[Blank]

by Eldorado

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance
Length: 19905

Sweetie falls in love with Scoot when Scoot stands up for her at school.

[Blank] is a dual shipfic (Sweetie/Scoot, Dash/Vinyl) created out of a collaboration between myself and a friend of mine offsite, who goes by the name Trunsako. He came up with the basic idea and plot structure that started it all off, and I wrote the words you see here.

Essentially, Sweetie Belle is being abused by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for her lack of cutie mark, and sister Rarity is, as always, far too busy to offer guidance and consolation. Scootaloo eventually stands up for her, and Sweetie becomes enamored with her savior. Their friendship progresses over the course of Season 1, but all of Sweetie's affection goes unnoticed by Scootaloo, who is obsessed with Rainbow Dash.

Cover art by Trunsako.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-01-25 00:35:28 UTC

Chapter 1

[Blank]

[Concept by Trunsako]

[Written by Alyosha Cartwright]

Another perfect summer afternoon was well underway; the dozens of colts and fillies participating in Cloudsdale’s annual summer flight camp were out practicing their moves. All pegasus ponies eventually learned to fly just as naturally as earth ponies and unicorns learned to walk, but those inclined to learn the finer points of flying, as well as impressive aerial acrobatics, attended flight camp to study under some of the most talented and experienced flyers in Equestria – apart from the Wonderbolts, of course.

A proud and confident filly with a rainbow-colored mane and a sizeable chip on her shoulder parted the clouds with an outstretched hoof as her wings powered her forward at lightning speeds. The fast, cool air flowed easily around her face and through her mane as she flew, the pure adrenaline rush of high-speed flying flooding through her once again. Rainbow Dash loved flying more than anything else in the world. There was nothing else in existence that could compare to the sensation of defying gravity itself with the powerful, rhythmic strokes of her wings.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the practice area beneath her, where the older pegasi had set up a simple obstacle course made of large, circular cloud rings.  Two brown colts blasted through the course at full speed, flying tightly together as they climbed and dove and weaved through the rings. They were some of the best fliers at camp; surely they paled in comparison to Rainbow, but they were certainly confident in their abilities.

Further back on the course, Rainbow spotted a yellow filly struggling to even take off from the high roof of one of the hangars. She was tall and lanky, pale yellow with a pink mane that hid half her face, and she constantly stared at the ground. The poor thing was barely able to get off the clouds, and yet here she was attempting to pass through one of flight camp’s most challenging cloud ring obstacle courses.

Rainbow Dash banked gently to the right and looked down on the scene to watch. She could see the yellow filly staring upwards at the ring just above her, clearly intimidated by it though she wanted desperately to fly through. She rapidly fluttered her undersized wings, then jumped skyward. Her weight brought her back down almost immediately. She landed back on the hangar roof a few feet from where she started, visibly disappointed by her failure.

Not yet willing to give up, the yellow filly gritted her teeth and tried again, fluttering her wings wildly and then throwing herself into the air. This time she managed to stay aloft, shakily climbing higher until she was even with the cloud ring. Overjoyed, she tried to fly forwards, but her front hooves snagged on the bottom edge of the ring and she tumbled awkwardly through. Her long yellow limbs flailed crazily as she somersaulted and crashed back down into the sloped roof of the hangar.

Rainbow Dash watched her rocket down the side of the hangar, her eyes wide open with surprise. She gasped in panic but was unable to do anything to counter her rapid slide. The wind rushed through her mane and she braced for impact as she saw what was coming up at the end of the roof.

The filly shot right off the end, crashed into a flag, tore it from its pole, and fell downward once more. The orange fabric tangled around her and ensnared her legs, and she landed in a jumbled heap on a nearby cloud with the flag draped over her head. Rainbow Dash smiled at the comic event, and banked in hard to go help her back on her feet. The two obnoxious colts she had seen flying minutes ago beat her there, and were already making rude jokes at the filly’s expense when Rainbow Dash arrived.

“Nice going, Klutzershy!” sneered the first, the dark brown colt Rainbow recognized as Dumb-bell. “They oughtta ground you permanently!”

Hoops, his lighter-colored companion, chuckled at the comment and added, “My baby brother can fly better than you!”

Both the colts stood laughing cruelly at their mean jokes, while the yellow filly cowered in their shadow, utterly humiliated by the whole encounter. She was on the verge of tears, but the bullies weren’t going to back down from a good laugh.

Rainbow Dash could not let such injustice stand. She banked in hard, swooping down over the scene and planting her hooves firmly on the cloud beside the battered filly. She extended her small but strong wings, leaned forward to look as intimidating as her small frame would allow, and put on her meanest scowl.

“Leave her alone!” she commanded in her squeaky filly voice.

Hoops was unimpressed by the display. “Oooh, what’re you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?” he challenged.

“Keep makin’ fun of her and find out!” Rainbow shouted, though she didn’t fully know what she was going to do next. She hadn’t thought that far ahead—an innocent filly was being picked on just because she wasn’t a strong flyer, and that wasn’t something Rainbow Dash could let stand. She had to jump in to defend those unable or too shy to defend themselves.

“You think you’re such a big shot?” Dumb-bell started, advancing aggressively toward her. “Why don’t you prove it?”

“Whaddya have in mind?”

—

The challenge turned out to be a race – if Rainbow Dash won, then Fluttershy’s honor would be spared the torment of the two older colts. If she lost, then she herself would be a proven failure in front of the entire camp.

Rainbow and the colts stood at the starting line, with Fluttershy herself holding the checkered flag in front of them. To either side stood the stands filled with other participants in summer flight camp. Rainbow took a deep breath and stood firmly on the line, waiting for Fluttershy to drop the flag and begin the race being held in her honor.

“You’re going down!” Hoops taunted, trying to shake his competitor’s resolve.

“In history, maybe!” Rainbow retorted, squinting and bracing for the start of the race. “See you boys at the finish line.” She was confident she could win against them; she knew she was the best flyer at camp and on track to be the best in all of Cloudsdale, maybe even the best in Equestria.

Fluttershy gingerly gripped the flag in her teeth, studying the focused, determined expressions on the faces of the racers. Still unable to believe the rainbow-maned filly had come to her defense, she hoisted the flag up high, ready to start the race.

Rainbow licked her lips, squinted her eyes, and tensed all the muscles in her legs. Her wings snapped erect, ready to blast her forward into the warm summer air the second that flag dropped. She focused on the checkered fabric, shutting out everything else. There was no flight camp. It was her, the colts, and the open sky.

Fluttershy dropped the flag.

Twelve eager hooves kicked hard off the cloud all at once, and three pairs of wings viciously beat the air. The three young racers blasted away from the line in a multicolored blur. Rainbow’s hoof bumped Fluttershy on the way past, but she didn’t have time to look back. She didn’t see Fluttershy get knocked off balance by the blow and fall off the starting cloud towards the ground far below. The race consumed her mind to the exclusion of everything else in the universe, and there was now nothing as important as beating these two colts and proving she was the best flyer at camp.

Air rushed through her mane and stung her eyes as she blasted through the first marker ring, the furious flapping of her wings pushing her just ahead of the others. They strained to catch up, but Rainbow pushed harder against her own body’s limits and sped up. She soared through the second marker, feeling the whoosh of air strike her ears as she did so.

The race came to a corner, and Rainbow banked hard into it. She fought against her own forward momentum, wrestling herself into a new direction to pass the next marker. Hoops followed close behind, but Dumb-bell turned too shallow and slipped off the back end of the turn. Rainbow heard him cry out and crash hard into a cloud column, taking him out of the race for good.

Adrenaline pumped through Rainbow’s veins as she pushed herself ever harder to keep ahead of Hoops. The next bit of the route was straight as an arrow, the perfect place for her superior straight-line speed to build up a sizeable lead on her competitor. The wind buffeted her mane against her back, and she had to squint her eyes hard in order to see. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before; she’d never flown so fast before, and the feelings of complete freedom and excitement were completely new.

Dash navigated the next series of marker rings, the speed with which she flew causing a slight rainbow trail to linger in the air behind her. A wide smile crossed her face as she basked in the glory of totally unshackled speed and adrenaline. This was how to fly.

A flash of brown crossed her vision just a fraction of a second before Hoops smashed into her, knocking her far off the racing line and regaining the lead.

“Later, Rainbow Crash!” he taunted, snapping off a mocking salute before diving down into the next leg of the race.

“Hey!” Rainbow exclaimed, though she was more angry at herself – she’d allowed herself to get caught up in the excitement of the event when there was a race to win. Now Hoops was ahead by half a mile, and she had precious little time left before he reached the finish line. She banked after him, dug deep down to the very core of her being and found the energy to push even harder. She howled down at the earth, pushing a hoof forward as she sped up faster than she’d ever flown before.

Hoops knew he had effectively achieved a victory. There was no way that foal Rainbow Crash could beat him now. He allowed himself a rest, slowing down his pace a little as the finish line drew closer. Then he was proved wrong – Rainbow rocketed past him, leaving a strong wake in the air behind her. Hoops got caught up in it, the disturbance throwing off his flight pattern. He careened off the racing line and vanished.

Rainbow kept pushing herself even harder, for the need for speed had taken over. She pushed her wings stronger and faster, until her face felt like it was about to be torn off by the wind. Her eyes were watering profusely, and she could hardly see, but she knew there was no going back now. She was approaching the sound barrier, and still she wanted more speed. She ordered her wings to push even faster, until the wake behind her grew longer and sharper as she forced her way through the air.

The ground was coming up fast, but Rainbow intended on waiting until the very last possible moment before even thinking of pulling out of the dive. Lightning crackled through the cone of air surrounding her, and she could swear she saw the colors of her own mane reflected before her eyes. Finally she neared the ground, pulling instantly out of her dive at the precise moment when her wings pushed hard enough to break the sound barrier.

A deafening BANG exploded across the sky, accompanied by a dazzling rainbow-colored shockwave that spread all the way to the far corners of Equestria. Rainbow Dash emerged from the center of the blast, surging upwards thousands of feet into the sky before she dared look behind her. Then she saw what she had done – she had caused a sonic rainboom! Her incredible flying speed had mixed a deafeningly loud sonic boom with a dazzlingly colorful rainbow, a phenomenon previously limited to legends. She’d made the impossible happen as if it hadn’t even been a challenge.

Broad colorful bars extended behind her as she flew upwards, leaving a sparkling rainbow trail as she soared over the floating city of Cloudsdale for everypony to see. She heard cheers erupting from below, and smiled smugly to herself with the knowledge that she was the best flyer in summer flight camp, and could, perhaps, eventually surpass the greatest in Equestria. She glanced at her flank, and saw that the event had also bestowed her cutie mark upon her – it was a thundercloud striking down with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. Rainbow reveled in her realization that she truly was the best after all, knowing that no pony in Cloudsdale could challenge her and win. It was the greatest day of her young life, her crowning moment of glory.

Chapter 2

“Whoa, Diamond Tiara, your new cutie mark is amazing,” admired Sunny Days.

“Isn’t it?” the pinkish filly quickly acknowledged, soaking up the compliments from the circle of admirers that had gathered around her. She stuck her hind leg out slightly so the silver tiara emblazoned on her flank sparkled in the brilliant afternoon sun. “I mean, I always knew that my cutie mark would be ten times as amazing as everypony else’s, but I have to say it turned out even better than I expected.” She stood tall and straight with her head held high; her vaunted cutie mark had intensified her apparent belief that she was vastly superior to the other fillies in town. Most of the other ponies in her class had already earned their cutie marks; Yesterday, Diamond Tiara had been one of the last half dozen or so “blank flanks” still left in her generation. Today, she was at the top of the herd, showboating her silvery tiara and just waiting for the wanton admiration to come flying in at her from all sides.

“I wish my cutie mark was as awesome as yours,” remarked Coronet. Most of the other fillies threw dissatisfied glances toward their own flanks, which seemed so apologetically boring by comparison. Tiara’s smug grin grew wider. She’d waited a very long time for this day, the day when she could simply strike a pose that emphasized her flank and turn all the fillies with less-impressive cutie marks green with envy.

“It certainly feels good being special,” Diamond stated. “Wouldn’t you agree, Silver Spoon?”

“Definitely,” the grey filly agreed, suddenly appearing at Diamond’s side. “I can’t imagine how terrible it must feel to still be...un-special.”

