The Life of a Broken Pegasus

Chapters

Cutie Marks and Broken Hearts
A Night in the Park
New Friendship
Powerless
Secrets
A New Day
Fears
The Good Old Days
The Good Old Days (Alt Ending)

Cutie Marks and Broken Hearts

Rainbow Dash came running from the hospital room as fast as she could. What she had just seen was too unbearable for her, she didn’t want to have to deal with this pain. Applejack, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle looked at her curiously as she ran past, then back to the hallway she had come from. Fluttershy, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came out with weird looks on their faces, Fluttershy’s the saddest and the two fillies were a mix of sadness and pure confusion.

“What happened?” Twilight asked, “Why did Rainbow Dash run through looking like she was going to burst out crying?”

“W-well…” Fluttershy started in her usual quiet voice and noticing the looks everypony was giving her quickly said, “Scootaloo’s fine… for now.”

“What in Equestria do you mean ‘for now’?” Applejack asked loudly.

“She got her cutie mark!” Sweetie Belle piped up, not sure if she was supposed to be happy about it.

“And why is that a bad thing?” Twilight asked.

“Because it’s a weather cutie mark.” Fluttershy said oddly forcefully.

Everypony gasped and looked down the hall again. “How does Scootaloo feel about this?” Rarity asked quickly.

“Well… we don’t really know, we didn’t really get a chance to talk to her about it.” Apple Bloom said.

They all looked at each other, each of them could tell that the others were worrying about the same thing, how would Scootaloo be able to handle the fact that she wouldn’t be able to do what she was meant to do.

Rainbow Dash was running through Ponyville as fast as her hooves could take her. She ran right out of town and into an empty field. She looked up at the sky and cried, she didn’t know what to do. How was she going to handle Scootaloo knowing that she’ll never be able to do what she’s meant to do.

Twilight went out looking for Rainbow, she looked all through Ponyville but couldn’t find her. On her way over to Sweet Apple Acres she saw a light blue mound in the middle of the field about halfway between the orchard and Ponyville. She walked up to the crumpled pony crying in the grass and said, “Rainbow, are you alright?”

“Of course I’m not alright!” Rainbow yelled, “How can I be alright? Scootaloo can’t fly anymore but she got a weather cutie mark, how can a Pegasus who can’t fly manipulate weather?”

“I-“

“They can’t Twilight, simple as that.”

“She may not be able to manipulate the weather, so what she’s still your sister, you can’t just abandon her!” Twilight shouted.

“Nopony said I was. I just came out here to think, I don’t know what to do.” Rainbow said now looking at her hooves, more tears fell from her face.

“How do you think she feels? Add watching you run away, right now she needs reassurance, she needs you, you’re the only pony she’s got right now.” Twilight said quietly. “You don’t need to know exactly what to do, but right now you need to be there for her, you need to be there for your sister.”

Rainbow Dash woke up with a start. She had been dreaming about that day again, it still seemed so vivid, like it had only just happened.

Rainbow got up from her bed, walked over to the window and opened it. The bright summer sun shone through, lighting up her room. She looked around it and thought to herself, ‘It’s been over a year since then, why am I still having this dream?’

Rainbow walked down the hall to Scootaloo’s room and knocked. “Hey, sis, are you up?” Rainbow Dash said through the door before walking off to the kitchen to get breakfast ready and calling down the hall, “It’s almost time for school!”

“I’m up, I’m just getting my things ready.” Scootaloo called back, she looked over at her old saddlebag, it had been a while since it had fit her. She had grown a lot recently, so much so that now she was the biggest in her class, only by a few inches. This year would be the last of primary school and next year she would go off to high school, maybe, she still hadn’t decided.

Scootaloo looked over at the clock to see that it was already eight o’clock, she had to hurry up so she could eat something before school. She quickly put her homework and some new paper into her saddlebag and ran out into the kitchen for a quick breakfast. Rainbow was there waiting with breakfast.

“Thanks sis,” said Scootaloo as she quickly gulped down the meal, “You always save me by making breakfast, I remember back when I had to wake you up.”

Rainbow Dash laughed at that, “Yeah those were the days, I was so used to just lazing around. Life was so simple back then.”

“It’s amazing how much changes in just a couple of years.” Scootaloo said.

“You’d better hurry up or you’ll be late to school. Do you need me to take you?” Rainbow asked with a smile.

“Sis, I haven’t needed you to walk me to school for a long time now, but thanks. I love you sis.” Scootaloo said as she walked out of the door.

All the ponies in Ponyville were already out and about, going around doing their thing, several of them calling out greetings to Scootaloo as she passed. She had become notorious after her and Rainbow had moved into their earthbound home so Rainbow didn’t have to carry her sister to and from the ground to get home. Everypony knew her as the very unfortunate Pegasus for her life seemed to be one tragedy after another.

Scootaloo made it to school with no problems except having run into Pinkie Pie, although it wasn’t really a problem as she had given Scootaloo a cupcake afterwards. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walked up to her said good morning.

“Hey, how have you two been?” Scootaloo asked.

“I’ve been doing good, Applejack’s been making me work extra hard with her in the orchard.” Apple Bloom said and she moved to show them her flank, “But it paid off, see?”

On her flank there was a small, red apple with a green speck on it.

“I’ve been helping Rarity with her dress making, she finally lets me use the sewing machine!” Sweetie Belle said and she showed her flank as well. Hers sported a needle with thread, the thread outlining a heart shape and quarter musical note in the center.

As they were talking, Dinky walked up behind Scootaloo. “HI!” She said happily.

Scootaloo jumped so high, she cleared Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. She turned to face Dinky from behind the two laughing ponies, “Dinky, don’t sneak up on me!”

Dinky looked down and said, “I’m sorry, I was just so happy to see everypony after the long break.”

“I’m not mad at you, I just don’t like getting snuck up on.” Scootaloo said calmly.

Scootaloo looked back at her wings sadly, they were still mangled but she always had bandages on to hide them. Dinky saw her sad look and gave her a quick hug.

“It’s time for class everypony!” Miss Cheerilee called.

***

Rainbow Dash was walking through the street, she had no work today so she was looking for something to occupy herself for the day. As she passed by Sugar Cube Corner, she heard somepony say, “Even after all this time the poor thing still can’t fly. You would think that she would have healed by now.” It was Carrot Top, she was walking out of the bakery with Rose Luck.

Rainbow Dash stopped and hid around the corner, listening.

“I just can’t believe that she let her do something so dangerous, making a lightning cloud and during winter wrap up.” Rose Luck said.

She knew it, they were talking about Scootaloo, she couldn’t believe ponies were still talking about that.

“Well considering how her lifestyle was before, it’s not really that much of a surprise. Rainbow’s always been reckless, I’m more surprised that anypony let her take care of the little filly in the first place.” said Carrot Top with concern.

Rainbow couldn’t take anymore, she jumped out and shouted, “Yes I used to be reckless, yes I could have kept a more watchful eye on Scootaloo, we were just having fun, I didn’t notice what she was doing until it was too late! I may not have been fit to take care of anypony before but I’ve been much better since then!”

The two ponies backed away looking scared at the sudden burst of shouting. Rainbow’s shouting caused everypony within earshot to turn and look at her. She stood there staring madly at the two ponies who had been insulting her. ‘they don’t know what it’s like to let family get hurt so badly when you’re supposed to be taking care of them, they don’t know how it feels to almost lose family.’ she thought to herself.

Carrot Top and Rose Luck just sat there whimpering, they weren’t sure what Rainbow was going to do to them. Rainbow Dash looked at them for a second and turned away, she started running, no place set in her mind.

The two frightened ponies looked at each other, they knew that they shouldn’t have said what they did. Rainbow Dash wasn’t careless she just didn’t know the responsibility back then.

Rainbow Dash slowed down, she saw the library in front of her and decided to have a talk with Twilight. She walked through the door and saw Twilight sitting there, reading one of her books.

“Princess Twilight.” Rainbow said, holding back a laugh.

“How many times have I told you to drop the ‘princess’?” Twilight said annoyed.

“You know I’m never going to stop, ‘Princess’,” Rainbow said, emphasizing the word, “It’s just so funny.”

Twilight sighed, “So what do you want then?”

“Just to talk.”

Rainbow Dash told her about what happened before she came to the library. “I mean, I just can’t believe ponies are still talking about that.” she finished.

