Will You Keep My Secret?

Chapter One

The Secret

The serene midday weather that enveloped the town called Ponyville could lift anyone's spirits; and it usually did. But on this particular day, a lonely orange pegasus filly wheeled down the side paths on the outskirts of town.

This peculiar filly does something no other pony ever does: She uses her wings to propel herself forward on a scooter. But on this day, she kept her wings snapped shut at her sides, not even wanting to look at them. She rolled her way around using her legs, like all other ponies. She kept her head hung, surveying the ground and each individual pebble that disappeared underneath her blue scooter.

She had kept this swaying motion that propelled her forward for what seemed like hours. This motion was the only thing that she could focus on other than her thoughts. The lump in her throat grew larger as she again recalled the events from earlier that day.

Back at school, Diamond Tiara had crossed the line. She had actually recruited their entire class to take part in the bullying. The assembled mob created a wall of themselves in front of the filly, and trapped her from behind by one of the outside walls of the school.

They taunted her, called her names, and teased her with words that conveyed a simple message: She could not fly. She could not fly and she should be ashamed to call herself a pegasus for not being able to. What kind of pegasus can't fly? A pegasus baby, of course, you must be a baby! This general form of teasing had gone on for ages, the other fillies relentlessly bombarded her with harsh words that, when thought about, were basically true. The bell to come in from recess was the only thing that did, or could, stop the onslaught of terror.

Once the others had left, the only thought that flowed through the filly's mind was escape. Get out of this wretched place and find somewhere safe to hide. That is what she was focused on now, but that had been a few hours ago. She was now riding around aimlessly, zombified in her movements. She didn't really care if anyone was around; she was too busy with her thoughts.

While immersed in the great, swelling sea of her psyche, she failed to notice a certain cyan mare hovering above her. She had been that way for at least five minutes, simply watching the orange filly go. The mare decided to speak up to snap her friend out of her trance.

"Hey Squirt, whatcha doin'?" were the simple words spoken, but they were enough to catch her attention. "Squirt" jumped three feet in the air and landed on the gravel with an audible thud.

"Eh, hi, Rainbow Dash," said "Squirt." She hadn't the energy required to muster an enthusiastic response. She normally answered to Dash's greetings with stammered half-sentences. Her weak reply was met with a worried look from Dash. Something was wrong, and she was going to find out what it was.

"What's the matter, Scootaloo? Normally when I say 'hi' to you, you bounce off the walls. Everything okay?" asked Dash with a wry smile.

"Huh?" asked Scootaloo, relieved to hear her name accompanied with compassionate words. It had only been a week and a half since their camping trip where they became honorary sisters, so she was still getting used to Dash calling her one. "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing is wrong," said Scootaloo, truly trying her best to wear a smile. She failed miserably, and Dash picked up on it. The cyan mare gave her new sister a disappointed frown, and looked into those large purple eyes to try to set things straight.

"You think I was born yesterday? I may not be an egg-head, but I'm not stupid. I know when a pony is having a tough time, so out with it," said Dash, finding a sad look plastered on the filly's face. Scootaloo sighed, resigning herself before Dash's wisdom.

"Some of the other fillies at school were making fun of me for not being able to fly, and they didn't stop until I couldn't hear myself think anymore. I just want to fly, Rainbow Dash, so I can prove them wrong and show them that I'm…I'm not some worthless baby," said Scootaloo, conveying her current dilemma and hoping that the mare could help.

"Okay, first of all," started Dash, "you aren't worthless. I wouldn't call you my sister if you were worthless. And where were your friends?"

Scootaloo's face turned downward. "Well, Applebloom's sick and Sweetie Belle is with Rarity in Canterlot for a vacation."

"Oh," said Dash. She knew Rarity was gone, but didn't know Sweetie Belle went with. "So…you still can't fly? Aren't your parents teaching you or anything?" asked Dash. Scootaloo's face flushed and her ears snapped back. She eventually regained a scrap of her composure and formed a few sentences.

"No, uh, th-they aren't. They d-don't have time to…to teach me how, so...I'm kinda on my own right now. They're always super busy, and they're never home at the same time." Scootaloo had tried her best to be convincing.

"She's not telling me something, and I'm going to figure out what," thought Dash. She was getting impatient with Scootaloo, but she knew that you needed to take these sensitive matters slowly. After Dash had said she would be Scootaloo's sister, she went to Applejack and Rarity for advice. They had helped her along and taught her everything she needed to know; now it's time to use some of those techniques. She left the subject of Scootaloo's parents where it was and started somewhere else.

"Hmm, your parents can't teach you?" said Dash, pondering her next move. A smile lit her face up when the idea came to mind. "Scootaloo, since your parents aren't teaching you, I will. I could use something to occupy myself with." Dash took note of the ear-to-ear grin that spread across the smaller pegasi's face.

"Really?! You'd teach me how to fly? You'd do that?" asked Scootaloo, bewildered and amazed at the speed of the turn their relationship had taken.

"Sure. That is the kind of thing you wanted me to do, right?" asked Dash.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. I mean, I'm probably just another fan to you..." Scootaloo looked down and hoped her words were not true in Dash's mind. The older mare walked up close to Scootaloo and offered some comfort.

"Nopony I take on as a sister is just another fan. Let me tell you something: The thing that sets you apart from all of my many fans is that while all of you want to be me, you are the only one actually trying to be me. I never mention this, but when I finish clearing the sky, I would go to the last cloud, lay on it, and before I take a nap, I'd watch you scoot around town, doing awesome tricks and stunts, completely throwing caution to the wind while doing them. You are the only pony in all of my years of awesomeness that does that."

Scootaloo eyes widened as she realized where she stood in her sister's life. Before today, she hadn't known how much Dash had admired her. She still didn't know, but she now knew that it had to be a lot more than she does with all of her other fans. The idea of Scootaloo's idol looking upon her with these feelings filled her heart with joy. She looked up at her sister, and found a smile beaming back at her.

"There's just one thing before I can teach you how to fly: I need your parent's permission," said Dash.

Scootaloo's sense of peace was again shattered. "Wh-What? Why do you need my parent's permission to teach me something?" she asked.

"Because, it's part of the Pegasus Code, duh. Pegasus Code dictates that it's a parent's duty to teach their fillies how to fly. Fortunately, there can be an exception. If a parent is unable to teach their filly how to fly, then they can hire somepony to do it."

"Well, we don't really need to do that code stuff, do we? I mean, I'm sure they'd be okay with it." Scootaloo tried to convince Dash to put away her loyalty just this one time. But, knowing Dash, she would never disregard what made her an Element.

"We have to follow it. The Unicorns and the Earth Ponies have their codes, and they follow them. So we have to follow ours as well," said Dash, not giving up her search for what was wrong.

"W-well I don't think they can give permission right now, they're way too busy with all their stuff. I-in fact neither of them are home right now," lied Scootaloo, further entrenching herself and hoping Dash would just give up. But Dash was relentless, and was getting tired of Scootaloo's lies. She had had enough and decided to get to the bottom of this.

"Scootaloo, I told you, I'm not stupid. Something is wrong, and, as your honorary sister, I need to know what it is so I can fix it. If your parents can't teach you, or give me permission to teach you, then I guess you're on your own." Rainbow Dash really didn't want to say such things, but she needed a way in, and this is how Scootaloo was going open the door. She turned her back and spread her wings. This sealed the deal, and effectively provoked an answer.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" called Scootaloo. Her walls were broken, and she had given up the fight. She realized that she'd have to tell Dash or she would never fly. Dash turned her face upward as she found her ticket in. Still turned away, she folded her wings in and listened.

"Do you promise not to tell anypony if I tell you why?" asked Scootaloo, hoping Dash would return. Dash turned with a more serious look, her smile replaced.

"Why do I need to promise you not tell anypony? What's this big secret?" asked Dash, now concerned for the safety of this filly.

"Just promise me, and then I'll tell you," responded Scootaloo.

"Okay, fine, I promise not to tell anypony your secret, so out with it." Dash realized just a bit too late that the tone she had used was not very convincing.

Scootaloo's eyes narrowed; she would need more than that. "Pinkie promise not to tell". Dash sighed and straightened herself up.

"Okay, I promise not to tell anypony your secret. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now will you please tell me what's going on?"

Scootaloo sighed again, and began. She had never told anyone this secret, so it was going to be difficult to get out. However, she needed it out or she will stay on the ground forever.

"Okay, the reason my parents can't teach me, or give you permission to teach me is because…because…" Scootaloo paused. This was going to be tougher than she thought, but she pushed on. "Because I…I…*murmur*." There, it was out. She hoped it had been loud enough.

"What? I can't hear you. What's up with your parents?" Asked Dash, prodding the filly for more information. Dash had actually heard what she said, but she couldn't believe it, so she sought clarification.

"I said...I-I don't…*murmur*," said Scootaloo, wishing she could stop being such a crybaby and tell the mare outright.

"Seriously, you need to speak up, I can't hear a word you're saying," said Dash, her voice cracking at the last syllable.

"I SAID I DON'T HAVE…parents," admitted Scootaloo, finally communicating the secret she had hoped to keep forever. Scootaloo looked down, suddenly taking an interest in her hooves.

"O-oh, okay. So…*sigh*…so that's why," said Dash. Looking at the filly's condition made her upset at herself for causing so much tension. "Sorry I asked."

"I-It's okay, you weren't going to teach me how to fly if I didn't tell you." said Scootaloo. She looked up at her sister to find a strangely empathetic expression. "I've been living at Ponyville's Oak Side Orphanage on the edge of Ponyville for pretty much all of my life. It's not too bad, the matrons are nice enough, but, I want to live somewhere else." Scootaloo fought to keep back a stray tear.

"Humph," said Dash. "Well I guess since I'm kinda like your only family, the decision is mine to make. And you know what Scootaloo? I've decided to get you flying by the end of next week!" Dash struck a pose and thought of the future.

The orange filly's face lit up. She had told her secret, sure, but now she will have a flight teacher. She will finally get to fly.

Chapter Two

The Lesson

"Alright Scootaloo, since I'm your only family, I guess the decision is up to me!" said the older mare, striking a pose that lit up Scootaloo's face. "And I have decided that I'm going to have you flying by the end of next week, starting now!"

Scootaloo was a bit taken aback. Her idol wanted to start now? She still could not believe how willing Dash was to get to know her. "O-okay, Rainbow Dash, I guess we could start now, but why so soon?"

"Well we need to start soon so you can fly soon," said Dash. "This sort of thing takes perseverance. You won't just wake up one day and fly, you need to practice."

Dash motioned for Scootaloo to follow her out into the field. "Let's start with you showing me how long you can stay airborne."

Scootaloo slowly unfolded her wings as she joined her companion. The small orange apendages had been kept shut for hours, so they were a bit stiff. She shook them to get the kinks out, then she began beating them fiercely like a hummingbird. Scootaloo jumped in the air and stayed there for just over three seconds before feeling her hooves touch back down onto the grass. The orange filly looked down and let out a sniff. Dash saw this, and persisted.

"Hmm, you should be able to stay in the air for longer than that at your age," said Dash, provoking a distressed look from Scootaloo. "Here, let me see your wings".

"Wh-What? What's wrong with my wings?" asked Scootaloo, fearing the worst. She lifted her left wing, and Dash took it in her hooves. She inspected it for a moment before finding an abnormality.

"Oooh, yeah, I see the problem," said Dash causing Scootaloo's eyes to shoot to the small orange wing.

"What's wrong…are they broken?!" asked Scootaloo with distinct worry in her voice.

"No, they aren't broken, it's just that the muscles in your wings are developing wrong." diagnosed Dash. She let go of the wing and took the other, finding the same problem inverted. "See here, these muscles," she pointed to the front underside of her wing, "they're really small. The same thing is on the other side too. And here, look at these ones," she pointed to the back underside of the wing, "these are wicked strong. Both of these muscle sets need to be pretty much the opposite of what they are now." Dash took a moment to ponder what could have caused these strange deformities. One look at the blue scooter propped up against the tree gave her the solution.

"Oh...I think I know why," said Dash as the realization dawned on her.

"What…what?! Why are my wings like this?" demanded Scootaloo, prodding Dash for information.

"It's because of your scooter. You've grown your muscles for scootering, not flying." Dash noticed that this news looked to be a bit much for Scootaloo.

"Wh-What does that mean, though?" asked Scootaloo.

"It means that riding your scooter all the time has grown your wings for it," said Dash. "You haven't allowed your wings to grow naturally. They're not really built for flying anymore; the muscles needed to get off the ground are mostly unused. Instead the muscles for scootering are strong. Here's another thing, try turning your wings forward."

Dash turned her wings as she said this, only able to point the top side down a little bit. Scootaloo followed suit, and found that she could point the top side down almost all the way. This surprised Dash; she hadn't known just how much Scootaloo's wings had adapted for her scooter.

"Woah. Yeah, you see? There's another thing. You shouldn't be able to do that. See how I have mine? I can't turn them that far." Worried looks hung on both of their faces. "Here, I want to see something else"

Dash flew over to the little blue scooter propped up against the tree, picked it up, and set it down in front of Scootaloo.

"Okay, now what I want you to do is get into a starting position, okay?" requested Dash. Scootaloo climbed on, and got into position. The filly put her front legs up onto the handle bars, and pointed her wings the way she normally has them. She never noticed that her body, almost fully upright, was parallel with her wings being pointed all the way behind her.

Fully conceptualizing her handicap, Scootaloo reluctantly let a single tear streak down her face. She turned away from her sister so as not to reveal her distress. Dash saw how Scootaloo had her body positioned, along with the tear, and attempted to live up to her honorary title as "big sister."

"Hey, this is something we are trying to fix, and we haven't even started fixing it yet," she said. "There are going to be contrasts from here to the end. So with that in mind, stay strong and we'll get there, okay?"

Dash wrapped her hoof around the filly for comfort. Scootaloo calmed down enough to co-operate, and narrowed her eyes. "Okay, Rainbow Dash, I'll be strong. Let's just get this done, okay?"

Dash was surprised with how easy that was. She was proud of herself in the way she was able to calm her sister. It was a well-known fact among the residents of Ponyville, and to Dash, that she will never be the touchy-feely, compassionate type in any random group. The idea of her being able to set her sister at ease filled Dash's heart with pride.

"Alright then, let's do this. You start going on your scooter, and I'll hold on like this so you don't go anywhere." said Dash, wrapping her hoof around the front end of the scooter. Scootaloo nodded, and began beating her wings as hard as she could.

Dash severely underestimated Scootaloo's strength. Before she knew it they were five yards away, with Rainbow Dash still holding onto the scooter. She grunted as she slowly got up. The mare dusted herself off, and thanked Celestia she wasn't hurt too bad.

"Ohmygosh! Rainbow Dash, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" apologized Scootaloo, thankful that her idol wasn't too scraped up. Rainbow Dash laughed it off, and winced as she touched a sore area on her foreleg.

"It's okay, I've been through worse. Besides, that was my fault, I should have held on harder." Dash winced again as she touched another spot. The two sat back down on the cool grass after returning the scooter to its resting place.

"But that wasn't a failure," began Dash. "See, now we know where all of your wing power is going. My guess is that if you never even touched a scooter you'd be flying almost as fast as me by now. Well, almost as fast." Dash chuckled as her signature ego resurfaced.

Scootaloo's face lit up at the concept. Her wings weren't broken; they were just…misused. She felt disappointed in herself for deforming her wings and, through using this odd technique as a pass-time, further exacerbating the problem. When she found the scooter, she wasn't that fast as she simply used her legs. Yearning for higher speeds, the filly improvised and began using her wings. Riding her scooter in this manner granted the adrenaline-filled, high velocity rush that she desired. Scootaloo had been riding this way nearly every single day since then, and she was mad at herself for doing so.

Something else was amiss, and it took Scootaloo a minute to figure out what it was.

"Rainbow Dash, how come you know so much about flight training?" she asked innocently, wanting to know if the pegasus had done it before.

"Oh, that?" started Dash. "It's nothing. I was just a coach at a flight camp for a few years before I moved to Ponyville."

Scootaloo's expression shifted wildly from shock to sorrow. She now knew that, for one, Dash had the tools needed for teaching her how to fly this whole time. But what upset Scootaloo the most was the fact that she was not the first of Dash's students. "Oh," mumbled Scootaloo. "Ho-how many have you trained?"

"Oh, too many to count." started Dash. She picked up on the filly's real question, and answered it as well. "But don't worry, none of them matter as much to me as you do."

