got a new friend to meet tomorrow.” Sweetie wordlessly hopped off the sofa, turning towards the hallway and began her trek back to her room.

But suddenly, she stopped underneath the archway.

She became suddenly conflicted. It felt wrong to leave. Leave without doing something first.

Sweetie quickly turned around again and galloped straight to Rarity, throwing her hooves around her barrel and pulling her tight into a hug.

“Oh!” Rarity eeped, suddenly surprised by the affectionate smaller unicorn. “Oh, alright.” Rarity responded to the gesture by also wrapping her hooves around her sister.

Sweetie, as suddenly as she came, bolted out of the room, hoping to cut the awkwardness out of a hug like that. Rarity still sat speechless, watching her sister gallop away and up into her room. She sat for a little while longer, before she herself decided three-thirty in the morning was a good enough time as any to go to bed.

Sweetie laid limp under the covers of her bedroom. She put a hoof over her forehead, contemplating on what she was thinking. The hug wasn’t awkward, as she so forced it to be. But she still, even after that hug, felt incomplete.

“Ugh…” Sweetie grumbled, flopping to her side. “What’s wrong with me?”

A hole in her heart had been found. It’s been there so long, but she had no idea that piece was missing. What was she missing?

“...mom?” Sweetie asked the quiet room. “Is that really okay to say to her?”

Sweetie turned to her side one last time. Of course, Rarity wasn’t actually her mother. Not birth-mother, but as she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but contemplate the idea a little more.

“What’s the harm in calling her mom?” Sweetie asked through heavy eyelids. “She won’t mind…”

…

Then, she threw the blankets off.

“I forgot to eat something!” She complained, storming back downstairs.