“There are always going to be ponies talking about something that you don’t want to hear or you don’t like, you just can’t let them get to you. What really matters is that you know the truth about what happened.” Twilight said turning back to her book.

“I suppose you’re right, thanks.” Rainbow turned to walk out of the library. “Twilight… never mind.”

Rainbow Dash was gone before Twilight could say anything else, what did Rainbow want to say, she wondered.

***

“Hey Scootaloo!” called a pony from across the school yard. “How are you?”

Scootaloo turned to see Cloudwhisp trotting toward her. “I’m fine.” She said unsure of what was going on, last time she checked he had been very mean to her. “What do you want?”

“Well, I was wondering what’s up with that bandage? Trying to start a new fashion trend?” Cloudwhisp laughed.

He was still saying that, for the last year that's all he would say to her when they met, Scootaloo tried to ignore him but his laughing kept getting to her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle saw her staring angrily at Cloudwhisp and quickly grabbed her attention.

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

“He keeps making fun of me.” Scootaloo said on the verge of tears, “Even though, I’ve never done anything to him, even though everypony knows what I’ve been through, why does he still make fun of me?”

Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom with concern. They both gave her a big hug and Apple Bloom said, “So one pony makes fun of you, so what?”

“You’ve overcome the loss of your parents, the loss of your wings, what’s one pony compared to that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I don’t know, he just gets to me.” Scootaloo replied, tears running down her face.

Cloudwhisp had started to show off for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Scootaloo glared at him angrily, she would show him.

A Night in the Park

Scootaloo got out of the bath and dried herself off, she looked at her mangled wings sadly. They had long since lost their burnt feathers and for the most part they were starting to look normal, aside from them having the appearance of being clipped, but she knew that underneath the nice feathers, the bones and muscles she needed to fly weren’t there. She brushed her mane and walked out to the kitchen where Rainbow Dash was making dinner.

“Hey sis, do you think my wings look well enough to stop wearing the bandages every day?” Scootaloo asked as she watched Rainbow run across the kitchen for some spice from the cupboard.

Rainbow looked over at Scootaloo and contemplated her wing’s appearance. “Maybe, if you feel okay with it, they still look kinda messed up but it’s your choice.”

“I’m not going to wear the bandages tomorrow then.” Scootaloo said decisively.

Rainbow gave her a concerned look before asking in a flat tone, “Somepony at school is bothering you about the bandages still aren’t they? It’s that Cloudwhisp again?”

“N-no,” Scootaloo said as she looked at her hooves, “it’s just that the bandages are uncomfortable that’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” Rainbow raised her eyebrow at her, “sure. I told you to just ignore him.”

“I… well… Dinner’s on fire.” Scootaloo said looking over at the stove.

“Wha- Oh crap!” Rainbow Dash turned to put out the fire on the stove, when she turned around, Scootaloo had gone.

Scootaloo ran outside and starting walking to the park. It was her favorite place to visit, especially at night. It held good memories, of her and her parents, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rainbow had even taught her to fly here. The last thought caused her to look sadly at her wings again. She tried to flap them a couple of times but they barely moved, what little muscle her wings had were merely stubs covered in feathers.

“Scootaloo?” a voice came from behind her.

She turned to look at the pony who was trotting over to her, she stood there astounded at who it was. Cloudwhisp was looking at her curiously as he got closer. Scootaloo wanted to run away but her legs refused to move.

“So that’s what your wings look like without bandages…” Cloudwhisp said as he circled Scootaloo, she curled up trying to hide her wings. “I wondered, that’s why I always said those things about the bandages, I’d hoped you’d take them off when I made fun of them.”

Scootaloo stood there bemused, “You wanted to see my wings? Why?”

“I’ve never seen a pony who lost their wings from a lightening strike, I thought you might have been making it up just like all the other stories you tell.” Cloudwhisp said simply, continuing to circle her.

“None of the things I say are made up, everything I’ve said is true.” Scootaloo said defiantly.

“You’ve still never been able to prove any of it.”

“It’s not that I haven’t been able to prove it, it’s that every time I try to you always ignore it.” Scootaloo was getting very mad. “Even my friends are always trying to tell you the truth but you just say that they’re lying too, how can you deny something even when everypony tells you that it’s real?”

Cloudwhisp stood there with an angry look on his face, he wanted to just shout at her. Scootaloo stared right into his eyes, he looked right back but suddenly dropped his gaze to his hooves. He stood there contemplating them for a few moments.

“My mom said that I need to try to make friends and to stop being mean,” he said with a sigh, “So I’m going to tell you a secret, you can’t tell anypony, I don’t even know why I’m telling you.”

Scootaloo was more confused than ever, ‘how could he have gone to being mean to telling me his secrets.’ she thought to herself. “Okay…”

“PROMISE!” Cloudwhisp shouted.

“I promise.” she said quickly, afraid he was going to hurt her.

“I lied back when I introduced myself to the class, the reason why I moved here.” he said noticing the confused look on Scootaloo’s face. “I said that it was because my parents got a new job here, in reality they got a new job because I had trouble with some ponies back in Cloudsdale. I thought they were my friends, but they weren’t.”

Cloudwhisp started to cry, Scootaloo put her hoof around his shoulder against her better judgment.

“Sorry… One night they convinced me to stay out late and we went to the edge of the city, they dared me to walk along the edge of the clouds blindfolded. I did,” Cloudwhisp said looking up at the sky, “I fell of the side and I didn’t know how to fly, at least one of them knew how to fly but when they saw me fall they all ran away. I was falling, I couldn’t see the ground, I was very scared, I tried to flap my wings but they bent in the wind. I’m only here now because somepony saw me fall and caught me. When I took off the blindfold I saw it was Rainbow Dash who saved me, that’s why I couldn’t believe that she’s your sister. I never expected to end up so close to her. But ever since that night I’ve had problems trusting anypony, I’ve always been afraid that they’d do the same thing.”

Scootaloo stood there in shock, thoughts passing through her mind, ‘how could anypony do something like that to somepony they called a friend? And Rainbow saved him.’ She didn’t move or say anything, she just gave him a look that said, ‘I’m sorry’.

“So, are you just going to sit there and not say anything?” Cloudwhisp asked glaring at her.

“I just… wow, that’s a lot to take in.” she said still staring at him. “How come you haven’t told anypony this and why me, you always made fun of me, why me of all ponies to tell?”

“I- I uh… I don’t know why I told you, I just did. I- and uh… It doesn’t matter!” Cloudwhisp said as he turned and ran.

“Cloudwhisp, wait!” Scootaloo called after him.

Scootaloo watched as Cloudwhisp bumped into somepony standing not too far away from them. Cloudwhisp got up and started to appologize to the pony but stopped and stared, it was Rainbow Dash.

“So you’re Cloudwhisp?” she asked him with a menacing tone. “You’re the one who’s been giving Scootaloo a hard time?”

“Rainbow wait.” Scootaloo said as she ran up to them.

Cloudwhisp wasn’t taking any chances, as soon as Rainbow Dash looked up at Scootaloo’s call, he ran past, heading home as fast as he could.

“Why did you do that?” Rainbow asked, “I was just about to give him a piece of my mind.”

“You don’t need to anymore, he explained why he made fun of me.” Scootaloo told Rainbow everything that Cloudwhisp had told her then asked, “When you were in Cloudsdale one time you saved him, you really don’t recognize him?”

“I’ve saved quite a few ponies from falling off of the edge of Cloudsdale, I’m not going to remember every single one.”

They started walking home. “How did you know I was in the park anyways?” Scootaloo asked looking up at Rainbow.

“I didn’t, I wandered around town before I thought of looking in the park, you were gone almost an hour.”

“Wow, it didn’t feel that long.”

“Come on, dinner’s getting cold and I want to get home before it gets too late.” Rainbow said as she started to trot faster.

Scootaloo kept pace with Rainbow and didn’t say anything else. Dinner was quiet and they went straight to bed afterwards.

‘What was he doing out there anyways?’ Scootaloo thought as she raised the blanket to her neck. ‘Did he follow me there, or was it just a coincidence?’

Scootaloo drifted to an uncomfortable sleep, thoughts about him running wild through her head. The thoughts changed slowly to old memories as she started to dream.