Scootaloo's looked up hopefully into the pegasus' eyes. Dash reached over and playfully tousled the magenta mane. She was really getting the hang of this comforting thing, feeling that at this point that she could calm any emotional storm.

"Okay," started Dash. "We're down to a tough decision. I can't remember what the word was, but basically you have to decide between two things, and you can't have both." Dash inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, preparing herself for the decision she was about to force Scootaloo make. "You can either stop scootering altogether, and learn to fly, or you can keep scootering, and most likely never fly."

Scootaloo's world was shattered. Before today, she didn't know that the thing she loved doing most was keeping her from doing the thing she wanted to do most. Momentarily losing her voice, Scootaloo weighed her options.

"I…I…I don't know which one to choose. Riding my scooter is just what I do, I can't just stop!" Scootaloo then stared blankly as she made a harrowing realization. "It's the only thing that I…that I'm…good at…"

Dash scooted over to the downcast filly and wrapped her wing around her. She noticed small drips of water disturbing the grass below the filly. [i]"We're not scheduled for rain today."[/i] thought Dash to herself. She looked up to the sun-lit sky to find it empty save for a few wisps of cirrus scattered about. After understanding where the drops of water were coming from, she lifted her wing and slid her foreleg around the weeping filly as well.

"But at the same time," Scootaloo began in a croaky voice. "I want to fly, up in the clouds, and be free. An-and I want to fly with you, and get close to you as you teach me all your awesome tricks." Scootaloo looked up at the pegasus above her. "I can't have both?" She really hoped she could, but deep down she knew she couldn't.

"I'm sorry Scootaloo," apologized Dash. "You can't have both. In order to start flying, you need to grow the muscles needed for it. And since they'll be in the way, you're gonna have to shrink the muscles you use for your scooter. I'm really sorry Scootaloo, but you have to decide between one or the other." Rainbow Dash looked at the upset filly and saw the amount of turmoil she was going through.

"I…I don't know what to do," said Scootaloo. "I want to fly so bad, but riding my scooter is what I'm good at."

Scootaloo knew that this was going to be one of the hardest decisions she will ever have to make, but she was happy that Rainbow Dash was there to help her every step of the way.

Chapter Three

The Sleep-Over

A blood-red sky streaked with wisps of cloud hung over the land. One the edge of a field, next to a path, two pegasi were holding each other in a tight embrace. The older mare looked up from burying her face in her companion's purple mane and saw Celestia's sun beginning to set. She let loose a deep yawn and stared at the horizon. This was too big of a decision for Scootaloo to make in an instant. A smile spread across her face as another idea popped into her mind.

"Well Scootaloo, it's pretty late, I'm gonna call it a day. We'll pick this up where we left off tomorrow when you've had a chance to sleep on it, okay?" The cyan mare mussed the filly's purple mane again.

The two retracted their limbs from their hug, and the filly began to depart. "Alright, I'll think about it tonight. Thanks for the flight lesson Rainbow Dash, see ya!" Scootaloo then grabbed her helmet, donned it, and hopped onto her scooter. She was about to start going when Dash placed a hoof on the front end of it, making sure to not let the filly rocket away this time.

"Hey before you go, I have a question," started Dash. Scootaloo looked up with inquisitive eyes.

"Okay, uh, what do you need to know?" she asked

"I was just wondering, do you have to ask for permission from one of the matrons to have a sleep-over or something at somepony else's house?" asked Dash, having a little fun with her proposition.

"Uh…normally, yeah, but they make an exception with me. I have sleepovers with the other Crusaders like every other day, so I guess they kinda just got used to me not showing up for curfew." Scootaloo pondered Dash's motives for her question. "Why do you ask?"

The smile on Dash's face only grew larger, and began to hurt a bit. She was really starting to enjoy inspiring hope in the filly's eyes.

"Well in that case, why don't you come and stay with me tonight?" asked Dash. "That way you can decide and tell me what it is you want to do as soon as possible. If you pick flight, I'd need to put a training regimen together. It's been a while since I've made one, so I might need some time."

The entire time Dash explained her proposition she had a pose struck and her eyes to the sky in her normal braggy fashion. She had an idea of what her sister's face looked like, but it didn't prepare her for the massive smile on the hopeful little filly's face she saw when the mare looked down.

"R-Really? A s-sleep-over at…at y-your house!?" asked Scootaloo. She supposed she should just get used to Rainbow Dash doing this sort of thing; she would only be continually amazed by her willingness to get closer.

"Sure, it'd be fun! All I have is Tank to keep me company, so It'd be a nice to have somepony else in my house for a change," said Dash, loving every minute of their mutual adoration for one another. Dash smiled as she thought of another way to test the young pegasus. "Why don't we race there? It's just a straight shot that way." Dash raised a hoof and pointed in the direction of her house.

Scootaloo put on a challenging smile and got into her starting position. Dash got into hers, and on the count of three, the two were off. Again, Rainbow Dash severely underestimated the filly's wing power, and was soon literally left in the dust. She promptly got up and took off after her.

Scootaloo might be fast, but Rainbow Dash was much faster, rapidly closing the distance between the two. She could see her floating house in the distance, and quickened the pace. Scootaloo saw it too, and did the same.

Dash closed in on the speeding orange bullet, but made sure not to pass her too quickly; she didn't want to show her up. But then again, Dash didn't want to lose. As the two racing pegasi were almost to the cloud home, Dash tackled Scootaloo off of her scooter, forcing the two to land in a pile with the blue scooter off to the side.

They were both completely out of breath so it was a miracle that they were both laughing and giggling the way they were. They got up off of each other and dusted themselves off. The two walked to a nearby tree, set the scooter up against it, and hung the purple helmet on the handlebars. As they were re-approaching the house, Rainbow Dash grabbed her companion and shot up to her front porch.

The older mare was about to set the filly down when she latched onto the cyan mare's neck.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash! I can't fly!" exclaimed Scootaloo, firmly clamped onto the blue neck. Rainbow Dash pried her off and set her down. To Scootaloo's surprise, she stayed on the cloud. It was a strange feeling, something she'd never felt before. The cloud underneath her hooves gave a little, but stayed firm, and was a bit springy.

"Just because you can't fly doesn't mean you aren't a pegasus. Do you think newborn pegasi that can't fly need to be held all the time?" joked Dash, taking Scootaloo's concern lightly. The younger filly giggled and smiled as she took her first actual step forward on a cloud.

"This is amazing! It's like walking on a super springy bed!" exclaimed Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash just giggled at her friend's amazement.

"Yeah, I've kinda gotten used to it, so I don't really notice how awesome clouds are to live on anymore," said Dash, walking to the front door and opening it.

The two entered the house to find what looked like the site of an explosion.

Entire chunks of cloud were missing from nearly every wall. One of the drapes was half chewed away, and the other was completely gone. What looked like a couch cut in half was on its side against the wall, with another clump of cloud in the form of the missing half stuck to the ceiling. The countertops were mushed to the floor, and a lame excuse for a coffee table looked like it was close to collapsing. To wrap it all up, a lone green rock was laying in the corner, completely oblivious to the world.

"TAAAANK!" yelled Dash, her eyes ablaze "What did you do?! I just barely fixed all of this yesterday when you tore it up." The cyan mare walked over to the green rock that now had a head poking out one of the holes and picked it up. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you?"

Scootaloo snickered, barely able to contain a fit of the giggles.

"What's so funny?" asked Dash, eyeing her sister with a challenging gaze.

"Nothing it's just…" started Scootaloo, barely able to annunciate her words. "It's just that you're talking to a turtle that messed up your house!"

"He's a tortoise" grumbled Dash. However, she couldn't keep her passiveness up forever. The mare soon fell victim to the contagious laughter. After a few minutes of the two cackling uncontrollably, the older mare finally straightened up enough to form a few sentences.

"Just shut up and help me clean up this mess, okay?" said Dash. The young filly straightened up with a salute. The two chortled for a few seconds before beginning their clean-up of Dash's living room.

After a few minutes of "Where does this go?", "Where did that go?" and "What did that used to be?" the two were finished. Dash jocularly shot Tank a death glare that set the two pegasi off again. The tortoise simply blinked; seemingly unaware of anything that happens around him as usual.

"Alright, now that we have my house sorted, how about I go grab some pizza? You okay with keeping Tank company for a few minutes?" asked Dash, walking to her front door.

"I want extra cheese on my pizza!" replied Scootaloo who had climbed up on top of Tank's shell and was riding him around.

Dash giggled again at the sight, and bid farewell. She closed the front door, leaving the pony and the tortoise alone. Scootaloo decided to go for her own tour of her idol's house. She knew she shouldn't be snooping around, but she was curious and bored.

She returned to the living room after wandering about for a few minutes to find Tank in exactly the same position he was in when she left. He blinked his eyes at her, and she rolled her eyes at him. She went back to sitting on the newly formed couch and put together a mental map of Rainbow Dash's house.

After surveying the home, she was surprised to find that, while the outside of Rainbow Dash's house was quite extravagant, the inside was simple, and looked as though it was nothing more than an ordinary one bedroom apartment.

At that moment the smell of freshly baked pizza wafted in from seemingly all directions. Rainbow Dash burst through the door and struck one of her signature poses.

"Dinner is served!" proclaimed Dash, setting the single cardboard box of pizza on the coffee table and opening it "Hope Tank wasn't too much trouble," she joked, plopping down on the couch next to Scootaloo.

"Not really, in fact he barely moved," said Scootaloo with a chuckle, grabbing a slice of pizza. The two chewed in silence for the next few minutes. After almost finishing the crust of her slice, Scootaloo turned to Dash who was finishing up her second.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?" asked Scootaloo.

"Hrmm?" responded Dash, her mouth filled with the last bit of her second slice. After chewing a few more times she swallowed. "What is it?"

"Uhmm, I just wanted to say…" now it was time for Scootaloo to be touchy-feely. "I just wanted to say…thank you. Thank you for being like my big sister"

Rainbow Dash felt a lump form in her throat. If you told her that a simple orange filly she only really knew for a week and a half could melt her heart like that, she might have laughed like you had told the funniest joke she'd ever hear. But now she looked upon the little ball of joy she could call a sister and smiled.

She reached over with her wing and pulled Scootaloo in close. "Don't mention it, Squirt," said Dash. Scootaloo leaned in and wrapped her arms around the mare, sighing softly. They held this embrace for what seemed to them like hours. After pulling apart, Scootaloo popped the last bite of her pizza in her mouth.

Dash yawned, and lied back on the couch. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost ten o'clock. It was probably a good idea for the two to go to bed soon.

"Whelp Scoots, it's gettin' pretty late. You have a lot to think about tonight, and you have school tomorrow, so it'd be a good idea to get some shut-eye," said Dash. "D'ja get enough to eat?"

Scootaloo nodded and got up off of the couch. Rainbow Dash reached over and closed the box, carried it over to her cloud-powered refrigerator, and stuffed it inside. She walked over to Scootaloo who looked like she was about to fall over and sleep right where she fell.

"Since I don't have a guest room or anything, you're gonna have to crash with me in my bed, that okay?" asked Dash.

Scootaloo nodded and followed her sister into the bedroom. Luckily the door was closed, so Tank wasn't able to tear it apart. Dash hopped up onto her bed and motioned for Scootaloo to join her. The young filly played it cool on the outside, but on the inside her heart was racing. She was actually going to sleep in the Rainbow Dash's bed!

If a week and a half ago you would have told Scootaloo that she was going to have a sleep-over at her idol's house, she would have laughed like you had told her the funniest joke she'd ever hear. Yet there she was settling in under Dash's covers.

"Goodnight, Rainbow Dash," sighed Scootaloo, already asleep as "Dash" floated out between her lips.

"Goodnight, Scootaloo," responded Dash who reached over and stroked Scootaloo's mane.

Rainbow Dash silently hoped the filly would pick flight; she really wanted a flying buddy…

She then lost herself to a peaceful sleep, and dreamed of the future.

I know RD doesn't exactly have these parental instincts, but she's really just repeating what Rarity and Applejack taught her. Just be compassionate, understanding, and have a good laugh once in a while. More chapters coming soon!

Chapter Four

The Nightmares

The beautifully gloomy night partially illuminated by Princess Luna's moon was breathtaking. The gigantic, shining pearl cast its magical rays upon a particular cluster of clouds hanging in the sky. This cluster was the home of the famed daredevil, Rainbow Dash. And on this night, she had a much cherished guest sleeping next to her.

The pegasus sleeping next to Dash was the lovable Scootaloo, and one could say that she was a resized and recolored version of the esteemed mare she revered so much. She was daring, she was fast, and she loved doing tricks in the air just as much as her honorary sister Rainbow Dash did.

The two slumbered next to each other, enveloped in a thick layer of blankets, and an even thicker layer of dreams.

The visions in the older mare's mind swirled into focus. She was galloping through a large field filled with a rainbow of swaying flowers in bloom.

She was then joined to the side by the special little filly that had become a large part in her life recently. The two looked at each other, keeping neck and neck on this hoof-race, when they both unfurled their wings and took to the golden sky, claiming it as theirs.

It was just the two of them, enjoying the beautiful shining sun, both doing their own aerial stunts in the sky while smashing through clouds, popping them, turning them into meager wisps. The cheers of their seven friends down on the ground were earth-shattering. Rainbow Dash felt as though she was floating in a sea of warm chocolate, and did not want it to end.

The two pegasi landed on the last cloud in the sky and claimed a moment to themselves. Dash engaged with her sister in a tickle fight, and relentlessly attacked soft orange belly.

Then, out of nowhere, the orange filly stopped giggling, smacked the blue hoof off, and got up in one motion with tears already streaking down her grief-stricken face. "I thought you liked me!" screamed Scootaloo, the noise of her cries piercing the veil of bliss that shrouded Dash.

"I trusted you!" cried Scootaloo. Dash couldn't make sense of what was happening.

"I never want to see you again!" the filly bitterly screeched. Dash lunged forward and attempted an embrace, but her target simply evaded and leapt off of the cloud. The heart-broken mare peered off the side, but couldn't see her. Her head shot back to her friends who only stared daggers at Dash.

She tried asking what was going on, but even she couldn't hear her own voice. She was completely mute, and could only watch as her friends disintegrated into dust one by one. Dash curled into a fetal position, sobbing from her overwhelming confusion.

The cloud underneath her burst, and she began to fall to the ground below. She did not try to use her wings. Dash, totally limp, let the air rush past her face, and watched as the ground grew faster and faster.

As she collided with the surface, Dash bolted upright in her bed, still foggy from her dream. She cradled herself, rocking back and forth, taking short, shaky breaths. She sat and stared blankly. The doorknob held her gaze for a few minutes, and she sat there, not moving a muscle.

Eventually she calmed down enough to regain control of her body, and looked down at her sister. Luckily, she was still fast asleep with a comforting smile on her face. Clouds fortunately didn't carry much energy around, so it wasn't surprising that Scootaloo remained in her dreams.

Dash slowly lay back down next to her sister and pulled her close. Her forelegs wrapped themselves around the filly's abdomen, and her wings followed suit. The mare wanted her sister to be as close to her heart as possible, never to leave again.

After lying there, feeling her own and her sister's heart beat pulse throughout their bodies, and the warm breaths upon her front, she finally was able to settle back to a shaky form of sleep.

She didn't dream this time, and was thankful for it. She didn't want to go through something like that again.

The clock on the wall tick-tocked as it counted the minutes going by. The large hand had done a full rotation since Dash woke up from her dream when out of nowhere, Scootaloo shot out of hers. She took short, sharp breaths like her sister did an hour before. Her head and eyes swiveled about, taking note of her surroundings. After remembering that she was having a sleep-over at her sister's house, she calmed down a bit; but only slightly.

Her close proximity to Dash woke her up. The mare trudged out of her half sleep, and sat up with her sister, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down.

"Scootaloo…Scootaloo, are you okay? What happened?" she asked. She could tell her sister had a bad dream, and hoped it wasn't as bad as hers.

Scootaloo only sat there, taking those familiar small, shaky breaths. After a few minutes of comforting, She finally calmed down enough to be able to let go of her distress.

Scootaloo looked up from her mindless stare and into her sister's deep cerise eyes. Dismally, she began to cry once more. She was able to speak now, and she tried explaining her reasons for her cries.

