Okay, as I'm sure some of you know, I said Rainbow Dash usually isn't this dramatic. But, ya know, Discord saved her life, blah, blah, blah, whatever, it's happening, and it's okay. Some of you might hate this chapter (I slightly do, may I add, though mostly just the first part), but I had nothing to happen so this is just roughness. I'll definitely have to make up for it in later chapters.

---

"Seeyah! I'm going to go meet the girls over at Twilight's!" Rainbow Dash called, earning a grunt from Discord and an 'okay' from Scootaloo as they played chess. (Or something like it. Rainbow couldn't exactly tell). She waved and then shot off, arriving at Golden Oaks Library in ten seconds flat. She closed her wings and then pushed the door open.

"Hey, look who decided to show up!" Applejack announced, glancing over at the pegasus.

"What? I'm not late!"

"Um, sorry to say, Rainbow darling, but we asked you to come over here three hours ago," Rarity said, raising an eyebrow. Dash laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head.

"Well, I, uh. . ."

"Oh, wait, Ah know! She was so busy hangin' out with Discord that she forgot to come over!" AJ teased. The other girls laughed. Rainbow blushed unconsciously and stomped her hoof in protest.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Girls, stop! We've already been over this! Whoever Rainbow Dash wants to date is her choice," Twilight added slyly, causing the other ponies to laugh again.

"Seriously?! Stop! We are not dating!"

"Sure ya aren't!" AJ burst into giggles again.

"Yeah! You two have been living together for months now! Something should happen already!" Twilight exclaimed, falling onto her side and pounding the ground.

"Get a room you two!"

"Maybe we can arrange a wedding ceremony?" Rarity teased.

"How about a baby shower?"

"That's enough! Why the sudden teasing me about this?" Rainbow asked angrily. Her friends looked at each other, smirking.

"She doesn't know yet?" Twilight asked.

"Wow, Ah thought she'd be the first to find out," AJ said.

"Yes, I too. She was absolutely mortified when she was featured in that 'Gabby Gums' column," Rarity added.

"I'm so glad I'm not in the paper. That was so scary!" Fluttershy squeaked. Rainbow stood there awkwardly and dragged a hoof along the floor. After a few more moments, they turned to her again.

"Have you checked the newspaper yet?" Twilight asked. Dash shook her head. "Maybe you should. ." The unicorn levitated a paper over to her, which she accepted. "Take a look page two."

The pegasus took it and opened it up to the second page. What she saw pretty much embarrassed her more than anything else in her whole life had. It was a picture, with her and Discord together, sitting side by side on a park bench. While the sun was setting. And they were smiling in the picture.

"WHAT?! 'BEST COUPLES!' WHEN DID THEY START DOING THIS! WE AREN'T EVEN A COUPLE!" Rainbow Dash wailed, dropping the paper on the floor and falling onto her face.

Applejack patted her on the back. "Easy there Rainbow. It's the press, what do you expect? Always sayin' stuff about ponies who don't deserve it." She paused. "But. . ."

"What?" Rainbow lifted her head up off the ground.

"Well, Ah don't mean to embarrass ya, but everypony has seen you with Discord- for how long now? Since, um, the accident? So it's no surprise they took that and put it in the paper. Plus, you're one of the Elements of Harmony, so you're famous! Plus, on top of that, you're famous for sonic rainbooms, and bein' the best flier in all of Equestria. The press are always jumpin' on top of things like that, like when somepony famous gets a very special somepony, or goes to jail, or-"

"I get it, AJ. But the thing is Discord and I aren't dating! That's totally no fair!"

"Really? Because Apple Bloom told me that Scootaloo told her that you kissed Discord one time."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow shouted in her friend's face. "How did she find out?. . ." she muttered under her breath, well tried to, anyways.

"So it's true, Ah'm guessin'?"

"Yeah. . ." Dash looked away, a blush spreading over her cheeks.

"There ain't no shame in that! Ah actually think, though Ah don't agree with the whole thing, that you two would make a great couple!"

"Whoa whoa whoa! You need to stop right there, because there is no way-"

"Rainbow, relax! As your friends, it's important for us to support your decisions! And we are going to do just that!" Twilight interrupted, putting her arm around the cyan pegasus.

"Yeah! And even if you want to date that, uh, beast, we'll be there for you," Rarity agreed.

"You two would make a great couple though," Fluttershy said. Rainbow looked at her. A compliment from Fluttershy was a great thing, but both her and Applejack had told her that. Maybe it wasn't right to hide her feelings any longer?