***

She was walking with Rainbow Dash and the others, most of them looked fine but a few of them were wearing bandages here and there, Pinkie had something on her hind leg that kept it from bending and Rarity had a set of wheels so that her front legs couldn’t touch the ground. Rainbow was trotting faster than everypony else, Twilight caught her attention to the fact that Scootaloo was falling behind.

Rainbow Dash stopped and offered to carry Scootaloo, she climbed up and put her face in Rainbow’s mane. “Are you alright kiddo?” Rainbow asked.

Scootaloo merely shook her head, she didn’t feel like talking much. “I understand, I know it’s hard losing the ponies you love.” Rainbow said quietly.

They came up on the site where the burial was taking place, Scootaloo didn’t want to get off of Rainbow’s back but she was forced to. There were about a dozen ponies standing around the two caskets placed right next to the two holes they would be put in. Mayor Mare was calling ponies up to say a few words for the two and their goodbyes. Scootaloo and the others listened to what everypony had to say, tears falling from their faces but the saddest face there was Scootaloo’s. It was her turn to say her goodbyes.

“Mom, Dad,” her voice cracked as she spoke, “I love you both, and I’ll miss you so much.” She turned to the ponies gathered around, “My parents were good ponies, they were loving and they cared so much about me. They’d let me do practically whatever I wanted but when I came home hurt they would always scold me but they’d never stay mad at me long. My mother would always make sure that the injuries were nothing serious and my dad would sit there asking me if I learned anything from what went wrong. I’d always turn it into a joke and say, ‘I learned that I’m not going to get my cutie mark in…’ whatever I got hurt from and he’d slowly start to laugh.” Scootaloo’s face was now soaked with tears, “I’m never going to forget them, I love them so much.”

Scootaloo slowly walked back over by Rainbow Dash’s side, Rainbow put her wing over Scootaloo reassuringly. Mayor Mare said a few more words and then they started lowering the caskets into the graves. Scootaloo stepped up first, grabbed a hoof full of dirt each and let it fall into the graves. Everypony else then did the same, a hoof full in one then the other, saying their last goodbye and moving for the next to do the same.

After everypony had dropped some dirt into the graves, a pair of ponies started shoveling the rest of the dirt into the holes, filling the graves. Scootaloo and the others waited until the graves were completely filled but the others left before. Scootaloo stepped up and read the gravestone the two graves shared and lay there crying. Rainbow walked up to her slowly and lay next to her, wrapping her in her wings. The others waited until Scootaloo was finished and they all walked away together.

There were many white roses piled up at the foot of the gravestone but only one violet. The flower that matched her mane sat there mixed in with the roses, the final sentiment of a young filly who loved them.

Scootaloo frowned in her sleep as tears started streaming from her dreaming eyes.

New Friendship

Scootaloo was standing alone in the park, her eyes gleaming with the reflection of the moon. Cloudwhisp walked closer to her, drawn closer by a desire he had not felt before. She turned to him as he got closer, her mane flowed softly in the light breeze.

“H-hello Scootaloo, what are you doing here?” Cloudwhisp said nervously.

“I’m waiting.” she said simply and smiled.

Cloudwhisp looked at her questioningly and asked, “Waiting for what?”

Scootaloo turned and walked over to a pond. She gazed into it and said, “I’ve been afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” Cloudwhisp asked completely lost as to what was going on.

“Of what might happen… if I say something.” she answered, closing her eyes and sat down beside the pond.

Cloudwhisp walked over to her and said, “You aren’t thinking of telling somepony my secret are you?!”

“No, I promised I wouldn’t”

“Then what are you afraid to say?” Cloudwhisp asked, getting frustrated by Scootaloo’s cryptic behavior. “Come to think of it, who are you afraid of telling… whatever it is you want to tell them?”

Scootaloo looked up at him, he could see their owner’s conflict in them. She stared at him for a moment then quickly turned her attention back to the water. “I’m afraid of him getting mad if I told him.” Scootaloo said quickly.

“Who get mad at what? What are you talking about?” Cloudwhisp asked in a tone of concern.

“You.” she said, her eyes started welling up with tears. “I’m afraid of you getting mad.”

Cloudwhisp put his hoof on hers. “Why would I get mad at you?”

Scootaloo looked back into Cloudwhisp’s eyes, his heart skipped a beat. ‘She’s so beautiful.’ he thought to himself.

“You’ll just get mad.” she said as she looked at her hooves.

“I’ll be mad if you don’t tell me.” Cloudwhisp said, raising his voice a little.

Scootaloo winced at his tone and turned her head to look up into the night sky. Cloudwhisp nearly fainted from the beauty of the stars glinting in her eyes.

“I- I love you!” she yelled suddenly and kissed him.

Cloudwhisp closed his eyes and melted into the kiss. Scootaloo broke away and ran, tears streaming from her eyes. He stared at her, dazed from the kiss but started to chase after her.

A loud knocking sound rang through Cloudwhisp’s head, Scootaloo was getting blurry. The knocking grew louder and Scootaloo, the sky, all of his surroundings faded to black.

Cloudwhisp jumped up, the knocking at his bedroom door becoming louder by the second.

“I’m up, I’m up.” he called through the door.

“Hurry and get ready for school.” his mom’s voice called through the door.

Cloudwhisp sighed, ‘what was with that dream?’ he thought. He reached his hoof up to feel his lips, the sensation of the dream Scootaloo’s kiss remained on them. He shook his head and grabbed everything he needed for school that day and walked downstairs to have breakfast.

When he got to school he saw Scootaloo talking with her friends, she saw him and gave him a half smile before returning to her conversation. Cloudwhisp stood there unsure of what to do, he could feel his face burning. He decided to just walk into the class and take his seat.

It was after school, everypony was heading home. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Dinky talked as they walked each other home.
“I’ve been wanting to ask all day, why did you decide to not wear your bandages today?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo, staring at the little bit of wings that Scootaloo had.

“Well, I thought they were looking better and those bandages are so uncomfortable.” Scootaloo replied.

“Well, I guess they look a little better.” Sweetie Belle said, unsure.

Scootaloo sighed, “If it’s bad to look at then I’ll just keep wearing the bandages.”

“It doesn’t look too bad.” Dinky said. “If you don’t like wearing the bandages then you don’t have to wear them.”

Scootaloo smiled at Dinky. “I don’t want ponies to give me strange or disgusted looks, I’ll just keep wearing the bandages, thanks though Dinky.”

They reached Dinky’s house at the edge of town. “Good bye Dinky, see you tomorrow.” Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said as Ditzy came out and hugged Dinky.

The rest of them continued on towards Sweetie Belle’s house, talking as they went. They dropped her off and continued to Scootaloo’s silently, they both ran out of things to say.

As they reached Scootaloo’s house she saw Cloudwhisp waiting on the corner facing the library. As they reached Scootaloo’s house Apple Bloom called out to Cloudwhisp. “What are you doing here?”

Cloudwhisp turned to them and looked at Apple Bloom cautiously. “I’m waiting here to see if I can’t see Rainbow Dash, I recently heard she lived around here.” he said quickly.

“What are you looking for Rainbow Dash for?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I’m a big fan.” he answered simply.

“Well she doesn’t live here, she lives over by Sugar Cube Corner.” Apple Bloom lied.

Cloudwhisp looked at the ground and started walking towards the bakery, stopping once he was out of sight of Apple Bloom and waiting. Apple Bloom watched as he walked away, turned to Scootaloo and made sure she got inside in case he came back. She said a quick goodbye and walked off to her home.

Cloudwhisp slowly walked back to the corner he had been waiting on before. Scootaloo stepped out of her house and greeted him nervously, unsure if he was going to be nice or not.

“Sorry about turning up like this, I didn’t want the others to know that we started talking. After I’ve been so mean to you, I don’t know what they would do and I don’t want you to lose your friends.” Cloudwhisp said, looking at his hooves.

“It’s okay, you can show up whenever you want to talk.” Scootaloo said with a smile. “If you apologized to me in front of them then they wouldn’t do anything, they would probably even be your friends too if you wanted. They’re as trustworthy as me.”

“Then why did Apple Bloom lie to me and make sure that I wasn’t going to be mean to you?” Cloudwhisp asked sarcastically.

“She was just protecting me because you haven’t apologized, she thought that you were going to be mean to me again.” Scootaloo replied hotly.

“I-“ he looked down at the ground again, thinking. “Right, sorry.”