"Oh Rai-ainbow Dash-sh, I had the worst dream ever," she heaved out. She was hiccupping uncontrollably and was hardly able to stammer out her troubles. "It was r-really bad, I don't think I can t-tell you…"

"Scootaloo," started Dash, cupping her sister's face in her hooves. "We've been over this. If you have a problem, then I need to know what it is so I can fix it, okay? Now tell me about your dream"

Scootaloo hiccupped a few more times, and sniffled a bit before beginning.

"Well, it started out with us-s j-just lying in your bed, talking, a-and laughing. It was a lot of fun," said Scootaloo pausing for a minute to recall the horrific hallucinations. "Then you p-pulled me in close, and you w-wrapped your arms and your wings around me, and I was h-happy! W-We just lied there f-for a minute, and then…and then you just…just pushed me off the bed…"

At this point, Rainbow Dash was stunned still and silent. Listening to the story go from blissful to heart-rending made her feel as though nothing she had problems with mattered. She listened on. "Y-y-you got up a-and said 'come here'. I-I looked up and you were walking out of the room, and your smile was gone. I f-followed you and we walked out the front door, and then we were looking over the edge of your porch. You pointed down and said 'see that?' I asked what you were talking about and you said 'the ground, you see it?' I said yes and then…and then…I can't say it" said Scootaloo, looking at her sister's expression of disbelief.

"Scootaloo, please tell me," said Dash, snapping out of her trance. "I want to help you, so just tell me what happened"

"Okay…okay. So we were looking over the edge, and you said 'you see the ground'. I said yes and you…got up and told me 'you belong there'." Dash's ears perked at this. The nightmare was getting really bad, but it wouldn't help if she stopped her, so she just listened.

"Y-you said that I belong on the ground," resumed Scootaloo. "and then you…you just kicked me off the edge." The filly looked into the mare's eyes and saw the sheer disbelief that was present. "I-I was f-falling, and s-screaming, and crying, and I looked up at you and you were just…just watching me fall. I hit the ground, and then that was it."

Dash just sat there, her hoof on her sister's back, motionless. After Scootaloo sniffled and hiccupped some more, the older pony pulled her in close. Rocking her sister back and forth, Dash pulled away, cupping her sister's face in her hooves once more. She finally broke the relative silence.

"Scootaloo, I want you to know something," said Dash, her words shaky. "I will never, ever, ever do that, you hear me? Ever. That is about the worst thing I've ever heard, and I would never do that, okay?"

Dash didn't care at all if she was being "namby-pamby" or mushy or girly or anything of the sort. Her sister's sense of security was in shambles, and she was the only one with the means to fix it.

"I-I don't think you will, Rainbow Dash," said Scootaloo. "It was just scary to watch it happen." Rainbow Dash looked down, carefully choosing her words.

"Okay, I think I know why you had this dream." started Dash, looking back up. "Deep down, you don't trust me." Scootaloo gave her sister a puzzled look, and Dash continued. "You may think you know me, but you really don't. You know the public me, the big-headed show-pony with a bloated ego. You don't know the real me. The Rainbow Dash that comes out when ponies that are close to me are around. And you don't know what I am capable, or incapable of."

Dash thought for a second, trying to decide on whether her next move was a smart one or not. She eventually came to the conclusion that it was exactly what she needed to fix this problem.

"So you know how I'm going to help you trust me?" asked Dash. Her sister looked at her, answering not with her voice but with her eyes. "I'm going to tell you one of my secrets."

Scootaloo just looked on, wondering what kind of a secret warranted this strange behavior. Dash inhaled deeply. Similarly to how Scootaloo hadn't told her secret, Dash hadn't told anyone her own secret either.

"So I'm basically like your only family, right?" asked Dash. Scootaloo nodded. "Well, you're kinda my only family too."

Scootaloo's ears perked up and her eyes widened. What did she mean by that? "Wh-What do you mean I'm your only 'family'?"

"I…I don't have parents either," admitted Dash. Scootaloo could only stare on in disbelief. "I spent most of my life in an orphanage too, but what makes me different from you is that I knew my parents."

Scootaloo's eyes widened even more. She thought she had it bad with not knowing any of her family, but here was Rainbow Dash who remembers hers.

"And don't start to think that they died or something noble," Dash continued with a more serious tone. "I'm pretty sure they're still alive, and happy without me. My parents were cruel ponies. They never appreciated me, or my attempts at flying. They probably never even loved me at all. They were always judging me for not being an early flier like either of them."

Dash paused; this was getting difficult to get out. However, she pushed on. Her sister was tough with getting her secret out, so she needed to be tough as well.

"The only thing they did for me that was any bit compassionate in the beginning was to take me to a Wonderbolt Derby for my sixth birthday." Dash smiled weakly before she continued "You know I really thought that they were going to like me from then on, and be real parents. But no. As we were heading home, walking home, my dad asked me if I saw the Wonderbolts. I told him I did, and that they were awesome. Then he said something that's stayed with me forever." She took a deep breath before forming the worst sentence she'd ever had said to her. "'That's what flying looks like'."

Scootaloo's mouth hung agape. She hadn't known that Dash wasn't a very good flier, even at six years old. She suddenly felt a twinge of happiness stem from this moment. It felt as though they had grown even closer. Earlier, it really did feel as though Dash was being a big sister. But deep underneath the surface, it didn't really seem too sincere. Her behavior suggested to Scootaloo that Dash was just being nice to a wayward filly. But now, with her and Dash sitting on her bed, sharing their secrets, she felt like they really were connecting as family.

"The next day," Dash continued. "They dropped me off at the Manehattan Orphanage. I wondered why they took me to the surface for a while before I figured out that they did it so I couldn't come home. Once I figured out how to fly on my own, I realized that I didn't want to go home."

Now it was starting to hurt Dash on the inside. A single tear streaked down her cheek, and was promptly wiped away.

"Great, now I'm crying because of it," moaned Dash. She sighed deeply before admitting something to herself. "They're right, I am a…a worthless weakling"

Angered, Scootaloo stood up and hugged her sister around the neck. Dash slowly and lovingly returned it. It was Scootaloo's turn to be comforting.

"Rainbow Dash, you aren't worthless. I wouldn't call you my sister if you were worthless," said Scootaloo, using the same words her sister used a few hours earlier.

The older mare beamed with pride. They both could feel that their relationship had reached unbreakable levels. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo held their embrace for the next few seconds before pulling away. The two simultaneously lied back down, and Scootaloo shuffled up close into Dash's wings. They were soon off to peaceful dreams; their worries laid to rest.

Dash wasn't sure if she was ever going to speak of her dream, but she had a haunting feeling that it was going to come up somewhere in the near future.

Sorry to get all dark on you guys like that, but I needed a mood change. This story was only going to be small light problems that can be easily fixed by anyone. It takes someone close to disable that much tension.

Chapter Five

The Decision

Celestia's morning sun shone brilliantly upon Ponyville. There were many different kinds of buildings and homes here. However, one in particular was set literally above the rest. There drifted a large formation of clouds shaped to look like a gorgeous mansion. It had large, compacted cloud pillars, falls and fountains that ran with rainbows, and two very special pegasi snoozing on the top floor.

These two pegasi were adoptive sisters, but they were closer than any other pair in Ponyville; even above Applejack, notorious for her near impeccable sisterly guidance skills. The reason for this is that the two pegasi were alone in this world when it comes to family, save for each other.

The younger of the two with a coat of orange and a mane a vibrant magenta was nestled into the arms and wings of the older who had a bright cyan coat with an extremely rare rainbow colored mane.

The previous night, the two sisters had had horrific visions of the other leaving them. Only one was known to both, however; the older pegasi's dream was kept secret, locked in her mind.

The mare's eyes slowly flittered open, the sounds of her sister's cries still fresh in her memory. She lifted her head slowly, showing a wide yawn to the rising red sun.

She was never a morning pony, and this morning in particular was dreadfully slow. She hadn't had much sleep the previous night, only getting about four peaceful, healthy hours of it. She shook her mane about to free the strands of hair of the sweaty clumps, to no avail.

The cyan pegasus looked down at the orange one curled up next to her. The older's wings were stretched out, wrapping around her sister, creating a shield from the evil of their nightmares. She unwrapped and folded them back in, slightly wincing as her muscles were finally allowed to relax after being stretched out for so long.

After getting her wings comfortable, she gently shook her sister in an attempt to wake her. "Come on Scootaloo, time to get up, you have school today," she said, breaking through the thick cloak of sleep that enveloped the filly.

"Nngh, come on Rainbow Dash, five more minutes…" fussed Scootaloo, turning over in dissent. Dash gave a wry smile and exhaled sharply. Her sister was going to get up whether she liked it or not. After some struggling, Dash was able to get the limp wad of lead securely on her back.

Dash strode out into her kitchen area, and flopped her sister down onto a chair. Scootaloo was now awake with her eyes half open. She stood up in her chair and turned around to speak with her sister.

"Hey Rainbow Dash?" she began. Dash turned around with a box of "Pony 'O's" in her mouth which she retrieved from the pantry.

"Hermm?" she replied.

"I think I know what I want to do," said Scootaloo.

Dash was in the middle of pouring cereal into two bowls when she heard this. She set the box down, left the bowls, and walked over to an adjacent chair to hear the decision. If Dash had fingers, they'd be crossed.

"Umm, I gave it some thought, and I decided," started Scootaloo. This was a big decision, possibly the biggest in her life. "I've decided that I want to fly."

On the inside, Dash was overjoyed. However, she kept a calm outward appearance. The only indication of her approval was a small, happy smile. "Oh yeah? What makes you want to give up scootering?" she inquired.

"Because flying is what pegasus ponies are meant to do. I mean, what kind of pegasus pony would I be if I stayed on the ground, riding around on a slow little scooter? I don't think it's that practical compared to flying. I know it's what I do, and what lets me pass the time, but if you think about it, flying is so much better. Plus, I get made fun of for it now, imagine what I'd get when I'm older." Scootaloo chuckled a bit at her last notion. She was playing it cool, but in her mind she was suffering from the knowledge that she would have to give up her hobby.

"And also…" added Scootaloo, "I had that dream again."

Dash's eyes and ears perked. "Why did she have to go through that again?" she wondered.

"But don't worry. This time, when I was kicked off," started Scootaloo. "I flew." She twisted her face upward into a big smile, and continued. "I flew high above the clouds, zipping around and having fun, and being free."

Dash winced when Scootaloo said "kicked off", but she was happy to know that her dream turned from a heart-wrenching nightmare to a blissful state of joy. Dash reached over and tousled Scootaloo's mane. She got up, and returned to pouring the two bowls of cereal.

After pouring the milk, she grabbed one bowl and set it down in front of her sister who began to slurp at it hungrily. Dash grabbed her own and set back down in her seat.

She made sure she had Scootaloo's attention before shooting her a challenging look. The two pegasi's eyes narrowed as the idea for a food race crystalized in their minds.

At the sound of an imaginary whistle, the two began digging in ferociously, spraying milk and cereal about. After thoroughly making a mess, they both brought their empty bowls down onto the table at the same time. After holding each other's menacing gaze, their façades began to break down. They started laughing and giggling uncontrollably. After calming a bit, they got up and set their bowls in the sink.

After walking out to the front porch, Dash turned to her sister. "Alright Squirt, ready to go down?"

"Yeah let's hurry, I might be tardy if we don't leave now," replied Scootaloo.

Dash nodded, grabbed her, and fluttered down to the earth below. The surface was foggy, so it was difficult to make things out. After searching a bit, they found the tree that had the blue scooter propped up against it. Scootaloo walked over to her most prized possession, and rode it back to Dash with a sullen look on her face.

"You sure about flying? Like, is that your final decision?" asked Dash. Scootaloo nodded and looked up at her sister, noting the apologetic look on her face. Scootaloo was beginning to like this side of Dash. Her sister was acting more compassionate towards her compared to how she acted two weeks prior.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm gonna miss my scooter, but I guess we all have to grow up sometime," said Scootaloo with a somber look on her face.

"Well," started Dash. "If flying is your final decision, then this is the last day you should ride that thing. We want your muscles to balance out as soon as possible, so keeping the problem ones immobile for the most part is probably a good idea. Come on, let's head into town, you're gonna be late."

The pair started out slow, but one look at each other made them put on another challenging face. Then they were off like rockets. The two faded into blurs resembling their colors, and Dash made sure they were neck and neck the whole way.

The sisters eventually reached town, where they immediately began to cause a rumpus. They narrowly missed several pedestrians on the way to the school house on multiple occasions, but they miraculously made it without anyone getting hurt.

The two skidded to a stop in front of the school house, and they immediately yelled "I WIN!" simultaneously. After holding another gaze, they broke down into laughter.

Scootaloo was having more bouts of laughter in the past several hours than she would have normally had in an entire week. She was really starting to like this new life of hers. After saying their good-byes, Scootaloo went into the large red building, and Dash took to the skies.

She had some work to do.

It might not be the choice you would have picked, but this is my story so deal with it. I apologize for not updating as much as I have recently, my schedule got super busy in the space of a couple of days. Please review!

/)^3^(\

Chapter Six

The Visions

Rainbow Dash soared through the skies at brisk speeds. She had always enjoyed her flying sessions. Twisting and banking about in the air without a care in the world with the warm sun on her back was always very pleasurable. However, she could not stay airborne forever; there was work to be done.

The morning prior, Dash said she'd administer lessons for her flightless sister. The cyan mare was headed home after dropping the filly off at school to put a regimen together. She slammed the front door closed and took in the sweet scent of her home. Dash strode over to her closet and, after sifting through the mess inside, retrieved an old clipboard from her coaching days.

She saw all of the marks and dents from the years of use, and abuse, and chuckled at the memories. She then thought of the lesson she gave Scootaloo the previous day. Dash chuckled at an image of the little filly's beaming face that appeared in front of her. The mare stared at this apparition with its golden aura surrounding it. She shrugged, then ambled over to her couch with a pencil, and began devising their lesson plan.

Pondering their moves, Dash decided that the best thing to do now was to show Scootaloo stretches that would strengthen some muscles, and atrophy others.

After they were finished setting the wings straight, and Scootaloo's wing muscles were properly proportioned, they'd go on to stage two. Simply put, she'd do more exercises until her wings are strong enough to grant flight. And finally, maneuvering and navigation in midair as part of stage three.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she put the clipboard down on her kitchen counter. She hadn't been at it for more than a half hour before she was finished.

"I forgot how fast I was at writing these," said Dash to herself.

It was going to become quite boring in the near future. Ponyville was entering that scheduled season that didn't require a lot of cloud busting. Since busting was her specialty, she wasn't normally tasked with cloud placing.

She paced around her house looking for something to do. Dash finally gave up the search for something to do in her entertainment-devoid home. What she needed to do is go out for a little fly around town, and find a good cloud to nap on.

After closing her front door, she cantered off the edge of her porch and entered a nose dive. She fell a long distance, and pulled up just at the last minute. The image of falling in her dream the previous night was still fresh, and her fall in reality transported her back to that place in her nightmare. She shook her head clear of the mirage and kept flying.

Something was nagging her in the back of her head, but she couldn't quite place a hoof on it. It was like she was remembering something, but nothing was there. All of these visions of her memories were fogging up her mind, and somehow clearing it at the same time.

Dash floated shakily about until she reached town where she began to search for a good cloud to nap on.

This was hopeless. All of the clouds in sight were either too small or too thin to support Dash's weight. She decided to join a few together to create a platform large enough to hold her. After wrangling together a few wisps of cloud, she clambered upon the new formation.

Something about this cloud made her think of something. "What does this remind me of?" she thought to herself. Suddenly a vision of her bawling sister appeared facing Dash. She yelped loudly and buried her head in the cloud as she realized that this cloud made her think of the one her and Scootaloo had been on in her dream.

The nagging feeling in the back of her head started to get more intense. It was as if there was something she had forgotten to do, yet there was nothing she could think of. She went over her imaginary to-do list in her head for a good fifteen minutes, but found nothing. Her list was empty as of this moment; the only thing she could think of was to go pick up Scootaloo from school for the real beginning of her lessons, but that was several hours away.

Dash buried her head deeper into the cloud in an attempt to stifle the memories and thoughts, but it didn't work. She groaned, and shot off of the cloud. The cloud spun and spun until it eventually popped. Dash descended and went for a slow flight over Ponyville.

Today was like most days. The market-place was filled with kindly merchant ponies selling their produce. After flying for a bit, she found Applejack at her apple stand.

"Hey AJ," called Dash whilst approaching her friend. "Whatcha doin?"