". . . You girls really think so?" she asked quietly. Her friends nodded.

"And Ah have one more question for ya Rainbow," AJ told her. "Do you like Discord?"

Dash tapped her hooves together shyly. Would they accept her answer? "I-I-"

"It's okay if you do, Dashie," Fluttershy added.

". . . . Okay, I do, alright? He's always been so nice to me, well, mostly, and he was there for me after the accident, and I told him about it, and he was really understanding. And really, I expected to be alone for the rest of my life, living low to the ground, but then he let me live again, and after that I just didn't know what to think. Now I have my wings, the most precious things in my life, next to you girls and Scootaloo. It's weird how he is so nice now, after all that happened the first time we met him, ya know, when he was evil, that it just blows my mind how he could even put up with me. I'm not always that great to him, but usually he just deals with it. And he's been really nice to Scoots, taking care of her when I'm not home, that I've just found myself falling for him." Rainbow looked up from where she had been staring at the floor the whole time. Her friends were standing there with expressions of pure shock on their faces. "Oh, you don't support me. . ." The usually loud pegasus stood there, feeling like Fluttershy.

"Aaaww! That's so cute!" Fluttershy squealed, grabbing her friend into a tight hug.

"Oof, Flutters, you're killing me. . ."

"I agree with Fluttershy. It is quite romantic," Rarity said. She tossed her mane over her shoulder to punctuate her sentence.

"So, when are ya gonna tell him how ya feel?" Apple Jack asked.

"Oh no way! I'm not going to tell him! He'll probably just laugh and think it was a joke or something! And then it will be all awkward between us!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flopping onto her back dramatically.

"Ah think you're over exaggeratin' just a wee bit sugarcube."

"But what if I'm not? Then what?!" She pulled AJ towards her, squishing her face right against her friend's. Applejack pulled away and picked her hat up, which had fallen off her head during Rainbow Dash's dramatics, and stuck it back on her head.

"Gee, and Ah thought Rarity was the dramatic one. . ."

"I'm serious!" The others watched as the pegasus freaked out.

Finally, Twilight sighed. "Look, Rainbow Dash, if you don't tell him how you feel, you'll never know if he has the same feelings for you. I think you should tell him."

"But what if he doesn't feel the same way about me?" She put a hoof on her chest.

"Don't think about that, Dashie. How about we help you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Help me?"

"Yeah! You could ask him to go out, not on a date, but just out, and then we'll set the mood. It'll be perfect!"

"How would you know how to do this?"

"Um, don't ask."

"Okay, even though I already did, but whatever. . ."

"Ah think Fluttershy's plan is a good one," AJ agreed.

"I also agree," Rarity said.

"So it's decided? We'll help Rainbow Dash confess her feelings for Discord!" Twilight announced, jumping on top of a table.

"Yeah!" all them exclaimed, except Dash, at the same time.

"Let's get to work!" They all out their hooves in a circle, clapping them together.

"This better work, or I think I'll kill somepony," Rainbow muttered.

---

Rainbow Dash trotted into the living room, hoping this wouldn't be a complete fail and that he would just go along with it. She was met with the two still playing whatever game it was in the middle of the room. Dash took one deep breath and went up to the spirit.

"Hey you two. What're you playin'?" Rainbow asked, putting on a halfhearted smile.

Without looking over at her, Discord responded "Chaos Checkers." The pegasus didn't quite know what that was but she really didn't want to confuse herself more so she just rolled with it.

"Okay. . ." She tried to think of how to ask it.

"What?" Discord turned to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was thinking that, um, we haven't really gone out, as just adults in a while, so we should go out tonight, is what I'm trying to say. . ."

"Oh, I get it. You want to go out tonight? Yeah, I'm cool with that."

"Are you guys going on a date?" Scootaloo asked, standing up.

"No!" Dash shouted quickly. "I mean, no. We're just going to go out as adults. As adult friends. Right?"

"Of course! When are we leaving anyways? And where are we going?" Discord asked.

"I was thinking we could go have a picnic. . ."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "A picnic? Okay, if that's what you want."

Rainbow felt the pressure in her chest lighten. She turned to her daughter. "Okay Scoots, we're gonna be gone for a while. Be good, okay? Not like I doubt it, but still."

Scootaloo saluted. "I will! Don't worry! You two enjoy your night out!" She waved at them as they went out the door. "Bye!"

"Seeyah Scoots!" She flew with Discord to the park. Dash landed on a picnic blanket, obviously set there by her friends. She looked around and saw Twilight winking at her from a bush.