Scootaloo sighed and asked, “So what do you want?”

“I just wanted to talk some more.” Cloudwhisp said, looking up at her.

‘She’s just as beautiful as in my dream.’ he thought. He shook his head vigorously, ‘No, keep those thoughts out of my head. I’m just being friendly, yes, friendly.’

“So…” Scootaloo said, giving him a curious look. “Anything you want to talk about specifically?”

“I wanted to ask you, how did you become Rainbow Dash’s sister, everypony knows that she doesn’t have parents so how?” he asked.

“Well, it’s a bit of a story and it’s kinda hard to talk about still.” Scootaloo said, giving the ground a sad look.

She invited him inside and made them both some tea before she began telling him of the day the dragon attacked. He listened to the story tentatively, his expression growing sadder as she spoke. “And after the funeral, Rainbow adopted me as her sister. We lived in her cloud home before the accident.” she finished calmly.

Cloudwhisp looked at her, tears in his eyes, and gave her a tight hug. Scootaloo jumped, taken aback at his sudden burst of emotion. She patted his head with her hoof and let him cry into her mane. She didn’t think it would make him react like this…

“Scootaloo, are you home already?” came a voice from the front door, Rainbow had just gotten home.

Rainbow walked into the kitchen to see Cloudwhisp crying into Scootaloo’s mane and gave her sister a questioning look. Scootaloo shrugged at her and said, “He asked how we became sisters, so I told him about the day the dragon attacked.”

“But how did you end up like this?” Rainbow asked walking over to them.

“He just jumped at me and started crying.” Scootaloo replied.

Cloudwhisp wasn’t paying attention to the two talking, he just kept on crying. ‘To think, I made fun of her so much and that’s what she went through? I’m such a horrible pony!’ he thought to himself.

“Hey, Cloudwhisp was it?” Rainbow asked him. “We are going to have dinner soon, you can join us if you want.”

Cloudwhisp looked up at the clock when she mentioned dinner. He needed to get home soon or his mom would be mad.
“No, I have to get home.” he said hurriedly. “Thank you though. See you tomorrow Scootaloo.”

“See ya”

He ran out the door and headed home, tears still in his eyes.

Powerless

Scootaloo looked up in confusion, there was crying coming from the corner of her room. She couldn't see who it was, it was too dark in her room so she got up out of her bed to investigate who it was. Rainbow Dash looked up when Scootaloo had put her hoof on the crying pony's shoulder. Rainbow jumped up and pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug and cried into her mane.

"Rainbow, what's the matter?" she asked, shocked at Rainbow's sudden movement.

"I-I'm just s-so h-h-happy." she said, but she didn't sound happy at all. Her tone was more of despair.

"About what?" Scootaloo asked tentatively.

Rainbow Dash suddenly let her go, walked over to the door and opened it slowly. Cloudwhisp was standing there, smiling brightly at Scootaloo.

"Cloudwhisp?!" Scootaloo said in confusion. "What are you doing here, at this time of night too?"

Cloudwhisp gave her a sad look. "Don't you remember? What today is?" he asked concernedly.

"Scootaloo, how could you forget such an important day?" Rainbow Dash said indignantly.

"What's so important about today, and why are you in my room?" Scootaloo asked, turning her head between the two, becoming more confused by the second.

"Honey..."

"Sis..."

"It's your wedding day." they said together.

"Wedding?!" Scootaloo shouted. "With who?!"

"With Princess Luna of course." they said as Luna walked into the room.

"Oh, dear." Luna said. "What did I just walk in on?"

"I have no clue." Scootaloo said, her heart beating rapidly, not sure if this was part of the dream or the real Luna come to help. "You are the real Princess Luna right? You can stop this dream?"

In answer Luna nodded and her horn began to glow. "You will have no memory of this dream so worry not."

Scootaloo's world went black and she curled up into a small orange ball.

Scootaloo woke up with a start. Breathing heavily, she looked around her room, it was empty. Scootaloo shook her head, unsure as to why she had woken up with a feeling of dread.

She got up and walked out into the hallway to see if Rainbow Dash was awake yet. There was no sound coming from the kitchen so she listened at Rainbow's door. A slow rumbling snore was coming from inside. Scootaloo walked down into the kitchen and made herself some breakfast then went for a walk.

She stepped out to find that it was still a little dark outside, the sun was barely starting to rise. A light morning mist hung in the air making it cool and damp, Scootaloo shivered as she began making her way to the park. It was empty, being so early in the morning. Scootaloo walked over to a tall tree and attempted to climb it. It had been one of her favorite places to sit and watch the world and think, when she was able to fly, it was the closest one to the ground and so the easiest to get to without flying.

After about ten minutes of trying and failing to get to the lower branches of the tree, Scootaloo gave up and sat on the ground next to it. She found it harder to think without a perch to watch without being seen. She sighed and looked over at the rising sun, before it began to hurt her eyes, then she looked straight up at the sky above her. It looked so beautiful with it's scattered clouds and cool blue softness, some stars were still out and they only added to the beauty. Scootaloo stretched out her wings in longing, she wanted to fly into that beautiful sky so badly. She felt the scars on her wings and quickly folded them close to her body. She looked back at them sadly then back into the slowly lightening sky, tears falling from her eyes.

She hadn't realized she was being watched, Cloudwhisp had saw her walking down the street towards the park and so he followed her here and watched her with sorrow. He had no idea what it felt like to suddenly not be able to fly and so had no way to relate to her. All he wanted was to find some way to comfort her, any way at all. He looked up into the sky and saw the white alicorn that was Princess Celestia flying overhead towards Canterlot. An idea struck him, he flew up as fast as he could after her.

"Princess Celestia!" he called after her, not caring as to why the princess was so far away from Canterlot by herself. "Princess wait!"

Celestia stopped and hovered waiting for him to catch up. "Yes? What is it young one?" she asked as he caught up to her.

He tried to bow in midair and accidentally started to dive, she waited for him to correct himself and reach her height again. "Please, Princess, I know that there's a proper way to do this and it's not politically correct to just suddenly ask something like this of a Princess, but..." he paused to catch his breath. "You see my friend down there crying?" he asked pointing at Scootaloo who was now curled up in a ball beneath the tree.

She nodded and he continued. "Well, she can't fly anymore, she got hit by lightning a while ago and lost the use of her wings. I was wondering if there was anything you could do to make her able to fly again." he finished with a sad expression.

Celestia looked down at Scootaloo for a second. "I know some healing magic, do you know how long ago it was that she was struck by lightning?" she asked, considering what to do.

"It happened a little over a year ago now." he replied.

"Well, I'm afraid, it's been too long. If had been within the month then I could have done something about it but if it's been this long and they haven't healed then I'm afraid healing magic wont help." she said sadly, turning to look at Cloudwhisp again.

His face had dropped, tears streaming from his eyes. Celestia looked at him sadly before continuing towards Canterlot. 'What good was a Sun Goddess if she can't heal a pair of messed up wings.' he thought.

His wing cramped and he plummeted for a second, he managed to stabilize himself. 'Maybe she could hear his thoughts?' he thought as he shot the princess a worried look. As if to answer she flew up and swooped down sharply. He watched her fly out of sight with a frightened look before floating gently down to the ground. When he looked over to where Scootaloo had been not long before, he saw and empty patch of grass next to the tree. He looked down in disappointment and slowly ambled home.

***

Rainbow Dash was making breakfast when Scootaloo walked in. Rainbow stopped cooking, flew into the hallway, and gave Scootaloo a tight hug before saying, "I was worried about you."

"Sis, you know I always go to the park early in the morning on weekends." Scootaloo said, returning the hug.

"I know, it's just that I'm usually up before you leave." Rainbow said.

They sat down to eat their breakfast, Scootaloo didn't eat much having eaten before she left. When they had finished, they went out for a walk together.

Secrets

Rainbow Dash was flying through the clouds, clearing out small patches to let the sun through while still leaving it a bit overcast. Her team, following her instructions, were doing the same.

Scootaloo popped up through the clouds, her wings stretched wide, welcoming the breeze beneath them. She pulled a triple backflip in midair and pounded her way through a line of clouds.

"Don't take out too many clouds sis!" Rainbow called out to her.

Scootaloo stopped and flew back to Rainbow's side. "But I'm having so much fun." Scootaloo argued.