The past several days had been awkward; Silver Spoon, traditionally the subordinate of the two, had earned her cutie mark before Diamond Tiara, conventionally the assertive and dominating leader. That caught the both of them in an awkward bind, as Silver Spoon could not draw any well-deserved attention to herself without also pointing out that Diamond remained an un-special blank flank. Now that Diamond had finally caught up, they could stand together in the spotlight and soak up all the attention they wanted.

“My cute-ceañera isn’t until next weekend,” Diamond explained, “That’s the first date I could get open. It’s going to be a great party with food and music and dancing, all in celebration of me and my wonderful new cutie mark! Of course all of you are invited.”

Diamond Tiara went on to gloat about the extravagant details of the party for a few more minutes, until the school bell rang and signaled the end of midday recess. At once, the crowd broke and dispersed in the direction of the schoolhouse doors, some students rushing eagerly back inside while others dragged their hooves with despair as the trudged along. Diamond and Silver chose a dignified walking pace, carrying themselves with the same aristocratic poise they maintained whenever they were in the public eye. From somewhere behind them, a white unicorn filly with a curly, pink and purple mane trotted briskly up beside them. Her pale green eyes alighted on the sparkling tiara that swayed and bobbed with the motion of Diamond’s hind legs, and her whole face lit up with excitement.

“Oh, hey there, Diamond Tiara!” she called out loudly, “I see you finally got your cutie mark. And it’s a tiara! It sure is shiny.” Diamond’s eyes hardened, and she glanced furtively around the yard, now hoping to avoid the attention of the other fillies. The irony of this was lost on her; Diamond Tiara had to be rid of the unicorn before she drew attention to the conversation.

“What do you want, blank flank?” Silver Spoon asked mockingly, trying to shake her off before they got back into the school. Most of the others were already inside (they, of course, were much too civilized for such foalish behavior), and the two most popular fillies in school could not be seen waltzing into class with a yappy white unicorn following them at their heels.

It wasn’t Sweetie’s fault her speaking voice was loud and friendly; that was just the way she talked. “I just wanted to congratulate Diamond Tiara,” Sweetie answered, sheepishly folding her ears back for a few brief seconds before disregarding the mean-spirited comment entirely. “I bet you thought you were gonna be the last blank flank in school, huh? There sure aren’t many fillies left without cutie marks. I sure hope I get mine soon. I don’t want to be the last one left without it.”

“Look,” Diamond snapped coldly, stopping in her tracks. Sweetie didn’t notice right away and kept walking another few steps, then stopped and wheeled around with a puzzled expression on her face. “If you’re want to come to my party, then that’s, like, fine,” Diamond continued. “Everypony else will be there. Just as long as you don’t mind being the only blank flank there. I’m sure that won’t be embarrassing at all.”

With that, the two fillies turned their mark-bearing flanks and walked back into class, snickering at their actions. Sweetie Belle hung her head low and trudged back to the classroom behind them, her hooves heavy with the sting of their caustic remarks.

“Rarity?” Sweetie Belle called out into the vacant showroom of the Carousel Boutique. The sign out front read “Closed,” the lights in the showroom were all dark, and the sound of the bell ringing as the young filly pushed open the door was met with no reply. “Sis? Are you home?” This was odd. It was a bright and sunny day outside, perfect weather to be shopping. By closing down the store, Rarity was missing out on countless potential sales. Sweetie didn’t fully understand business the way her big sister did, but even she could recognize the folly in closing the boutique on a day like today, especially when Rarity had been complaining quite a bit lately (at least more than usual) about how the Ponyville custom of disregarding clothing most of the time was threatening to put the Carousel out of business unless she could increase her sales figures. Surely there had to be a serious reason for her absence.

“Rarity?” Sweetie called again. “Where are you?”

“Up here, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity’s muffled voice responded from upstairs. She had shut herself in the workshop?

Sweetie climbed the stairs to the boutique’s second floor, pushing open the door. Immediately she saw Rarity hard at work – she squinted through the lenses of her red-framed glasses at the fabric she was feeding into the maw of her sewing machine. A measuring tape hung around her withers, and several bolts of fabric that were obviously intended to go into the same garment lay scattered around the room.

“What are you making?” Sweetie inquired with genuine interest; she greatly admired Rarity’s skill with the fabric, and actually aspired to become a designer herself one day. Her little horn illuminated with magical energy, levitating her school saddlebags off her back and setting them down gently beside the door.

“A commission,” Rarity started. “Four completely original dress designs, all entirely unique yet sharing a common theme, for a wealthy Manehattanite customer. She’s heard of me secondhand through a regular customer of mine, so it’s even more important that I make these designs every bit as glamorous as she expects. I have a reputation to uphold!”

“It looks good so far,” Sweetie complimented, though the seemingly random scraps of fabric hanging haphazardly from her dress form mannequins were hardly inspiring.

Rarity shrugged, finishing the stitching and pulling the fabric out from the machine. “It’s a work in progress,” she said, levitating the fabric over to the nearest mannequin and draping it over its back. She played at it, ruffling the edges of the dress here and there, trying to get it to lay right.

Sweetie Belle glanced around the workshop. “Can I help?”

“No!” Rarity snapped instinctively before she could think of softer words to use instead. “I mean…this order requires that each dress be made with supreme precision and style. Anything less than my best is simply unacceptable. This isn’t the project to use as a training exercise, Sweetie Belle. I’m sorry, but it’s best if you leave me alone to my work.”

Sweetie was hurt by her sister’s rejection, but it wasn’t the first time she’d been turned away. In fact, she’d been turned away the last five times she offered her help. Apart from the most basic elements of cutting, sewing, and designing, Rarity hadn’t taught her anything about the art of dressmaking to date. It was beginning to seem as though she wouldn’t even include her younger sister in any of her projects.

“I’m…I’m dreadfully sorry,” Rarity apologized, noticing the hurt in Sweetie’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. That was very rude of me and I apologize. Please, tell me about your day. How was school?”

She was trying to be considerate; Rarity was not intentionally dismissive, but rather her work simply overwhelmed her whenever a big order like this came in. Still, Sweetie had been hurt earlier by somepony she once considered a friend, and Rarity’s dramatic perfectionism had only made her feel worse.

“It was okay,” Sweetie answered, recalling the hurtful words of the popular fillies. “Diamond Tiara got her cutie mark yesterday and was showing it off at recess today.”

“That’s good for her, then. Earning one’s cutie mark is a very significant event in a young filly’s life.” The fabric wasn’t laying itself into the natural-looking folds and ruffles she had sketched in her rough designs, so another burst of levitation magic cast the stubborn thing upward again in a glowing blue aura. Rarity set the piece back down on the workbench, her horn then summoning a needle and thread from its far end. She’d have to stitch the garment into the ruffled shape she was going for, it seemed; gravity alone wasn’t doing the job properly.

“I know,” Sweetie half-agreed, genuinely feeling happiness for the other fillies who had already found out what they were meant to do in life, Diamond Tiara included. “Her cute-ceañera is next weekend at Sugarcube Corner. She says Pinkie Pie is organizing the whole thing, and there’s going to be cake and ice cream and candy and music and dancing and even fun party games like pin the tail on the pony.”

“That sounds magnificent,” Rarity said flatly, a striking contrast to the emphatic, over-dramatized response Sweetie Belle was expecting.

“It sure does, but her and Silver Spoon were making fun of me all afternoon because I still haven’t found my special talent yet. She called me a blank flank and said if I went to her party it’d be the most embarrassing thing ever. I don’t think I should go if I’m the only blank flank there–all the other fillies are just going to make fun of me! But it’s still a Pinkie Pie party, and those are always the best parties around. I don’t know what to do. What do you think?”

“I’m sure you’ll have fun,” said Rarity. Satisfied with the way the ruffles now looked on her bench, she levitated the cloth and draped it back on the dress form to make sure the alterations looked right.

“So you’re saying I should go to the party?” Sweetie Belle tried to figure out what Rarity had meant by that out-of-context response.

“Hmm?” Rarity looked up from the dress form, her blue eyes squinting in confusion behind the stylish glasses. It was painfully obvious just how much she had been paying attention to what Sweetie was saying. Sweetie Belle’s heart sank and she stared at the floor. She had been rejected once again. Rarity’s concern had all been and act; she didn’t really care at all.

“Never mind…” she gave up. Rarity said nothing in protest as her sister levitated her saddlebags back onto herself and turned for the door. “I’ll just go get started on my homework.”

“Wait!” Rarity called after her once the curly pink and purple tail vanished out into the hallway. “I’m so terribly sorry, Sweetie Belle, I’m just so busy right now with these designs! We’ll talk about it later when I have some time to myself to think, okay? I promise you we will.”

“I’ve heard that before,” Sweetie Belle muttered to herself, too softly for Rarity to hear her. As she made her way into the guest bedroom across the hall, her eyes filled up with tears.

Chapter 3

Sweetie Belle’s pencil glided swiftly over the page, trailing behind it a smooth, curved line of graphite as the unicorn’s magic propelled it along. Pleased with the flowing curve she had drawn, Sweetie lifted the pencil and drew another, slightly beneath it. The evening gown was taking shape on the page, looking every bit as good on paper as it had in her mind. She was still waiting for a day when Rarity would have enough free time to teach her the art of dressmaking, but until then she often found herself idly doodling out designs she’d like to make someday.

The door to the classroom opened, and both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hurried inside. Their manes and tails were horribly mangled by the wind, and both fillies fought briefly to wrestle the stubborn hair back into a respectable shape. The weather outside was still sunny and warm as it had been for the past many days, but an almost gale-force wind had been blowing through the entire town for hours. Sweetie and a few other ponies had elected to stay indoors at recess, but the majority had still gone outside. Apparently Diamond and Silver now regretted this decision, as their beautifully styled manes had been blown into disarray.

Sweetie Belle had glanced up at them when she heard the door swing open, but immediately looked back at her drawing once she saw who had come in. They’d not stopped nor slowed their taunting since the little silver tiara had appeared on Diamond Tiara’s flank at the beginning of the week. Sweetie had endured, but still shied away from the duo whenever she could.

“What’s that there, Sweetie Belle?” Diamond’s arrogantly aristocratic voice asked as the pair of them approached. “Oh, it’s a drawing. Of a dress.”

She had learned from experience that aloof or standoffish behavior only served to egg them on; better to at least attempt to be civil, in hopes they would get bored and simply leave her alone. “I’m trying to get my sister Rarity to show me how to make dresses like she does so I can be a designer, too,” she explained. “I’m just practicing my designs and coming up with things I’d like to make for myself someday.”

“How fitting…” Silver Spoon commented.

“Fitting?”

“That sounds like typical blank flank thinking to me: too dense to earn your cutie mark by coming up with your own special talent? Just imitate somepony else! How pathetic.”

“Now, now, Silver Spoon,” Diamond sarcastically defended before Sweetie could say anything herself, “you never know. Maybe a talent for cobbling pieces of fabric together runs in the family or something.”

“I sure hope it does,” Sweetie enthused, the sarcasm flying right over her head. “I wish I was as good as her at making clothes.”

Diamond and Silver exchanged brief smug grins, as if a devious idea had been hatched to capitalize on Sweetie’s gullibility. “Well, I’m quite an authority on design myself,” Diamond lied. “Let me see what you have and I can tell you if it’s something a respectable pony would wear.”

Sweetie gave up the paper, and Diamond swept it over with a hoof. As she studied it, she picked up Sweetie’s pencil in her mouth so she could alter the design any way she felt necessary. It was a loose and flowing gown, featuring elegantly shaped, wavy folds of fabric that seemed to pour off the flanks like a lively river. Rarity would have recognized the design instantly as a blatant rip-off of her own theme, the one established for the current Manehattan commission. To somepony who had not seen those designs—Diamond Tiara, for instance—would surely be led to believe that Sweetie had actual talent at designing gowns.

“This is…good…” Diamond started, actually impressed with the design and all the more determined to humiliate its creator, “But you might want to just smooth this part out a bit. Sleek shapes are in this season.”

A few scrubs with the eraser of Sweetie’s pencil rid the design of the waves in the river that spilled down the dress’s flanks, leaving just a plain sheet fastened to the wearer’s back. Silver Spoon caught onto her cohort’s plan and fished a pencil of her own from her saddlebags.

