Scootaloo yawned, "Can't we stay up a little longer? I'm having so much fun..."
"Yeah," Dash poked her in the belly, causing Scoots to giggle, "but somepony's lookin' a little droopy. A pegasus needs her snoozes, you know."
"I know..." she kicked at the ground, pouting. "But maybe we could do some flying practice at night this time. Maybe being under moonlight will be --uh-- better for my wings or something!"
Rainbow Dash eyed her curiously at the ridiculous remark, "What makes you think that?"
Scootaloo shrugged and chirped, "You never know. Maybe I'll get my cutie mark for night-flying!"
Dash knew she was making excuses, but played along and put a hoof to her chin in mock deep thought. "Are there different effects on wings at night? I don't see why there would be... I sure haven't noticed a difference... But I don't ever do much night-flying..." she chuckled, "What the hay would a night-flying cutie mark even look like?"
Scoots' eyes shone as she grinned at the thought, "I bet it looks totally awesome-- like Princess Luna's, maybe!"
Dash rolled her eyes. "Okay. Bedtime, Scoots-- now." She made an attempt to scoop the little filly up in her hooves, but Scootaloo dodged her with a snicker. "No way! You'll have to catch me first!"
Rainbow Dash scoffed, "Hah! You're crazy, challenging the Dash; the Dash cannot be beaten, no way no how!"
"Maybe 'the Dash' should stop bragging and accept the challenge!" Scoots baited, crouching down and wiggling her tail playfully. She made a move to take off into the air, but, as expected, Rainbow was too quick for her. With a yell, she pounced on the little filly, attacking with tickles. "Big mouth for such a teeny little chicken, huh?" she taunted with a grin.
Scootaloo giggled fiercely, squirming under Dash's hooves. "S-stop! Stop, that- that tickles!"
"Little fillies who don't go to bed on time get attacked by the TICKLE MONSTER!" Rainbow bellowed, scooping her up and tossing her into the air. She laughed gleefully, buzzing her tiny wings to slow her fall, and landed with a grunt onto Dash's back.
"I'm not afraid of any monster!" she boasted.
"No?"
"Not while you're here to protect me! Right?"
Dash smiled, "Duh! But what if..." she flattened her ears and spoke in an ominous voice, "it just so happens... that I AM the monster! RAAWR!" Scootaloo squealed as she was once again thrown into the air. Rainbow Dash laughed loudly, letting her flop back onto her back. "But seriously, kiddo; I'm tired, and you must be practically dead after today's practice."
"Nah...ahht a bit!" Scoots declared through a yawn.
Dash smirked. "Okay, if you insist. I'll just go to bed and leave you all by your lonesome, with no one to hang out with but Tank... who is asleep, I think; I can never really tell..." She stole a glance at the open door to her bedroom, where a large green shell sat motionless on her bed.
Scootaloo winced and clung tighter to her neck. "Oh-- um, I think I'm starting to feel tired now..."
"Good," Dash grinned, floating over to the guest room. She landed beside the bed and with a loud cry of "Ready for launch!" bucked the little orange filly into the air once more. Scootaloo landed spread-eagle on the fluffy matress, giggling again.
"Do I have to sleep here?" she asked, turning in circles a few times. "Isn't there space in your room?"
"Not comfortable space," Dash replied. "Tank takes up practically half the bed, and he can't sleep anywhere else 'cause he'd fall through the floor-- the big fatty-- and the noise would be annoying if he slept hovering in his gear."
"Surely you could squeeze?" she pleaded.
"Hey," Dash said, "You'll be just fine. Remember what Luna told you about the nightmares? And I'm right next door if you need me."
Scootaloo nodded in defeat. "I guess... G'nite."
"Sleep tight, my little apprentice," Rainbow ruffled her mane affectionately, and flew out the door.