"Now's not the time for fun, right now we have work to do, we can have fun when it's done." Rainbow said sternly.

Scootaloo huffed and flew up high before bringing herself down hard onto the clouds below. They scattered into the wind as Scootaloo let herself plummet to the ground.

"Scootaloo! What are you doing?" Rainbow yelled after her. "Get ahold of yourself!"

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow and stuck her tongue out at her. She turned to the ground and pulled up at the last second.

"Scootaloo! What have I told you about not overdoing it?" Rainbow said angrily.

"What's it matter if I'm alright?" Scootaloo retorted.

Rainbow Dash glared at Scootaloo, she glared right back.

Scootaloo pulled ahead and crashed through her and Rainbow's cloud house, causing the whole house to dissipate into the air. Scootaloo fell again towards the ground, this time unconcious.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow called out in fear. She sped up in an attempt to catch her.

Scootaloo's lifeless body flailed in the rushing wind, falling faster towards the ground. Rainbow flew as fast as she could, folding her wings tightly to her sides to get more speed, but to no avail.

Scootaloo hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Her body lay in a crumpled heap below. Rainbow was unable to slow herself to land softly and crashed into her dead sister.

Rainbow Dash woke up, covered in sweat and screaming.

"Sis! What's the matter?" Scootaloo asked as she burst into Rainbow's room and stopping by the side of her bed.

She didn't say anything, she just looked at Scootaloo for a second before catching her in a tight embrace. She cried softly into her sister's mane a while before releasing her and looking into her eyes.

"Everything's fine now, I just had a nightmare is all." Rainbow said sadly.

"What about?" Scootaloo asked worriedly.

"It doesn't matter now, all that matters is that it isn't real, and it can never happen." Rainbow said, a little darkly.

"You're sure you're okay?" Scootaloo asked a little exasperated at Rainbow's reluctancy to tell her what the dream was about. Rainbow nodded. "Okay, I'll go make us some breakfast. It's almost time for me to go to school already."

"Okay." Rainbow said as she watched Scootaloo walk out the door to the kitchen. She looked around her room, light was seeping through the window. She sighed and followed Scootaloo to the kitchen.

***

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called as she burst into the library. "I need a favor."

"Rainbow Dash, hush, you'll wake Luna. What is it?" Twilight Sparkle asked reproachfully.

"Sorry. You still know that memory spell?" Rainbow asked tentatively.

"Yeah... why do ask?" Twilight asked comprehensively.

"I had that dream again." Rainbow said simply.

Twilight sighed, "You can't just keep coming to me, asking for the memory spell every single time you have that dream." She paused and looked at her friend, Rainbow was looking disheveled and desperate. "If you remember correctly, I refused to do it last time, and the time before that and the time before that. You have to learn to get over this by yourself." She finished as she pulled Rainbow into a concerned hug.

"Y-you promised me th-that you'd help me with any-thing though." Rainbow said through tears.

"Yes, I did promise that I would help." Twilight said, putting extreme emphasis on the last word. "Erasing your memory isn't going to help you, it's just going to make you keep having the dream until you get over your fear."

"I don't want to face that fear! A-any other thing I-I'd be fine... but not that, I don't want to deal with it!" Rainbow Dash screamed, crying harder than ever.

Twilight hugged her tightly. It hurt to see her friend like this, and even more to deny her request. But it was still best for her to face it then just forget it.

"I still have the recipe for that potion I used to heal Pinkie all that time ago, I told you that I could use it to help Scootaloo..." Twilight said hesitantly. "Are you sure that you don't want to use it?"

"NO!" Screamed Rainbow, "You can't use it! The dream will come true if you do... and I couldn't bear to have that happen."

"Rainbow, we discussed this... that was just a dream, Scootaloo wouldn't even act like that in the first place." Twilight said, trying to make her friend see reason.

"I don't want to risk it, I don't know what I'll do if that ever happens. I can't loose her." Rainbow said weakly and sniffed.

"Rainbow... you know as well as I that you can't keep her for yourself forever, she's going to fall in love with somepony and leave on her own." Twilight said, consolingly. "And if she finds out that you asked me to make sure that her wings wont heal then you'll loose her in an instant."

Rainbow sobbed into Twilight's mane, her thoughts took her back to the pegasus who had been hugging Scootaloo in their kitchen the other day. She knew that Scootaloo wasn't going to stay with her forever and she couldn't stop her. She considered for a moment.

"I suppose..." she took a deep breath before continuing, "we could use the potion and heal her. But you have to promise me that she won't know about this, I don't want her to hate me."

"I won't say a word." Twilight said with a smile.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Princess..."

"Hmm?"

"You said a word." Rainbow teased.

Twilight smiled and held Rainbow tighter to herself. "Brat."

***

"What did you call me over here for?" Scootaloo asked Rainbow as they entered the library.

Twilight came up to them with a wide smile and hugged Scootaloo. "Hey, you remember that potion I used to heal Pinkie Pie's leg back when... with the dragon... and everything?" Twilight asked, tentatively.

Scootaloo gave her an awkward look. "Yeah... what about... it?" she started, realization hit her. "THE POTION!" she yelled, "You mean, it will fix my wings? Why haven't you said anything sooner?"

Twilight was ready for this question. "I had lost the recipe and had forgotten about it till I found it again. Spike was using it as a bookmark." she lied. "But when I found it, I immediately called Rainbow over to show her and she ran out to get you."

"And it will really heal my wings? Everypony else said that it couldn't be done, especially now that it's been so long since the accident." Scootaloo said hopefully.

"Well normally it wouldn't work since it's been so long..." Twilight said, pausing for dramatic effect. "But, because I'm an alicorn, I can increase the healing ability of the potion to heal anything!"

Scootaloo jumped in joy and Rainbow smiled, a little sadly.

"When is it going to be ready?" Scootaloo asked in excitement.

"I prepared it while Rainbow went out to find you." Twilight said as she levitated the vial from behind her.

Scootaloo was shaking and smiling with such excitement that everypony was surprised she didn't explode right in front of them. She reached out for the vial and grabbed it in her hoof. Rainbow looked at it comprehensively.

In one gulp, the potion was gone. "Funny." Scootaloo said, "I don't feel like-"

A large explosion engulfed them all, smoke covering every inch of the library. They all ran out the door as fast as they could, all except for Scootaloo.

"Is she alright?" Rainbow asked. "I've gotta make sure she's alright."

Rainbow flew back into the smoke and, moments later, dragged Scootaloo out of the library, their coats tinted purple from the smoke. Rainbow coughed as she laid Scootaloo out on the ground for her to get fresh air.

"Scootaloo. Scootaloo! Are you alright?" Rainbow asked, shaking her sister.

Twilight looked at the two happily. Tears running down her cheek.

"R-rainbow, sis, I'm okay." Scootaloo said, trying to get up. "More importantly..."

They both looked down at her wings, they were gleaming in the sunlight, completely covered with orange feathers, no scars to be seen. She stood up and stretched them out to see if all the bones were in the proper place, it didn't hurt.

Scootaloo smiled at Rainbow Dash and hugged her tightly before running over to Twilight and doing the same for her.

"You may want to wait a while." Twilight told her. "Make sure your wings are working properly, you should test them before trying to do anything big."

Scootaloo stretched her wings out again and slowly began flapping them, bringing herself off the ground by a couple of feet before letting herself fall. She jumped up with glee, without extending her wings, and pulled them both into another tight embrace. "I love you sis. Thank you so much Twilight."

The two smiled at each other before returning the hug and picking her up between them, raising her up into the sky. Her first real flight with her healed wings.

A New Day

Scootaloo woke up groggily, her eyes half open, squinting in the morning light. She looked at her back, checking her wings over and thanked Luna that it had not been a dream. She stretched her wings out, reveling in the early morning wind coming in from the window. She smiled widely to herself and walked out to the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash was moving about, making them a quick breakfast before Scootaloo had to go to school. "Oh, good you're up." the cyan pegasus said to her sister, adding some diced apples into the pan on the stove, "I was worried I'd have to go and wake you up today."

"Morning sis, whatcha making?" Scootaloo asked with a yawn.

"Only your favorite breakfast." Rainbow said with a big smile now putting some cinnamon into the pan. "Apple Pancakes!"

Scootaloo jumped up and hugged Rainbow before saying, "Awesome, thank you sis!"