"So, how did your afternoon go?" Discord asked awkwardly, trying to get conversation flowing. Rainbow jumped a little, having been lost in her own thoughts.

"Oh! It was good. We just talked, mostly," Rainbow replied, twirling her hoof on the edge of the glass of wine that was in front of her. She knew everything here was a result of her friends. Discord picked his up, swirling it in the setting sun's last rays.

"Weird. Did you put this stuff here?"

"Uh. . . Yeah! Yeah, I did."

"Knew I was going to say yes, huh?"

"Pretty much." Rainbow looked away, feeling the tension between them growing with each moment. Come on girls! I'm dying here!

Suddenly, the sound of a violin playing sounded somewhere behind them. Discord turned to look, but seeing nothing, he looked back out over the hill, watching the sunset. A wind sprung up, causing Rainbow's mane to start blowing, making her look cute and shy as she sat there looking at the ground.

"Wonder who's playing," Discord murmured, having some strange feeling what was causing this.

"I don't know. . . could be anypony, right?" She laughed nervously, trying to avoid eye contact. She moved a few strands of orange out of her eyes and switched her attention instead to the dying sun.

"Nice night for a picnic. Where's the food?"

"Oh, um, I. . ."

Seeing the pegasus start to freak out a little bit, Discord smirked and put a paw on her hoof. "I was just kidding, Dashie. Look, why don't we just watch the sunset? It's really, uh, pretty tonight, isn't it?"

"Okay." Dash let Discord pull her closer and they sat there in silence, enjoying the last few minutes of fading sunlight. As the last ray of sunshine left, Rainbow looked up at the spirit. "Discord?"

"Yeah?" he asked, running a paw down her mane.

"I wanted to know, if, if, um. . ." Dash trailed off, wondering if she should even bother.

"Yes?"

"If you w-wanted to be my," deep breath, "veryspecialsomepony!" She rushed the last words out. Discord stopped petting her head and looked at her. She shifted positions and looked up at his eyes. He returned the gaze. Tears gathered in her eyes for the first time in a while. Rainbow fluttered her wings, flying herself out of his arms and turned around. She prepared to fly off, but what he said made her stop and turn back to him.

"Yes."

Rainbow looked at him. "Really? You will?"

Discord smiled, grabbing her around the waist and dipping her close to the ground. "Definitely. What made you think I'd say no?"

"Well, I, um. . ." She blushed brightly.

"That's what I thought." Then, he leaned in closer to her and pushed his lips against hers. Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before closing, the kiss lasting more than a few seconds before they pulled away.

"AAAAWWWWW!" Fluttershy squeed from the bushes, flying over to the new couple. The other three emerged less dramatically.

"What?! I knew you girls had something to do with this, but I didn't know you were watching! Uh!. . ." Discord face palmed, turning away from them.

"That was so cute! I knew you two would make a great couple!" the yellow pegasus squealed, bouncing around Dash.

"And it was only a little awkward!" Applejack congratulated. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Now that you have sealed the deal, do you think you'll be getting married?" Rarity asked. Rainbow was about to respond but was stopped. "Because I have the perfect idea for a wedding dress!" The fashionista lost herself in her own thoughts.

Twilight stepped forward, putting an arm around the cyan pegasus. "So, were we right, or were we right?" Dash laughed, giving Twilight a nudge with her nose.

"I guess you girls were right. But that doesn't mean anything! I would've eventually asked him!" Rainbow said.

"Uh huh, says the one who was practically havin' a panic attack on the library floor," AJ teased. Dash laughed sheepishly and punched the earth pony in the arm.

"I think I'm going to head home now. Sweetie Belle doesn't like it when I'm back super late. Tata girls!" Rarity announced, waving to the girls as she started trotting down the road.

"Ah'm with Rarity. Apple Bloom's a-waitin'. Bye gals!" Applejack called, heading off in the opposite direction the white unicorn had went down.

Fluttershy spread her wings. "The animals need me. Bye Dashie!" She took off to the skies, disappearing into the darkness.

"Me too. Good luck with your new relationship, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, giving the pegasus a quick hug and teleporting away. Rainbow smiled, and turned back to Discord, who still had one paw on his face.

"Discord? You alright?" Dash asked. He took his paw away and looked at the blue pegasus.

"Yeah. It's just. . . weird, being watched while you kiss somepony, I guess," Discord said.

Rainbow laughed. "I know what you mean."

"Are we gonna head back to your house?"

"You mean our house?"

"What?"

"You know, we never finished the wine that was there. And the stars are looking fairly pretty tonight, aren't they?"