Applejack snapped out of a blank stare and turned to her friend. "Oh nothing,'" she said. "Jus' sittin' here sellin' some of mah apple products."

"Oh," said Dash. Another thought popped into her head. "Hey, how's Granny Smith? Scootaloo told me that Applebloom had to stay home because she was sick."

"Oh yeah," replied Applejack with a weak smile. "We got Nurse Redheart to look after her. Applebloom was able to calm down enough tah go tah school."

Dash sighed with relief. "Oh good. See Scootaloo got bullied at school yesterday, and her friends weren't there to back her up."

"She's bein' bullied at school?" inquired Applejack with an angry glare.

"It's fine, I took care of it," replied Dash. "Plus, I don't think she'll be messed with again with Applebloom there."

Applejack sighed. "Them young'ns are so violent nowadays," she said with a shake of her head. "So what brings yah here?"

Dash thought about it for a moment. She realized that she forgot her reasons for this confrontation. "Oh, just bored, I guess. There's nothing to do right now," she fabricated.

"Well, y'all could help me at mah apple stand here," suggested Applejack. Dash raised her eyebrows. Her friend should know her better than that.

"Sorry AJ, but that sounds even more boring than having nothing to do," replied Dash.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Oh," she said.

"Yeah well, see ya!" hollered Dash, taking to the sky once more. Applejack just shook her head again. Of course Dash wouldn't be able to sit still for the job.

Dash flew around for another while. These visions she had been seeing were starting to get to her. She wasn't schizophrenic, as far as she knew. But the images and sounds in her head were vivid, and they seemed so real.

"Okay, Rainbow Dash," she thought to herself. "Just keep flapping your wings, fly faster, and keep your head clear of everything else."

She tried focusing on her favorite pass-time, but she couldn't keep her attention on it. All of her attention was focused on thoughts of her sister. She was beginning to feel that nagging thing in her head throb, and it pulsed with every heartbeat.

Dash was beginning to get a small migraine, and as a result of it she couldn't focus on keeping flight patterns in a straight line. She narrowly avoided smashing three vendor carts to pieces.

After careening about, Dash gave up. She shakily flew to a meadow to gather her thoughts. She landed on the tall, soft grass, and began to walk about in it. Something was here, something significant.

At that moment, Dash saw a vision of her sister running about with that gold mist shimmering in ribbons behind it. Scootaloo was mouthing the words "Run with me!" Dash shook her head of this mirage. These little visions were starting to get on her nerves.

After walking about for a bit, she decided to lie down in an especially thick portion of the grass. Her biggest reason for resting was that her head was now pounding. What was that thing that she thought she remembered?

Dash began to hear her sister in her head. It began as whispers, but slowly increased in volume until they were full on shouts.

"Rainbow Dash, look!" She'd hear in her head. "Thanks for being my sister. Extra cheese! Horrible dream. Goodnight, Rainbow Dash. Wanna race?"

These voices were terrorizing Dash, and made her head spin. More and more of her sister's utterances flooded her murky mind.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash! I Win! Are they broken? Somewhere else. All alone. Your house is cool! Talking to a turtle. No parents. I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash bolted upright. She hadn't remembered her sister saying that. Wait…yes she does. She could recall hearing Scootaloo say it right as they were falling asleep after their nightmares. The chanting continued, but began to lose their randomness.

"Really? A sleep-over with you? Somewhere else. No parents. No family. All alone. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. Somewhere else. I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash took in a deep, sharp breath. That was what the nagging feeling was. At that moment of serene mental clarity and epiphany, the cyan pony knew what she needed to do.

---

Diamond Tiara wasn't in school that day, which set Scootaloo's nerves at ease. She was glad that the self-proclaimed queen of the school was sick or something and couldn't terrorize her classmates again. She was also happy that Applebloom was back.

"Hey Applebloom!" called Scootaloo to her beige coated friend "How's your grandma?"

Applebloom gave a weak smile. "Well," she began. "She ain't doin' the greatest, but she's definitely a lot better than she was a coupla days ago. We got one of them nurses from the hospital to look after her."

"Ah," replied Scootaloo. She was relieved that Granny Smith was doing better, but she was more relieved that her friend was back. "Well, I hope she feels better. Hey, have you heard anything from Sweetie Belle?"

"Nope," replied Applebloom. "Haven't heard a thing. She's all the way in Canterlot right now, so Ah don't think we should expect much from her."

"Yeah, I guess so" said Scootaloo, saddened that Applebloom hadn't heard anything from the third crusader either.

"So what did Ah miss yesterday?" inquired Applebloom as the students were claiming their seats.

"Uhh…" replied Scootaloo. She had taken half the day off yesterday after Diamond Tiara and the other fillies had bullied her senseless at recess. She decided to suck it up and tell the truth. "I sorta…left early yesterday. Diamond Tiara got really annoying, and I couldn't listen to her stupid voice anymore, so I just left."

Applebloom's face softened. "What did she do this time?" she asked.

"She…she…" started Scootaloo. It was still difficult to admit her weaknesses to anyone, but a thought towards her sister's encouraging words made her stiffen her spine. "She made fun of me because I can't fly yet."

Applebloom's eyes and ears perked. "Oh Scootaloo, don't lissin' to her, she don't know what she's talkin' about. Don't worry, I'm sure y'all'll figure it out soon." Applebloom placed a hoof on her friends back.

Scootaloo smiled as she thought of her situation. "Oh, don't worry about me, I can take it," she boasted. "Besides, Rainbow Dash said she'd teach me how to fly!"

"Wow, really?" Applebloom beamed.

"Yep! So I guess you could say she did take me under her wing, huh?"

"Yeah, Ah guess she did," said Applebloom, defeated.

"You know what else?" continued Scootaloo. "Guess where I slept last night."

"…Where…" replied Applebloom, not understanding her friend's motives for her question.

"Rainbow Dash's house," she gloated.

"Wow, really?" said Applebloom, surprised at the level the relationship was already at. "You two must be gettin' real close now!"

"I know!" admired Scootaloo, biting her lip in anticipation for what her sister had to teach her next. "I can't wait until we can do more flying lessons!"

The rest of the day dragged on. As usual, Scootaloo didn't pay attention to Cheerilee's lesson. She just looked out the window the entire time, dreaming of drifting amongst the clouds.

"Okay class, that wraps up todays lesson," concluded Cheerilee as the bell rang to go home. "And remember, my little ponies, there will be a quiz on what we've been talking about next week, so study up!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. She had more important lessons to get to.

"Oh Scootaloo, may I speak with you?" asked Cheerilee as the orange filly passed by her desk.

"Uh, sure," replied Scootaloo, just knowing it was going to be about her behavior or something boring like that.

"You didn't come in after recess yesterday, would you like to explain your truancy?" she grilled sternly.

Scootaloo wasn't expecting that question, though it was obvious that she would ask it. She decided to swallow her pride just one more time for the day.

"Diamond Tiara made fun of me for not being able to fly at recess, and she got all of the other fillies to do it too. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle weren't there, so I was all alone," admitted Scootaloo meekly.

"Oh my," replied Cheerilee, her tough resolve dissipating. "Well, I'll have this injustice corrected, okay? Now you run along home, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo waved as she left. Cheerilee watched her go and heaved a heavy sigh as she had to endure Diamond Tiara's parents yet again.

Scootaloo was aboard her scooter, and was about to take off with her wings when she remembered her sister's words. She figured that she needed to get it back to the place she called home, so she just used her legs like she did the day before.

She was about to turn off toward her home when a cherished voice piped up.

"Hey Squirt, where ya goin'? I thought we were doing lesson number two today," sounded a familiar, raspy voice. Scootaloo's face beamed again as she turned to see her sister's positive expression.

"Lesson two? Already?" Scootaloo asked. If her sister was going to schedule lessons every day, her heart might give out before she flies.

"Don't worry, we're not doing anything too serious right now, I'm just going to show you some stretches and exercises that will, well, fix your wings," she said to Scootaloo's relief.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo then flew to the middle of a field, and the cyan mare began showing the orange filly the stretches and how they were supposed to feel. After a couple of hours of these painful exercises, the two called it a day.

Scootaloo turned off onto the road on her scooter, and headed back to the orphanage. She never truly enjoyed going there, but it was where she resided for the foreseeable future.

"Promising effort, Kid. You won't be going that direction to get home for long," Rainbow Dash proudly said aloud.

Sorry for the late update, guys. You all probably know what I'm foreshadowing here, but hush; no words. Just read when I get around to writing the next chapter.

Chapter Seven

The Wings

A few weeks had gone by since Rainbow Dash had taught Scootaloo the stretches and exercises that would strengthen the flightless filly's wings, and in that space of time, Dash had gone to the Wonderbolt Academy, where she spent those few weeks showing her heroes what she had. Scootaloo could almost feel her heart break when her sister broke the news, but thoughts of her return soon soothed the bittersweet feeling of Rainbow Dash being gone to pursue her dream.

Today was the day that Dash was heading home from her training. With the training finished, the Wonderbolts were now in the process of selecting those few that really stood out. Her vigorous training sessions now over, Dash longed to get home as fast as possible to get on with the lessons she'd administer.

Dash bid her farewells to the friends she had made at the academy, and gracefully lifted off the tarmac. After casually flying off into the distance, away from the place where she usually kept a calm and dominant demeanor, she kicked it into high gear and frantically shot home; she didn't want to keep her sister waiting.

After flying at a brisk pace for a couple of hours, she finally saw her home, Ponyville, just over the horizon. Dash couldn't wait to get back to teaching her sister everything she knew, and one of those things that she knew was that Scootaloo couldn't wait either.

Knowing her hyper-active pink friend would be throwing some kind of party, Dash decided to take it slow when approaching her cloud home. After landing her hooves onto her front porch, she contemplated her moves. She finally resigned, and decided to blindly walk through the front door.

She was expecting her friends to jump out and say "Welcome back!", but nothing could prepare her for the overwhelming amount of sensory information that was shoved in her face.

First, there were her friends and the Crusaders screaming "Surprise! Welcome back, Dashie!", then there was her entire living room festooned with all kinds of party decorations. Streamers, banners, confetti, balloons, and a cake the size of her couch was set upon the coffee table.

But most importantly, a small orange filly was galloping at full speed towards the returning pegasus. Scootaloo leapt the final few feet and tackled Dash to the ground, giving her the biggest hug her little forelegs could muster.

Dash returned the hug, and they remained in their embrace for a few moments before the two let go and stood up.

"I'm glad you're back, Rainbow Dash," sighed Scootaloo

"Me too Squirt, me too," said Dash. She tousled her sister's mane. The seven assorted ponies, including Rarity and Sweetie Belle who had returned from vacation, were staring at the two pegasi with accusing smirks.

"What?" asked Dash. The other ponies just giggled and rolled their eyes as Dash closed the front door. They all knew Scootaloo was something special to the rainbow-maned mare.

The next few hours played out like most Welcome Home parties. Dash was asked a multitude of questions, and she tried answering them to the best of her ability. She was a bit exhausted after her flight, but she was hardened from her lifetime of athletic exertion, so she knew she could keep going for hours if needed.

As the sun set, the once mountainous cake had been devoured and reduced to crumbs. Most of it was put away by the sugar filled tornado of pure ADHD known as Pinkie Pie, and the punch bowl was drank from until dry, along with the other three bowls.

Nearly everyone had left, with only Dash and Scootaloo remaining. They were both lying on the couch lazily; looking at the meter wide cake tin that was still set on the coffee table.

After sitting there for a while just listening to each other's slow breaths, the older mare broke the silence.

"So Squirt, how have you been getting along with your flying?" Dash asked.

"Uh, pretty good," replied Scootaloo, snapping out of her daze. "I've been doing all of my stretches and everything every day since you showed me them, and I really think I'm making progress."

"That's awesome!" said Dash "Here, let's see your wings"

The two heaved their cake filled bodies off of the couch, and Scootaloo raised her left wing to show Dash. Remarkably, her muscle sets were already how they were supposed to be.

"Wow," said Dash with a very impressed tone. "You really have been doing them, huh?" Dash tried turning the orange wing forward and evoked a pained response from her sister when she got them pointed downwards just the tiniest bit.

"Ow," squeaked Scootaloo. "Yeah, I have. You told me that this sort of thing takes perseverance, so the exercises were pretty much the only thing I've been doing besides school, sleeping, crusading, and eating. And I can't ride my scooter anymore, so it wasn't like I had anything better to do, right?"

Dash let go of her sister's wing and looked her in the eye. There was just something about Scootaloo that made Dash proud to call this filly her sister.

"Humph," said Dash. "Well, since you have your wings how they should be already, I guess we can go on to actual flight training, and see about getting you off the ground." Dash tousled the purple mane again. After a short yawn and a glance at the setting sun, she continued.

"I'm bushed after that trip home." She smiled at her next thought. "How about you stay here tonight? My return is a special occasion, after all." The mare then turned to head to her room with the thoughts of her comfortable, soft, warm bed swirling around her mind.

"Wait hold on," piped Scootaloo. "Could we do one more thing before bed?"

Dash turned back to her sister. "Uh sure," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "What do you wanna do?"

"Umm, I was just thinking that, you know before the sun sets and all, we could go out for a short flight maybe? I wanna know what going really fast feels like, so I can know what I'm aiming for."

Dash wasn't sure if she could muster the energy, but the look on her sister's face sealed her fate. "Why not?"

The two sisters strolled out onto the front porch, and Dash motioned for Scootaloo to climb on her back. After getting a good hold of her sister, Scootaloo was ready. Dash took off slowly; she didn't want Scootaloo falling off.

"Oh come on, Rainbow Dash, let's go fast!" challenged Scootaloo.

"You sure?" asked Dash "You might fall off-"

"I'll be okay, I'll hold on tight. Just go fast, please," plead Scootaloo.

"Okaayy…" replied Dash. She wasn't sure if she could keep her sister on her back at high speeds, but she was being issued a challenge, so she went with it. Dash began to accelerate slowly at the beginning, but a rumbling groan from her sister was the last straw. She then rocketed away, creating that signature rainbow trail behind her.

After continuous acceleration, they were approaching the kind of speed that granted a Sonic Rainboom. What am I doing?! Said Dash to herself. She then stopped accelerating, and kept a constant speed.

The rainbow streak was slicing through the air, flashing by behind layers of cloud. Then, things started to go wrong. Scootaloo was beginning to lose her grip. Dash could feel the tiny hooves slipping, but she was too late. Before she had had a chance to slow down, the orange filly was swept away by the winds from her back.

Dash flared her wings out, slowing to a hover in seconds. The feeling of the absence of her sister on her back sent chills down her spine. She scanned the surrounding area, below, all around her. After finding no orange or purple, just white, Dash began to worry.

"SCOOTALOO!" she shouted into the clouds. She began to turn fiercely, focusing on portions of the clouds surrounding her, then quickly darting her eyes to focus on another portion of the sky.

"SCOOTALOO, WHERE ARE YOU?!" She was now feeling the deep, icy claws of dread shred their way through her heart. Her sister had probably already hit the ground, her life ending just as it was beginning to get better.

Images of her sister's twisted body lying motionless on the blood-spattered grass began to flood Dash's mind. There's no way her sister could be gone. Dash began to black out, but something pulled her back into consciousness.

"Told ya I'd be okay."

What? Was Scootaloo's voice now haunting Dash? No, it couldn't be, the sentence was so clear. Dash looked around on the clouds adjacent to her, but found no orange fillies. Dash was starting to think that she was schizophrenic.

To her surprise, she began picking up on this strange buzzing noise, but couldn't pinpoint its source. Dash looked in all directions for this strangely familiar new noise, but couldn't find it.

"What's the matter, Rainbow Dash?"

There it was again. This time Dash could tell from where it was coming. She slowly lifted her head to look above her, and found the source of the voices and the buzzing noise.

There was that special orange filly, floating above Dash with her hind legs crossed, forelegs behind her head, and wings buzzing like a hummingbird.

Dash could only stare, dumbstruck and unbelieving of what her eyes were telling her.

"You okay, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked, releasing her relaxed demeanor. Dash was silent, her eyes just staring blankly at Scootaloo.

"Uhhh…Rainbow Dash? You there?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yo…you're…" stuttered Dash, finding a shred of her voice. "You're f-flying!"

"Yep!" responded Scootaloo, relieved to see her sister was okay again. "I've been persevering as much as I can, and look at what I have to show for it! This…is…so…awesome!" Scootaloo did a couple of spins in midair.