“And all this up front,” Silver pointed out, “all this is very…old-fashioned. Let me make it a bit more modern.” A few swipes of her own pencil, and the design was improved once again. Diamond then suggested that the back of the dress be cut shorter so it wouldn’t drag on the floor. Then Silver objected to the choice of accessories. Diamond suggested adding another layer of straight-cut fabric in the middle. Silver claimed the whole thing was immodest and made it a bit less revealing. In this manner the two fillies worked over the design, the painstakingly-detailed plan Sweetie Belle had worked on for several hours until it looked “just right.” She was eager to see their alterations once they finally finished, just minutes before class was to begin once more.

Sweetie gasped as the image reached her eyes. The dress, once a long, elegant, flowing formal gown, dripping with lace and adorned with diamonds, was now a plain, apologetic white hooded shawl that could be made out of nothing more than a bed sheet and safety pin. Hours of work had been wasted, erased into oblivion.

“It’s so plain!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “This isn’t glamorous, this is…this is…blank!”

Diamond Tiara’s lips formed a devious grin. “Well, you did say you were trying to design something for you to wear. I think it suits you very well.”

“Especially the flanks,” Silver added. With that, the both of them turned and left for their own classroom, giggling their cocky, mean-spirited giggle the whole way out the door.

The old oak tree on the corner of the Ponyville town center hardly noticed when a little orange pegasus slumped moodily against it. She pouted and crossed her forelegs, completely fed up with the world around her. An older pegasus noticed the filly’s sullen attitude and swooped in to try and cheer her up.

“Wow...” she said, leaning her head down from the sky so the filly could see. “Looks like somepony’s got a dark cloud over their head! Let me take care of that for you.” She flew up and circled around, kicking her strong legs into the small, pitch-black cloud she had positioned directly above the tree before announcing her presence. It scooted across the sky, heading out over the row of houses edging the square. “That’s better,” she said as she landed on the grass beside the filly’s blue scooter. “Now what’s got you down?”

“Oh, wow, Rainbow Dash!” the filly’s eyes brightened. “That was a really cool trick!”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Rainbow Dash acknowledged, standing proudly before her admirer so that her rainbow mane hung loose around her shoulders. “I’m definitely using that one again.”

“You’re definitely the most awesome pony in Ponyville,” she adored. “I bet you wouldn’t be having the kind of problems I am.” She sat back down beside the tree, looking even more upset than before, despite the presence of her hero.

“You’re Scootaloo, right?” Dash recalled. “I think I’ve seen you around before. What’s a talented young athlete like yourself doing cowering by a tree like this?”

“I don’t have my cutie mark yet.”

“So?”

“I’m the only one left in my whole class who’s still a blank flank. All the other fillies have theirs, and they’ve been making fun of me all week.”

“Maybe your cutie mark is gonna be so awesome that it’s just letting the other fillies have their fun being the best before one day, POW! You’re the coolest filly in school and nopony even cares about the haters anymore.”

“Maybe,” Scootaloo admitted. “I just wish they’d all leave me alone.”

“You have to stand up to them!” Rainbow Dash set her hind legs in a wide, powerful stance. “Show ‘em who’s boss! Let ‘em know that just because you don’t have a cutie mark doesn’t mean you won’t stand up and fight when somepony’s trying to make a joke out of you!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo leapt into the air, eagerly accepting her hero’s advice without question. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I should have known you’d have the answers.”

“Of course I do,” she boasted. “You come find me if they give you any more trouble, okay?”

“Okay!” Rainbow crouched and flared her wings, about to make a dramatic show of her takeoff. “Wait! There’s one more thing.”

Rainbow aborted the takeoff, folding her wings away. “What’s that?”

“Uh…Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera is this weekend. I…uh…would you want to go with me? I was thinking about not going since I don’t have my cutie mark, but if you went with me I’d feel a lot better about it. It’s going to be a really fun party.”

“Sure thing, Scoot. I’ll be there. I promise.” With that, the rainbow pegasus took off into the sky, leaving a rainbow trail hanging faintly in the air behind her. Scootaloo gazed up in wonder, watching her idol disappear. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Then she’d show those stuck-up fillies that she wasn’t going to let their hate get her down.

On the upper floor of the Carousel Boutique, the sight of half-finished garments laying haphazardly on the backs of dress form mannequins was beginning to worry the establishment’s proprietor. The commission’s deadline was looming precariously over her head, and she still had quite a lot of work to do. She heard the bell jingle downstairs, announcing Sweetie Belle’s arrival home from school. Rarity could scarcely believe it; it couldn’t be that time of day already, could it?

Sweetie’s little hooves clopped up the stairs and carried her into the workshop. As she had done every other day of the week, she stood at the door and magically moved her saddlebags to the floor directly adjacent the doorframe. She looked around, an even more melancholic expression on her face today than the days before.

The workshop was a mess. Four dress forms stood near the sewing machine and workbench at the far end of the room, all draped in various unfinished pieces of dresses. Bolts of cloth lay scattered on the floor, along with the scraps that had been cut from them. Rarity’s beautiful purple mane was now disheveled and scruffy, barely retaining the elegant curls she normally brushed it into. Her red glasses never left their perch, though by now they only served to highlight how much her exhaustion had sapped her eyes of their vibrant, lively color.

“Rarity…” Sweetie Belle sighed. “I know you’re busy, but I need to talk to you about Diamond Tiara.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but this really isn’t a good time,” Rarity declined, her horn perpetually glowing as she changed tasks a dozen times, so overwhelmed by her workload that she couldn’t decide if she wanted to start cutting the next major piece of her design, sew the lace trimming onto the piece she had just attached, or start working on the matching hat and come back to the dress later. Scissors, thread, needles, measuring tapes, and all manner of cloth flew around her head, her designer’s mind unable to focus on a single item when there was just so much left to do.

“This whole week hasn’t been a good time,” Sweetie protested. “I’ve been trying to talk to you about this since she first got her cutie mark!”

“I know that, Sweetie Belle, and I’m sorry. I really am. I’m just so busy with this order. We can talk about it when I finish, okay?”

“But the party is the day after tomorrow, and I still don’t know whether or not I should go!” Sweetie Belle stamped a hoof on the floor in frustration. “Diamond and Silver haven’t stopped harassing me about my cutie mark, and they even ruined the evening gown I designed just so they could make fun of me! They’re so mean! But everybody else in the class is going to the party and if I don’t go it’ll be just as embarrassing as if I showed up without my cutie mark.”

“Oh, they’re just being typical school fillies, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity dismissed. “Everypony goes through that phase at some point in their lives. They’ll grow out of it. Just try and tough it out until then. You can do it.”

“That’s it?” Sweetie’s voice hardened and her eyebrows pointed down in frustrated anger. “That’s all the advice you have for me? Your little sister is being ridiculed every single day for things she can’t even control, and all you can say is ‘tough it out’?”

“Sweetie, I’m sorry,” Rarity apologized defensively, setting down her equipment for the first time in days and actually addressing her sister’s accusation, “but if I stop to hold your hand and coddle you, then I’m going to lose this commission. My Manehattan reputation is too small to survive that kind of blow—all my regular customers will stop placing orders out of fear. If that happens, I’m limited to Ponyville. I’m sure you can see how few ponies here have need for a dressmaker when they can scarcely be bothered to put on clothes of any sort at all. So that means if I lose this commission, if I take time out to help you deal with your insignificant social problems, then the Carousel Boutique will be out of business by the end of the year. Do you understand that, Sweetie Belle? Do you?”

“I guess…” Sweetie Belle stared at the floor. She still felt anger towards her sister for having been ignored so much, but now Rarity had convinced her, at least in part, that her reliance on her sister for guidance was actually a selfish act that threatened their entire livelihood. On top of all that was the ever-present pressure coming from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they used the class’s one remaining blank flank as a social punching bag just so they could get some cheap laughs. It was a cruel, vicious set of circumstances, and Sweetie Belle felt hopelessly trapped in her own emotions.

“Now can you please let me work in peace?” Rarity pleaded. “I’ll make good on my promises, Sweetie, I assure you. We’ll talk all about cutie marks and special talents when I finish this commission. You have my word on it. I will not let you down.”

“If that’s what you want.” Sweetie Belle retreated from the workshop once more, feeling even more defeated than ever. She dragged her bags behind her into the guest bedroom, climbed onto the bed, buried her face in the pillows, and cried.

Chapter 4

The sun had risen on Ponyville once again, dragged swiftly into the heavens by the unimaginably powerful magic of Equestria’s benevolent Princess Celestia. The bell rang to dismiss the class for recess, and Sweetie scampered out of her seat alongside the other fillies and colts as they rushed to escape the classroom. Even though the party was tomorrow and she’d have to make a decision very soon as to whether or not she would be attending or hiding at the boutique with her sister, Sweetie was feeling much more upbeat than she had been the day before. Diamond Tiara and her underling Silver Spoon had not yet confronted her or even made a single passing remark to her; this was a first. Perhaps Rarity was actually right, even despite the uncharacteristically harsh tone she had used to deliver this comforting wisdom. Her hooves clopped frantically as she pumped her short legs in her mad dash to the door. She reached it, exploding out of the hot schoolroom into the breezy, sunny weather outside.

“Going somewhere, blank flank?” Diamond Tiara’s voice called from behind, before Sweetie was even ten steps out the door. Sweetie’s heart skipped a beat. Her startled legs seized up and held fast to the spot.

“I said: going somewhere, blank flank?” Diamond repeated. She and Silver Spoon stepped out of the shadows behind the doorway, advancing closer with the same confident smirks they always wore whenever the opportunity to mock their inferiors presented itself.

“Um… no?” Sweetie Belle didn’t know what to say. She glanced nervously at the ponies as they walked up to her, then realized that she was also being approached from the front and sides—they had her surrounded!

“Good.”

“They shouldn’t even let you blank flanks come outside,” said Silver Spoon. “You always go walking around, waving your lack of cutie mark in everypony’s face. As if being ¬un-special wasn’t even embarrassing at all!”

“Well that won’t do at all,” Diamond continued. “We’re going to have to teach you a lesson in humility.”

Sweetie backed up nervously, only to run into the wall of fillies that had formed behind her. She was cut off. There was no escape. Diamond and Silver inched closer and closer, tightening the ring. Sweetie felt the walls of the circle closing in on her, growing tighter and tighter as the mean fillies prepared to carry out their “lesson.” All around her they were giggling in twisted enjoyment at the innocent white unicorn’s humiliation.

One of the other fillies passed Diamond a large red marker, and two others grabbed Sweetie Belle and tried to wrestle her to the ground. Sweetie shrieked and bolted, throwing herself into the wall and punching through. There were surprised, pained yelps from the others as Sweetie made her escape, her hooves finding purchase on the other side of the wall and immediately carrying her off across the playground as fast as she could move them. She chanced a glance over her shoulder; Diamond and Silver looked positively furious.

“Don’t let her get away!” Silver commanded, and the crowd immediately broke into pursuit. Sweetie capitalized on her head start, not slowing down from an all-out sprint as she fled the others. Her heart thudded in her chest, her breath coming in fast, frantic gulps. Sweat broke out across her brow from the exertion, and her legs began to cramp up. But Sweetie felt as though she was running for her life; not even a direct order from Princess Celestia herself would convince her to stop now, not if it meant Diamond and her minions would be allowed to catch up.

A strange tingling ran up Sweetie’s tail as it trailed behind her. She realized what was happening too late, and the levitation spell fired. One of the unicorns in Diamond’s group had ensnared her tail in a glowing magical aura, holding it in place and preventing Sweetie’s escape. She fell flat on her face, twisting around immediately to try and dispel the magic with a spell of her own. She didn’t have enough time. The crowd pursuing her caught up, and four of them jumped Sweetie and pinned her down.

“You’re not getting away that easy,” Diamond staid, advancing past the herd and standing over the disabled unicorn. “You blank flanks need to learn your place.”

Sweetie struggled against her attackers, but there was nothing she could do. She felt the cold tip of the marker press against her flank, its red ink staining her beautiful white coat. She squirmed and fought and kicked and yelled, but nopony could hear her over the boisterous laughter of the rest of the playground and the fillies holding her down were too strong to fight against. She was helpless. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, knowing that there could be no greater humiliation than this.

Diamond finally pulled back after several seconds, and Sweetie was permitted to lift her head to see the single word “BLANK” written in block capital letters where her cutie mark should go.

“How does it feel, blank flank?” Silver asked, adding even further insult. This sparked the assembled herd to begin a slow rhythmic chant, laughing and giggling as they recited the stinging nickname in their shrill voices from all around her as she lay helpless at the center of the circle.

“Blank flank!” Blank flank!” they chanted. Some even raised one of their forelegs and began pumping the air. “Blank flank! Blank flank!”