Discord looked at her in confusion for a moment before he realized what she was saying. "Ah, yes, they do look nice. I quite agree with you." He pulled her in closer for a kiss, and they fell together onto the picnic blanket. Discord brought the wine glasses to them, stopping the kiss. He gave Rainbow Dash hers.

She smiled at him. "To a bright future!" She brought her wine glass up.

Discord held his up to hers. "To a bright future!"

The glasses clinked together, the sound echoing through Luna's beautiful night.

---

"So, Rainbow Dash, you've found somepony that will love you! And that's Discord! Ha! At least you two have something in common! You're both freaks!" Pinkie Pie mocked.

Rainbow Dash growled. "I'll have you know, I have my wings and cutie mark! You even saw that when you broke out of prison!"

Pinkie smirked, looking at the pegasus. "I don't see any wings! Or a cutie mark!"

Rainbow scoffed, shaking her head before looking at her back. She gasped, feeling sick. "W-what?! What happened to my wings!? I know I had them! I know I did!"

"I guess not, Dashie! Remember, I cut them off! It was the most fun I've had in forever! Even better than when I got my cutie mark!"

The world seemed to fall around Dash. Pinkie was right. No, wait, this was just a dream. Yeah, Pinkie was still in prison, not in front of her. But then why did it feel so real?

"N-no. NO. You're not here for real. I know you're not. You're in prison still. I know that. My brain is just being stupid right now," Rainbow stated, both to Pinkie and herself.

"Are you sure, Rainbow Dash? If this is just a dream, then why is it so real? Why can I do this?" Pinkie Pie brought her hooves and up shoved Rainbow to the floor violently.

"I-I-"

"That's right. I'm real! And I'm going to finish what I started!" Pinkie shoved her face right into Dash's, her sky blue eyes staring right into the pegasus's frightened cerise ones. "What do you think of that, huh Dashie?"

Rainbow gulped, feeling all of the emotions that were gone for so long come rushing back. "I don't think anything of it. You can't hurt me. This is just a dream!"

Pinkie laughed again. "You really think that? Well, I'm going to show you just how wrong you are." Pinkie grabbed Dash's mane in her teeth and dragged her across the seemingly empty space. A large chair appeared, followed by a tray containing sharp medical tools, much like when she had first been in Pinkie's grasp.

Rainbow clutched at her hair line, trying to keep it closer to her head. "You can't do anything to me Pinkie Pie! You're not real! This is just a dream!"

"Yeah, keep saying that, it'll definitely get you somewhere," Pinkie snorted, throwing Rainbow into the chair, strapping her down tightly.

"I-I will!" Dash shouted. She focused her mind on one, and one thing only. "This is just a dream. This is just a dream. This is just a dream."

Pinkie grabbed a knife.

"This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream!"

Pinkie held it above her face.

"THIS IS JUST A DREAM, THIS IS JUST A DREAM! THIS. IS. JUST. A. DREAM!"

The knife blew away in Pinkie's hoof. The pony looked down at where it had just been. "What?! What happened?!" She looked down at her own body. It was also starting to blow away like dust in the wind. The pink pony screamed, cursing Rainbow Dash. Her scream of 'no' was becoming fainter and fainter as she was fading away.

"I told you! I told you! I win!" shouted Dash, her frown turning into a triumphant smile as Pinkie Pie disappeared. The chair and straps holding her down also dissolved, letting Rainbow stand up. Her wings and cutie mark blew onto her body.

"I WIN!"

---

Rainbow Dash bolted upright, expecting to find herself in her bed. She was surprised, to say the least, when she saw they were still in the park. She rubbed her pounding head. Was that because of the dream or did she have way too much to drink last night? She rolled over, finding herself staring right into Discord's face. She gagged and rolled back over.

They definitely had way too much to drink last night.

She brought her hoof up, breathed into it, and smelt her breath. She gagged again. Yup. Too much to drink.

"Discord!" Dash hissed, poking him. "Discord!"

He grunted something, and sat up. "What?"

"Oh nothing."

"Seriously?" He snorted and flopped onto his back.

"As long as you're up you might as well get a breath mint or something. Your breath is smelly. I'm not saying mine isn't, but I think yours is way worse. Do you remember what we did last night anyways? Besides drinking a whole barrel of wine."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a barrel, but we did drink a few glasses. I think we both had a few. Pretty strong wine, I'd say. We were out fast." He stood up, shaking grass out of his mane.

"Oh no! I just realized something!"

"What?"

"Scootaloo! We never went home! Uh, great! I wonder where she thought we were!"

