Strength Through the Storm
“…just thought you should know Mrs. Dash,” A light blue Pegasus mare with a blond mane said.
“Uhh…alright Derpy I’ll keep that in mind,” said a cyan Pegasus mare with a rainbow mane. “Thanks…I guess. And you can call me Rainbow Dash. Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I want a name change.”
“You’re welcome,” Derpy said. “Todoloo!” she yelled before falling backwards out of Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. Rainbow Dash looked over to make sure Derpy didn’t fall on the ground, and when she looked down she saw Derpy spread out her wings and fly off towards the orange horizon.
“Well that was…weird,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “Well I guess that’s just Derpy being Derpy. Though usually I’d expect randomness like that to come from Pinkie Pie or something.” She just shrugged it off and walked into her cloud living room.
As soon as she walked into her living room she heard a voice ask her “so who was it?”
She looked over in the direction of the voice to see a white Pegasus stallion with a navy blue mane looking over an orange Pegasus filly with a purple mane. That Pegasus filly was right now doing some pushups using her wings and the stallion was silently counting each pushup she did. Rainbow Dash’s pet tortious Tank was also watching them. They were both in the middle of the living room and just a few feet away from a blue colored couch.
“It was just Derpy Soarin’,” Rainbow Dash said. She then went to the other side of the Pegasus filly and knelt down for her. “How’s it going Scoots?”
“Urrg…fine…Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo grunted. “This…isn’t…too…hard.”
“Just a few more and you can be done Scootaloo,” Soarin’ said.
“I…don’t need…to stop,” Scootlaoo grunted. “I can…keep going…for much longer than this.”
“I’m sure you can Scoots. An awesome filly like you could probably do that for hours,” Rainbow Dash said. She got a look from Soarin’ and started backpedaling. “But that doesn’t mean you have to. You’ve done enough exercising for now.”
After Rainbow Dash said that Scootaloo collapsed on the floor and spread her wings out behind her. She was panting heavily from her exercise and didn’t really move for a few minutes. But after she recovered she got back on her hooves and looked at Soarin’ with her purple eyes.
“So how many did I do?” Scootaloo asked.
“Forty Five,” Soarin’ answered. “Not bad Scoots.”
“Aw man, but you guys in your training do hundreds of wing pushups,” Scootaloo said disheartenedly. “I can’t even get to one hundred.”
“Yeah, but we’re also adults and Wonderbolts,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’re still learning Scoots. Keep at it and you might be as awesome as me some day.”
Scootaloo’s face lit up. “Thanks Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said.
“You’re welcome squirt,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now go wash up will ya?”
“Do I have to?” Scootaloo asked.
“You do if you don’t want to smell like Sweet Apple Acres after they’ve had a long day of work,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now would you rather go on your own or have me and Soarin’ drag you into a bath?”
“All right I’m going,” Scootaloo said in an annoyed tone of voice. Scootaloo walked out of the room and into the bathroom. As soon as she was gone Soarin’ gave Rainbow Dash another look.
“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I don’t think that last line was really necessary,” Soarin’ said. “Yes you should have made sure that she went but I think you could have handled that a bit better. Without mentioning Sweet Apple Acres, since it isn't really their fault. And I don’t think she was at the point where you should have threatened to drag her into the bath.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said.
“It’s alright,” Soarin’ said. “You’re still learning Rainbow Dash. We’ve only had Scootaloo for a few weeks now so you’re still going to make mistakes Rainbow Dash. You just need to learn from them.”
Rainbow Dash once again sighed. As Soarin’ said a few weeks ago he and Rainbow Dash adopted the young filly, taking her into their house. And while things have been going well so far, Rainbow Dash still lacks confidence in her abilities to parent a kid. She tried to learn fast for the kid, but even with everything she learned she still has that much more to figure out. She was glad that she had Soarin' and all her friends to help out, or she would probably be lost.
“Ok,” Rainbow Dash said softly. She looked towards one of the clocks and noticed it was close to dinner. “Hey Soarin’ would you mind…?
“Yeah I’ll get supper started,” Soarin’ said, “So long as you go get dessert. Just try to ignore the smell of ‘Sweet Apple Acres after they’ve had a long day of work’ and you’ll be fine.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Of course you would throw that back at me, she thought. “Fine,” Rainbow Dash said.
She started walking out of the living room but Soarin’ put a hoof on her first, stopping her before she was able to move. He then gently turned her around so that he was looking directly into her magenta eyes with his green eyes. Afterwards he used his forehoof to grab Rainbow Dash’s forehoof.