Dash could only stare; over encumbered from relief, shock, and her ebbing fear. Scootaloo could already fly? Dash supposed she should stop underestimating her sister's ability to amaze.

The mare, seemingly in a trance, ascended to the filly's level. She slowly and carefully wrapped her forelegs around Scootaloo.

"Don't you ever do that again…" she croaked into her sister's mane. "Ever."

"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo breathed.

"I thought you died…" The mare was on the verge of sobbing.

The filly was downcast. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

"No, no, it's okay," comforted Dash. "Just don't do anything like that again. I…I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Scootaloo looked up from burying her face into Dash's chest and into her bright, watery eyes. As much as it pained her to admit it, Scootaloo never really had someone feel this way about her before. "I'm sorry," she half whispered, half sobbed. "I shouldn't have tricked you like that."

"No, Scoot, it's fine. You just surprised me, is all." The two pulled away, and both stayed floating. Dash marveled at the sight of Scootaloo flying on her own. She realized something as she gazed upon the proud filly; something she was afraid to know the answer to. "How, uh, how long have you been flying? I've been gone for four weeks, so I haven't been here to, uh, mark your progress."

"Actually, I figured it out just this morning. I mean, what kind of timing is that?" the filly nervously giggled.

That was a relief. At least Dash could still be there the day Scootaloo started flying, but somehow she felt empty inside. To her, it still felt like she missed out on a huge milestone in her sister's life.

"Well, I…I guess we don't really need to do anymore flight lessons, huh?" said Dash "Now we can just get on with teaching you some cool tricks."

Scootaloo gasped. "Yes!" she exclaimed while doing a backflip "When can we start, tomorrow?"

"Sorry Scoots, not tomorrow," apologized Dash. "I have way too much stuff to get caught up on. First I gotta unpack, then check back in with the Ponyville weather team, and pick Tank up…just a lot of things that need doing. Sorry Squirt, maybe next time."

Scootaloo's face fell. She really wanted to spend more time with her sister, but she understood that there were other things that needed doing. She heaved a great sigh, and sat on a nearby cloud.

Dash fluttered over to her to do yet more consoling. "Hey listen, as soon as I have everything back in order, I'll be able teach you some tricks, okay?"

Scootaloo sniffed, and looked up at her sister. "Okay…" she said.

"Alright, now come on," started Dash. "Let's get to bed, I'm really tired."

The two got up off the cloud. Their heads slowly swiveled and their eyes met. The familiar look in the two sister's eyes foreshadowed coming events. Two pairs of wings shot up, and they were off.

Scootaloo, having only been able to fly for a few hours, was pretty slow. Dash knew this, so she just kept a steady pace with her. After zipping about in the sky, bursting clouds and twisting in midair, they arrived at the beautiful cloud home.

Dash walked through the front door, followed by a panting Scootaloo. "Don't worry, you'll get faster. But not as fast as me!" boasted Dash after closing the front door.

Scootaloo giggled between her huge breaths, and the two walked through Dash's bedroom door, and jumped onto the bed. Scootaloo didn't think she'd need to sidle up into Dash's arms, she wasn't sad or anything, but the older mare reached over and pulled her in close.

At that point Scootaloo knew she'd be with Dash forever.

You all KNEW I'd make her fly, but I don't think you thought I'd do it that soon. More chapters coming up!

Chapter Eight

The Promise-Breaker

The placid Friday morning sky was red with the rising sun. Shadows were cast about the land from the clouds hanging in front of the giant ball of life giving energy. One shadow in particular was in the shape of the home where Rainbow Dash and her sister, Scootaloo, were slumbering.

Like the previous occasion where Scootaloo had stayed the night, she was nestled up close in the arms and wings of her older sister. She didn't think she would ever get tired of the feeling of Dash's body enveloping her own.

The morning sun's rays slowly found the two dreaming, peaceful faces, and lit them up. The cyan coated pegasus began to stir. She didn't like the sun being in her eyes on an average day, but she absolutely loathed it in the morning.

After casting away the last of the rags of her dream, Dash lifted her head and showed the sun a great yawn, and an even greater grimace. She laid her head back down, but she couldn't fall back asleep.

She lifted her head again, then slowly lifted her wing, revealing a dreaming filly. Dash smiled at her sister, and placed a kiss in the middle of the magenta mane. After thinking about it a moment, she reeled back. This was strange. Dash normally had to think about her actions when showing affection or love toward her sister, or anyone for that matter. But the kiss she just gave was completely without thought.

Dash didn't quite know what to think about this new development. She normally hated anything that was touchy-feely and mushy in nature, only making an exception for the few occasions with her sister because of the absolute need for it. She was a bit disappointed in herself for being weak, but at the same time, she was overjoyed to know that she was still capable of showing love. Dash now realized how important Scootaloo is to her; it isn't easy to break all of the layers of brash boldness that surrounded Dash's affectionate side.

The rainbow mare simply watched her sister breathe. The two pegasi simply lay there; the older awake the entire time. Before she realized it, the sun had fully risen. Dash snapped out of her daze, and shook her sister violently.

"Scootaloo, wake up! You're gonna be late for school!" she yelled.

Scootaloo, upon hearing these words, bolted upright.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "Not again! Cheerilee said that if I'm tardy one more time, I'll be sent to detention!"

Scootaloo then clambered out of the giant cloud bed and rushed out the door with Dash in pursuit. They strode out into the living room, and Scootaloo's face twisted to look like she just saw a ghost.

"Great," groaned Scootaloo. "My saddle bag is all the way across town in my room. I should have known you'd have me sleep here yesterday."

Dash's ears went back guilty shame.

"Sorry, Scoots," she apologized.

"It's okay, it isn't your fault. I just don't know how I can make it back to my room then to school before it starts. I can fly there myself, but I don't know if I would make it in time."

Dash smiled. This was her responsibility now.

"Well," started Dash. "I know I can make it there and back in the space of about a minute, so if you need a ride…" She then pretended to inspect her hooves for dirt.

"Yes! Rainbow Dash, please may I have a ride home then to school this morning? I promise not to ask for any more," plead Scootaloo.

Dash reached over and ruffled the magenta mane.

"Sure, and don't worry about needing rides or anything, that's on me," said Dash.

The front door burst open as the cyan mare with an orange filly clinging to her neck rocketed out towards Ponyville. Scootaloo made sure to hold on this time, there wasn't any room for jokes.

After Scootaloo pointed the orphanage out, Dash descended to meet the ground. It was a large, wooden building with its name on a sign in the front. Scootaloo jumped off Dash's back, and fluttered up to the window connected to her room. After a moment, she reappeared with her saddlebag.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, I think I can make it on my own the rest of the way. I wanna show everypony that I can fly!" challenged Scootaloo.

Dash smiled, her sister's urge to impress was palpable, as it was in her. Dash kept finding more and more similarities between the two, each discovery strengthening their bond.

"Sure," responded Dash. "Wanna race there?"

Scootaloo thought about it for a moment.

"When don't we race?" she asked

"Good point," replied Dash as she unfurled her wings and got into a start position. Scootaloo did the same, and soon they were off.

The two sisters flew high and low, and through trees and clouds, speeding along the whole way. After playfully flying about, searching for the school, the final stretch became visible. They both kicked into high gear and dashed for the finish line.

Several schoolchildren were meandering about in the front of the school, heading inside for their lessons, when one grey filly noticed two fast looking projectiles heading right for the school.

"Who are those two?" asked Silver Spoon, pointing in the direction of the racing pegasi. Five other fillies, along with Diamond Tiara, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, looked up at the two blurs.

"Whoever they are," replied Diamond Tiara, "they look stupid. Racing to get to school is what babies do."

As they were approaching the school, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo flared their wings and jammed their hooves into the earth and mud, spattering the grey and pink unexpecting fillies with muck.

"I WIN!" the two pegasi yelled simultaneously, mimicking their previous race to the school. They held yet another gaze and then giggled again like before.

"Alright," said Dash after regaining her composure, "see ya later, Squirt!"

Scootaloo waved goodbye, then looked over at the two brown lumps with glaring eyes poking out the fronts and started giggling again.

"Sorry guys, I guess I was flying too fast!" boasted Scootaloo as she walked past the gaping mouths of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Scootaloo then trotted over to her friends who were in a similar state of shock.

"That was you?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"You can fly?" asked Applebloom.

"Yep and yep!" replied Scootaloo. She loved every moment of shared amazement by the onlookers.

"Jeez, and this is all from Rainbow Dash teaching you?" asked Sweetie Belle, "I gotta get Rarity to show me how to use magic."

The three Crusaders giggled as they walked into the classroom. Dash watched Scootaloo go and took note of the personality type the two pegasi shared. She was about to turn and flutter away when Cheerilee who watched the whole thing walked up to Dash.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash, may I speak with you?" greeted Cheerilee with a smile.

"Oh, hi Cheerilee, what did you want to talk about?" responded Dash.

"I find it remarkable that you took your sister 'under your wing' so to speak and taught her how to fly in such a short time! You truly do know what it means to be a sister," Cheerilee commended.

"Oh, thanks," replied Dash. "Really all I did was show her some stretches and stuff that straightened out her wings. She did the rest on her own."

"My, I wish I could get her to put as much effort into her school work as she does with other things," joked Cheerilee. "Much like you were, I presume? You two are a lot alike." Cheerilee slyly cocked her eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's just the way she is." Dash finished her sentence with a higher tone to emulate a passive parent. "Well I guess you need to get inside to teach her stuff now, so I guess I'll take off. See ya Cheerilee!"

Dash unfurled her wings after the school teacher bid her farewell, and took to the sky. She was fully aware of impending stressful complications, but her mind was surprisingly clear. She really didn't know what she was going to do about this idea she had in her head. If she told someone, then she'd be a liar. But at the same time, her sister would be so much happier. After contemplating her actions, she decided to go ahead with it.

"I guess it's time," she said to herself.

Dash glided down to meet the earth in front of a huge tree that has been carved out to serve as a library and a house. This amazing work of architecture was the home of her friend Twilight Sparkle. The cyan mare slowly walked up to the big red door, and hovered her hoof in front of it. She was having second thoughts about this.

If she told this secret, Scootaloo might not forgive her. The orange filly might run away and never love Dash again, just like in the nightmare she had. Dash just kept her hoof raised as if she was going to knock on the door. She kept that position for a few moments before lowering her hoof, sighing, and walking away. After a few steps, she tightened her face and walked back to the door only to give up and walk back again.

Dash turned back to the door and went up to it. This was it; she was going to do it. She'd just walk in there and talk with her magically gifted friend, and be done with it. No she thought I can't do it. She was about to turn away when a young scratchy voice made her jump out of her skin.

"Uhh, Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?" the voice asked.

Dash turned to find a purple dragon with a paper grocery bag in his hand. He was looking at Dash inquisitively, wondering what she was doing.

"Oh, hey Spike," said Dash, donning her usual 'cool' demeanor. "I was just here to see Twilight." She kept an air of nonchalance on the outside, but was panicking as she realized that her fate was now sealed.

"Okay, come on in! She's just doing some reading right now," said Spike as he opened the door. "Hey Twilight! Rainbow Dash is here to visit you!"

Dash walked into the main room with all of the books stacked upon shelves. Her purple friend then came cantering down the stairs.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, what brings you here?" asked Twilight.

Since Dash was rushed into this after focusing all of her mind on her decision, she hadn't formed the words yet. She finally was able to stammer out the reasons for her visit.

"Uhh, I was here to uh, ask a um, question," stuttered Dash. "Do ya got a minute?"

"I suppose I could make some time for a friend. What's your question?" asked Twilight.

Dash didn't know how to word this. "Uhhm, okay, so if your friend tells you a secret, and they trust you to keep it, would it be okay to tell the secret if it means they'd be happier?" she asked.

Twilight reeled back and narrowed her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, if you're planning on breaking a promise to keep a secret by telling me, don't. I don't want any part of it, so don't drag me in."

"But…" protested Dash. "I know that if I tell the secret, it'd make my friend a lot happier! I want to tell somepony, but at the same time, I don't want my friend to be mad at me. I know it's the right thing to do, but I don't know if I can do it."

"Rainbow Dash, I told you. Don't tell me the secret. If you tell me, then you break your promise. If you break your promise, you might lose your friend forever," said Twilight. The two ponies stood and waited, listening for their pink friend. After a moment of silence, Twilight continued.

"If that's your only question, then I'm going to have to return to my studies. Princess Celestia assigned me half a dozen books to read, and I have only just finished the second one."

Twilight turned and started walking up the stairs back to her study room. Rainbow Dash's window of opportunity was closing. She needed Twilight to help her with her problem, so the adrenaline that was being pumped through her veins made up her mind for her.

"I'M SCOOTALOO'S ONLY FAMILY AND I WANT TO ADOPT HER FROM THE ORPHANAGE SHE LIVES AT!" Dash bellowed.

The cyan mare looked up and gazed at nothing. Had she actually told the secret? She looked as though she just saw all of the horrors in the world in the space of three seconds. Dash hated herself for breaking her promise to Scootaloo, and immediately regretted it. It was done, however, there's nothing she could do to take it back.

"What?" asked Twilight who paused halfway up the stairs.

"Scootaloo's parents are dead, and I'm all she has right now. She lives at an orphanage, and I want to get her out of there," Dash admitted.

She sat on the floor and buried her head in her hooves and began to emit small, dry, heaving sobs.

After sitting there a moment, she felt a hoof rubbing her back. Dash looked up to see her purple friend standing over her with a weak smile.

"Well," started Twilight. "I guess it's out there now, so there's no use in thinking about it. What I want to know is why do you want tell me?"

Dash's mouth was still covered by her leg, so her voice was a bit muffled. "I need your help in getting everything set up," said Dash.

Twilight smiled as a purple aura appeared over her horn. A thin green book then floated from one of the bookshelves and was held in place above the two mares.

"This book will tell us everything we need to do," said Twilight, placing the paperback in Dash's hooves.

"Adoption Process in Equestria," said Rainbow Dash, reading the title of the book. Dash looked up at her friend, and smiled. "Thanks, Twilight."

"You're right, this is the right thing to do," said Twilight. The two ponies looked down, and started reading the protocol Dash would need to follow if she was going to make her sister's life get even better.

Chapter Nine

The Kindling

A full week had passed since the daredevil pegasus pony Rainbow Dash had let her sister's secret slip. At first she couldn't believe that she had failed Scootaloo and broken her promise, but she had every reason to. In telling the secret, and gaining help, Rainbow Dash was about to shift the way Scootaloo will live the rest of her life.

Inside a massive cloud mansion on a cold Saturday night, there sat a lone purple alicorn who busied herself with going over what used to be a rather messy stack of documents. The papers were messy and scattered no more; they had long since been sorted. A candle sat atop the coffee table illuminating the papers and the alicorn's face. Her her eyes constantly performed erratic saccades, taking in all of the information on the documents. The alicorn the eyes belonged to had her purple magic wrapped around a pencil that seemed to be moving on its own, jotting down several calculations per second on a scratch piece of paper.

After pausing for a moment and looking over the papers, the alicorn breathed a sigh, and put the pencil with smoke rising from the tip down onto the table.

"Okay then," said the purple alicorn under her breath as she collected her cyan friend's documents into one neat stack. She now shouted so the two pegasi in the neighboring room could hear her. "That should be all of it! After going through what few bills you have I can see that you'll just barely be making enough with your current weather job to support a filly and yourself."

Rainbow Dash strode out into the living room of her cloud home with her yellow coated friend in tow. Both pegasi were covered in small tufts of cloud.

Dash grinned at the good news. "Well that's a relief, there's no way I'd able to take a second job with my super busy schedule."

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, you mean your daily twelve hour shift at the Dream Factory?"

"Exactly. Pretty lucky that I get to keep it."

"Well you're also pretty lucky that a royal pardon can exempt the age requirement for legal adoption," Twilight said as she gathered the papers into a manila folder.

Dash chuckled as well. "Yeah, the age requirement law sucked for about a minute and a half."

Dash stood staring at the manila folder. She snapped out of her trance and turned back to the hall she had previously entered from. "Well, Fluttershy and I just finished the new room, would you like to see?"

"Of course!" replied Twilight as she set the folder down. The three winged ponies walked back to the newly created bedroom; its door opposite that of Rainbow Dash's.