"Relax, Dashie. All kids like to be left alone. She probably didn't even do anything. She's fine."

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I think I'm going to take a dip in the lake." She pointed a hoof towards the water.

"Watch out for that monster, will you? I don't wanna have to save you again!" he called as she trotted over to it.

Dash looked back at him, rolling her eyes. "Right!" she muttered sarcastically. Discord laughed and teleported over next to her.

"First one to the bottom wins!" He dived in, splashing the pegasus with what seemed like half the lake.

"Hey!" Rainbow shook some water off her, and then got a great idea. She flew quickly above the lake, and dropped, going into a cone and slamming into the water at full speed. She passed Discord, who was almost to the bottom. Rainbow hit the lake floor, creating a huge wave that sent all the fish in the area back, and all the plants were practically pulled from their roots. After the dirt settled, Dash swam back up to the surface and took a deep breath, laughing. Discord resurfaced a moment later, coughing.

"What the hay?! How did you do that?!" he spluttered, treading water.

Dash stopped laughing for a moment. "Because I'm that talented!" The two floated there laughing for a little while before they got out. Discord immediately shook himself like a dog, managing to get everything that was already wet because of Rainbow's wave even more soaked. Rainbow just fluttered her wings, getting the droplets off so she could fly more easy.

"Can you make some breath mints appear or something? I'm dead serious, because my breath smells like a dead fish," Rainbow said. Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly a huge torrent of mouth wash came pouring down on top of her. The pegasus let out a growl, spitting out some of it. "That wasn't exactly how much I needed, but at least my breath smells good. But now I smell entirely like mint. Great." Rainbow waded into the water, washing herself off, again, and flicked her wings.

"I could go for a cup of coffee. How 'bout you?" Discord asked, finishing smoothing his mane and turning to look at the pegasus.

"Yeah sure." Rainbow stopped. "You're not going to dump a bunch of coffee on me, are you?"

"No. Or will I. .?" Discord smirked. Dash hit him. He pouted, rubbing his leg where she smacked him. "Okay, okay. Let's just go into town then. SugarCube Corner has great coffee."

"I'm chill with that," Dash agreed.

---

"So, you're sure they never came home last night? Rarity said she was with them, and she came home," Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo nodded. "I'm sure. They usually come in arguing about something. I would've hear them."

Apple Bloom looked at her uncertainly. "Ah know Applejack was with them too, and as Sweetie Belle said, she came home. Are you absolutely positive they never came home?"

"I'm absolutely positively sure that they never came home last night!" Scootaloo growled, slightly annoyed her friends weren't agreeing with her. "Rainbow Dash never comes in silent! Never mind Discord! I'm living with the two most chaotic and awesome adults in Equestria! How could I not know they were home?"

The two other fillies looked at each other doubtfully. "But Scootaloo, what if they didn't want to wake you up because you were asleep?" Sweetie asked. Scootaloo groaned, face-hoofing. She wanted to strangle her so bad right now.

"Look, Scootaloo, she has a point. They were probably just tryin' to be quiet," Apple Bloom agreed.

"No! I know what happened! They did not-repeat-did not, come home last night!" Scootaloo shoved her face right into her friend's, poking them in the chest with each word. They still looked doubtful. Scootaloo groaned again, taking her face away. "Look, if they had come home, I would've at least seen them in their bed this morning. I did not see them at all."

"Whatever you think pal," Sweetie mumbled. Scootaloo frowned, turning away from them.

"I'll show you two! Come on, let's go find them!" The orange filly buzzed her wings and set off. Maybe the Cakes had seen the two. As the three entered the store, they saw Discord and Rainbow sitting at a table, talking. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and stormed up to the table, flying onto it.

"Hi Scoots! Sorry we didn't make it home last night, we-"

"What were you doing last night, huh? I demand to know!" Scootaloo leaned in close to her mom's face, who looked quite surprised. "Well?"

Rainbow pushed the filly back a little ways. "I really don't think that's your place to be going around demanding to know where we were, as if we were teenagers or something. We were just out by the lake, and we fell asleep. No biggie," Rainbow told her.

"It's all cool, kid," Discord said, waving a paw in the air absently. Scootaloo snorted, hopping off the table.

"I told you girls! They never came home! I win!" Scootaloo bragged.

Rainbow Dash froze. I win. . . I win. . . I win. . . The words echoed hollowly through her mind. Pinkie Pie almost won. And Rainbow hated losing. But she won. Dash shook her head, tapping the side of her skull. Why did that dream come back to her all of a sudden? Just because Scootaloo said 'I win?'