• • •
A sharp yelp awoke Rainbow Dash from another of her Wonderbolt dreams (this one for some reason involved a circus and Twilight having wings, along with the unexplainable recurrence of apple pie... but that's beside the point). She blinked groggy magenta eyes, wondering if she had imagined it. Maybe her wing twitched in the middle of the night again and jolted her awake. But the half-asleep ponderings were cut short when she heard a tiny cry through the wall.
"R-r...Rainbow Dash...!" the voice whimpered desperately. "Rainbow Daaaash!"
Dash's ears perked up and her eyes shot open. Oh yeah-- Scootaloo. She stretched her wings out a little before flying out into the hallway and toward the next room. Scootaloo was buried under the blankets, trembling something fierce. "Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!" she called again.
Dash yawned and approached the bed, "I'm here, Scoots. I'm right here." She slipped underneath the blanket with her and patted the filly's head comfortingly. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness beneath the covers. Scootaloo looked up at her with sure signs of tears leaking from her eyes. She sniffed and moved closer to Rainbow. "I'm sorry... I had a bad dream again... I got scared."
"Yeah, I know." Dash yawned, wishing desperately to go back to sleep. "What was it this time?"
Scootaloo was quiet for a moment. A warm tear trickled down her cheek and onto Dash's hoof. "It was... about my parents..."
Dash's ears pricked forward with interest. She never heard a word about Scootaloo's family, but she had known better than to directly ask her about them. Family was such a sensitive subject for pegasi, given their breed's tendency to have commitment issues. That, and Dash wouldn't have had the heart to tell Scootaloo the truth if she asked about Dash's own family. "Do... you want to talk about it?"
Scootaloo nodded, snuggling up to her new "sister". "It was about... when I ran away... I... I saw my parents... and I had made my dad really sad... but Mom said..." she sniffed, her voice trembling, "she said 'Good riddance'..."
This hit Dash hard. All this time, she had been living with the memory of a broken family. She hid it so well... It broke her heart to hear such sorrow come from this filly. She understood exactly where Scootaloo was hurting; she knew exactly what the poor thing had gone through.
"And... And I was on my way to practice with you, and... and they came to Ponyville. I don't know what happened to them... They... they were monsters... The looks in their eyes were so scary, Rainbow Dash! They had come to kill me! My momma and daddy wanted to kill me!"
Scootaloo was sobbing now. Rainbow Dash panicked inwardly, unsure what to say. What does a pony do when they've got a crying filly on their hooves? Fluttershy would know... she thought. What would she do? She wrapped Scoots up in one of her broad wings, offering what little comfort she could give. Dash even stroked her mane, trying to calm her, but she kept going.
"And then you came to try and save me, and... and they started hurting you!... They bit you and kicked you and yelled at you--I got so scared, I thought you were gonna die! I thought you were gonna die!" Scootaloo couldn't speak any more. She wailed into Rainbow's feathers, trembling and pouring out her sadness. Rainbow Dash felt her own eyes watering. Little monsters like the Olden Pony and the Headless Horse were easy to scare away. How do you scare away guilt and emotions as deep as hers?
She nuzzled her, managing to find suitable words, "That's never gonna happen. I'm alright, and you're alright. Right?"
"But what if it does happen? What if they find me?"
"Your parents will never hurt you; I swear I will never let them, if they try. And nopony can hurt me!" Unfortunately her voice faltered and cracked, making Scootaloo cock her head a little in inquiry.
"Rainbow Dash...?"
Rainbow's ear twitched. "Well... All you need to know is that I will never let anypony harm you. Especially not your parents. Let's just say that... I...know how that feels."
Scoots perked up her ears with worry. "What do you mean?"
Dash shook her head. "Nothing. It doesn't matter. Uh... So do you think you can sleep a little better now that you've let that out?"
Scootaloo nodded slowly. "I... I guess... But..." she put on the most pitiful face she could muster. "Can I please please please sleep with you?"