Fluttershy placed a yellow hoof on the grayish purple door and pushed it open to reveal a bright spectacle of a very lucky filly's new sanctuary. Not unlike Dash's room, Wonderbolt posters adorned the walls; catching and holding firmly onto the eyes of the viewer. Vibrant purple wallpaper covered every inch of the wall that wasn't already occupied by a poster. A small dresser made of compacted-cloud sat against the wall next to a walk-in closet, and opposite the dresser sat Scootaloo's new bed. Nothing was out of the ordinary for this bed, save for the wonderful material the mattress, bedspread, blanket, and comforter were made of.

Flanking the bed on both sides stood two nightstands of the same material as the dresser. Atop one nightstand sat a lamp surrounded by framed pictures of the new family. On the other sat a clock that read "1:26 a.m.", and it was accompanied by yet more pictures.

"WELCOME HOME SCOOTALOO" was written on a banner hung over the wall just above the bed, and it dazzled the room with its glitter and sequin composed font.

An extremely large window with dark purple drapes nearly took up one entire wall. Dash opened the curtains to reveal the Princess of the Night's moon shining brilliantly in the midnight sky.

Though she wouldn't admit it, tears were nearly brought to Rainbow Dash's eyes at the sight of her special little filly's new room. She still cringed at the thought of her breaking down in front of her friends. She had actually gone further and told the rest of the Elements, and thankfully they all agreed that this was the right thing to do, even Pinkie Pie.

"Never again will I cry like that," thought Dash.

The three ponies heaved a sigh, then they just stood in silence as they imagined the new life laid out for Scootaloo.

"Well Rainbow Dash," piped up Fluttershy after several moments of silence, "this was truly a feat. I think that if you've made it this far, you'll surely make a great parent."

"I agree," corroborated Twilight. "Normally if something proved to be difficult, you'd shy away and quit."

Rainbow Dash was saddened at this realization, but Twilight's next words reassured her.

"But you've stuck through this, and are seeing it to the end."

"I think little Scootaloo is going to have a great life here with you," commented Fluttershy. "Where is she by the way?"

Dash grinned as she recalled her scheme. "I was thinking about surprising her tomorrow morning when she woke up, so I had the staff of the orphanage keep her there."

Dash was slightly upset with herself after realizing that Twilight's statement was absolutely true, but she couldn't help it; that's just the way she liked to live her life. However, she was willing to change her lifestyle slightly if needed in order to accompany a new mouth to feed; especially for the pony it belonged to.

"Thanks, girls," said Dash. Her two feathered friends gathered close to give a group hug that Dash believed was unneeded. Dash stood with wings and hooves of yellow and purple wrapped about her body for longer than she thought was necessary. Dash finally resigned, and wrapped her own wings around her friends.

As her two friends nuzzled into Dash, she stared out the window and gazed upon the moon. After looking at the ball of light for a few minutes, she noticed something strange. The moon was starting to get covered by clouds eerily quickly. The clouds seemed to behave like…smoke, from a fire.

"Somepony out camping somewhere?" asked Dash, causing her friends to look out the window.

"Who would be having a campfire in the middle of Ponyville?" countered Twilight.

Fluttershy cowered away. "I-Is that d-d-dragon ba-ack?"

"No, it's not coming from a mountain," assured Dash.

The three ponies' gaze followed the plume of smoke from where it was covering part of Luna's moon down to the surface where its source would be found. Walking up close to the window, the three followed further to find that a building on the edge of Ponyville was alight. Even from across town, and being up in the air, the three ponies could make out individual licks of flame from the intense house fire.

"Oh no," gasped Fluttershy, "somepony's house is on fire!"

"Ooh, I do hope the fire team puts it out before somepony is hurt!" said Twilight.

The purple alicorn and the yellow pegasus failed to recognize the look in their cyan friend's eyes. Probably because Dash had her face pressed against the glass.

"No…" whispered Dash before jumping away from the window, "No! No! No!"

Dash bolted out the room leaving her two befuddled friends behind.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" called Twilight, but it was too late. Dash was already rocketing out the front door, quickly closing the distance between herself and the burning building.

Panic was setting in for the supposed unshakable daredevil. Tightening the muscles of her body and fiercely flapping her wings, Dash began to descend even faster than before. The closer she got to the building, the more her suspicions were confirmed.

Dash landed as quickly as she dared in front of the burning building, and took note of the scene.

Weather ponies dotted the sky as they kicked water from gray, rainwater-filled clouds onto the large wooden home. Several fillies and colts were sitting on the grass a great distance from the fire with a multitude of mares shielding them from seeing their home burn to the ground.

Flames licked out the charred windows, with only a few being doused by cold water. Smoldering pieces of wood were scattered about around the building, scarring the sidewalk and grass where they had landed.

Dash looked upon the faces of the fillies that had dark ash smeared about their bodies. The fillies were gathered in a tight circle, and Dash inspected them all. The one she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

All of this information was collected by Dash, who felt as though the weight of the world was pressing down on her shoulders. One thought occupied and solidified in Dash's mind: Ponyville's Oak Side Orphanage was on fire, and Scootaloo was nowhere to be found.

Hey guys, sorry for the late update, I died and was recently resurrected by the Ghost of Nicholas Cage's Acting Career, so I'm going to try to post more chapters!

Also, sorry for the short chapter, I just love cliffhangers and I love the hate I get for leaving them.

And btw, if you look at the chronology of the episodes, and the order in which they were aired, you'd see that there's no way they happened in order. That's why Twilight is an alicorn just a week after Rainbow Dash returned.

Chapter Ten

The Burning Will

Red flames licked high into the sky as they poured out of shattered windows. Breaking glass chimed and burning wood creaked as fire engulfed the wooden building. Weather ponies were squeezing cold rainwater out of engorged clouds in an attempt to control the infinitely hungry flames.

Off to the side, fillies and colts along with their caretakers were wailing at the loss of the only place they could call home. Unfortunately, they were missing a few.

Dash galloped over to who she knew to be the head matron of the orphanage. The aged earth pony was cradling a newborn, and crying softly. The cyan mare panted heavily as she approached, even though she had only ran a few yards.

"Where is she?!" Dash plead. The matron recognized the face, and realized instantly who she was talking about.

"I'm sorry Miss Dash, I'm so sorry," sobbed the matron, "I do not know where she is."

Dash's heart sunk. Her lip quivered, and her eyes watered. Anger then sparked, soon consuming her whole body faster than the roaring fire next to the group could consume three more inches of wood.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Dash screamed. She couldn't believe all of what was happening around her. Tears began flowing down her cheeks, quickly drying from the intense heat. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH HER JUST THIS ONE LAST NIGHT! AND YOU GO AND LOSE HER IN A FIRE?!"

Another mare with a pink coat and blonde mane had perked up across the group and slowly walked up to the rainbow maned pegasus. "Miss Dash?" she asked. Dash looked at the younger pony. "I'm so...so sorry but, i-it was just happening so fast…" she trailed off.

Dash jumped at and nearly grabbed this pony. "What are you talking about?!" she demanded.

The mare's whole body was shaking uncontrollably. "Scootaloo, sh-she was right behind me," she stammered out. Dash's eyes widened as she listened on. "I had gathered all the fillies from her hall and was leading them away from the fire. I kept looking back, an-and she was there every time. But at one point we heard a creaking noise, then a crack, and we ran. I looked back again, and she wasn't there! I was about to go back for her, but fire had already blocked the way. I'm sorry, but I couldn't go back for her..."

The pony looked down at her hooves; her eyes were trembling more violently than her body. Rainbow Dash looked at the faces of these matrons whose only job was to protect their fillies with disgust. "You…" she choked out, "you just LEFT HER THERE?!" Dash was screaming at the top of her lungs in pure disbelief and hatred.

"E-even we were lucky to get out; the ones that did," rebutted the mare. "The foyer nearly came down on top of us as we went out the front door!" She pointed a pink hoof at the building. Dash turned to follow the hoof and found that she was telling the truth. All Dash could see through what remained of the front door were flames and collapsed beams.

Dash knew what she had to do. The pegasus left the group behind and started trotting towards the burning building. Quickening her pace, she transitioned into a full gallop. She spread her wings after gaining enough speed and lifted off the ground. Spotting a room that didn't appear to be on fire, she shot through its window, smashing it open. Nothing would stand in her way.

Smoke instantly filled her lungs, quickly making her head spin. Coughing and hacking in the haze, she found the door, opened it, and walked out into the even hazier hallway. Crouching down low to find fresher air, Dash crept her way through the building.

The heat and haziness from the smoke was almost unbearable, but Dash had no intention of letting a little fire keep her from finding one of her most prized possessions.

Because she had only been in the main office near the now destroyed foyer to meet the head matron, Dash never saw these halls and rooms. The building seemed as though it was a maze, with traps of fire lurking around every other corner.

In her foggy state of mind, she imagined herself back at the Canterlot Hedge Maze where she and her five friends were searching for their Elements of Harmony that the God of Chaos had hidden. Dash kept expecting to turn a corner and see Discord lounging about with his strange blue and red lensed glasses and popcorn, simply watching as this "beautiful chaos" ensued.

After creeping along in smoky agony, Dash began to hear small rasping coughs. She then quickened her crawling pace to find the source. Dash began pressing her ear against doors, searching for the pony the coughs belonged to.

Several doors later, Dash finally found the one containing life. She reached up to the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door. The room was dark, but she was able to make out a small heaving figure huddled up in the corner.

With hopeful eyes Dash crept closer to the filly that seemed oblivious to the world. The cyan and soot coated mare placed a hoof on the shoulder of this filly, and turned it to reveal her sister's face.

No, Dash was just imagining things. This filly didn't even have wings. Dash breathed a heavy sigh as she was happy she had found a survivor, but was unhappy that it wasn't Scootaloo.

Dash stood up, gathered this half-conscious filly and placed her on her on her ash-laden back. She then crouched back to the floor and crept out of the room with her survivor to continue the search.

The filly stirred and wheezed, but Dash didn't pay much attention to the movement. She was focusing all of her consciousness in looking for that filly that had changed her life for the better. After crawling around some more, she began to hear coughing that wasn't being emitted by the filly on her back.

Following the noise in a similar fashion to before, she eventually located the source. Pushing another door open, Dash crawled inside. This room was darker than the last, and she couldn't see the pony.

The cyan mare called out in a raspy voice. "Hello? Anypony in here?"

"H-help…" whispered a small, hoarse voice that came from the corner. Her eyes still adjusting to the dark room, Dash began to make out the form of a small pony curled up in the corner. Small appendages fluttered about. A pegasus! Dash crept faster.

After turning the shoulder of this second form, she found it to be that of a pegasus colt, not a filly, with a blue coat and snow white mane. Dash sighed again and placed the young colt on her back next to the filly, and crept out the room.

"Too heavy…" thought Dash. She stood up, opened a scalding hot window, and jumped out. Fresh air graced her desert-dry esophagus, and brought her closer to full consciousness. She landed on the grass next to the matrons, who then lifted the filly and colt off of her back, and sat down with them.

Dash began to gallop back to the building when a weather pony landed and raised his hoof to stop her.

"Wait, stop!" bellowed the dark black pegasus. "You can't go in there! That building is going to come down any minute!"

Dash fought to get the hoof off of her, to no avail. "Ergh…Let me go, Thunderlane! My sister is still in there!"

The mare struggled further. She decided that someone was going to get hurt, and she wasn't about to let herself be the one; at least not yet.

Dash let loose a flying hind leg that caught the stallion in the stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. He retracted his hoof to cradle his belly as he writhed on the grass. Now free, Dash took to the sky, sucked in a deep breath, and shot back into the window she had just left.

Getting back down low to the ground like before, Dash crawled her way further through the burning orphanage. The smoke was burning her eyes even worse than before, and she couldn't hold her breath any longer. Exhaling sharply, she sucked in smoky air, and coughed it back out.

Ignoring the pain, Dash pressed on. The creaking of the floor started to get louder and louder until Dash imagined each step loud enough that it could wake the dead. The pain in her eyes, nose, throat and lungs began to itch intensely.

Wheezing and hacking all the while, Dash continued to search for a signature magenta colored mane that belonged to her special filly.

Rainbow Dash rounded a corner and found it, along with the body it belonged to, in a strange position. Dash smiled, but then recoiled as she made the connection.

Scootaloo had been pinned underneath a giant, smoldering wooden beam.

The sight of her sister made Dash let out a shrilling cry that further scarred her throat. Ignoring the smoke, she galloped down the hall at full speed to meet her sister's seemingly lifeless body. Dash caressed Scootaloo's face, neck, and front hooves as they were the only things she could actually touch. The rest of the filly's body was pinned and blocked by an especially heavy looking beam, ever so slightly twitching as Scootaloo's small, pained breaths were barely moving it.

The cyan mare's face became streaked with tears, washing away soot and ash in straight lines. Dash got up, wrapped her hooves under the beam, and heaved.

After tugging and pulling, she felt a small hoof press against her hind leg. Dash looked down through tightly clenched eyes and found Scootaloo looking up at her.

"Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?" she asked in a raspy whisper.

Dash grunted, and gritted her teeth from the tugging she was doing. "I'm…getting…you…out!" each syllable was punctuated by an individual heave on the beam.

"No, Rainbow Dash don't. Please, get out of here. You'll die too." As Scootaloo whispered, her breaths became more short and ragged.

"If I leave you here and survive…then I'll be dead anyway!" Dash retaliated.

"No…it's okay. Please go, I don't want to die knowing I caused your death too."

Dash started crying profusely. "I WILL NOT LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!" She looked down to find that Scootaloo had succumbed and unconsciousness had taken her.

"No, don't die! I NEED YOU!" cried Dash. She tugged, heaved, yanked, and pulled on the beam with every ounce of strength her oxygen-deprived body had in it. Dash began to hear the wall that was holding the beam crack away.

With one final heft, the beam began to lift slowly. A rumbling roar that could be heard over the growling of the fire emanated from Dash's burnt throat as she lifted the beam higher and higher. After getting enough space, she quickly shifted and got her body underneath the crushing length of wood.

Dash could tell Scootaloo was breathing easier, even with the crackling from the flames that were encroaching on their position. The creaking and groaning coming from the frames of the house that threatened to collapse were getting more frequent. Clenching from the pain, Dash called to her sister.

"Eraagh, come on kid…get up. We gotta get you outta here."

Scootaloo didn't move a muscle except those that kept on making her chest rise and fall. Dash sobbed once, then extended her wings to scoop her sister up. After securing the limp body close to her chest with her wings wrapped tightly around, Dash slowly let the beam slip off her back.

The heated wood, along with it's splinters, scratched and burnt her skin as it slid from her spine down off of her body. Wincing and grimacing from the pain, Dash let the beam drop down with a dull thud. The force of the wood hitting the floor broke it and a burning hole revealing the first floor that was completely engulfed in flames formed where Dash had been standing seconds before.

Backing away slowly, Dash walked as quickly as she dared to the nearest window. However, before she could make it, fire shot up from the dry rug that sat underneath it as flames began rounding the corner.

Panicking, the rainbow maned pegasus backed away from the rug that was completely alight. Dash turned around and found yet more fire infringing closely upon territory still held by ponies.

Trading the use of her wings for her hooves, Dash lifted her and Scootaloo up towards the ceiling. The pain and heat from the fire was intense, and the smoke that came from it started to make Dash pass out.

"No…I can't pass out now!" thought Dash, slightly regaining part of her consciousness through sheer willpower. Dash looked down at her sister, then back at that window. Flames licked high in front of it, and threatened to come closer.

Dash scrunched her face as she was determined to get her sister out of the orphanage…permanently. Taking a few breaths of smoky air, she rose slightly, and rocketed away towards the window.

Farther and faster they flew. The flames they briefly passed over seemed to lash out intentionally and violently as the ponies soared overhead. Dash wrapped her wings around her passenger again, wrapped her hooves around her head, and braced for impact.

CRASH!

The ash-blackened pony that was tightly wrapped around a near lifeless filly smashed through the heat-twisted window, and hurtled towards the earth at an alarming speed. Tucking and Rolling, Rainbow Dash hit the ground, hard, and bounced several times before coming to a very painful stop on the cool grass.

Rainbow Dash's whole body ached. Blood seeped from old and new wounds, and muscles protested when their master controller tried moving them. The cyan mare was vaguely aware of sounds coming from seemingly every direction.

First there was a sickening snapping noise, followed by a multitude of others that eventually blended together to form a single crash. This deafening noise was accompanied by a fresh wave of heat to which Dash squeezed her sister tighter.