Yes. That was exactly why. Because that was what Dash yelled at Pinkie when she was disappearing. It was all so clear now. It wasn't until she heard talking that Rainbow snapped back to reality.

"Okay, okay, you were right. But there was no reason we couldn't have been," Apple Bloom declared.

"Yeah, we had perfectly good explanations," Sweetie Belle agreed.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Big deal. But I still knew they hadn't come home, so there's only one winner- me."

"Whatever. We're outta here. We got lots of crusadin' to get to. Seeyah Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said. The two fillies left the store. Scootaloo shrugged, turning back to the adults once again.

"So, what are we gonna do now? Can we do something awesome today?"

"I don't know. But everything that I do is awesome, so I guess it doesn't matter," Rainbow Dash said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, you're right. But what are we going to do?"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter. Why don't you pick something, squirt?"

Scootaloo rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm. . . we could play old west!"

Rainbow looked over at Discord, who just shrugged. "Okay, we can agree to that."

---

". . . Why do I have to pull you?"

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked down at the spirit, who was attached to the wooden wagon they were sitting in. The two girls both had cowboy hats on, with a badge pinned on their vests. Scootaloo's vest was light purple, outlined with a pinkish color, with a matching hat, and had an orange badge. Rainbow's vest was rose colored, outlined with rainbow, with a matching hat, and had a light blue badge.

Discord was the one who pulled them along in the wagon, much to his dismay. He had on all of the horse tack, as they had made him, including a bit, which made every word muffled.

"Why do I have to do this? And why do I have to wear this?" Discord growled. He was on all fours like a dog, and it was pretty embarrassing.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "We're doing what Scoots wanted to do, so we'll just have to play too."

Scootaloo nodded her head. "And we needed somepony to draw the wagon! And in the old west, ladies don't do that! Guys do! So, onward!" She jabbed her hoof into the air, and, rather reluctantly, Discord started pulling the wagon. It wasn't very heavy, but he was more used to walking on two feet.

"So, kid, what are you and I supposed to be doing?"

"Oh right! You and I have to wrangle the cows up! So, here's your rope." Scootaloo handed the older pegasus a dark blue rope. She herself had a dark orange rope.

Rainbow sat there with it for a few moments before she turned back to the filly once again. "What cows?"

"Do I have to tell you everything?" Scootaloo looked at her mom in exasperation. "Go for the targets! They're all over town."

"How?"

"I put them there, obviously! Now, look and rope!" Scootaloo turned away again.

Rainbow Dash held the rope in her hooves in confusion. She still had absolutely no idea how to use it. She sighed. Oh well. Dash picked it up in her mouth and started twirling it with as much grace as a whale on land. After getting more into the style of it, she threw it at one of the targets, missing by about four feet. But before she could take it in, the loop unfortunately caught on an above ground tree root, pulling Rainbow off before she knew what was happening. But again, the rope caught on yet another thing, this time the wagon. She was getting pulled in two directions at once, and it felt like she was being torn in half. Rainbow flapped her wings, trying to escape. But with one front leg and one back leg tangled in the rope, there was no escape.

"Discord! Stop! I'm stuck!" Dash shouted, hoping her would hear her. "Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Discord! Hey! Somepony!"

Meanwhile, up where Discord was, he was really starting to have a hard time pulling this. He growled, pushing forward. Nope. He just wasn't moving. "Come on you stupid wagon! Move!" After a few seconds of no luck, he shouted back to Scootaloo. "Hey! Are we caught on something?!"

"I don't- oh my Celestia! Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo yelled. "Discord stop!" He quickly did, wondering what Rainbow Dash had to do with this, but he stood up and looked over.

"Finally! I've been nearly pulled apart! Get me out of this, will ya?" Rainbow asked, still fluttering her wings. Scootaloo pulled the rope off her hooves, and Dash floated over to land on them. She kicked her hooves, trying to remove the terrible sting from them.

"What happened?" Discord asked, snapping his fingers to make everything disappear. He watched Rainbow bounce around.

Scootaloo looked at him. "She got caught in the rope, was pulled two directions, now she has rope burn."

Discord nodded. "Ah." He teleported next to Dash, who still felt like her hooves were on fire. "Here, let me see them."

Rainbow flew up so he could look at them. They both had long abrasions on them, and from what he knew, they looked pretty bad.

"We better get those taken care of. Come on, let's get back to the house." He snapped his fingers, and teleported them all to the cloud home.

---

"Ouch!" Rainbow Dash yelped, pulling her hoof away from Discord's paws. He looked up at her expectantly. She gently lowered it back into his grip. "Be more gentle. That hurts."