“Don’t worry about it Dashie,” Soarin’ said in as sweet of a voice as he could. “Someday I know you’ll be the best parent ever. And maybe someday…the best mother ever?”
“Maybe someday Soarin’,” Rainbow Dash said, “but for now I’d…I’d rather figure things out with Scootaloo first before bringing a foal into things.”
~
At the dinner table Rainbow Dash, Soarin’, and Scootaloo were all digging in on a few daisy sandwiches. Of course while Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both focusing on their sandwiches, Soarin’ had his eyes on something else. He was more focused on the three small pies Rainbow Dash got from Sweet Apple Acres that was put right in the middle of the table.
Scootaloo noticed that and asked “Can you stop staring at that pie? We’ll all get it as soon as we’re done. Just wait until then.”
“Would you rather me stare at that apple pie or a different one?” Soarin’ asked while sending a glance at Rainbow Dash.
“I thought I told you not to compare me to food again,” Rainbow Dash said.
“And you still love me either way,” Soarin’ said in a sing song voice which caused both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to roll their eyes, Rainbow Dash with a half-smile on her face and Scootaloo with an annoyed expression on her face.
“You two,” Scootaloo mumbled.
“So Rainbow Dash,” Soarin’ asked, “what did Derpy want earlier?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “She was just here to warn me that there’s going to be a big storm tonight,” Rainbow Dash said.
Scootaloo happened to be drinking a bit of water when Rainbow Dash said that and as soon as she heard the word storm she did a spit take and started coughing. Soarin’ was the first to react by running over to her and patting her on the back. “Are you ok Scootaloo?” Soarin’ asked.
“Yeah *cough* I’m *cough* fine,” Scootaloo said in between coughs. “It was just *cough* water.”
Scootaloo kept on coughing with Soarin’ patting her on the back for a few minutes before she stopped. Soarin’ then stopped patting her and Scootaloo took a few deep breaths. After Soarin’ was sure Scootaloo was fine/after Scootaloo gave Soarin’ an annoyed look Soarin’ went back to his own seat.
“Anyways,” Rainbow Dash said, “I don’t know why Derpy told me there’s going to be a storm. I’m no longer on weather duty so it’s not like I’m needed to help the pegasi get the storm moving. And it’s not like my house is going anywhere unless some pegasus wants to move it. It won’t disturb my sleep because my house will just absorb the water and I’ve slept through thunder before. And I’m a pegasus, so storms don’t scare me.”
“Right,” Scootaloo said. She had a small bit of nervousness in her voice but she managed to keep it hidden enough so that neither Soarin’ nor Rainbow Dash noticed it. “Nothing scares you anymore does it?”
“You bet kid,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Did Derpy give you a reason why she told you?” Soarin’ asked. “After all, from what you’ve told me she’s a mailmare, not a weather pony.”
“She mentioned something about her Time Turner friend of hers wanting me to know but that’s really all I got,” Rainbow Dash said. “I don’t see why I need to know though.”
“What time is the storm supposed to happen?” Soarin’ asked, trying to see if he can make some sense off why Rainbow Dash was told that.
“Well the late night Pegasi are the ones working on it, so we’ll probably be asleep before we even hear it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m seriously not worried at all about it. Derpy has done some strange things before. She’s almost the pegasus version of Pinkie Pie.”
“Alright,” Soarin’ said. He finished up with his sandwich and then looked with a hungry eye at the pie.
“Yes Soarin’ you can dig into that pie,” Rainbow Dash said with an eye roll. “But just make sure to be digging into your pie and not ours.”
“I’ll try to,” Soarin’ said as he got his hooves on his pie.
“He’s going to all of the pie isn’t he?” Scootaloo said. Soarin’ was already in his pie face first and digging in.
“Not if we get our pies before he’s done with his,” Rainbow Dash said. “So you better dig in.” Rainbow Dash as she said she would started working to finish off her sandwich and Scootaloo tried as well. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both got done at nearly the same time and both grabbed their pies before Soarin’ could get to them.
“Would you mind passing the cool whip?” Scootaloo asked. Rainbow Dash pushed the cool whip in Scoots direction and Scootaloo started spreading it on her pie. Soarin’ finished with his pie just when Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were about to start on theirs.
“Bet the storm we’re about to get will be pretty good for Sweet Apple Acres,” Soarin’ said. “Hopefully it’ll make these apples that much more delicious.”
Scootaloo started slowing down with her pie and was at the point where she was almost stalling with it. She eventually put her fork down and pushed her pie forward. She sighed and looked at both Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash.