Second, the stomping of hooves and flapping of wings coalesced into one rumbling noise that were joined by voices shouting and wheels squeaking.

"Go, hurry!" she heard

"Did you see that?"

*gasp* "It's Scootaloo! She saved my life in there!"

"Get an ambulance ready! We have two very injured ponies!"

Dash tuned these unwanted utterances out. All she was focused on now was the unconscious filly that lied almost motionless in her blue wings.

Dash placed her singed head next to Scootaloo's mouth. She felt rhythmic and extremely weak breaths tickling the hairs in her ear.

The cyan mare relaxed slightly. Soon the noises of stomping hooves grew louder and could no longer be ignored. Dash heard the sound of a gurney being unfolded and eventually felt hooves wrapping around her damaged body, lifting her up onto cool cloths.

Dash gazed upwards and caught sight of the moon before it was removed from view as she was pushed into the ambulance. The gurney's wheels were locked, and the cart was soon on it's way to Ponyville Hospital.

The entire ride there, Dash inspected her sister. She found that the tips of her magenta mane and tail were singed black, and the orange feathers on both wings were burnt black as well. Dash ran a hoof along Scootaloo's left wing until she met a strange feeling part.

Weakly, Scootaloo began to stir and murmur, pulling away from Dash's hoof. The cyan mare was about to re-venture the area, but was scared to find any more things wrong with her sister.

After feeling the cart shake, wheels creak, and hooves stomp for several minutes, Dash felt the ride come to an end.

The wheels of the gurney supporting the burnt pegasi were unlocked, and they turned round and round as the gurney was being taken out of the ambulance. The next few minutes went by in a blur. Doctors and nurses shouted to each other, doors were smashed through, and lights were shined in Dash's eyes.

Finally, the second portion of the journey ended when the gurney came to a stop next to a bed. After feeling the wheels lock, Dash slowly lifted her head and met the eyes of the doctors and nurses standing around her. The cyan mare wished they would all just blow off and leave her alone with her sister, but rational thought pushed that wish away.

"Miss?" asked a brown coated doctor. "Would you please open your wings so we can help your friend?"

Friend? Don't they know who this is? This is one of the precious few ponies that had ever been capable of truly making Dash happy in her entire life. Sure she loved her friends to pieces, but the bond between her and her sister was an untouchable connection that no other pony had ever come close to creating with Rainbow Dash before. This pony was more than just a friend, and the medical ponies should be ashamed of themselves for titling Scootaloo with such a bland word.

After more rational thought, Dash resigned, and lifted her wing. She revealed a blackened, battered, and bloody filly.

Two sets of hooves slid between Dash's wing and Scootaloo, lifting the filly from the gurney to the bed. Two more ponies split off from the group surrounding the two ponies, and they started tending to Scootaloo's wounds.

Suddenly the wheels unlocked as the gurney was wheeled out of the room with Dash still on it.

"Wait, where are you taking me?" asked Dash, her hoarse voice almost inaudible.

"Sorry Miss, but you're quite injured yourself, and you need tending to as well," stated a dark gray unicorn nurse who had a beautifully curly cerulean mane.

Dash did admit, she was pretty torn up. Her body was absolutely covered in scrapes, bruises, and gashes, with one large one in particular oozing blood down Dash's forehead.

But she wasn't focused on any of her problems right now. All that she cared about was whether or not her special little filly was going to be alright.

"I-is she gonna be okay?" whispered Dash. The nurse looked at Dash and saw all of the pain both physically and emotionally the cyan pegasus had just gone through.

"Yes," replied the gray nurse with a smile. "She's going to be just fine."

Dash truly hoped so; there was no way she was going to be able to live with herself knowing she hadn't been fast enough.

What's going to happen next you ask? Stay tuned! This longer chapter is kind of a repayment for my unannounced hiatus and previous short chapter. Kinda felt bad for it, but whatever. Please review!

Chapter Eleven

The Mending

Rainbow Dash always hated the lemony scent that accompanied hospitals. Especially now since the smoke and ash from the fire had burnt her nostrils. Wheeling down the hallway on the gurney she and her sister arrived there in, and ignoring the pain in her nose, Rainbow Dash took in what she saw.

Florescent lights passed by overhead and shined in Dash's eyes periodically. A light brown stallion had his front hooves on the gurney, and was pushing it along at a brisk pace. Next to him trotted the dark gray unicorn nurse, who had a pen and clipboard held in her magic, jotting down notes.

Throughout nearly the entire journey to a destination unbeknownst to Dash, the unicorn asked questions about her.

"May I please have your name?" asked the unicorn.

"Rainb-" Dash was suddenly interrupted by a massive upheave in her chest. She coughed for a while, nearly hacking her lungs out. Finally she regained control of her breathing, and spat out something awful tasting in her mouth. She looked down and found her spittle to be a grayish black. Turning back to the nurse, she answered the question.

"Rainbow Dash"

"Thank you. Age?"

"Seventeen"

"Thank you. And your friend back there, what is your relation?"

"Adoptive sister."

The nurse looked up from her clipboard and cocked an eyebrow. "Thank you, I'll take note of that. Now, what is her information?"

"Her name is Scootaloo, and she's ten."

The nurse then went on to ask questions about things like allergies that afflicted the two ponies, to which Dash replied they had none that they knew of. The cyan mare didn't pay full attention to rest of the questions; she just answered without thinking.

After a ride that seemed to be going on forever, the pony pushing the gurney along slowed to a stop in front of a door, and allowed the gray nurse to use her magic to open it. Dash was wheeled inside the room, and the stallion left without a word.

The gray nurse then busied herself with tending to Dash's wounds. Using her magic to levitate a flurry of bandages, some spools of string, needles, and a few tubes of ointment towards her, the nurse began to mend the cuts that still glistened with fresh blood.

Dash just watched the nurse work silently. Wincing slightly as ointment was pressed against open wounds, and needles slid through damaged skin, Dash observed the pony gracefully stitch the pegasus up.

A mirror was hung the wall, and through it Dash could see just how shredded her body was. Long gashes ran the lengths of her barrel and flanks, her feathers were ruffled, burnt, and unkempt, and shed blood was drying on all parts of her body.

Her front legs, however, were the worst. It appeared as though she had lowered both of them into a wood chipper; cuts, gashes, and scratches adorned the two legs. Dash hadn't even noticed them before. But when she did, waves of itching pain reached her brain, causing her to hiss sharply.

These cuts on her legs were probably a result of her using them to shield her head when she crashed through that last window. Dash didn't care though, as long as she and her sister were safe, she was okay with whatever harm came to her body.

The nurse worked tirelessly, and before Dash had realized she had even started, the unicorn was nearly finished. "I should get her onto that quilt Granny Smith and her cousins have been working on that AJ told me about." Joked Dash to herself in her exhausted mind.

Tying up the last of the stitches, the nurse then motioned for Dash to step into a shower. The cyan pegasus attempted to get up, but her muscles screamed in protest. Dash grunted from the pain, to which the nurse responded by pressing a button on the wall.

The door to the room opened a brief while later, and two female medical ponies walked through the door and into the room. The two mares helped Dash up, and walked her across the room, behind a curtain, and into a shower.

One turned the faucet, and warm water flowed out of the shower head, giving a refreshing feeling to the pony that sat underneath it. With sponge in hoof, the two mares, along with the gray nurse, set about cleaning the soot and blood covered pegasus.

The floor of the shower turned black and red as the mares scrubbed while fresh water cascaded down the cyan body. Dash's bliss from the rhythmic rubbing and the water of a perfect temperature was interrupted as she saw soap being dribbled onto the wet sponges.

The instant the first sponge made contact, Dash could feel the soap burning her wounds. Wincing and hissing from the pain, Dash grit her teeth and stuck through it.

After ages of sponges scrubbing, soap cleaning, and water running, Dash had been washed clean of all of the soot and blood on her body. The nurse turned off the faucet and the three mares set about drying Dash's body with clean, soft towels.

Dash was then helped to the bed on the opposite wall, where she sat down and watched the two mares leave. The nurse then set about applying bandaging to the stiches. After covering them all, she took out a tongue depressor and looked at Dash.

"Alright, Miss Dash, open your mouth and say 'ah'."

Dash did as she was told.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhh."

The nurse used the tongue depressor to look deeper into Dash's throat. The nurse studied the blackened esophagus, let out a "humph", and removed the depressor. Dash then coughed dryly, hacking up what little moisture there was in her throat.

"I'll be right back, Miss Dash," said the nurse as she exited the room. The cyan mare watched her go, and then sighed deeply as she inspected her body.

"They didn't do a very good job of cleaning my wings," thought Dash as she painfully lifted her right wing to inspect it. There wasn't a feather in place. The cyan pegasus surveyed the unkempt wing, and decided that it would be too much work to preen right now, as she was too tired to do anything.

After waiting for what seemed like hours, Dash began to fall asleep. As she was slipping away, she heard the door begin to open. The dark gray nurse walked in with a small white spritzer bottle and two cups, one large and one small. The three objects were being held by the dark blue magic.

The nurse went to the sink and poured water into the large cup until it was full. Extending it to Dash, she took it, and before lifting it to her mouth, she was interrupted by a hoof on the glass.

"Don't drink yet, simply take a mouthful and gargle it around to get the soot out."

Once again, Dash did as she was told. Taking a large swig in her mouth, she sucked in nearly half of the water. She swished it around and gargled for a bit, and after she deemed it ready to spit out, she leaned over to the small cup to vacate the contents of her mouth.

Black flakes floated around in the grayish water, to Dash's disgust. She wiped her muzzle with a hoof, and looked at the glass thirstily.

"Go ahead," said the nurse.

Dash placed both hooves on the glass, lifted it to her mouth, and took a few large gulps. Finishing off the water, Dash handed it back to the nurse who refilled it. Again downing the entire drink, the pony sated her thirst. She set it down on the nightstand, and looked at the spritzer bottle being held in the unicorn's magic.

"Open wide, like before," said the nurse.

Dash closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and said "ah". She heard a spritzing noise followed by moisture and a foul cherry-like taste grace her throat. The spray had caught her by surprise more than it should have, which caused her to wheeze and choke uncontrollably.

Dash opened her eyes after a few seconds of wheezing to find the nurse had refilled the glass, placed a cap on the bottle, and was walking to the door.

"Get some rest, Miss Dash; you need it after what you've been through," said the nurse as she reached for the lights.

"Wait, nurse, tell me something," called Dash after her. The nurse turned to find that Dash had already settled underneath the covers.

"Yes?" she responded.

"Is my sister going to be okay?"

The nurse smiled again. "Yes, Miss Dash, everything will be alright. You'll see tomorrow when hopefully she'll be awake." The nurse then flipped out the lights, closed the door behind her, and left Dash to the dark.

The battered, bruised, and overwhelmed pony dug herself further into the soft, white, lavender scented blankets. Before she drifted off to sleep, something dawned on her.

This was all her fault.

If she hadn't told the matrons at the orphanage to keep her sister there, then Scootaloo wouldn't have been in the fire, and she wouldn't be hurt. If Dash would have just adopted the filly right when she found out she could, Scootaloo would have been much happier much sooner.

This realization made Dash want to scream. She loathed herself now more than she ever had in her entire life. Another thing Dash remembered: What was that weird feeling part on Scootaloo's side about? And her wing was bent awkwardly…

Dash couldn't bring herself to say it. After beating her denial down some more, she came to the conclusion that there must have been something wrong with the wing. Searching for a logical reason, she found it.

Scootaloo's left wing had been broken.

Dash sobbed as she bit her hoof. She hoped and plead and prayed to whoever was listening that nothing long lasting had happened to Scootaloo's body.

After wallowing in self-hatred, Dash finally managed to pass out from exhaustion. Tears still drying, the rainbow-maned pegasus fell into a shakier sleep than the one she had fallen into during her sister's sleep-over.

Dash had horrendous nightmares about her sister being without flight throughout the entire night.

"Scootaloo, I'm so, so sorry that you can't fly anymore…"

"It's not your fault Rainbow Dash."

Dash scrunched her face upwards she heard her sister's voice again. The dream continued.

"But…yes it is though. See, I was going to adopt you, so I told the matrons at the orphanage to keep you there that one last night. I wanted to surprise you when you woke up the next morning in your new cloud bed."

"WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry!"

"MY WING IS BUSTED AND I CAN'T FLY BECAUSE OF YOU?!"

A tear streaked down Dash's sleeping face.

"Please…"

"I HATE YOU RAINBOW DASH! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

Rainbow Dash violently jerked upright in bed covered in a thin film of sweat. Panting and shaking uncontrollably, Dash began to rock herself back and forth.

She spotted the clock and saw that it was currently 4 o'clock in the morning. Closing her tear filled eyes; Dash lied back down and pulled the covers up again.

Sleepless agony consumed Dash for the next four hours straight. Staring blankly at the moon-lit curtains on the window, she heard the door open. She turned and watched as the grey nurse walked in.

"Good morning, Miss Dash," she said in her elegant voice.

"H-hi" responded the exhausted pegasus as she buried her face into the pillow.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Uh…yeah," Dash lied through the linens.

The nurse trotted over to the nightstand and lifted the spritzer bottle again.

"Time for another, Miss Dash."

The cyan mare rose shakily from the bed and opened her mouth. The foul cherry-like taste coated the back of her throat, and again she wheezed like before.

"Eugh, what is that stuff?" Dash asked after clearing her throat.

"Medicine, of course. This helps your throat to heal after it was subjected to heat and smoke like it was."

Dash grumbled. "Then why does it have to taste so terrible?"

"I'm sorry, we do not have any other flavors," said the nurse with a compassionate smile.

Dash rolled over in bed and screwed her eyes shut.

"Is the only reason you woke me up was to spray that crud in my mouth?"

"Well that and I have some good news for you!"

Dash turned back around to find her five friends and the other two Cutie mark Crusaders entering the room. Her mouth twisted upwards into a huge smile.

"Hey guys, were you worried 'bout me?"

"Goodness Darling," responded a powder white unicorn. "Your voice is dreadful!"

Dash grimaced. "Thanks, Rarity."

"What she means is 'yes, Rainbow Dash, we were worried 'boutcha'" Said Applejack to the unicorn.

"Oh, uhm, yes of course, that is what I meant…heh heh…" said Rarity with an apologetic smirk.

"Oh Rainbow Dash," said Twilight, "we're so proud of you!"

Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow. "For what?"

"You were willing to sacrifice life and limb to save your sister. That shows that you truly are right to raise her."

Dash smiled. "Thanks, Twi."

"And I'm sorry Fluttershy and I couldn't make it there in time to help you, you're just too fast of a flier. By the time we got to the ground you were crashing through the window with Scootaloo."

Rainbow Dash blushed.

"So how are you feeling?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well," Dash began. She hardly had any idea where to start. After picking a spot, she continued. "My throat feels like I've been gargling nails, my wings feel like they're being plucked clean, my head feels like it's being pounded like a drum, and my whole body feels like somepony is hitting it with mallets. That answer your question?" Dash didn't mean to come off so short.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" the yellow pony asked, ignoring the accidental hostile tone.

Dash sighed. "Yeah, I'll be okay."

The room grew quiet. Finally a pink pony broke the silence.

"Soooo…can somepony please tell me if her face is gonna stay like that?"

The group let out a collective guffaw at Pinkie's joke. They continued laughing until the nurse reentered the room with a huge grin.

"Miss Dash, Miss Dash!" she called.

Dash looked up at the nurse. "Heh heh, uh yeah?" she answered.

"I have great news!"

"What is it?"

"Scootaloo has just woken up!"

This is my story, so don't complain if it doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to.

Chapter Twelve

The Two Sisters

Scootaloo was awake.

Rainbow Dash didn't know how she should take that news. Of course she was overjoyed that her sister was okay, but at the same time she was unsure about how she was going to tell Scootaloo that it was her fault she got hurt in the first place.

Dash just sat staring at the nurse who brought the news until Twilight broke the silence.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Rainbow, aren't you happy?"

"Uhh…y-yeah," Dash stammered, "of course I am! But, there's just something I don't know what to do about."

"What is it?" asked Twilight.

Dash made eye contact with seemingly everyone at once.

"I don't know how to tell her it was my fault, that…that I'm the reason she and all of us are even here."

"Whatever do you mean?" asked Rarity.

Rainbow Dash looked sullenly at her lap.