Discord prepared to lower the alcohol pad back onto the burn. "I'm being as gentle as I can, but it's going to sting no matter what, Dashie. And we're almost done. I just need to finish cleaning it then I can put the bandages on." They were in the kitchen, with Dash sitting on the table and Discord crouching down in front of her as he bandaged her hooves.

"But then we still have my front hoof!" She waved it around in front of her. Discord reached his paw up and grabbed it, stopping her from hurting herself. She stuck out her tongue and waited for him to be finished. He wrapped the hoof up and let go of it so it just dangled in the air. She winced as he cleaned the other one, but soon he had done them both, bandages and all. Rainbow hopped off the table, giving out a small grunt of discomfort as she landed, but said nothing.

"I don't think we should play with ropes again. Rainbow might do a little more than get rope burn if we do," Discord said. "We have to make sure we do something Rainbow Dash rated."

"Hey!" Dash objected, hitting him the side. "I do more dangerous stunts than anypony ever! I just am bad with ropes, that's all. . ."

Discord rolled his eyes. "I think bad would be an understatement."

"It would, uh, ya know what, I may be bad with ropes but I can still tackle you to the ground! Plus beat you in water fights, arm wrestling, and being awesome!"

Scootaloo watched as the two adults got into yet another pointless fight with each other. She rolled her eyes, grabbed a juice box from the fridge and a banana nut muffin from the cupboard, and sat down to eat it. If they got violet, which usually happened, she would have a meal and a show.

"You wanna go?" Dash shouted.

Here it comes.

"Okay bring it on!" Discord growled back. Rainbow sprang at him, tackling him to the floor, but he grabbed her tail and flipped her over him.

Scootaloo watched with growing amusement and annoyance as she watched them beat each other up. The fights never ended up with anypony seriously hurt, though Discord did lose his tooth one time, and Rainbow had to stop flying for a bit because her wing got sprained.

Usually their fights were pointless, as this one was, and Scootaloo did not get why they had to wrestle on the floor. Was it some sort of dominance issue? She wasn't sure. As she sat there sipping her juice box and eating her muffin, she heard knocking at the door. She hopped down from her chair and went over to open it. It was Fluttershy.

"Oh hi, Scootaloo, I was wondering if Rainbow Dash was home?" the shy pegasus asked, giving her a sheepish smile.

Scootaloo looked back over her shoulder, and rolling her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day, she replied, "yeah. They're fighting though, so I wouldn't go in there."

Fluttershy seemed confused. "What do you mean fighting?"

"Just watch." Scootaloo led the pegasus inside to where they were.

"I told you, that is not right!" Rainbow snarled. She jumped off the table, body slamming him. He rolled over, squishing her beneath his body.

"I'm right and I know it!" Discord yelled. Dash bucked, sending him flying right at the two other pegasi. Fluttershy and Scootaloo shot up, narrowly dodging the spirit.

"What are they fighting about anyways?" Fluttershy asked.

Scootaloo shrugged. "They fight about something specific when it starts, then it turns random. Even I can't keep track of it all."

"I'm going to stop them." She flew tentatively forward.

"Good luck with that."

Fluttershy went up behind Rainbow and tapped her on the shoulder. The cyan pegasus turned around, just to be tackled by Discord when she wasn't looking. Fluttershy gasped, and grabbed the spirit by his tail, yanking him off with surprising strength. Dash tried to push past her to get to him, but she blocked her.

"You two, stop that! There is no reason for you to be fighting." Fluttershy put a hoof on both of their chests, keeping them from getting to the other. "Now why don't you two just apologize and I can make us some tea to calm those nerves, huh?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Nuh uh! Rainbow Dash does not apologize! It's for the weak! Especially when I was right!"

"No, I was right! And if anypony should say sorry it's her!" Discord shouted.

Fluttershy gave them both a deadpan stare, then raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Do I have to take this into my own hooves?"

Glancing down at the hoof on her chest, Dash said, "I think it already is."

"Don't get smart with me! Now, you two say sorry, right now. Couples shouldn't be fighting. You two need to settle your differences if this relationship is to work out."

Scootaloo fluttered her wings in excitement. "They're dating now?! That's awesome!" She bounced around them, her face resembling when they were waiting for Babs Seed to get to Ponyville as she leapt back and forth.

Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, we are."

Fluttershy squeed. "Yeah, it was so cute when he said yes! He leaned her over and then they kissed and-" Dash stuck her unbandaged hoof into her friend's mouth.