“Would you guys mind…if I just put my pie in the fridge and eat it later?” Scootaloo asked. “I’m not…feeling too hungry right now.”
“Sure Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m sure I can keep Soarin’ away from it for one day.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo said. She got out of her chair, lifted up her pie and crossed the room to put it into the fridge. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” Scootaloo left the kitchen and went for the staircase to her room on the second floor.
“Something must be wrong with her,” Soarin’ noted.
“You do know not everypony has the ability to eat pie like you right?” Rainbow Dash asked. “She’s probably just full.”
“She barely even started with her pie!” Soarin’ said. “Nopony can just eat a little bit of pie and be done.”
“Soarin’…” Rainbow Dash said.
“Alright, I’ll give you that she might be full,” Soarin’ said, “but I still feel like there is something wrong with her. Can you at least check on her after supper?”
“Alright fine,” Rainbow Dash said.
Rainbow Dash ate all of her pie and both her and Soarin’ started cleaning up after supper. After they were both done Rainbow Dash went up the stairs and down the second floor hallway to Scootaloo’s room in the cloud manor. Scootaloo’s room used to be the guest room of the house, but when Rainbow Dash won custody of Scootaloo both Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ worked to convert it into Scootaloo’s room.
Rainbow Dash opened up Scootaloo’s room and saw the orange filly looking out of the window on the other side of the room. Scootaloo was sitting down and had her head trained to the currently midnight blue sky. Her face had a look of worry on it, but Rainbow Dash could not see that from the angle she was in.
“Hey Scoots, whatch ya staring outside for?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Uhh…nothing,” Scootaloo said swiftly. She quickly looked over away from the window and towards Rainbow Dash. “I was just uhh…”
“If you’re looking for the weather ponies you’re a bit early,” Rainbow Dash said. “The storm isn’t happening until much later tonight. Besides, I’ve never found weather jobs to be that interesting to watch. It’s just a bunch of Pegasus flying around pushing clouds.”
“Yeah, your right,” Scootaloo said as she stepped back from her window. “I…think I’m going to hit the hay early.”
“Alright kiddo,” Rainbow Dash said. “Need anything before you head to sleep?”
“No, I think I’m good,” Scootaloo said as she crossed over to her bed.
“Well good night Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said. She didn’t get a reply so she just left Scootaloo’s room.
As soon as Scootaloo’s door closed she said to herself, “It isn’t going to be one.”
~
Late into the night the storm was in full swing. There was very little light within Rainbow Dash’s manor besides the light that appears whenever lightning flashes, which was quite often for this storm. The rain was falling hard and the sound of the rain pouring could be heard from all around the house. The sound of thunder could also be heard quite frequently.
Soarin’ was sleeping very soundly for the storm outside raging but Rainbow Dash herself was not sleeping well at all. She kept having nightmares about Scootaloo walking outside in the storm and after a flash of lightning she disappears. It keeps constantly plaguing Rainbow Dash’s dreams and it is preventing her from sleeping.
She rolled over in her side of bed turning towards her other side and happened to face Soarin’. Rainbow Dash on the right side of the bed, and Soarin’ was sleeping on the left side of the bed and facing the left side of the room. He moved a bit probably because of something in his dream, but otherwise he seemed very peaceful.
“How is it that you can sleep fine and I can’t?” Rainbow Dash asked quietly when she saw him sleeping soundly. “You’re the worrywart, not me.”
Soarin’ of course didn’t react to her and he just continued sleeping. Rainbow Dash could have woke him up, in fact she even wanted to have somepony comfort her, but she would never admit she is actually worried and she couldn’t think of any reason to wake Soarin’ up. So she instead decided to get up and walk around the house. Maybe check in on Scootaloo secretly even though she is not worried at all.
Rainbow Dash walked out of her room and took a left to go to Scootaloo’s room. She quietly opened the door and looked in over to the left of the room towards the bed. She didn’t see any orange or purple in the light blue bed so Rainbow Dash went closer to the bed to see whether Scootaloo happened to be under the covers or not. When she got over to the bed she looked in and saw that Scootaloo wasn’t in the bed.
Rainbow Dash’s first reaction was to panic especially with the nightmares she’s been having, but she quickly attempted to calm herself down. “It’s aright Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “Scootaloo is probably just taking a walk around the house like you are. You don’t need to worry.”
She then heard the sound of the front door slamming and that immediately got her heart pumping. In her dream Scootaloo walks out of the house before some lightning flashes and she disappears. The coincidence of the dream to what is happening now is uncanny.