Sweetie couldn’t stop herself from crying. Tears rolled down her face and she twisted herself into a ball, as if she could compel the earth beneath her to open up and swallow her so she could escape. The chanting never slowed or faded; if anything, it only grew even louder. The laughter accompanying it swelled into a crescendo, drowning out everything else. Sweetie cried, her tears dripping into the dirt. The other ponies only laughed harder at her humiliation. None of the ponies assembled heard the buzzing of young pegasus wings coming until it was too late.

A shadow flashed over the group, and the chanting instantly ceased as the herd looked around for the object that had cast it. A blue scooter landed hard on the ground beside them, skidding sideways to a stop before the orange pegasus filly riding it hopped off and threw her helmet aside. She set her hooves in a wide, challenging stance, leaned her head down close to the ground, and bared her teeth menacingly. She snorted and stamped her hooves at the malicious group following Diamond and Silver.

“Leave her alone!” the filly ordered, her dark, pinkish purple mane flopping in front of her eyes.

“What’s this? Another blank flank?” Diamond turned to face her aggressor.

“That’s right,” said the pegasus. “I’m Scootaloo. And I won’t let you torment that unicorn any longer. Let her go, or you deal with me.”

Diamond Tiara looked back at her handiwork on Sweetie Belle’s flank. She had intended to do the other side, too, but perhaps that was enough humiliation for now. She had a mob of ponies on her side, but something about this pegasus told her she would regret starting a fight.

Though it pained her to do so, Diamond decided it was best to just give up and walk away for now. “Fine. We’ll go back inside. There’s no need for violence. But hear this: I promise you, Scootaloo, I promise you that you will regret this little act of heroism. Come, Silver Spoon.” Diamond led the pack away from Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon sticking close to her side.

“You okay?” Scootaloo asked the unicorn lying on the ground in tears. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

“Thank you,” Sweetie managed to speak through her tears. “I didn’t think anypony was going to do anything about them.”

“I didn’t think there were any other blank flanks left,” Scootaloo admitted, helping her stand up again. “What’s your name?”

“Sweetie Belle.”

“Scootaloo.”

“Thanks again, Scootaloo. You really saved me there.”

“Ah, that was nothin’. I couldn’t just sit and let them write all over your pretty white coat like that. Besides, we blank flanks have to stick together! What’s the damage?”

“Just my flank,” Sweetie pointed out, turning so Scootaloo could see. “It’ll probably wash off if I take an extra-long bath tonight.”

“Good thing. You need to look your best for the party tomorrow.”

Sweetie actually laughed. “Do you really think I would go to her party after this?”

“Why not?”Scootaloo shrugged. “What better way to get revenge than to show up at her party and totally trash that place?”

“I don’t think that’s very smart,” Sweetie disagreed. “Then Diamond Tiara will just try to get back at me even worse than today, and you’ll have to come rescue me again so I can get revenge for her revenge.”

“Good point,” Scootaloo conceded. “But you have to do something.”

“Hmm…” Sweetie and Scootaloo both thought for several minutes.

“I know!” Scootaloo spoke up again. “What if we went to the party together, as friends, so that Diamond wouldn’t be able to resist trying to make an example of us. But we’d support each other and never let her get to us. And if they try and grab you again, I’ll fight them off.” Scoot reared up and threw a few mock punches with her forelegs, showing off her fighting skills.

“That could work,” Sweetie agreed, just as the bell rang to signal the end of recess. “Uh-oh, it’s time for class again. Let’s meet up at the party, okay? Tomorrow afternoon at Sugarcube Corner.”

Scootaloo put on her helmet and mounted her scooter. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there.” She buzzed her wings, powering the scooter forward toward the other side of the buildings with the other classrooms. Sweetie glanced one more time at the “blank” Diamond had written on her flank and, with a renewed sense of self-worth brought on by the orange pegasus’s interference, galloped off toward her own class. For the first time since Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark appeared on her flank, Sweetie Belle felt empowered. That beautiful pegasus had chased off the snooty mean fillies and saved her from their sick humor. Her chest felt light and filled with butterflies. Things were finally looking up, thanks to Scootaloo, and Sweetie was now, finally, genuinely excited to go to the party. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wouldn’t know what hit them.

Chapter 5

Sweetie’s heart was thudding in her chest; the dreaded cute-ceañera was already well underway by the time she arrived at Sugarcube corner. Her hooves felt heavy with anticipation of the event, as if they knew how much she and Scootaloo had riding on the events to come.

“There you are,” Scootaloo greeted, slightly annoyed. “For a minute there I thought you chickened out.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I lost track of time.”

“Whatever. Let’s get inside.”

Pinkie Pie had outdone herself with the decoration of Sugarcube Corner. Streamers and balloons hung from the walls and ceiling, confetti covered the floor, and tables stood all around the main room, cupcakes and cookies and sweets of every type imaginable piled high on top of them for the guests to eat. A low, round table with a huge punch bowl provided refreshments, in the form of one of Pinkie’s tastiest punch recipes. She had even acquired a life-size chocolate sculpture of a rearing pony and set it up in the back of the store. In the adjoining room, a white unicorn with her vivid cyan-striped mane spiked up wildly and her eyes hidden behind a pair of vibrant purple sunglasses stood behind the sound equipment that filled the room with an upbeat, lively party song.

Diamond and Silver were patrolling the room, soaking up compliments from the assembled masses and flaunting their cutie marks in front of everypony. Their eyes periodically darted around the room in search of any of the fillies they had invited solely to tease and humiliate, but Scootaloo pushed Sweetie Belle off to the side of the room before they were detected.

“Hey!” Sweetie objected.

“Do you want Diamond and Silver to see us?” Scootaloo hissed.

“I thought the whole point of coming here was to stand up to them when they tried to embarrass us.”

“Well, yeah, but… we can’t do it now.”

“Why not?”

“Because…because it’s not a good time. Wait a minute.”

“Look over there!” Sweetie was distracted by a pale yellow filly about her age, her bright red mane adorned with a huge bow and her flank—blank.

Scootaloo gasped. “Another blank flank? I thought we were the only two left!” The filly jumped behind the chocolate statue, hiding from the rest of the crowd.

“What’s she doing?” Sweetie Belle wondered out loud. Pinkie Pie appeared from nowhere and slapped a cone-shaped party hat on her head, mumbling something to her that Sweetie and Scootaloo couldn’t hear over the voices and music, and then bounced away with her traditional springy gait as quickly as she had entered. The yellow filly ducked back behind the statue, abandoning the silly hat immediately. She checked to make sure nopony was looking directly at her, then dashed over to the table bearing the towering multi-tiered chocolate cake.

“She’s trying to leave the party without being seen!” Scootaloo recognized. “We need to stop her and bring her into our plan!”

Scoot bit one of Sweetie’s curls and dragged her quickly to the giant pile of gifts further into the room. Snails, the dopey unicorn from Sweetie Belle’s class, took a large bite out of the cake and was promptly yelled at by Diamond Tiara. The yellow filly took advantage of the diversion to bolt across the room to a spot on the counter behind a cluster of balloons. Scootaloo watched her carefully, trying to predict her movements so she and Sweetie Belle could intercept her before she escaped the party.

Another unicorn approached the balloon cluster and began jabbing at them with the sharp point of his horn as he danced, popping them one by one until the yellow filly was once again exposed. She ran for the punch bowl, ducking under the table and hiding again. She pushed up against it, lifting the heavy table just enough so she could tiptoe forward toward the door. If she inched forward in this manner, she could get close enough to make a mad dash for the door and be free.

“She’s going to get away!” Scootaloo exclaimed, grabbing Sweetie Belle again and dragging her under the next table so they could rush under the punch bowl once it drew close enough. “Wait, where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Huh?”

“Rainbow Dash! She said she was coming! I wanted her to see me stand up to Diamond Tiara so she’d be impressed with me.”

“Oh…” Sweetie Belle wasn’t sure how to take that. Had the whole plan just been an act to impress Rainbow? Did Sweetie’s feelings actually matter?

“Oh, there she is! Over in the corner. Let’s do this.”

The punch bowl table aligned itself perfectly with their hiding place, and Scootaloo moved to charge. She glanced back toward Rainbow Dash, but her back was turned. “Wait a minute. Rainbow Dash isn’t looking this way!”

“We don’t have time to wait for her,” Sweetie Belle protested. “The other blank flank’ll be escape if we don’t go now!”

“Oh, alright,” Scootaloo sighed. “Come on.” She buzzed her wings and leapt forward under the punch bowl table, followed closely by Sweetie Belle. But the other blank flank was already gone—she’d bolted for the door just a second earlier, when Scootaloo was preoccupied with her idol.

“Apple Bloom! Ya made it!” the yellow filly had made a break for the door, only to be blocked by an orange mare coming in. She continued walking forward, pushing Apple Bloom farther and farther from the door to freedom. “After Ah heard about Twist, Ah was afraid you wouldn’t show up. Ah sure am glad you came to your senses about this whole cutie mark thing. These things happen when these things are s’posed to happen. Tryin’ ta rush it’ll just make ya crazy.” Only when she had pushed Apple Bloom all the way back to the counter beside the chocolate statue did the orange pony stop advancing. “Ah’ll let ya be. Looks like your friends want ta talk to you.”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had heard the commotion, and now descended on her like a pack of wolves wearing smug, malicious grins. Apple Bloom panicked, then darted back to the punch bowl table and tore off the tablecloth. She frantically tied it around her neck, wearing the thing like a cloak so her flank was covered and the others couldn’t see that she was still without her cutie mark.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s here!” Diamond called out arrogantly.

“Nice outfit,” Silver Spoon mocked.

“Just somethin’ Ah, uh, pulled together last minute!” Apple Bloom hastily explained.

“It really shows off your cutie mark,” Diamond mocked. “Oh, wait, you don’t have one.

“Ah have a cutie mark!” Apple Bloom defended.

“What?” Silver Spoon was doubtful. “Since when?”

“Since…um…earlier today.”

“Oh, really?” Diamond didn’t believe her either. “Let’s see it.”

Apple Bloom’s mind raced, generating an excuse. “Ah shouldn’t. Ah couldn’t! My cutie mark is so unbelievably amazing…Ah’m afraid that if I show it off, everyone will start paying attention to me instead of you. Outshined at your own cute-ceañera? Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?” Scootaloo couldn’t help but marvel at the way Apple Bloom had turned Diamond’s own words against her.

“Uhh…forget it,” Diamond retracted, now genuinely fearful that Apple Bloom might be telling the truth. “I didn’t really want to see it anyway.”

“Okay, well, Ah’m gonna go mingle. Enjoy your party!” Confident in her small yet satisfying victory over Diamond Tiara in the middle of her own lavish party, Apple Bloom was too careless in placing her hooves as she walked away. She snagged the edge of the tablecloth, tripped over it, and pulled the whole thing off. She stumbled forward, crashing flat on her face with her cutie-mark-less flank sticking high up into the air for everypony to see. Diamond and Silver rushed to her side, grinning devilishly.

“Oh no…” Scootaloo heard Apple Bloom whimper.

Silver Spoon giggled. “Wow, that is an amazing cutie mark!” she mocked. Diamond joined in the giggling, stamping her hooves on the floor as she threw her head back and laughed in Apple Bloom’s face.

“Nice try, blank flank!” Diamond spat, Silver joining her for the final two words. Then the two of them laughed even more, until Apple Bloom looked on the verge of tears.

“You got a problem with blank flanks?” a voice called from somewhere behind. Everypony turned to see who had spoken up. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle left the cover of the punch bowl table and strode over to the middle of the room, both wearing vengeful expressions. Scootaloo had even flared her little wings as high as they would go, though they were hardly fearsome. “I said, you got a problem with blank flanks?” she repeated.

“The problem is, I mean, she’s, like, totally not special.”

“No, it means she’s full of potential!” Sweetie rushed to Apple Bloom’s side, and Scootaloo followed.

“It means she could be great at anything. The possibilities are…like, endless,” Scootaloo mocked the way Diamond and Silver spoke, insulting them further.

“She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer,” Sweetie Belle speculated. “She could even be the mayor of Ponyville someday!” All around the room, everypony wore a wide, beaming smile at their speech. All except the scowling Diamond and Silver.

Scootaloo drove the point home. “And she’s not stuck being stuck up like you two.”

The party guests erupted into a chorus of laughter, all at the expense of their hosts rather than the un-special Apple Bloom that was supposed to be the target of all the jokes.