After living around Fluttershy for so long, Dash was pretty hardened against the cute card. She was about to refuse... but she realized that since Scootaloo had run away from home, she probably has nopony to take care of her. Nopony at all. She was the only pony who had ever gone out of her way to be there for Scoots. The moment this realization sunk in, some floodgate at the back of her brain opened, and memories washed across her vision. Memories of Firefly. How the young mare had given up everything to take care of Dash, a complete stranger, and taught her how to be strong. She had been a mentor and friend, a ray of light in the darkest days of her fillyhood. Without Firefly, Dash would have never found the strength to even hover above the ground.
Firefly had told her once that she reminded her of herself as a filly. Rainbow Dash found herself thinking the same about Scootaloo. She firmly decided, then and there, to love and support her the rest of her life, like any big sister would. If what she needed now was a little time to hide in her shadow, she wouldn't dare deny her it. After all, Firefly's shadow had practically saved her life...
Dash sat up, letting the blanket slide off both their heads. "Maybe I can squeeze a little. I'm not much for snuggling, but I can deal."
Scootaloo's eyes shone with gratitude. She climbed up onto Rainbow's back, curling up, nestled between her outstretched wings. Dash was careful not to let her lose balance as she slowly flew back to her bedroom.
Tank still sat on the end of the bed, withdrawn into his shell, but poked his head out ever so slowly when he sensed the new presence. Rainbow Dash scooted the tortoise to the far corner. "Hey, buddy; gotta make room tonight. We've got company," she explained quietly. Tank blinked twice (the action, of course, taking a good twenty four seconds), acknowledging Scootaloo with an affectionate grunt.
Scoots returned the gesture with a smile and a nuzzle. Rainbow Dash flopped into her usual spot, then patted the space next to her, a little way off. Scootaloo, looking a little disappointed, laid herself down, pulling her tail around herself as protection. After a moment, Dash spoke up quietly, "Hey, Scoots..."
"Mhm?"
"Do you... have anywhere to go? Anypony that takes care of you?"
There was a very long pause. After the drawn-out silence, Scootaloo finally sniffed and shook her head. "Mm mm."
Rainbow Dash turned on her side to face the little filly. "Well..." her voice became a low murmur, "You can stay here with me as long as you need."
Scoots' ears shot up and her eyes stretched wide. "Really?"
"Sure. So long as you don't wake me up in the middle of the night anymore," she gave her a wink.
Scootaloo grinned and jumped up. "Oh, thank you!" Without any shame she went straight up to her and curled up against her side.
Dash sighed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, alright, fine." She rested her head right up next to Scoots', wrapping a foreleg around her tiny body and sheltering her in an outstretched wing. Scootaloo's downy feathers fluttered happily against Dash's chest, and within seconds she was asleep.
Dash had thought having somepony so close to her the whole night would be crowded and uncomfortable, but the warm, softly breathing body cradled against her felt... Nice? Rainbow gave a little smile. "This isn't so bad," she murmured quietly to herself.
A little tug on her tail caught her attention. Tank looked up at her with a mix of indignation and pleading in his beady black eyes. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Alright, mister; you can cuddle, too."
He grunted happily, settling down among the multi-hued strands of her tail. Dash chuckled softly at Tank's idea of cuddling, trying not to disturb her sleeping companion, but made no effort to move him. He was content where he was.
The warm air of the night blew in gently from the open window. As all lay still, Scootaloo cradled tenderly against her body, Rainbow Dash suddenly felt a touch of happiness blossom in her chest. A happiness that she only remembered having once before, on the night that Firefly took her in. That feeling was one she knew other ponies felt when around a loving family. For the first time in years...
She felt at home.
Scootaloo didn't just need Rainbow Dash to be a big sister for her. Rainbow Dash needed Scootaloo. She needed somepony to look after, to put before herself, somepony to love, and love her right back. In that moment, she had everything; she had no reason to want anything more. She chuckled softly, smirking, and said to herself, "Well, horseapples. You've gone and made yourself a sap, Dash..."
With a sigh and a warm smile she could never force herself to show in public, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. Just before she slipped through the barrier between awake and dreaming, she could feel something-- somepony-- smiling down from the moon's shining face.