“Snap out of it Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. “It was just a dream. Just because you happened to dream about Scootaloo disappearing during a thunderstorm and she has disappeared now doesn’t mean that’s actually going to happen.” Rainbow Dash sighed, lowered her head, and did everything in her power to avoid crying. She shook her head to avoid it and replaced her sadness with determination. “Fine then, if something is going to happen outside right now then I’m going to go outside and find her before something happens!”
Rainbow Dash quickly ran as fast as she could through her house using the light of the lightning flashes to help her see through her house. She flew down the steps instead of taking them and went straight to the door. She opened it up and walked outside into the dark, closing the door loudly behind her.
As soon as she walked out she naturally got soaked immediately from the pouring rain. She shivered a bit from the cold but ignored it for now and instead focused on the task at hand. Rainbow Dash had no clue where Scootaloo would be at this time of night or during a storm, but Rainbow Dash hoped she would be able to find her through the dark.
Because Scootaloo is still not the strongest flyer in the world yet Rainbow Dash kept her eyes more on the ground then within the rest of the sky. Rainbow Dash was flying circles around her house also hoping that Scootaloo didn’t go too far from her house. Rainbow Dash hoped that she could see just a bit of orange and purple through the lightning flashes since the green of the ground below her was hard to see in between flashes.
It took a few minutes but Rainbow Dash eventually finally noticed a bit of orange on the ground during a flash of lightning. As soon as she saw that she memorized the location and then immediately started flying in that direction. After a few more flashes of lighting confirmed that it was Scootaloo she was flying to she felt a weight lift from her. She was getting close to Scootaloo when she heard Scootaloo talk.
“Come on Scootaloo you can do this,” Scootaloo said in a chocked voice. She sounded like she had been crying there. “You’re not a chicken Scootaloo so don’t act like one.”
“Scootaloo are you ok?” Rainbow Dash asked as she got close to Scootaloo. When she finally did get close enough to Scootaloo to see her without needing to rely on the lightning. Scootaloo’s mane was soaked and she had her eyes closed and her face was tensed up. While it sounded like she was crying because of the rain it was impossible to see any tears.
Scootaloo’s face loosened a bit and she opened her eyes to look at Rainbow Dash. “Ahh Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “I-I’m fine.” She couldn’t have even convinced a foal that she was fine with the way that she said that. And of course her screaming when some lightning flashed didn’t help her either.
“Scootaloo…are you afraid of storms?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“N-no I’m not,” Scootaloo lied. “I-I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Scootaloo, I can tell you are afraid right now,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“T-that’s just because it’s c-cold outside,” Scotoaloo said. “I-I’m not afraid of a little storm. What kind of pegasus is afraid of a…of a little lightning?”
“Scootaloo…” Rainbow Dash said sadly.
“No…I’m not afraid of anything,” Scootaloo said shaking all the more. “I-I’m just like you Rainbow Dash. N-not afraid of anything. I-I’ll prove it to you. I-I’ll stay out here all night and prove to you that I’m not afraid of anything. Y-you’ll see.”
“Scootaloo, I told you I’m not going to think you’re a wimp no matter what!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “You don’t have to be out here and you can admit you’re afraid of the storm! I’m not going to think any less of you! Some come back inside with me!”
“N-no,” Scootaloo said. “I-I can’t be afraid of anything! I need to be like you! Afraid of nothing! I don’t deserve to live in your house if I’m a chicken!”
“Scootaloo even I’m afraid of some things!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs. There was silence between them for a few minutes, where only the sound could be heard.
“W-what do you mean Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked.
“Scootaloo, when I couldn’t find you inside the house earlier I was worried about you,” Rainbow Dash said. “I was worried about where you were in this storm and whether you were alright. When I heard the door slam I thought you could have been foalnapped, you could be out in the storm and hurt, anything could have happened to you. Scootaloo, I hate to admit it, but I was afraid of losing you.”
“Y-you were?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. She sat on the ground next to Scootaloo. “I’m still getting used to this whole parenting thing. I don’t want something to happen to you and have it be my fault because I didn’t pay enough attention to you. Hay, even if I wasn’t parenting you I still would hate it if something happened to you.”
“But that’s parenting stuff…I think,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t know, my parents never did any of that to me. But aren’t parents supposed to be worried about that sort of stuff?”
“Yeah, I guess Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said. “But you can’t let it get to you like this. Twilight once told me something corny like ‘Courage isn’t the absence of fear, its being able to face your fears’ or something like that. I don’t really know, I wasn’t listening at the time. But I think that means that you shouldn’t let your fear effect you like this. Yeah you might be afraid of storms but so what? Just don’t let it bother you too much Scoots and you’ll be just fine.”