"She doesn't need to know all of what happened."

"Hhkay," Fluttershy managed to say. Rainbow pulled her hoof away, wiping the spit on Discord, who flicked her with his tail.

"So, are you guys done fighting now?" Scootaloo asked. She returned to her food on the table.

"Yeah, sure," Rainbow said. Then with one suspicious glance at Discord, she added, "for now."

"Cool."

---

"Uh, my hooves are killing me," Rainbow Dash grunted, pushing a cloud over to a small group. Clouchaser looked over at the blue pegasus, who was rubbing her bandaged hooves.

"What happened?" the light purple pegasus asked.

"Oh, um, rope burn."

"How'd that happen?"

"Uh, Scootaloo wanted to play old west, and I suck with ropes. . ."

"Oh wait! Flitter was talking to me about that! She said somepony got caught in a rope! They were a bunch of ponies watching, I guess. Was that you?"

"Um, probably. But I don't remember anypony watching. . ."

"Whatever. Flitter always over exaggerates. She was probably the only one watching. I really don't see how she didn't know who it was. I mean, your bright blue fur, your rainbow hair, and the fact that everypony knows that you suck with ropes, because we watched the Iron Pony Competition."

"Um, yeah." Rainbow blocked out her annoying chatter. "Hey, Cloudchaser, will you go help Thunderlane over there? I'm sure he'd like the help." She nodded her head over to where the dark grey pegasus was trying to move a huge cloud.

"Of course!" Clouchaser zoomed off. Rainbow smirked. Everypony knew she had a crush on Thunderlane, except for him, obviously.

"Finally. Those sisters do love their gossip, don't they?" she muttered. Rainbow finished weather duty and flew down to Twilight's. She knocked on the door and was let in.

"Hi Rainbow Dash! Here to talk about how in love," the unicorn rolled her eyes around in her head," you are with Discord?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, what do you need?" Twilight asked.

"Ya see, I got these rope burns yesterday, and they really hurt. I was wondering if you had any spells or something to heal them." She lifted her front leg up.

"Um, okay. I'll need to see what they look like, so I'll have to remove the bandages, okay?"

"Sure."

Twilight took her hoof and unwrapped it, then immediately winced at what she saw. The long gashes went around her entire hoof. They looked inflamed.

"Ouch! Man, those are really bad. But luckily, I have a book that covers things like this," Twilight said, setting Rainbow's hoof down on the table where she was sitting. The unicorn stood up on her back hooves and carefully read the titles. After a moment she smiled and picked a book out of the shelf with her magic. She flipped through the pages, and put one hoof on it to read it.

"Okay, it says here that we should clean it. Did you clean it first?" She looked up at Dash, who nodded. "Alright. Well, it just says you should keep it clean and cover it. So, I'll just change your bandages and then you should be good. Just make sure to change them periodically." Twilight busied herself with cleaning and redressing the wounds. Rainbow sat silently on the table, waiting for her to be done. "There we go! Good as new! Now, Dash, if you have any more problems, just come and see me, okay?"

"Alright Twilight, I got it," Rainbow said.

"I advise you top stay off your hooves for a little while. You know how to do that, I'm sure. Just give the burns time to heal and you'll be fine. Anything else you wanted to talk about?" Twilight looked over at the pegasus as she put the book away.

"Well, there is one. . ." Rainbow rubbed at the back of her head.

"What?"

"Well. . . it's Scootaloo. She's so excited to have a family, and I get that, but she's so fast to accept somepony. Do you have any ideas why?" She raised her hoof questionably.

Twilight nodded slowly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Well, Dashie, I'm not sure if this is the exact reason, but I do have a theory."

"What's that?"

"As you know, she was an orphan for most of her life. So, presumably, she had parents. And whether or not these parents left her or got in an accident, we probably won't know. But she just wants that safe feeling again. I'm guessing she's very accepting because of that. Anypony that she considers family probably has some sort of special place in her life. Like you. Because you adopted her."

Rainbow nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Thanks, Twilight." She looked at the clock on the wall. "I better be going. Seeyah." She flapped her wings, remembering to stay off her hooves, and flew out the window this time.

Twilight watched her go. Putting her head in her hooves, she smirked. "That pegasus has a lot going for her. You know, I almost envy her Spike." She turned her head slightly to look at the dragon that just walked into the room.

Spike snorted, picking up a broom to sweep. "Whatever Twilight."

---

Yeah, this chapter sucked lots and lots of balls. I'll make up for it, don't worry. And yeah, whatever. I don't have that much to say. . . just whatever. . . Awkward. . . .