Diamond was stunned, too shocked by the blatant attack on her character to respond for several seconds. “Hey!” she finally objected, “This is my party! Why are you two on her side?”

“Because…” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned inward, pressing their tails together so the whole crowd could see their utterly bare flanks.

Apple Bloom gasped. “You don’t have your cutie marks either? Ah thought Ah was the only one!”

“We thought we were the only two!” Scootaloo happily confessed.

“I, for one, think you are three very lucky fillies,” Twilight Sparkle chimed in from the back of the room.

“Lucky? How can they be lucky?”

“They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they’re meant to be!”

Apple Bloom’s older sister added, “And they’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out.”

The crowd had turned against Diamond and Silver; all eyes were on Apple Bloom and the other blank flank fillies. Introductions were exchanged, and even Diamond’s temper tantrums couldn’t turn the tide. It was a victory, that was for sure. Neither of the mean-spirited self-obsessed fillies would dare to bother them about their lack of cutie marks again.

“Hey!” the white unicorn playing the music asked. “You got a request or something?”

“What?” Rainbow Dash didn’t realize how it must have looked when she walked up to the sound equipment the way she did. “Oh, no, I’m just trying to duck out of here and keep Scootaloo from seeing me.”

“Who?” her eyebrow raised up from behind her purple-tinted glasses.

“Scootaloo. The little orange pegasus. She’s…well…I guess you could say I’m like an idol to her. She asked me to come here to support her in case the others ganged up on her for being a blank flank, but I guess she handled that herself. Twilight said I shouldn’t be there as a distraction and that it’s best for Scootaloo to get to know her new friends rather than follow me around looking for my approval. I think if the filly wants to be more like me, then, hey, more power to her, right? I am pretty awesome, after all. But Twilight made me promise to lay low, and I do not want to see her upset.”

“So you’re kind of a big deal around here, I take it?”

“Are you kidding?” Rainbow posed impressively, her legs set apart and her wings flared high. “You’re talking to the one and only Rainbow Dash! The greatest flyer in all Equestria!”

“Impressive. I’ll have to remember to make sure you’re a VIP at the club…if that ever actually happens.”

“Club?” Rainbow abandoned her pose, as some of the others were starting to look at her funny.

“I’m trying to get a nightclub set up somewhere in town, but I’m having trouble getting the money together.”

“You don’t seem like the sort of pony who normally DJ’s kids’ parties.”

“Believe me, I’m not. I’m only doing this because the one filly—Silver Tiara?—anyway her parents were asking about music and with me being as broke as I am right now, I kind of had to accept the job. I’d much rather be doing a rave right now, playing some actual music.”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow agreed. “I’d much rather be dancing to some actual music. It’s pretty lame that Ponyville doesn’t have anything like that already. We could use a nightclub around here.”

“You’ll have one soon enough. Assuming I can get a steady source of income, that is.”

“You’ll do fine,” Rainbow promised optimistically. “You’re an awesome DJ, and Ponyville’s small enough for word to spread if you give it some time. I’ll make sure I tell anyone planning a party to look up…”—Rainbow read the sign hung from the DJ’s sound equipment—“DJ Pon3? Is that your name?”

She laughed. “Just a stage name, Rainbow Dash. My friends call me Vinyl Scratch.”

“Well good luck with your club, Vinyl Scratch.” Rainbow turned to leave. “I’ll refer anypony I can think of to you. You’ll have more business than you know what to do with.”

“Thanks. A celebrity endorsement from the ‘greatest flyer in Equestria’ would definitely help me out.” Rainbow said one final goodbye and started away. “Wait! Uh…we should hang out sometime. You know, as friends.”

“Sure,” Rainbow agreed without hesitation. “You’re really cool. Cooler than most ponies around here.” Rainbow turned around again before she could see Vinyl’s cheeks flush red at the compliment.

DJ Pon3 flipped over another record, changing the tune to a soft dance beat that brought all the younger guests out onto the dance floor. The three blank flanks sat around a table, discussing recent events.

“So Ah was thinking,” Apple Bloom began. “Now that we’re friends—I mean, we are friends, right?”

“How could we not be?” Scootaloo happily agreed. “We’re totally alike. We don’t have cutie marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy…”

“Totally crazy!”

“—well, now that we’re friends, what if the three of us work together to find out who we are and what we’re supposed to be?”

“Ooh! Ooh! We could form our own secret society!”

“I’m liking this idea!”

Both the others were in agreement. “A secret society! Yeah! We’ll need a name for it, though…”

“The Cutie Mark Three?” Scootaloo proposed.

“The Cute-tastically Fantastics?” Sweetie Belle gave her own idea.

Apple Bloom had the winner. “How about… the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“It’s perfect!” Scootaloo agreed.

And so it was settled. The three blank flanks joined forces, in the hopes that they would be more successful as a team than they had been individually. Teamwork had already seen them overcome the tyrannical schoolyard social rule of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, an obstacle that had affected all three of them equally since the taunting began almost a whole week ago. Apple Bloom came to see the wisdom in Applejack’s words of encouragement, and Sweetie Belle could now see the guidance Rarity had intended to give her younger sister, and she understood that the harshness was purely brought on by stress and the time constraints of her commission; she hadn’t intentionally ignored a sister in need the way she had. As for Scootaloo, her actions had validated Rainbow Dash’s advice to stand up for herself and fight against her aggressors instead of backing down and hiding. That never got anypony anywhere. They were strong now, the whole group of them, and together they would be able to overcome any obstacle that came between them and their cutie marks.

Chapter 6

“Come on, everypony, these curtains still need to be hung. And what happened to the ribbons?” Spike paced anxiously along the runway, trying to organize the crowd of workers that had gathered to set up shop for Rarity’s much-anticipated fashion show. With a Canterlot celebrity expected to be in attendance, everything had to be perfect. A dozen different ponies galloped around the front of the boutique, hanging decorations and setting up the lighting rigs.

Precious little time remained before sundown, and the fashion show was set to begin soon after. Already they’d put out a runway connecting the front door of the shop to a slow turntable a few dozen feet away, but some of the curtains intended to pretty up the shop’s façade were still lying in piles on the floor. Any minute now, ponies would start to gather around, taking the best spots close to the runway before anypony beat them there. The Carousel Boutique had to look the part of an elegant fashion runway stage by then, or else the shoddy decorations might draw more attention than the magnificent craftsmanship of Rarity’s innovative personality-inspired gowns.

“Hey, Spike!” Rainbow Dash greeted cheerily. She looked up, admiring the decorations.

“Dash, Vinyl, good to see you,” Spike returned warmly. “Can somepony straighten that banner already? Thank you.” A yellow unicorn grabbed hold of the large banner hanging above the stage with her magic and moved a few inches to the left. Two huge eyes stared down with an air of superiority from the banner, flanked by a stylized swirl of purple that resembled Rarity’s mane. Part of the reason she kept the same hairstyle despite the changing fashion was in hopes that somepony important would recognize her brand and take notice. Unfortunately, she had so far been unsuccessful.

“Rarity put you in charge of decorations for the show, I see,” Rainbow observed. “Not gonna lie, Spike, it looks pretty awesome.”

“Yep, it’s coming together alright. Shouldn’t you be in there changing already? The show will be starting pretty soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get back there in a jiffy. I just had to ask—what are you doing for music? For the show? A fashion show this awesome deserves some amazing background music.”

“Pinkie brought over the phonograph she always takes to parties. We were just gonna put on one of her party records. Not perfect, but it’s the best we could come up with on short notice like this.”

“Party music?” Vinyl was surprised. “As in…rock? Pop?”

“Something like that, yeah,” Spike answered. “Whatever Pinkie brought over. I was too busy out here to take a look at it.”

“No, no, no, that’s going to clash horribly,” Vinyl objected. “This is a fashion show. Formal wear. You can’t just throw on any old rock beat and call it a day. You need something loud, but with class.”

Spike scratched his chin. “Do you just want to DJ the show instead?”

“That’s the whole reason I brought her over,” Rainbow smiled. “She needs the money to help set up a nightclub here in Ponyville.”

“We could sure use one of those,” Spike agreed. “Alright, DJ-Pon3, you’ve got the job. I’ll get somepony to help you bring over your sound equipment and get you all set up.”

“Thanks, Spike. It means a lot.”

“Don’t mention it,” Spike waved off. “I’d prefer to give the job to a friend, anyway, and any friend of Rainbow Dash’s is a friend of mine.”

“Well, then, I’d better go get my equipment together,” said Vinyl, turning to leave. “Good luck with the show, Dash. I’ll see you on the runway all done up in your cool rainbow gown.”

“Gown? Forget gowns, I’m wearing rainbow armor.”

“Even better, then,” Vinyl chuckled. “Thanks for vouching for me. I owe you another one.”

Rainbow flew up to the runway. “What would you ever do without me?” she asked rhetorically, darting inside to get changed. Vinyl smiled at her friend’s charmingly excessive arrogance as she moved off to gather up her sound equipment for the show.

The small trail of footprints left by Fluttershy’s lost chicken snaked deeper and deeper into the Everfree Forest. Darkness crept in from all sides, shrouding the fearless crusaders in its eerie black veil. Hazy clouds of mist rose up from the alien landscape, blocking their vision of the trail ahead. The three fillies huddled close together as they braved the foreign terrain, and Scootaloo thought back on the events of that afternoon.

Sweetie Belle had managed to convince her sister to allow a Cutie Mark Crusader Sleepover to take place at the Carousel Boutique. She’d then immediately ruined the whole event by practically destroying Rarity’s workshop and cutting up her expensive gold silk to make their CMC capes. Sure, the capes were pretty amazing, but Rarity was so upset and inconvenienced by the loss of the silk that she’d cancelled the sleepover just as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom came by to get things started.

Luckily for them, Fluttershy had been at the boutique, and her ever-present generosity and kindness obliged her to host the sleepover at her cottage instead. Things were back on, but Fluttershy was too quiet, too passive, to let any real crusading go on. Maybe they’d been just a little too rowdy, but the destruction (and subsequent failed reconstruction) of one single table was simply the price of finding their special talents. It was a shame Fluttershy simply could not accept that.

But things were looking up now, even if the three of them were walking through the middle of the creepiest, scariest, darkest forest in all of Equestria on a dangerous rescue mission for Fluttershy’s lost chicken. Surely facing danger and excitement of this unparalleled scope would be enough to earn them their cutie marks once and for all. All they had to do was follow the footprints. It would be easy.

Sweetie Belle’s mane brushed against Scootaloo’s neck for the third time in what seemed like half a minute.

“Jeez, give me some room here,” Scootaloo complained. “You’re crowding me out.”

“Sorry,” Sweetie apologized, moving away until they were a full pony length apart as they walked.

“Ah don’t see a chicken anywheres,” Apple Bloom cried from the back of the group. “This fog’s just too darn thick.”

“We’ve got the footprints,” Scootaloo reminded. “We don’t need to see, as long as we can follow these.”

“Ah just hope we’re not goin’ in circles.”

“Relaax, we’ll be fine. We’ll grab that chicken and be back in bed before Fluttershy even notices we’re gone.”

A curl of pale pink hair swiped across Scootaloo’s neck again.

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…I just keep drifting over accidentally.” Sweetie moved away again, staying just close enough to keep the trail of footprints in her sight as they pushed ever onward.

Sweetie Belle would never allow herself to admit it, certainly not in the presence of such brave fillies as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, but she was scared. She was raised in quiet suburban comfort, not a hard-working life on a farm, and her primary role model had always been the fashionable, “civilized” Rarity, not an intense fiery pegasus who laughed in the face of dragons and set off rainbow-colored explosions in the sky. She’d never been exposed to this kind of thing before; she never had the desire to.

Scootaloo, her savior from the school bullies and the sole reason for the Crusaders’ current existence, provided her with a comfort from the scary world around her. The Everfree Forest was nothing but a harmless collection of mossy tree stumps when that wonderful orange pegasus was nearby to protect her from the monsters her mind kept seeing in the wilds.

“Don’t be so scared,” Scootaloo said, reading her mind. “It’s just a lost chicken, wandered off into a forest. We can do this.”

“I’m not scared,” Sweetie lied. “I just can’t see straight through all this stupid fog.”

Scootaloo hung back to inspect something on the ground, but Sweetie didn’t even notice until she’d inadvertently gone a dozen yards ahead, all alone. Scootaloo resumed her march right as Apple Bloom caught up, and now the two of them were walking side-by-side, leaving Sweetie Belle way up front by herself.