Rainbow Dash smiled as she flipped the finished pancake onto a stack which had been sitting to the left of the stove and brought the stack over to the table. "Dig in!" she exclaimed happily.

Scootaloo did, and she smiled as she bit into the delicious pancakes which were so sweet that you didn't need syrup to go with them. She had eaten her stack in mere minutes, leaving Rainbow sitting there astonished. "You weren't hungry at all." she said sarcastically.

"Nope." Scootaloo replied with a smile.

She got down from the table, put her plate in the sink and stepped into the hallway. She pulled on her saddlebags when Rainbow stepped in behind her. "Be careful with flying today. You know you lost a bit of your flying muscles from not being able to fly for so long." Rainbow said as she hugged Scootaloo.

"I know sis, I'll be fine."

Scootaloo opened the door to the brilliant morning and made her way to school, jumping up and testing her wings a few times before taking off at a low hover. Rainbow Dash watched as she hovered out of sight and stepped back into the house. Her thoughts turned back to the dream she'd been having. She shuddered and tried to calm herself. 'That was so unlikely to happen,' Rainbow told herself, 'that it was actually kind of funny to think about.'

The thoughts lingered but they hadn't been bothering her so much lately. She took a quick look around the house to see if anything needed cleaning up, washed the morning's dishes and headed of to work.

Scootaloo arrived at the school at the same time as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The three ponies rushed over to each other and Apple Bloom jumped up and tackled Scootaloo out of the air, Sweetie Belle jumped on the two rolling ponies.

"How are you able to fly again?" Sweetie Belle shrieked happily.

Scootaloo looked at her friends, seeing their bright, expectant faces. "Twilight made a potion that fixed up Pinkie a long time ago and she just found the recipe yesterday, she amped it up with her alicorn magic and it fixed my wings!" she exclaimed to her laughing friends.

They all stood back as Scootaloo spread out her wings to their full extent and applauded. Scootaloo smiled at their reaction and flapped her wings a few times to hover over them.

Cloudwhisp just walked into the schoolyard as Scootaloo started hovering over her friends and ran over to her. "Scootaloo! You can fly again!?" he yelled, his eyes wide, staring at the orange pegasus hovering over Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to him in surprise. "Yeah, Twilight fixed them up yesterday." Scootaloo said happily, smiling at Cloudwhisp.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle quickly took up defensive positions around Scootaloo, worried that Cloudwhisp might start something. He stepped back in fright.

"Since when do you talk to Scootaloo like she's your friend?" Apple Bloom asked him menacingly.

"I-I... Uh..." he stuttered, backing away from the two ponies bearing down on him. He turned and ran out of the schoolyard, crying.

"That was mean, girls!" Scootaloo said, giving the two a harsh look. "He's been trying to be friendly with me for a while now! He even told me a secret of his!" Scootaloo flew off after Cloudwhisp before she could say anything else, worried she may have already said too much.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at each other in bemusement.

"Cloudwhisp! Wait!" Scootaloo called as she turned out onto the street, seeing his tail wisp away around a building at the end of the block.

Scootaloo flew around the corner as fast as she could, a cart was sitting there, right in her path. With her wings still weak, she couldn't maneuver around the cart and smacked into it, headfirst. The side of the cart shattered and its contents went flying, hearing the noise from the crash, Cloudwhisp turned to look at the mess.

Scootaloo lay there, unconscious. He quickly picked her up and put her on his back and made his way to the hospital.

***

Rainbow Dash came bursting in through the doors, startling the reception mare. "Where is Scootaloo!? Which room is my sister in!?" she cried, definite worry in her voice.

"R-room two." quivered the reception mare from behind her desk.

Rainbow made her way into room two, ignoring everypony in the hospital, including the reception mare who had said, "Wait miss, you can't go in there right now. She's still asleep."

Rainbow kicked the door down and quickly looked over the few beds in the room for Scootaloo, when she saw her she rushed over to the bed and hugged her sleeping sister. "Scootaloo, what happened?" she cried, shaking the unconscious pegasus.

"Miss please!" came a voice from the door, one of the doctors was standing there giving her look of confusion. "Come here, I'll talk to you in my office."

Rainbow Dash reluctantly let go of Scootaloo, placing her gently back into the bed, and followed the doctor.

"You are miss Rainbow Dash, correct? Legal guardian of Scootaloo?" he asked as he moved around his desk and sat in his chair.

Rainbow nodded.

"Well then, you need to know. Scootaloo suffered a minor concussion today. It appears that she was flying down the street when she turned a corner and flew into a cart."

Rainbow gasped and her eyes started to well up, thinking of her dream again.

"She'll be fine, it's only minor. She just needs to get some rest and she'll be okay again." the doctor reassured her.

"You promise that she'll be okay?" Rainbow asked a little forcefully.

"So long as she gets her rest, yes."

Rainbow sighed and made her way to the waiting room to wait for Scootaloo to wake up. When she entered the room she saw Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Cloudwhisp, Miss Cheerilee, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all waiting there. "Was I the last to know about this?!" Rainbow asked them all in mad shock.

"Well... I heard from Twilight and Fluttershy." said Pinkie looking over at the two expectantly.

"We heard from Applejack and Rarity as they were heading over here." Twilight said calmly.

"Ah heard from mah sister." Applejack said.

"And I from mine." Rarity added.

"We followed her when she didn't come back after chasing Cloudwhisp." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said together.

"I brought her here after I heard her crash into the cart." Cloudwhisp finished.

Rainbow looked over at Miss Cheerilee with a curious look. "And what about you?"

"I went looking for them when they didn't show up to class and when I found out what happened, I came here to see Scootaloo." she said, matter-of-factly.

Rainbow shook her head and joined them all sitting around the room. Turning to Scootaloo's friends, she asked, "So what exactly happened?"

The three quickly told her of the short fiasco. They just finished when a nurse came in and said, "Scootaloo's awake, you can go in a few at a time."

Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Cloudwhisp jumped up and made their way into room two.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow exclaimed as she entered the door. "You scared me so much."

Scootaloo gave her a confused look. Not wanting to expose her fears to Scootaloo, Rainbow merely said, "You need to be more careful. What were you thinking, trying to fly like that when you still haven't gotten used to your wings again."

Scootaloo looked down and said, "Sorry, I didn't know that that cart was there and I was flying so fast, I just couldn't stop."

Rainbow smiled and sighed, "Well the important thing is that you're okay now."

She let go of Scootaloo and let the others talk to her.

Author's Note

This one took longer than usual to get out, blame writer's block and studying and the Renaissance Faire for it, keeping me from writing.

Fears

A month went by, all the while Rainbow Dash watched over Scootaloo to make sure that she properly regained the use of her wings. It made Scootaloo so happy to be able to fly again and it made Rainbow so happy seeing the bright smile on Scootaloo’s face every time she would swoop in front of Rainbow to show off.

Occasionally on their flights they’d be joined by Cloudwhisp. He would fly high into the air then shoot down in front of Scootaloo almost making her drop in shock, then come up and start laughing as he apologized. Twilight Sparkle sometimes would join them as well, to check on Scootaloo and talk with Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo even caught them spinning around each other once. Even Ditzy Doo would fly with them for some reason, sometimes carrying a tray of muffins, sometimes carrying Dinky on her back, sometimes both at once. She’d fly up, smiling, and offer them a muffin when she had them and when she had Dinky, she’d fly up next to Scootaloo and her and Dinky would talk a bit before Ditzy would fly off for some reason or another.

Today was the day that Scootaloo would rejoin the weather team, after showing Rainbow Dash that she had gotten the hang of flying again the last flight they had together. She didn’t even flinch when Cloudwhisp did his usual shooting down in front of her. In fact when he did that, Scootaloo shot forward and hid herself behind a cloud, when Cloudwhisp came up looking for her she shot by as fast as she could in front of his face and caused him to almost fall out of the sky.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Rainbow Dash asked, a slight wavering in her voice.

“I’ve been ready!” Scootaloo said impatiently.

Rainbow gave her a nervous smile before stretching out her legs and wings and took off into the sky, Scootaloo following close behind. Scootaloo passed Rainbow in her excitement, spiraling up to where the rest of the team had already gathered. Cloudwhisp had also recently joined the weather team and was waiting for them with a smile, his parents smiling next to him as Scootaloo flew up in front of him.

