Final Hopes and Desperation
"Thanks Derpy, get this letter to Scootaloo but you can take your time it's not overly important that you get it to her quickly." The grey mail mare nodded.

"Sure thing, Dash!" Derpy said as she flew off. "Wait, Derpy!" Dash yelled after the overzealous male mare, "Look ou-"

Too late; Derpy had run into the same cloud she ran into every morning But the valiant grey pegasus quickly brushed it off and continued her route as determined as ever. Dash couldn't help but chuckle, a small but appreciated bout of comedy in the tragedy that had become her life. The laugh was over as quickly as it started, though, and Dash say down, wondering of she should carry out what she intended. "I'm... so sorry." Dash said to no one in particular, but her eyes were on a singular mail mare delivering an important letter to a particular house in the sky.

•••••••••••••

Scootaloo was in her room enjoying the sunny noontime when she heard a THUMP directly under her room. She smiled and went down to greet only pony in Cloudsdale who ignored her doorbell on every occasion.

"Hey, Derpy." Scootaloo said with a smile as she looked at the mail mare sprawled before their door running a new bump in her head. Her mouth contained a plain white square, "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay!" Derpy said at a mile a minute, shortly after laying the letter in front of Scootaloo. "I was just coming over as fast I could from Rainbow Dash's house because you only live a few doors down from each other and she had a letter for you that she said was super important and I had to get it here like really fast." The mare pauses for a moment to catch her breath.
"A letter from Dash?" Scootaloo inquired, heavily confused. Ever since what happened between Dash and Gilda, Dash had become extremely reclusive, rarely leaving the house except for on occasion, to perform her weather duties, much less socialize with the town. "Weird. I was just about to go and see her." Scootaloo muttered to herself.

Well, Scootaloo," Derpy said, taking flight once again. "I have to go; more people need their mail, and it's my duty to get it to them."

Scootaloo looked up from the letter to say goodbye to the blissfully determined pegasus. "Alright, have a good day, Derpy- dont hit that clou-!"

Too late once again; Derpy and that cloud would feud until either she died or the cloud disappeared; whichever one happened first was Scootaloo's guess. She chuckled to herself as she walked back inside

"Huh." Scootaloo said, inspecting the letter. It was very messily written, the parchment scroll more crumpled up than rolled, and the address on the letter was written sloppily, as if Dash was hurrying to write it.
"Why was Dash in such a hurry?" Scootaloo mused to herself.

The urge to unroll the letter and read its contents finally got the best of Scootaloo as she tore the ribbon binding the paperoff of it and read.

•••••••••••••

Rainbow Dash stood at the edge of her cloud home in the same spot she had been standing for half an hour. She was desperately trying to work up the nerve to go and do what she had to. But she felt she couldn't. It wouldn't be her, she wouldn't be being loyal. But after her friends all ignored her because she lied to them about seeing Gilda in the hospital. But then again that was her fault. Which is why she had to do this. But she couldn't. These thoughts had been troubling her since she sent off Scootaloo's letter and she couldn't come to a definite conclusion or a proper course of action. It was obvious to Dash, though, what would win out in the end

"Scootaloo... she would hate me for this." Dash said to herself, the sound of her own voice calming her conscience. "She wouldn't even look at me after what I did to her and everyone else...

"Besides, this isn't for anyone else but me." Dash said, putting on a confident demeanor. "... just me." She flew towards Dragon Mountain, looking down at the bustling, happy and unaware Ponyville, in the hope that there would be someone to stop her, someone to restore her happiness and truly nullify the beliefs she had of herself. To tell her she meant something to tell her she mattered.

But no. Just the sounds of ponies going about their everyday business.

•••••••••••••

Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but all that was heard was a single, hurt squeak. The paper was soaked with her tears; the ink was blurred by the liquid. Sobs racked her body, and her shivers were far from unnoticeable, despite the warm humidity in the home.

She finally swallowed, moistening her wretched, dry throat, yet all she could say was "This is what she thinks."