“…Rainbow Dash it isn’t really storms I’m afraid of,” Scootaloo said.
“Scootaloo…”
Scootaloo put a hoof up to state she wasn’t done yet. “It isn’t really the entire storm I’m afraid of. It’s only the lightning.” Lightning conveniently flashed at that time causing Scootaloo to once again shutter. “I don’t mind the sound of the rainfall, and actually the rumble of thunder almost comforts me. But I don’t like seeing the lightning flash.”
“Guess that means you don’t really like our cutie marks huh?” Rainbow Dash asked Scootaloo, referencing her and Soarin’s lightning bolt cutie marks.
“I don’t mind you’re cutie marks,” Scootaloo said. “In fact I really like your cutie marks. It shows that you aren’t afraid of something stupid like lightning bolts.”
“Scootaloo…if you want to stop being afraid of lightning, standing outside in the middle of a storm isn’t going to help you,” Rainbow Dash said. “That will only get you sick or something. You’ll eventually get it that lightning isn’t really a threat to you and you’ll stop being so afraid of it.”
Another lightning bolt flashed and Scootaloo flinched. “But what about now?” Scotoaloo asked.
Rainbow Dash thought about it for a few seconds. “Alright Scootaloo, you can sleep in mine and Soarin’s room tonight,” Rainbow Dash said. “And if you need to…any night that there is a storm and you feel like you can’t make it on your own you can just sleep next to us that night.”
“Really Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah…I think there’s something about that in those parenting books Twilight gave me,” Rainbow Dash said. “But you know what; it doesn’t matter to me either way. I’m going to make sure and be there for you either way.”
“Thanks Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said.
“No problem Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s get you out of the rain now.”
Both of the pegasi took off from the ground and went back to Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. When they got in they both went into the bathroom and grabbed some towels to dry off. After they were both dry they went back up stairs and to Rainbow Dash’s room.
They both entered Rainbow Dash’s room and as soon as they started trotting into the room Soarin’s sleep was disturbed. He looked up at both of them with his ever tired eyes and asked in a tired voice, “Hey you both. What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you in the morning,” Rainbow Dash said. “For now we’ve got a guest sleeping next to us tonight.”
Soarin’ squinted at Scootaloo and then looked at Rainbow Dash. Figuring he would get an answer tomorrow morning like Rainbow Dash said he would he let it go and fell back on his right into the bed. He scooted over a bit to the left order to make room for Scootaloo.
Scootaloo hopped into the middle of the bed and started lying down on her stomach. Rainbow Dash once again took her place on the right side of the bed and was on her stomach as well. They all got comfortable inside the bed and started falling asleep. Some lightning flashed outside causing Scootaloo to shake, so Rainbow Dash lifted her left wing and placed it over Scootaloo.
“It’ll be alright Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said softly. “I’m here to be your strength through the storm.”
~
“Ok that should be enough,” a brown earth pony stallion said in a Trottingham accent.
The midnight blue Alicorn princess turned her head away from Rainbow Dash’s manor off in the distance and cut off the magic that was going to her horn. “Yes, I can sense that Rainbow Dash, Soarin’, and Scootaloo are all within the same vicinity from each other,” the princess said. “Rainbow Dash has most likely learned her lesson in parenthood.”
“Good. Now Luna you can stop manipulating Rainbow Dash’s dreams and all that. Unless you want to give her some better dreams in compensation for the negative dreams we had to give her to get her out here.”
“Yes, I think I shall do that,” Luna said. She then lifted her horn up and it started glowing again.
“Good then,” the brown stallion said. He turned over in the direction of the town and started walking in that direction. “With all luck Rainbow Dash will help Scootaloo overcome her fear of thunderstorms and more importantly she will start doubting herself as a parent less.”
“I just have one question Time Turner,” Luna said. “Why are you interested in helping Rainbow Dash become a better parent? I know Derpy is a friend of Rainbow Dash’s so did she ask you to do this?”
Time Turner stopped for a few seconds. “Derpy is going to learn she is pregnant soon. My wife is going to have another young muffin in about six months. And I have a strong feeling that she is going to have a female pegasus pony.” After saying that the Time Turner walked back towards Ponyville without saying another word leaving Luna confused as to what he means with that statement.
Author's Note
And here you go. A bit of slice of life for you based on Fight for Flight.
And also the Doctor seems to be up to something. What that is...well you'll figure that out in my next fic.