Dressing up in a basket and a rug and chasing each other around Fluttershy’s safe, well-lit living room was one thing, but she was nowhere near as fearless now that they could encounter the real thing. She wanted desperately to hold up and let the others catch her, so she could walk alongside the comforting security that her orange pegasus provided. But Scootaloo was watching her—if she held up now, she’d look a coward. That simply wouldn’t do. Scootaloo would never not be a friend to her; all three of them were in this together, as they always would be. But Sweetie wanted more than that, somehow, if such a thing was possible. She’d never get there if she couldn’t show Scootaloo that she was just as fearless as she was. Taking point on this little expedition was only a small step in that direction, but it was at least a start. Maybe, in time, Scootaloo would come to appreciate her feelings. She could only hope.

Chapter 7

“Hey, Scootaloo,” a voice from above called out. The filly’s orange ears perked up instantly. She’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?”

Scootaloo’s childhood idol hovered overhead, rhythmically flapping her strong blue wings. “I just came by to see if the coolest blank flank pegasus in all of Ponyville wanted to come fly with me, maybe learn a few awesome tricks.”—Rainbow illustrated her offer with a slow barrel roll—“You deserve a celebration, saving Fluttershy’s chicken and all.”

“Oh, wow, thanks, Rainbow Dash! I’d love to!” Scootaloo’s eyes were wide with enthusiasm and excitement. “Right now?”

An errant cloud drifted over the tops of the buildings, casting a small shadow on the ground. Rainbow glared up at it with rage, flew up to it, and kicked it into oblivion. She looked around, noticing a dozen more clouds, each much larger than this one, blowing in from the Everfree Forest. Today was scheduled to be a sunny day, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let the random weather patterns of the forest interfere with the good ponies of Ponyville and their outdoor activities.

“Sorry, kiddo. I would, but it looks like I’m kinda busy today. But sometime soon, I’ll make some time for you. I promise.”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash. This means so much…”

“Don’t mention it,” Rainbow dismissed. “Somepony’s gotta teach you how to use those wings like a real flying ace.”

“So what do you think?” Rainbow’s proud voice echoed off the walls, emphasizing just how empty the place really was.

“It’s…it’s going to need a lot of work…” Vinyl observed. “The floor needs totally resurfaced, all the walls need painted over. The roof probably leaks…” Vinyl caught herself. “I’m sorry. I’m complaining. Thanks, Dash, this place is awesome. Or it will be, anyway.”

Rainbow moved into the center of the old building, and Vinyl followed close behind. “Yeah, I know it looks rough right now, but think of the potential. You could build a little stage up here in the front and put all your sound stuff there, and make all this the dance floor…”

“The drinks bar would go over there along the wall…” Vinyl’s ear twitched as it caught her echo. “Interesting acoustics. I wonder if that echo’ll still be there when the whole place is packed with ponies.”

“Would that affect your music?”

Vinyl shrugged. “Possibly. It’s pretty complicated how sound waves and all that work. I really couldn’t explain all the science backing it. I just know what makes music sound awesome and what makes it sound bad.”

“You’ll do fine, I’m sure. Ponyville doesn’t have another nightclub. You don’t have any competition.”

“That’s true. I just have to get the place set up first. And that’s going to take a very long time.”

“Well, I’ll help you out in the meantime,” Rainbow offered. “I can get Applejack to send over some apples, and Pinkie’s always looking for an excuse to make more cupcakes or muffins. Food expenses are on me.”

Vinyl shook her head. “Dash, you don’t have to do that. You already paid for half the cost of the building…”

“I know,” Rainbow shrugged dismissively. “But you’re a friend who could use a hoof, and I’m Ponyville’s head weatherpony, so I have more than enough bits to help you out. Don’t worry about it. I’d let you crash on my couch so you didn’t have to sleep here, but…I don’t think that’ll work unless you suddenly grow wings.”

“Thanks, Dash.” Vinyl still didn’t feel quite right about accepting such generosity, but she did need the money. She leaned against Rainbow in a friendly pony-hug. “You’re awesome.”

“I know,” Rainbow boasted, letting her own head rest against Vinyl’s.

Chapter 8

Sugarcube Corner’s front door swung open, ringing the bell and interrupting the conversation the ponies inside were having. Rainbow Dash and her five other close friends all turned to look at the door, as did the three young Cutie Mark Crusaders. The shock of bright blue spiky hair that entered the bakery prompted Scootaloo to rush over with her eyes wide open in excitement.

“What about you, Vinyl Scratch? How did you get your cutie mark?”

“What?” Vinyl backed up defensively against the door as it swung shut behind her.

“We’re trying to see how everypony else got their cutie marks so we can figure out how to get ours!” she explained. “Rainbow Dash is friends with you, so you’re pretty cool. How’d you get yours?”

“You sure you want to hear this story?”

“Sure we’re sure!” Sweetie Belle jumped in.

The reassuring smiles of the older ponies convinced Vinyl to proceed. “Alright, fine,” she said, skirting around the fillies and taking a better storytelling position at the center of the room. The mares politely gathered attentively at the back of the room while the eager fillies scrunched up together at Vinyl’s hooves to hear.

“Ever since I was old enough to know what music was, I knew I wanted to get involved in it somehow. I used to go to all kinds of rock concerts and stuff when I was young. I’d listen to any type of music I could get my hands on with this old phonograph we had in the attic. The faster and cooler the beat was, the better.

“I was…oh, maybe a bit younger than you when I went to a big outdoor music festival in Fillydelphia where they had a DJ playing instead of a band. I’d never seen anything like that before, so I watched, and I loved it. The colt on the turntable was OST1NAT0, a rave legend, even though I’d never heard of him before. He was playing this hideously loud and repetitive bass beat—I later found out that it was his signature—and it had everypony up on two legs jumping and bouncing so hard the ground shook.

“I almost died it was so amazing. Imagine the loudest, strongest, most in-your-face music you could ever hear, so loud you had to keep your ears flat against your head or you’d go deaf, all with thousands of ponies moving and shouting with the beat. For a young little filly like me, I couldn’t imagine anything better. I just stood there, too amazed to even dance, and stared at the DJ behind the table and imagined how good it must feel to be up there, playing the music that controlled the crowd, subtly influencing their thoughts and feelings just by playing the right combination of sounds. It was an art form like no other, and OST1NAT0 was a true artist.

“But just then, when the music was reaching its apex and the speakers were about to explode with volume, this huge rainbow burst across the sky in a blinding flash of color, and half the ponies there fell over on the grass and dirt. OST1NAT0 fell onto his turntable and reversed the record, and his music started playing backwards for a few seconds until he got back on his hooves and frantically put the track back together like it was.

“Everypony jumped up and cheered even louder than they had before—the whole thing had just been part of the show. I was so stunned by the color and the music and the atmosphere of that event that I decided right then and there that I’d become a DJ pony myself one day. That’s when my cutie mark appeared, two backwards eighth notes to remind me of that day. I went to a whole bunch of OST1NAT0’s concerts after that, but he never did the rainbow effect again. I was lucky to be at that concert, the first, last, and only time he ever knocked over an entire crowd of ponies with his music.”

“Wait a minute,” Scootaloo squinted. “YOU had a big rainbow flash in YOUR cutie mark story, too?”

Vinyl’s eyes looked confused, even behind her purple glasses. “What, ‘too’? What do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “She means that when I was a filly, I raced a couple colts to defend Fluttershy after they were teasing her. That was the first time I made a sonic rainboom, a big awesome rainbow explosion you can see for miles. It was so awesome it got me this bad boy.” Rainbow posed with wings flared, emphasizing her flank and the thundercloud and rainbow lightning bolt emblazoned on it.

“We all saw that sonic rainboom, and it caused all of us to earn our cutie marks, too,” Twilight Sparkle further explained, much more modestly. “It was a symbol that we were magically linked, even before we met.”

“But…I saw a rainbow too,” said Vinyl. “Does that mean it was the same one?”

“Yeah it does!” Rainbow boasted. “There’ve only been two sonic rainbooms in history, and both of ‘em were mine.”

“So that means…” Vinyl trailed off for a second as the full implications of that story hit her. She’d always loved music and wanted to be involved in it, but feared she’d never get the opportunity and had even considered giving up and finding a practical career. But OST1NAT0’s performance had been so incredible that her cutie mark had appeared solely due to that rainbow explosion and the music being played. In that moment her fate had been sealed—she was to become a DJ, and even though life since then had been a constant uphill battle from one gig to the next, Vinyl wouldn’t trade it for anything. And all of that, in addition to the help lining up gigs in Ponyville and paying for her expenses, she owed to Rainbow Dash.

“by Celestia, Dash, you’re the one who convinced me to become DJ-Pon3! I…I wouldn’t even have a musical career if not for you. You’re…you’re amazing!” Vinyl rushed across the room and crashed into Rainbow, nearly knocking her to the floor. She pushed her muzzle into Rainbow’s neck, pulling her close in a tight hug.

“Hey, don’t mention it,” Rainbow dismissed. “I’m just that awesome.”

“You certainly are.” Vinyl would never allow anypony else to know, but she was actually close to tears.

Chapter 9

“Ready for your first flying lesson?” Scootaloo heard Rainbow’s voice a fraction of a second before a shock of blue streaked across her vision and hovered beside her so her hooves were in line with Scootaloo’s ears. The rough-cut multicolored mane ruffled around Rainbow’s neck as the wake she had created caught up with her.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo greeted with the same starstruck enthusiasm as always, but then the thought of actually trying to fly crept into her mind. “Uh…I don’t know. I don’t think I could ever fly like you do.”

“Oh come on, it’s easy! You don’t just jump right in and immediately try to do all kinds of crazy awesome acrobatic tricks like me. First you stay low”—Rainbow hugged the ground, hovering so low that her chest gently grazed the cool grass when she drew breath—“then you move up higher and higher until you can fly anywhere you want.” Rainbow circled around whimsically, dodging branches and circling around the tops of a few trees before returning to Scootaloo. “You’ll probably crash a whole bunch of times early on—I still do when I invent new tricks—but eventually you’ll get the hang of it. Trust me.”

“Well, if you say so…” Scootaloo was thoroughly scared of flight, and would have been content to remain confined to her scooter if not for her idol’s encouraging words. “I guess I can give it a try.”

“I do say so! Now, take a deep breath. Flare your wings. Wider. Good. Now, imagine yourself in the air, soaring gracefully across the sky. Once you have that picture in your mind, then flap your wings and jump.”

Scootaloo concentrated, her muscles tense with anticipation of the jump. She imagined herself flying, soaring right alongside Rainbow Dash as they ducked and weaved through the clouds. Determined to impress her idol, she kicked hard off the ground and slammed her little wings down. The grass fanned down around her, and all four hooves remained aloft long enough for her to raise her wings and slam them down again, bringing her even higher.

“I did it!” Scootaloo exclaimed, but her excited outburst distracted her and she messed up the timing of her flaps. Scootaloo crashed down again, tumbling over onto her side in the grass.

“Even I messed up the first time I ever tried flying,” Rainbow confessed. “Try again. You’ll get it now for sure.”

Scootaloo picked herself up, extended her wings, and flapped again. Once more she lifted off the ground, then immediately fell after the first few flaps. Once more Rainbow tried to encourage her.

“I think we got a bad gust of crosswind there,” Rainbow invented; the sky was clear and the air was still. “Try it again. Third time’s the charm.”

“Don’t give up now!” Rainbow maintained. “Not everypony can get it right on the forty-seventh try. Let’s go again. Remember: hooves planted, wings up, then—”

“I’m done,” Scootaloo sat down sadly. “I thought I might be able to fly like you some day, that flying would be my special talent. But if I can’t get it by now…I’ll just keep riding my scooter—at least I can do that right.” Scootaloo slumped down in the grass, defeated.

Rainbow sat down beside her and rubbed a hoof between her little wings; she remembered the almost unbearable soreness and stiffness that had followed her first few flights, before she built up her wing muscles. “Don’t beat yourself up, kid. Not everypony’s going to be as good at flying as I am. Maybe your special talent is something more…down to earth.”

“I just wanted to be like you,” Scootaloo said much more calmly. The tension in her back was lifting. Rainbow Dash’s massage felt wonderful.

“I know. And you’ll get there one day. You just have to keep practicing at it a little every day, and before you know it you’ll be flying so good you’ll never want to land again.”