“Everypony’s here?” Rainbow shouted as she flew up into the center of the gathered weather ponies. “Good. Today we’re going to be setting up for the big rainstorm that’s going to be going on for the next couple of days. I don’t want to see too much goofing off or showing off.” She looked at Scootaloo and Cloudwhisp. “Don’t forget, no lightning clouds.”

At this, everypony spread out, gathering clouds together to form rainclouds and pulling in the clouds that were drifting in from Cloudsdale’s weather factory. Rainbow watched as they dragged the clouds together to form a large blanket of rolling clouds over Ponyville. Cloudwhisp’s mom, Downpour, passed by, dragging a rather dark and foreboding cloud.

“I said no lightning clouds!” Rainbow shouted, with a little more anger than anypony expected. “Break that up right now!”

Downpour looked at her in embarrassment and quickly jumped up over the cloud and pounded it with her hooves, instead of breaking up however, the cloud discharged a lightning bolt. The resounding boom of thunder caused the whole weather team to turn with worried expressions towards the sound.

Rainbow Dash looked around for Scootaloo, finding her frozen in shock and falling stiffly onto a cloud which was quickly set beneath her by Cloudwhisp who had reacted almost immediately at the sound. Rainbow let out a nervous sigh and flew over to Scootaloo and Cloudwhisp.

Scootaloo was breathing heavily, gasping with each intake of air. Her eyes were wide in shock, fixed straight ahead of her and tears began to slowly run down her cheeks. Rainbow put a hoof on her shoulder and jumped as Scootaloo jumped up and hugged Cloudwhisp tightly, realizing who she was hugging, she jumped back and looked at Rainbow before giving her a tight hug as well.

It hurt Rainbow a little that Scootaloo went to hug Cloudwhisp first but, she understood why. Cloudwhisp had been closer and had reacted quicker than Rainbow could have.
It was then that the realization really hit Rainbow that Scootaloo wasn’t going to stay with her forever, yes she had talked about it with Twilight before and she had thought about it many times but, she just didn’t really believe that it would actually happen, that Scootaloo would just leave her. Although… could it really be considered, “leaving”? She would still be her sister… but, it still felt to Rainbow, a little like… Scootaloo was abandoning her.

At that last thought, Rainbow began to shed tears into Scootaloo’s mane.
Feeling the wetness in her mane Scootaloo let go of Rainbow and looked at the saddened face of the cyan pegasus. “It’s alright sis. I’m fine, I was just startled is all.” she said, confused as to why Rainbow was crying so much.

Rainbow smiled through her tears. “You scared me there squirt.” she said, trying to regain her composure. She looked at Cloudwhisp and said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

She pulled him into a tight hug and nearly squeezed the air out of him. He let out a heavy sigh, more because he was being squeezed than anything else. “Um, you’re welcome?” he said, unsure of what to do. “I just did what anypony would have done.”

Rainbow let him go and gave him a kiss on the forehead which left him and Scootaloo dumbfounded. This wasn’t at all normal Rainbow Dash behavior…

The rest of the weather team had been looking on in shock at the scene. None of them had ever expected to see what they had just seen. Downpour, who was supposed to have eliminated the lightning cloud, watched with her mouth wide, not noticing that the cloud had started to sizzle and spark having regained its charge, and was preparing to let out another flash of lightning.

Rainbow and Cloudwhisp had picked up Scootaloo and began to fly off of the cloud to put her down on the ground to rest a while until she felt ready to get back to work.

There was another flash and boom as the lightning cloud discharged again. Scootaloo screamed and unfurled her wings, pushing Rainbow and Cloudwhisp away as she fainted and began to fall to the ground.

Dazed by the sudden action, Rainbow Dash and Cloudwhisp both shook themselves clear of what happened before they saw Scootaloo falling, the other ponies of the weather team just hovered there in shock as they watched.

As Rainbow began to zoom down to catch Scootaloo she thought to herself, ‘WHY THE HAY DOES EVERYPONY JUST WATCH WHENEVER SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS?!’

Shaking the thought out of her head, Rainbow folded her wings in close in order to gain more speed. Scootaloo was just ahead of her, she could catch her long before she hit the ground.

The nightmare popped into Rainbow’s head at that moment, causing her to slow and tears enter her eyes, blurring her vision. She lost sight of Scootaloo for a second before she vigorously shook her head, trying not to think of Scootaloo hitting the ground. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked ahead, Scootaloo had gotten a ways ahead of her now and it was going to take all she had to catch her before she hit the ground.

Flying as fast as she could, Rainbow whooshed down towards Scootaloo and the ground. All the while, Cloudwhisp was behind her, not able to keep up with her speed.

Cloudwhisp watched as Scootaloo reached ten feet above the ground, Rainbow so close that she practically had her hooves around Scootaloo already, he closed his eyes just in case.

There was a loud crash and a scream of pain. Cloudwhisp opened his eyes in horror but, what he saw was not what he had expected.

There was a long trail along the ground where the earth had been pushed away, at the end there was a heap of cyan and orange. Rainbow had managed to catch Scootaloo and had attempted to pull up out of the dive, but the added weight of Scootaloo kept her from gaining enough altitude to clear the ground.

Cloudwhisp quickly flew over to them. As he got near, Rainbow was starting to stir. When she got up, she looked down at Scootaloo and began to panic. Scootaloo wasn’t moving and a trickle of blood was dripping out of her ear.

Cloudwhisp was able to calm her down as he pointed out that Scootaloo was still breathing. He picked Scootaloo up and he and Rainbow flew as fast as they could for the hospital.

Author's Note

Have a cliffhanger because I'm evil.. Though I don't really want to end this story, there's only going to be one more chapter. sadness :(

The Good Old Days

The cyan pegasus slowly walked into her living room, sighing as she dropped her saddlebags into the corner as she slumped into her favorite chair. It had been a long day at work, though it had been a long time since she had been the captain of the Wonderbolts, she had returned to Ponyville to resume her position as head of the weather team.
“I’m getting too old for this.” she said aloud to herself as she stretched out her wings to hear a chorus of cracking. Indeed her years had been starting to show as her mane had begun to dull and wrinkles had started to appear on the mare’s face.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as she settled into the comfortable armchair. After a moment, she looked up at the bookcase that was set into the wall just behind the chair, grabbed her favorite Daring Do novel, and opened it. A small tink came from the floor behind her as something metal had bounced off of it.

Looking down Rainbow noticed a metal bookmark with a tassel on one end, a small jewel decorating its thin, faded, rainbow colored threads. She looked at it for a moment then, eyes widening, picked up the thin strip of metal from the floor and turned it over in her hoof. On it read, ‘May you never forget your place in my heart.’

Rainbow Dash read these words a few times before remembering where the bookmark had come from. Tears started streaming down her cheeks as she looked over to the pictures that adorned the mantle of her fireplace. Taking a long moment to reminisce as her eyes moved from picture to picture, her smile slowly growing. She could feel her heart pounding as the memories rushed through her head, tears of joy escaping her eyes as she recalled these happy memories.

The first picture had been of Scootaloo and Cloudwhisp at his first visit where he actually stayed to have dinner with them. They had laughed so much at one of Rainbow’s jokes that Cloudwhisp had laughed spaghetti up and out of his nose and he started swinging it around much to the two mares’ disgust. It had always been something that one of them would bring up and they’d laugh about for a long time since.

The second picture was one that Rainbow Dash had taken without Scootaloo or Cloudwhisp’s knowledge. The two young ponies where in Scootaloo’s room, kissing. Rainbow had been listening at the door when she had heard Cloudwhisp confess his feelings for her sister so she quickly ran into her room and grabbed her camera, planning on capturing either that moment or the moment of him getting a hoof to the face. Although she laughed to herself at the latter, she was happy to see that it had gone well.

It hadn’t been long before they told her about what happened and she decided to spring the picture on them much to her own enjoyment as the two sputtered and babbled at the sight of the picture. Their faces, which had already been flushed from the prospect of telling her of their relationship, were now beat red. She had spent the next week apologizing to them as they kept giving her the silent treatment.