Through her blurry vision she looked around her room which was adorned with pictures of her and Rainbow Dash. The camping trip, Dash telling Scootaloo of her acceptance into the Wonderbolt Academy, Dash giving the small young pegasus filly, how it felt to soar through the sky with Dash right there with her. Even more pictures the Wonderbolts pocture woth a small cutout of Dash standing proudly in the line of ponies, a picture of Dash in her Wonderbolts suit that Scootaloo was forced to take, and Scootaloo's favorite, a picture of the two lying down together. It was nothing special at face value; sure, it was cute, with Scootaloo cuddles up next to her big sister fast asleep, a small but loving smile across Rainbow Dash's face as she looked down at the sleeping orange filly. But the context was what made the picture so special to the orange filly. The day of the Wonderbolts show in Ponyville was upon Dash, and it wasn't every day someone who loved them so got a ticket before they sold out.

"Dash?" Scootaloo could remember asking when she showed up at her house before the Wonderbolts' performance. "What are you doing here?"

"I just.... thought we would spend the day together." Dash said, reaching down and hugging the small filly. It is Saturday after all."

"But... what happened to the Wonderbolts?" Scootaloo inquired. "Didn't you want to see them?"

"I uh lost it . But hey now I can spend the day with my favorite little filly." Rainbow's words were so full of warmth and love Scootaloo jumped at the opportunity.

So the entire day was spent doing what the two pegasai wanted. Flying, enjoying time with their friends. Dash even tagged along with the Crusaders on one of their harebrained attempts to get their cutie marks. Which ended in failure...and with the four covered in tree sap.

And so there they were, on the hill that night, the full moon above far bright enough to illuminate the silhouette of the two happy, tired pegasi.

"I love you, Dash." Scootaloo said, reaching over and her older sister. Dash wanted to say something, but it's hard to talk when suppressing tears. "I....I love you too squirt." The cyan mare managed to choke out. Scootaloo smiled up at her and nuzzles against Dash's neck.

"HEY, DASH!" they heard a distance away. They looked over beyond the hill to see brown pegasus pony running toward the two. Scootaloo recognized him as someone that Dash worked frequently with, but she couldn't remember anything about him.

"Oh, hey Nimble!" Dash yelled. "What's up?"

"Not much, Dash." The pony who Scootaloo now knew as Nimble replied. "I just wanted to say thank for giving me your ticket to the Wonderbolts at the last minu-"

"What are you talking about, Nimble?" Dash said, her face getting red as she realized what he was saying. "I didn't give you my ticket at all."

"Can you not remember?" Nimble continued, despite Dash's motion to stop talking. "You gave me your ticket yesterday before we left saying that you didn't need i-"

"Uh, Nimble?" Dash said, keeping one eye on Scootaloo to see if she was completely given away. "I didn't... give... you... a... ticket."

"Uh... okay..." Nimble replied, confused. "Well, I signed up to work a night shift on weather patrol, so I have to head to Cloudsdale. I'll catch you later, okay?"

And with that, Nimble was gone. Scootaloo's grin broadened even more when she realized what Dash ha done for her. Dash tried to play it off,
"I have no idea what he was talking about," Dash said to Scootaloo unconvincingly. Scootaloo just nodded,
"Of course the great Rainbow Dash would never give away a ticket to see the Wonderbolts," Scootaloo responded with a mildly sarcastic tone. Dash just grinned at the little filly and pulled her in close. Scootaloo snuggled close to Rainbow Dash and promptly fell asleep tired from the days activities. Dash smiled at the adorable sleeping filly and wrapped her wing around her. There was a faint clicking sound and Dash thought she saw a red mane with a little bow on top peek out over the closest hill. Dash didnt care though in fact she was glad to have this moment stored away. Although she would never say it this was one of the greatest moments of the cyan weather ponies life.

"...no." Scootaloo said, wiping the tears that had stop falling as a result of the happy memory. She loved Dash and she knew Dash loved her too. She would not let Dash do this; she had to stop her and show her somepony still cared. Slowly but surely, Scootaloo got an idea. she burst out of her front door, ignoring the calls of her mom from the house, and headed to Ponyville. She had to hurry but she knew this would work she knew that she could save Rainbow's life!

Author's Note

Well I never thought if be adding anything on to this fic XD. The idea can from a comment from one of my readers to do a sort of alternate story where the Mane 5 and Scootaloo discover Rainbow's plan and try and stop her. I didn't really knownf I should do it or not so I thought about it a lot and well obviously decided to do it.
A huge thanks goes out to Tencentpartycannon for staying up with me all night meticulously editing this and making it the best we could. This isn't the only part to this extra little series and I'm not sure if Dash will live this time around but hey lets just see where it goes. I do plan on editing the original fic as well but that'll have to wait until then enjoy.