“I hope it happens soon,” Scootaloo wished, rolling over onto her back and staring up at the sky. The sun was setting, and she was tired. Rainbow lay down in the grass and curled up beside Scootaloo, wrapping her larger body partially around Scootaloo’s smaller orange one. She placed her head gently down beside the filly’s, her breaths fluttering a few strands of her mane. Scootaloo completely relaxed, comforted by the warm presence of her idol. Orange-washed clouds drifted lazily overhead, and Scootaloo imagined how wonderful it would be to fly lightning-fast through them, ducking over and under and around them as the wind blew through her mane. Rainbow Dash would be there, right beside her as she was now, her strong wings blasting the sky to pieces.

Someday, they’d fly together. Someday she’d learn how to take to the skies just like Rainbow Dash, and together they would conquer the skies of Equestria. All she had to do was learn how to get off the ground.

But until then, Scootaloo just leaned back against the curve of Rainbow Dash’s warm, soft body. She really liked her, it seemed. The massage had felt wonderful, and now she was laying beside her just like older ponies did when they liked each other. Scootaloo’s little orange wings began to stiffen, but she didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she really liked Rainbow back. She’d heard a little bit about what older ponies did when they really liked someone, and remembered that they would usually kiss to slow how much they liked each other. Next flight lesson, she decided, if Rainbow lay down next to her like this, she’d try to kiss her.

Rainbow felt them and nuzzled at the dark reddish purple mane, trying to put Scootaloo at ease. She remembered that age. Her wings had a mind of their own, and any little warm touch could set them off. It was cute.

She made up her mind. As soon as Scootaloo fell asleep, which would be any time now, she’d fly her back home so she could wake up in the clouds and at least experience that much of flying before Rainbow had to take her home again for the day.

“Dash!” a voice yelled from far away. “You home?”

Rainbow flew out her front door and peered over the edge of her cloud porch. Far below, she could make out the shape of a white unicorn with a shock of bright blue hair.

Rainbow flared her wings and jumped off the cloud, gently descending to the ground. “Scratch? What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about those stories we shared at Sugarcube Corner. About your first sonic rainboom.”

The mere mention of her flying skill was enough to snap Rainbow’s body into a proud, boasting pose. “Oh yeah? Pretty awesome, huh?”

“It sure was,” Vinyl smiled; she was learning to just go along with Rainbow’s self-promotion. She even found it cute. “I…I really can’t thank you enough for that. I know it was all accidental and you didn’t even know what that rainboom would do for you, let alone the six of us, but still…I owe my entire musical career to you. I was a fool when I was a filly, thinking that some dumb sporting event would let me establish myself as a professional DJ. It only worked because of you, Dash.”

“That was nothin’,” Rainbow waved off with a hoof. “No big deal at all. I could do…ten rainbooms a day, if I wanted to. Don’t mention it.”

Vinyl leaned against Rainbow in a warm pony-hug. “No, I do mention it. As if it wasn’t enough that you pretty much single-hoofedly established a reputation in Ponyville for me, bought half a nightclub for me, and paid for all my regular expenses, now I find out that you’re also the pony who first got me really started in music in the first place. You’ve given me so much, Dash, and I haven’t given you anything in return…”

“That’s okay,” Rainbow dismissed with an arrogant false-modesty. “You’re my friend.”

Vinyl didn’t break the hug; instead, she gently rubbed her cheek on Rainbow’s neck. “So are the others. Twilight and Fluttershy and them. But you don’t go around buying them old restaurants to turn into nightclubs. You don’t take me along whenever the six of you go on your adventures, either. Realize it or not, you treat me differently, Dash.”

Rainbow’s rose-colored eyes fell to the ground and studied Vinyl’s hoofprints in the grass. She thought about justifying her actions with the very true fact that her other friends were financially stable and weren’t trying to scrape together a few bits to convert an old restaurant into a nightclub, but the words sounded hollow to her even before she spoke them. There was no sense in pretending anymore. “I know,” she admitted. “You’re special to me, Scratch. You’re…you’re more than a friend.”

Vinyl lovingly nuzzled at Rainbow’s neck. “I feel the same way,” she said. “You’re the best pony I’ve ever met, Dash.

“Yeah…” Rainbow dropped her head to Vinyl’s shoulder and absently half-returned her affectionate nuzzling.

“I mean it,” she insisted, pressing slightly harder against the blue fur.

“I know…” Rainbow’s gaze was fixed on the ground. She felt Vinyl’s gentle nuzzling becoming more and more firm, and then her affectionate nudges became affectionate kisses. Rainbow looked down in surprise—yes, Vinyl was actually kissing her neck. Rainbow felt her wings stiffening as blood rushed to her cheeks. “Uhhh…Scratch…”

“Sshhh….” The kisses became firmer, more pronounced. She actually gripped and tugged at Rainbow’s sky-blue coat with her lips a bit before letting go of each kiss. She started moving higher up on her neck.

“Scratch….what are you…?”

“Sshhh…” Rainbow felt wetness on her coat—Vinyl was actually licking her now, moving up into the curve of her neck, over the hard jawbone, and finally across the smooth cheek. Rainbow was too stunned to protest. Her mind wanted Vinyl to stop, but she could feel her wings stiffening; her body wanted Vinyl to keep going.

“Scra—” Vinyl cut off the protest by smashing her own lips into Rainbow’s and pushing her tongue inside Rainbow’s mouth. Immediately, her rose-colored eyes rolled shut and the strong athletic muscles beneath her sky-blue coat relaxed, except the ones in her wings. They shot erect, flaring hard with the sensation of the warm, wet kiss. Vinyl’s tongue played in her mouth, nudging Rainbow’s to try and coax it into getting involved in the kiss.

Rainbow pulled back, breaking off the kiss. Vinyl nearly fell forward into the grass. “Wait a minute, Scratch…” Rainbow said, wiping a drop of Vinyl’s saliva from her lip.

Vinyl looked up apologetically. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you…I’m sorry…”

“Scratch,” Rainbow said, hardly believing the words even as she said them, “let’s go find somewhere more private.” Vinyl’s advance had been extremely unexpected, but the look on her face said it all. Going that far had taken a lot of time, working up the nerve to actually go through with it. Rainbow respected that. She’d let Vinyl have her way tonight, and deal with the emotional consequences in the morning.

“Like where? My club? It’s all dusty and dirty in there still. Besides, it’s on the whole other side of Ponyville.”

“How about up there?” Rainbow pointed up at the imposing underside of her floating cloud home as it hovered silently amid the stars.

“Dash…I can’t fly…” Vinyl pointed out, though she wondered how Rainbow could have missed that.

“I know,” Rainbow said. A mischievous grin crossed her lips. “I’ll just carry you.”

“What?”

Rainbow grabbed Vinyl under the forelegs, forcing her stiffened wings down to generate lift. She flapped hard, pulling Vinyl close to her chest as she lifted off the ground. All eight hooves left the safety of the ground, and Rainbow could feel Vinyl tensing up with anxiety. She flew higher, drawing her up into the sky towards the cloud home. Vinyl clung on tightly, as their destination was well above the height any pony could safely fall. If she slipped out of Rainbow’s arms, that would be the end of her.

Two blue hooves alighted timidly on the cloud deck that formed Rainbow Dash’s porch. With solid ground beneath her, Rainbow folded in her wings and shifted Vinyl around so she could ride on her back; though Rainbow could stand on the clouds as easily as solid ground, Vinyl would fall straight through if she attempted the same feat.

“Dash…let’s go back down…”

Rainbow smiled. Vinyl was clinging to her tight, her hooves wrapped under her belly and her head and neck pressed right against Rainbow’s. She could feel her breath, short and quick upon her neck. She was scared, and understandably so. The only thing around her that could hold her up was the object of her affection, Rainbow Dash’s body. Everything else might as well have been air.

“Do you trust me, Scratch?” Rainbow asked. “Do you trust me to keep hold of you?”

Vinyl was silent for several seconds. “Yes,” she finally answered. “I trust you completely.”

“Then relax,” Rainbow urged. “I’ve got you. I won’t let you fall.”

Rainbow slowly walked into her bedroom, where a platform of especially-soft white clouds stood, waiting for her to flop down and fall into a deep, restorative sleep. But there would be no sleeping tonight.

“Alright…let’s see here…” Rainbow shifted Vinyl off her back, grabbing hold of her with her forelegs to keep her from falling as she swung around beneath Rainbow’s stomach. Her back legs wrapped up around Rainbow’s back, and her forelegs held her neck. Rainbow reared up, keeping her back legs planted while compensating for the weight by flapping her wings and holding Vinyl around the shoulders with her forelegs. It was awkward, but it would have to do.

Vinyl kissed her again, planting her warm lips on Rainbow’s and opening up her mouth to allow the pegasus’s now-more-than-willing tongue to enter her mouth and play. Rainbow kissed hard and firm, her athletic take-charge pegasus attitude going to work on the unicorn. She felt Vinyl begin to grind against her, wetting the blue fur of Rainbow’s lower stomach. Her wings began to stiffen again, flaring hard and refusing to respond to Rainbow’s orders to flap.

“Uhh..Dash…we’re falling,” Vinyl noted. Without the wings, Rainbow wasn’t able to balance properly. She dug her hooves into the cloud, kicked off, and rolled in mid-air to land on her back on her bed. Vinyl’s full weight landed hard atop her, and she flinched with the brief flash of pain as her lungs were compacted.

“There,” Rainbow said, sounding relieved. The clouds were solid to her, so as long as Vinyl stayed on top and held on tightly enough, both could stay in the air indefinitely. Vinyl’s glasses had slipped down her nose with the landing, and as she leaned in for another kiss they fell off altogether.

“Oh no!” Vinyl yelped. The glasses fell down, landing perfectly on Rainbow. Vinyl’s blood-red eyes blinked in both surprise and happiness that her signature accessory had not fallen to its doom. “Looks good on you, Dash,” she commented.

“Thanks…now, uh…we’re gonna have to be careful not to let you fall. Just try and hold onto me as best you can, and…”

“Dash, relax,” Vinyl crawled up and kissed her on the cheek. “I trust you. You won’t let me fall.”

Rainbow’s heart raced. She was having second thoughts. Vinyl sure trusted her—but with her hair triggered sex drive overreacting to the touch of another filly by flaring her wings harder than a bed of granite, she wouldn’t be able to fly down and catch Vinyl should she fall through the floor.

Once again their lips united in a passionate kiss, Vinyl squirming against Rainbow’s hips as she wrestled with the pegasus’s lively, energetic tongue. She could feel Rainbow breathing beneath her, the gentle swelling and releasing of her chest pushed the unicorn just the slightest bit upward with each breath. Rainbow’s heart was beating fast with excitement, pulsing against Vinyl’s skin.

The kiss broke after many intense, passionate minutes, and Vinyl slowly slid down Rainbow’s body so she could kiss her neck. Then her chest. Then her belly. Rainbow shifted her legs around, giving her lover ample things to wrap her own legs around to hold her up. Then Vinyl passed fully over the blue fields of Rainbow’s stomach, stopping just between her outstretched hind legs. Vinyl’s whole body had slipped inside Rainbow’s bed, her own hind legs dangling down through the floor in the open air beneath the house. It was a curious feeling; she could see the clouds all around her, shaped into furniture just like she would have expected in any earth pony’s house. She could see Dash lying flat on her back, legs up, held perfectly aloft by the bed even though her wings were more or less paralyzed. But she had passed through the same exact stuff herself as easily as she moved through air. It was unnerving, feeling so vulnerable up in the sky.

“Scratch…” Rainbow practically whispered. Her brilliantly colorful tail twitched. “What…”

“Relax,” Vinyl assured her, leaning in close. “I want to taste the rainbow.”

Strong pegasus lungs inhaled fully, bracing for what Vinyl was about to do. Her pretty red eyes disappeared beneath the curve of Rainbow’s stomach, and the whole world exploded with color.

“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo tried to call out, but her throat was too dry. She needed a glass of water. She’d awoken in the guest bedroom of Rainbow’s cloud home; she must have fallen asleep after their flight lesson and been brought back here. Scootaloo had never been on a cloud before. She giggled at the way they felt so soft and squishy beneath her hooves.

There was no answer to Scootaloo’s raspy call, so she decided to go exploring. It was still the middle of the night, so Rainbow was probably asleep. She didn’t want to disturb something as important as a star athlete’s rest, so she’d just have to find the kitchen on her own.