Her eyes moved now, to the third picture. Cloudwhisp had invited Rainbow and Scootaloo, along with his own parents, out to dinner one night. While they had fun talking and reminiscing, Scootaloo, who had finally reached the bottom of her glass of cider, had let out a loud gasp. All eyes turned to her as she pulled out a large diamond ring and looked up to find that Cloudwhisp was settled on his haunches right next to her, holding his hoof out for hers. She gave him her hoof and he took the ring and asked her for her hoof in marriage.

Scootaloo had been in tears at this point, she nodded and quickly wrapped him up in a tight hug. He gasped for air as she let him go, then took the ring and clipped it onto her ear, smiling and kissing her as he did so. Rainbow, who Cloudwhisp told of his plan before hoof, snapped the camera out right as Scootaloo locked him into her death hug and captured the shocked look of Cloudwhisp holding the ring with Scootaloo squeezing the life out of him with a giant, tearful smile. That had been one of her favorite pictures and one of the happiest nights of all of their lives. The picture next to it had been their wedding which, other than a town wide cake fight, had been a fairly normal affair.

Rainbow had a renewed rush of happy tears as she turned to the next picture. They were at the hospital. Scootaloo was lying in the bed, exhausted from the strenuous work she had just gone through. Cloudwhisp just burst into the room, panting for air. He had flown all the way from his work in Cloudsdale just to get there in time, but he was already too late. He rushed up to Scootaloo’s side and grabbed her hoof, she smiled up at him weakly, Rainbow, watching from the other side of the bed.

It hadn’t been a whole minute when a nurse had walked in with a small bundle in her hoof, making her way to the bed to place it in Scootaloo’s lap. A quiet gurgling sound was coming from the bundle. Cloudwhisp pulled the blanket away from the face of a small light orange foal with a bright red, almost pink, mane and smiled widely at it.

“Congratulations,” the nurse said, smiling at him, “It’s a boy.”

Cloudwhisp smiled up at Scootaloo who smiled back at him. “So what do you want to name him?” she asked quietly.

“How about Thunder Clash?” he asked after considering it for a moment.

Scootaloo gave him a reproachful look. “What? It sounds awesome doesn’t it?” he asked, giving a little laugh.

“I was thinking more like Cloud Dasher.” she said, looking over at Rainbow Dash and back at Cloudwhisp. “What do you think?”

“It’s a wonderful name.” Rainbow said with a huge smile, tears streaming down her face.

“It’s perfect.” Cloudwhisp said grinning at Scootaloo then looking down at the foal. “Hey there Cloud Dasher.”

The little foal cooed as if in agreement to the name and they all laughed. Cloudwhisp hugged Scootaloo tightly with little Cloud Dasher between them, the foal seemed comforted with its parents holding him like that. The picture beside it held a similar portrait only with a slightly older Cloud Dasher smiling up from the end of the bed. It was a dark brown filly, they named her Marigold due to her gleaming golden mane and tail.

The next couple of pictures were of Cloud Dasher and Marigold’s school portraits, shockingly Silver Spoon was the new teacher at Ponyville Elementary, taking over for Miss Cheerilee after she displaced her hip and decided it was time for retirement. Next to these pictures was one, of the two foals a few Hearths Warming Eves ago. Marigold had taken to calling Rainbow Dash, Grandma Dash instead of auntie like Cloud Dasher. She didn’t enjoy it at all but had given up disputing it with the stubborn little filly, Scootaloo claims she got her stubbornness from Cloudwhisp but Rainbow knew better.

The last picture, which actually hung above the mantle, was a very large portrait of all of them, Rainbow Dash stood in the back with Cloudwhisp’s parents, Scootaloo and Cloudwhisp side by side in the middle, and Cloud Dasher and Marigold standing straight and proud out in front, all with great big smiles.

Rainbow Dash was getting tired now, she wasn’t as young as she used to be. She sighed and said aloud, “Thank you sis, for giving me such a great life. I’ll always love you, my Scootaloo.”

Her eyes closed as a few final tears drained from her eyes. Her breathing slowed and her body relaxed in her chair. The smile which she had been wearing while reminiscing faded to a blank expression and she was gone.

The sounds of light snoring now coming from the very comfortable pegasus in her very comfortable armchair.

Author's Note

I had you going there for a second didn't I? :P
I've actually had this chapter written for a while, since about the fourth chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, it's been fun and I'm sad to be finished with this story.

The Good Old Days (Alt Ending)

Rainbow Dash slowly walked into her living room, sighing as she dropped her saddlebags into the corner as she slumped into her favorite chair. It had been a long day at work, the new ponies on the weather team had no coordination whatsoever and they didn’t listen to orders.

“I’m getting too old for this.” she said aloud to herself as she stretched out her wings to hear a chorus of cracking. Indeed her years had been starting to show as her mane had begun to dull and wrinkles had started to appear on the mare's face.

Rainbow closed her eyes as she settled into the comfortable armchair. After a moment, she looked up at the bookcase that was set into the wall just behind the chair, grabbed her favorite Daring Do novel, and opened it. A small tink came from the floor behind her as something metal had bounced off of it.

Looking down, Rainbow noticed a metal bookmark with a tassel on one end, a small jewel decorating its thin, faded, rainbow colored threads. She looked at it for a moment then, eyes widening, picked up the thin strip of metal from the floor and turned it over in her hoof. On it read, ‘May you never forget your place in my heart.’

Her eyes started to fill with tears as she remembered the pony who had given this bookmark to her. It had been years since she had thought about Scootaloo, after the accident it just became too painful.

She burst into loud sobs as she remembered the filly’s smile, her first flight… her second first flight. Memories of the orange filly started to race in her mind as more tears began to flow freely from her eyes.

That day, after she fell, her crash. Although she managed to catch the young pegasus, the damage had been too much. Her second concussion turned into a coma.

Rainbow walked over to the liquor cabinet which sat beside couch on the other side of the room and grabbed a bottle of whiskey cider, the strongest cider that the Apple family made. She took it to her chair, opened it and began to drink as she sank back into the armchair. The liquid burned pleasantly in her throat and warmed her whole body as it hit her stomach. She continued to remember what happened to her sister.

For three whole years she kept Scootaloo alive, against her friend’s and the doctor’s advice. Every day for three years she’d come to visit her sister in hopes that she’d miraculously be awake when she got there, she never was. Three years of disappointment every single day. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and everypony in Ponyville were surprised to see her every day, expecting her to have gone mad or had just given up and taken her own life long before.

Finally Twilight and Applejack had managed to talk her into pulling the plug on Scootaloo’s life support. Rainbow Dash sat in the room with her through the whole night, crying, begging Scootaloo to wake up, wake up before she could never wake up again.

Rainbow couldn’t sleep for three weeks afterwards. The only thing that kept her going was the constant visits from her best friends, which only did so much at first, but it got her through the funeral.

Though it seemed like Rainbow would never recover from the pain and sorrow, she did, and it didn’t take long before she was back doing her job, almost as if nothing ever happened. Like she had completely forgotten about Scootaloo. This worried Twilight and Applejack greatly, more so than the others. Between constant letters from Twilight and regular visits from Applejack, they found out that she had put the whole incident from her mind and was going on as if she had never adopted Scootaloo in the first place.

Rainbow Dash looked back at these days in horror, how could she even pretend to forget about Scootaloo. The thought of it was just insulting to the sweet little filly. Rainbow felt disgusted with herself for this, she couldn’t forgive herself. She couldn’t stand the fact that she had just forgotten about the one pony who she had ever called family.

More tears poured from her eyes as she looked at the half empty bottle of whiskey cider. She chugged the last of it down in one go and slammed it onto the coffee table in front of her where it shattered. Glass flew everywhere, most of it clattered to the floor but some managed to stick into the surrounding furniture.

Rainbow looked down at her hoof which had been cut by the shard that she still held. She eyed it wearily before smiling, a twisted, mad smile.

“Well, Scoots. It looks like I’ll be joining you shortly.” she said as her body relaxed into the chair. “I love you Scootaloo.”

Her breathing slowed, her smile faded, the pegasus went limp in her chair as her last breath faded from her chest. As her hooves fell off the sides of the chair, a glittering flash of light came from Rainbow’s chest. A shard of broken bottle stuck out from it.

Author's Note

Oh, wow, I had this up and typed a long time ago. I completely forgot that I hadn't hit publish. Sorry. On another note, don't you think this is a bad enough alternate ending, feel heartless enough for you? It brought me to tears to write this but I couldn't pass up a good idea.