Muffled moans were coming from a room at the far end of the hall. Scootaloo rushed down to see what was the matter; maybe even Rainbow Dash had bad dreams sometimes. When she reached the doorway, Scootaloo nearly gasped in surprise. Rainbow was flat on her back, and the bright blue mane and white horn belonging to her DJ friend were sticking up from between the blue pegasus’s hind legs. Vinyl Scratch left Rainbow’s crotch, pulling herself up and crawling up the length of her body. Scootaloo was confused. How could a unicorn be here, in Rainbow’s flying cloud house? And what was she doing between Rainbow’s legs?

“Sweet Celestia, you’re good, Scratch…” Rainbow whispered, exhausted. Her coat was soaked with sweat and her face had flushed red. What was Vinyl Scratch ‘good’ at?

As if to answer, Vinyl smiled broadly and planted her lips right on Rainbow’s. They amorously grappled each other with their forelegs, pulling tightly together as their lips mashed together in a wet kiss.

Scootaloo’s jaw nearly hit the floor. Rainbow Dash was kissing Vinyl? But that was something ponies only did when they really, really liked each other in a special way…and maybe whatever Vinyl had been doing between Rainbow Dash’s legs had been some special kind of kiss. That meant they really, really liked each other. But where did that leave her? She liked Rainbow Dash too.  How could Vinyl Scratch steal her? How could Rainbow Dash betray her? This was wrong…all wrong.

Scootaloo was betrayed. She was going to tell Rainbow Dash how much she cared for her next time they had a flying lesson, but this changed everything. This ruined everything. Scootaloo stormed off back to her room, tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to just jump off the house and fly home on her own, but she’d never make it down safely. She climbed back into her bed and tried to sleep, her crying eyes wetting the pillow beneath her orange cheek.

Chapter 10

“Hey, squirt,” Rainbow greeted, landing on the ground beside the little orange pegasus and trotting impressively along with her wings flared up and out. “I’ve got an hour free. Want to try flying again?”

Scootaloo stared straight at the ground. It had been two full weeks since she’d spent the night at Rainbow’s house, and the memory of that night was still fresh in her mind. “Not now, Rainbow Dash,” she said harshly through gritted teeth.

Rainbow stopped in her tracks at the utterly unexpected rejection, her wings sagging down and tucking into her sides. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Scootaloo answered flatly, not changing expression. “Everything is fine. I just don’t want to try flying right now.”

“Are you still upset because it didn’t work right away last time?”

“No. I just don’t want to fly today.”

“Okay then…” Rainbow gave up. “I guess I’ll try some other time.”

“I guess,” Scootaloo shrugged. Rainbow took off and flew away, and Scootaloo sat down in the grass. She had once loved Rainbow Dash, worshipped the very mention of her name, but now…there was nopony in Equestria she hated more. How could she ruin everything they could have had together by running off with her? The very thought of it brought her blood to a boil. She hadn’t even unclenched her teeth in hours.

“Hi Scootaloo! Ready to get started?” Sweetie Belle’s voice was shrill, piercing, annoying.

“Yeah,” she said. “What are we doing today?”

“Now what kinda question is that?” Apple Bloom cheerily chimed in. “We’re gettin’ our cutie marks, of course!”

Scootaloo snorted with derision.

“What’s the matter, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Nothing.”

“You’ve been really sad-looking lately,” she commented. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo shook off her pack into the corner of the clubhouse and took a seat. “Is there anything specific we have planned?”

“Ah don’t think so, other than going on down the list of activities we haven’t tried yet,” Apple Bloom produced the stack of papers the Crusaders used for recordkeeping and making sure they proceeded in a logical fashion and didn’t attempt the same thing twice. It was all very efficient and precise.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Jazz Bassoonists it is!” Sweetie Belle cheered. “I’ve been looking forward to this one.”

“Ugh…” Scootaloo sighed. “Sounds booooring.”

“It’s at least safer than Cutie Mark Crusaders Cliff-Divers.”

“Not nearly awesome enough,” Scootaloo stood up, putting her pack back on as the Crusaders prepared to depart on another adventure. The strap was being stubborn, though, and wouldn’t fasten properly. Scootaloo tugged harder, but it wasn’t enough. She gave up, kicking off the pack and bucking it into the corner in a frustrated rage. “Stupid bag!” she yelled.

“Scootaloo…” Sweetie approached timidly. “Come on, tell me what’s wrong. You can tell me. I care about you.”

“Well I don’t!” Scootaloo snapped, storming out of the clubhouse. “Sheesh, you think you foals would get the idea when I said I just wanted to be left alone.”

Sweetie Belle sat down, her heart crushed. She’d always liked Scootaloo, maybe even loved her. And Scootaloo had always been distant, her mind stuck in Rainbow Dash’s shadow. Sweetie knew they would probably never really have the kind of relationship she wanted, but as long as they could stay friends…that would be good enough. Scootaloo’s harsh and unprovoked attack was totally uncalled for—Sweetie didn’t know why her orange idol had suddenly changed attitudes so drastically, but she didn’t like it. She was bitter and caustic now, not tolerating anypony prying into her business. It was maddening, especially since there was clearly something wrong in her life to make her act this way.

“Ah’ll go after her,” Apple Bloom promised, rushing out of the clubhouse in pursuit, even though Scootaloo had already taken off on her scooter towards town.

Sweetie was grateful for the effort, but she wondered if she even cared anymore. She wanted to be a designer, but she’d been shown on more than one occasion that that was not her lot in life. Years of childhood dreams had been stripped in the blink of an eye. But then there was Scootaloo, her savior from the bullies of the school, the pony that had helped her push past their hate. She wanted more than anything to be close to her, to make something impressive of herself so that Scootaloo would actually take more than a passing friendly interest in her. But that had all been for nought, too. Scootaloo had somehow become one of the bullies herself.

It was enough to break Sweetie Belle’s heart.

Chapter 11

Scootaloo was angry. She was angry with Rainbow Dash for throwing away what could have been a perfectly good relationship and trading it for that unicorn DJ. If they wanted to be friends, then that was fine; Vinyl Scratch was pretty cool, for a unicorn. But the honor of sharing a kiss with the greatest, most incredible pegasus in all Equestria was something Scootaloo had been aspiring to for a long time. She’d finally worked up the courage and the guts to go through with it, only to have Vinyl beat her to the punch. It was awful. Rainbow had betrayed her completely.

But as she thought about it more, she became gradually more and more angry at herself, as well. Rainbow was fully grown, a bit older than Vinyl, even. She’d inspired six other ponies to earn their cutie marks before Scootaloo was even born. She was way out of Scootaloo’s league, and Scootaloo cursed herself for not seeing it sooner. All that obsession, all that idol worship…she never had a chance the whole time. It was always Vinyl who was destined to get her, from the very beginning.

Still, she had come too far now. Rainbow Dash was just ahead, lazing on the branch of a tree, as usual. Part of her wanted to turn back and give up, to let things go and try again to be civil, but she couldn’t let herself do that. She’d been through too much.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” she yelled up to the sky.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow’s face looked down questioningly. “You change your mind about flying today?”

“No,” Scootaloo responded. “I wanted to tell you I saw you and Vinyl Scratch that night I stayed over. I came to ask what that was all about.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said, embarrassed. “How much did you see?”

“You know what, just forget it,” Scootaloo retracted. “It doesn’t even matter anymore anyway.”

Rainbow heard the slight catch in her voice, as if she was fighting to keep back tears. Then the pieces fell together, and Rainbow felt like an absolute idiot.

“Wait, Scootaloo,” she called, taking off from the cloud and landing beside the filly before she could leave. “Tell me what’s wrong.” She already knew; Scootaloo had feelings for her. Truly, she should have seen it coming all along. Scootaloo was young and a bit naïve, not fully understanding how her body was reacting to normal biological changes. Age and gender meant nothing to her at this stage—Rainbow actually envied her innocence.

Scootaloo took a deep breath, thinking it best to just go ahead and lay her cards on the table. “I love you, Rainbow Dash,” she confessed, her ears immediately hearing the words spoken aloud and sending a rush of tears to her eyes. “I thought we could be together. You know, like, together. But then you and Vinyl Scratch were…” she trailed off, not knowing the words to describe what she had seen.

Rainbow put a hoof on her orange shoulder to comfort her. “Look, kid, it’s really complicated how all these things work. It means a lot that you think so highly of me. I’m flattered. But if we got together, it would be wrong. I know it sounds like it would be awesome, but you’re still in school. It just isn’t right. Why don’t you find some nice colt in your class—”

“No!” she refused. “I want you, Rainbow Dash. Or I used to. I don’t even know anymore.”

“Well then, maybe that’s another sign we weren’t meant for each other. I’m sorry you had to be let down like this, but it’s for the best. We can still be friends, and I can still teach you to fly.”

Scootaloo sat down on the hard ground, thinking hard about that. “I guess that could work…” she nearly whispered.

“Good thing. I hate having to turn you down like this, knowing how hard it must have been for you to work up the courage to approach me about it, but I’m positive you’ll thank me in the end.”

“There ya are!” Apple Bloom rushed over from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. “What in tarnation has gotten into ya? It’s bad enough how moody you’ve been the past coupla weeks, but now ya made Sweetie Belle cry with that little tantrum back there.”

“Oh, no, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I didn’t mean to…I was just…sorry Rainbow Dash but I have to go.” She jumped onto her scooter and buzzed off toward the clubhouse at full tilt. Apple Bloom turned to follow, but Rainbow grabbed her tail in her teeth and halted her.

“Oh no you don’t,” Rainbow preempted any protest. “This is something they need to work out just between them.”

The blue scooter screeched to a stop outside the Crusaders’ clubhouse, and Scootaloo rushed up the ramp to where Sweetie Belle lay curled up in the corner.

“Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said as she entered, trying to think of how she could best apologize.

“Don’t bother,” Sweetie Belle stopped her. “It’s my own fault. I thought you might be interested in me, but you were always chasing Rainbow Dash. I guess I hoped I would be worth your attention anyway, but I should have known better.”

“No, Sweetie Belle! You’re my friend. I know I got carried away with her, but…that’s not even a problem anymore. I talked to her about it, and I know I was taking things a bit too far. I’m sorry. I’ll be a better friend from now on, I promise.”

“That sort of is the problem, though,” Sweetie said sheepishly. “What you felt for Rainbow Dash…I felt the same for you.”

“What?” Scootaloo was stunned—she certainly hadn’t expected that.

“You stood up for me when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making fun of me. You’re the reason we even have the Cutie Mark Crusaders! I…I think I love you, Scootaloo.”

“Sweetie Belle...” Scootaloo simply didn’t have the words to respond. Her eyes were welling up again with new tears. She lay down beside the unicorn, leaning close against her. “I really like you, too.”

“But you have Rainbow Dash now, right? You stopped talking about how much you wanted to be with her that we assumed you two were actually…together.”

“No, that was just a fantasy of mine that got a bit out of hand,” Scootaloo explained. “I still really respect her. She’s a hero! But she’s with Vinyl Scratch now, and there was never any hope for us anyway. I’m sorry. I wish I’d seen it sooner so none of us would have had to go through this.”

Sweetie nuzzled affectionately at Scootaloo’s neck. “It’s okay. I forgive you. After all, I was kind of obsessed with you for a long time.”

Scootaloo blinked in surprise. “All this time I was chasing an impossible dream, and I never even realized I had somepony who already loved me right here. I can’t believe how blind I was.”

“So you’re not upset with me?”

“With you? Sweetie Belle, the only pony I’m upset with right now is myself. I should have given up on my Rainbow Dash fantasies long ago. Then I’d have seen the way you looked at me. And I’d have been able to do this a long time ago…”

Scootaloo kissed her, pressing Sweetie’s surprised lips with her own. She tasted…sweet. Like sugar.

Sweetie pulled away after a minute. “So…that means…you and me?”

Scootaloo smiled hopefully, thinking of a future when she could have her own house in the clouds, where she could hold up Sweetie Belle as they shared a bed, just like Rainbow and Vinyl had done. Or maybe they’d live on the ground where it was safer. Either way, Scootaloo’s future fantasies had completely rewritten themselves to include that little white unicorn instead of the rainbow-maned pegasus that had populated them for so long. Scootaloo was hopeful for the future, whatever it had to bring. Things hadn’t turned out the way she wanted, but it was for the best.

“Well,” she said, “Rainbow Dash did say one thing that made me think: we’re pretty young yet, so chances are it probably won’t work out in the end. But you’re the most awesome unicorn I know, and I’m willing to give it a try.”

[Blank]