"Yesterday morning I told the matrons to keep Scootaloo there at the orphanage." Dash looked back up with a weak smile. "That way I could, you know, surprise her when she woke up in her new bed the next morning."

Everyone except Twilight and Fluttershy were somewhat taken aback.

"And I felt her wing on the ambulance ride here;" Dash continued, "it was broken. I know for a fact that no matter what I do she'll never forgive me for putting her through all of this, especially if it handicapped her in some way."

"Oh Rainbow," comforted Applejack, "you and all of us know that she loves yah. Of course she'd forgive you. Even if she can't, yah know, fly no more." The cowboy-hatted mare offered a sympathetic smile.

Rainbow Dash scowled at her friend's unintentional ignorance.

"Do you know what it's like to have somepony tell you that you probably won't ever do what you're built to do?"

Applejack drew back, and Dash looked to all of her friends for an answer. She received nothing but silence, however.

"It's terrifying." She elaborated "When I was just about to turn six, I was told I would never fly, and I was devastated! Obviously I beat the doctor's diagnosis by a pretty huge margin, but Scootaloo won't if that beam damaged her wing beyond repair!" Dash was shouting and throwing her forelegs about in the air as she explained the gravity of the situation. "And to Scootaloo, flight is everything right now! It was something her and I could do together, and something that would allow her to truly feel like somepony worth noticing! There's no WAY she'd forgive me for taking that from her!"

Rainbow Dash was working herself into a frenzy, and as a result she began to cough and wheeze uncontrollably. A large cup full of water then floated over to Dash, to which the cyan mare grabbed and gulped down greedily.

"Thanks, Twilight," she said after a few gasps.

Dash sat the glass down on the nightstand, then looked down at her lap for some time. She gathered her thoughts and carefully formulated her words before lifting her head again and breaking the silence.

"Please, nopony tell her it was my fault," she plead.

Twilight scrunched her face.

"If I remember correctly, there was a certain secret Scootaloo entrusted you with, and you broke your promise not to tell. So why should we keep yours?"

Dash's ears folded back. To her, the level of her hypocrisy was astounding, and she mentally kicked herself for it.

"I know, but this is different from that. Back when I told you guys her secret, I knew for a fact that there was no way she could have stayed mad at me, if she did get mad at all. But this is serious. If she finds out that she can't fly because of me, then nothing I do will make it up to her."

The seven ponies standing shifted uneasily on their hooves. They all could see the point Dash was making. The filly couldn't have gotten mad, because she would have seen that Dash had every intention of making it up to Scootaloo by adopting her; officially giving her a home. And because she would be given a new home she can be proud of, there'd be no reason to keep her silly secret anymore.

Finally, after several more moments of silence, Twilight broke the quiet air.

"Alright, Rainbow Dash, I promise not to tell. And I think everypony agrees with me, right?" She looked back to the nodding heads of her friends. "And to be honest, I'd probably be devastated too if I lost my horn and couldn't use magic anymore."

"Thanks guys" Dash said as she surveyed their faces.

"So what are we waiting for?" inquired Applebloom energetically.

"Yeah! Let's go see how Scootaloo's doing!" chimed Sweetie Belle with an equally powerful tone.

Rainbow Dash lifted the covers and revealed further bandaging. She winced as she put her weight down on her legs, but, luckily, this time they held up. The group exited the room to find the nurse waiting in the hall outside.

The gray unicorn with her curly blue mane led the way down to the pediatric wing. She had eight ponies in tow, with Dash in the lead right behind her.

After passing many rooms, hallways and offices, the group finally made it to their destination. The nurse stopped in front of a door, and pointed to the window. Dash ignored her pain and rushed to the glass to peer inside.

There sat that special, special filly, awake, with a bandage wrapped around her head. Her left wing was folded in, to Dash's surprise, but it still had a bandage of its own. Scootaloo was speaking to a light green earth pony nurse with a black mane held in a bun, listening as she instructed how to use her spritzer bottle full of foul-tasting medicine.

The gray nurse tapped on the glass and caught her colleagues' attention, who motioned for them to enter. The gray nurse opened the door to let Dash in, but stopped the others as they attempted their own entrances.

"I can tell they need a moment alone. Besides, Scootaloo's doctor needs to go over her injuries; she had a relatively severe one."

The rest of the ponies in the group were disappointed, but nodded their understanding and sat on the chairs in the hall. Inside the room, Dash was hugging and nuzzling Scootaloo to no end.

"Ehh, hey, Rainbow Dash…urhhgh, please sto-STOP! STOP, OW THAT'S MY WING!" Scootaloo shouted as Dash accidentally touched the damaged appendage.

"Heh heh, sorry Squirt, just glad to see that you're okay."

"Yeah, thanks to you."

"Heh, yeah, when I saw you under that beam I almost flipped way out! Luckily I stayed awesome and got you out of there."

Dash held her gaze on Scootaloo, and her heart filled with pride. Just the sight of the little filly smiling up at her made her feel as though there were no evil entities in the world; that no matter what happened, nothing would separate them. However, she felt that her current worst fear would soon be addressed.

"Hello, Miss Dash" said a beige coated stallion with a brown mane. Dash looked up at this vaguely familiar and subconsciously loathed doctor.

She let go of her sister and got back on four legs. After searching for where she knew him from, she realized that this was the doctor that oversaw her own wing injury. "Oh hey, Doctor Stable!"

"Yes, yes, hello. May we get to Scootaloo's injuries now?" asked the doctor.

Dash was panicking on the inside, but somewhat successfully pulled off a cool act.

"Sure, what's going on?"

Stable pulled a large, clear, black and white sheet out of a folder and pinned it on a square light on the wall. The sheet featured an image of a young pegasus wing, with a small but noticeable fracture running a short way down one of the bones. Dash was nearly overcome with dismay as she noticed the break.

"Now, as you can see here," said Stable as he pointed his hoof at the broken bone, "the humerus of Scootaloo's left wing has suffered a small hairline fracture."

"S-so…" Dash began shakily, "i-is that bad? Like, can it be fixed?" Rainbow Dash felt her heart racing as she prepared for what she believed to be the worst news she'd hear since her own diagnosis eleven years ago.

"Well, of course it can be fixed! It already is, practically," Stable began. "What you had a few months ago, Miss Dash, was a compound fracture, meaning it was in two pieces. And you were out of here in a week! What we have here is a stable fracture, and I predict little Scootaloo will be checked out and back home this afternoon. You pegasi are naturally fast healers." Stable ended his diagnosis with a practiced smile.

Waves of warm relief rushed over Rainbow Dash, who almost passed out from the ebbing of her dimming panic. All of her fears dissolved the moment she let her held breath out of her lungs.

Dash was seemingly unaware of the fact that she was panting like a mad dog.

"Um, Rainbow Dash, are you okay?" asked Scootaloo as she nudged her sister's side.

Dash breathed heavily a while longer before answering the question.

"Yeah…yeah…I'm okay…it's just…I-I thought your wing was broken really bad…and…and I was worried that you wouldn't be able t-to fly anymore…"

Dash put her front hooves up on the bed and nuzzled the orange filly whose eyes were wide, watery saucers.

"You were…worried about me?" asked the orange filly.

Dash looked at her sister with a smile that only family could give.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I was worried about'cha! You're my sister!"

Scootaloo stared into the older pony's eyes and shed a tear from her own. She wrapped her front hooves around Dash's neck, who in turn wrapped one cyan arm around the small body. The two stayed in their embrace for what seemed to them like hours before an "ahem" from Stable made Dash draw her face away to look at the impatient doctor.

"Another thing," said Stable as he walked over to the bed. "Her wing had been dislocated. And while she will be flying again soon, it is important that she stays grounded for at least a few days so her wing can heal properly."

Scootaloo emitted a deep and painful groan.

"Oh, come on! I just barely figured out how to fly, and now I can't? This is SO lame!"

Dash chuckled a bit at her sister's anguish. "I know how you feel right now, Squirt. But take it from me, do what he says or you're going to stay out of the air for longer than you need to."

"Alright, Miss Dash," said Stable. "Aside from the problems in her wing, Scootaloo has nothing else ailing her that's too different from what you have." He indicated the small bandages that adorned the filly in a similar fashion to Dash.

Stable exited the room, and the gray nurse entered followed by Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the other two Crusaders. Dash looked quizzically at the shortened group. She got out of her perched position and allowed Scootaloo's two friends to jump onto the bed to begin chattering about Celestia knows what.

"Hey, where did the other two go?" she asked.

"Oh," said Fluttershy, "everypony else had other things they needed to do, so they left after they saw that Scootaloo was okay."

"Ah," replied Dash.

The two pegasi were then approached by the gray unicorn nurse.

"Um, excuse me, Miss Dash? If you aren't too busy, may I have a word with you outside?"

Dash looked at the nurse, then to Fluttershy who shrugged her shoulders. Dash did the same, and followed the nurse out into the hallway.

"What's up?" asked Dash.

The nurse looked at the stitched-up pegasus who had just been through physical and emotional hell and realized how small her own problem was.

"Oh, it's nothing major, just a small complaint," she began. "Now I hope that there isn't a next time, but if there is, please be more truthful with your relationships to others. It's just that it makes the whole record searching process go a little more smoothly."

Dash cocked an eyebrow at the gray unicorn. "I'm sorry," she said with a chuckle, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, well, you told me last night that Scootaloo was your adoptive sister, but you are in fact real sisters."

Dash laughed at the joke. "Oh, yeah, I know we're close as hay, and I love her like a sister, but no, we're not related."

The nurse's eyes widened. "Oh…my…goodness."

Dash was starting to get concerned.

"Do you not know?" the nurse asked.

"Know what?" Dash replied with a worried look.

"Oh my." The nurse was starting to breathe more heavily. "I-I was looking at both of your records at the same time, and I noticed that both birth certificates had the same parents listed. I thought that you hadn't told me your relation because you were in shock, and probably somewhat delirious."

Dash stood staring with her jaw to the floor for several moments before snapping out of her trance. She closed her jaw, tightened her face, and spoke two very clear words to the nurse.

"Show me"

---

Two ponies, one grimacing, were racing down the hospital hallways towards the main office.

"It's just down here!" called the nurse as she noticed that Dash was in pain.

Clenching her teeth, Dash kept up with the nurse as they flew past rooms and doctors towards the office.

The gray nurse slowed to a stop in front of a wooden door, floated a key into the lock, and opened it.

Piles of papers adorned shelves inside the dark room. Filing cabinets were pushed up against the wall, and a few of them were pulled open. Stepping over a few stacks of papers that littered the floor, the nurse reached a desk where she flicked a switch on a lamp, causing it to illuminate the room.

Closing the door with her hind leg, Dash sealed the world away. The cyan mare joined the nurse at the desk and stood on the opposite side. The gray unicorn ignited her magic and opened two filing cabinet drawers. She lifted two folders out of the drawers, then closed them again. Floating the folders toward the two ponies, she sifted through the papers inside them.

Finding the documents she was looking for, the nurse slid two identical documents out of both folders, and laid them in front of Dash.

The cyan mare, whose eyes were still adjusting, looked over one and found it to be a copy of her birth certificate.

---

NAME: Rainbow Dash

COAT: Cyan

MANE/TAIL: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet

EYES: Cerise

SEX: Female

FATHER: Rainbow Blade

MOTHER: Sundown

Cloud Central Hospital

March 1, -

---

"Everything normal here" thought Dash as she flicked her eyes to the other document.

---

NAME: Scootie-Lou

COAT: Gamboge

MANE/TAIL: Magenta

EYES: Purple

SEX: Female

FATHER: Rainbow Blade

MOTHER: Sundown

Cloud Central Hospital

April 2, -

---

The hot feeling of adrenaline in Rainbow Dash's gut that she had been experiencing since she was told outside Scootaloo's room climaxed as she read the names of her sister's parents. Dash took a moment after the rush somewhat subsided to go over the spelling of the names, but she found the lettering to be exactly the same. She fought to understand how her parents' names got onto Scootaloo's birth certificate. The mare couldn't believe what she was seeing, yet there it was as plain as day. The two pegasi who had gotten so close recently had had the same parents this entire time. The cyan mare didn't know if it was fate or pure luck; but whatever the reason, she had been delivered a family member in the form of the filly she had already grown to love so dearly.

Tears dripped down onto Scootaloo's birth certificate from Dash's reddened, trembling face. The pegasus looked up to into the eyes of her unicorn companion who offered a compassionate smile. Dash opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, but no words came out. Stunned silent, Dash lowered her head to rest on her legs that were up on the desk.

Her shoulders heaving and face contorting, Dash absentmindedly made her wet and reddened eyes flick back and forth between the two documents as she attempted to understand her situation. After several minutes of detested mathematics, she had figured that Scootaloo had to have been conceived about two months after Dash had been given up for adoption. Her...their...parents were just not yet finished with bringing new foals into the world.

Dash hated the ponies who had nearly ruined her life for doing such a thing to Scootaloo. Yet at the same time she thanked them for creating a way for her to have family AND not ever see the parents she loathed so much ever again.

Dash felt a hoof on her back, and looked up to find the nurse trying to comfort the upset pegasus.

"Come on, Miss Dash, you're ruining the papers."

Dash nodded, and lifted her body off of the desk. The nurse then wrapped her magic around the documents and returned them to their homes. She then flicked the lamp switch again, and motioned for the door. Dash opened it and stepped out into the hallway.

Now out of the dark room, Dash stood staring out the window at the beautiful, sun-lit day. After standing for a while, she turned to the nurse, and embraced the unexpecting unicorn. The nurse stood with blue forelegs wrapped around her for a moment before returning the hug.

"Thank you," Dash whispered into the nurse's ear.

The cyan mare pulled away, and turned to the hallway they had entered from.

She had a sister to visit.

I think I got a little teary there too. Gawl this story has been going on with me for a while now. Time to finish. See ya next chapter!

Chapter Thirteen

The Warm Welcome

Rainbow Dash walked with a calm demeanor down Ponyville Hospital's hallways on the way to see her real sister. She still couldn't believe the fact that the two ponies had had the same parents this entire time. To Dash, the odds of her finding a sibling that she never knew about was pretty slim. But having that sibling be the one pony that was already so very close to her heart was unreal.

The more she thought about it, the more Dash realized that this new discovery hadn't changed a thing. She didn't care if they were twins even, there was no possible way the two ponies could get any closer than they are now.

Passing by both vacant and occupied rooms with ill ponies and their doctors, Dash made her way through the white-walled hospital hallways. She spent her time walking next to the gray nurse contemplating how she was going to both break the news to Scootaloo of their blood relation and convince her that she was telling the truth. Even Dash understood how too-good-to-be-true the whole thing sounded.

After walking and thinking the entire way back to the pediatric wing, Dash decided that she'd tell Scootaloo everything when she surprised her at her new home. She still wanted to see the look on her sister's face when she found out about it.

The door Dash knew to be her sister's appeared as she rounded the corner. As she walked up to it, she could hear giggling coming from the other side. Dash looked back to the nurse who offered an encouraging smile, then motioned for the cyan pegasus to push the door open.

Dash placed a hoof on the door handle and turned it. The door opened and revealed Scootaloo and her friends playing a board game on the bed.

"Five" said Sweetie Belle in her squeaky voice as she gazed upon the rolled dice. She then slid her game piece over five squares, and drew a card. "Ugh, seriously? Go back two spaces? That's twice in a row!"

The other two crusaders giggled again, with a set of cerise eyes compassionately staring at one in particular. Dash continued staring until the orange filly noticed that she was being watched.

"Hey Rainbow Dash! What did the nurse want?" she asked.

It took Dash a second to realize she had been asked a question. "Oh, uh, nothing. Whatcha doing?"

"Playin' SugarLand," replied Applebloom. Dash looked down to see that candy canes, gumdrops, suckers, chocolate and other sweet items illustrated the board. The game pieces were ordinary, small, plastic ponies of several colors. Dash noticed when Scootaloo moved her piece that she was using a light blue one. "Can probably guess why," thought Dash with an inner chuckle.

The cyan pegasus walked over to her yellow friend sitting in a chair against the wall. She seemed strangely content with just watching the fillies on the bed having their own fun. "You brought a game?" she asked.

"Oh, not me, the Apple sisters brought it. It's Scootaloo's favorite game, you see," replied Fluttershy.

"Favorite game, huh? Why hasn't she played it with me?" thought Dash with worry.

"It's not my favorite game!" retaliated Scootaloo "It's just something to, you know, pass the time." Scootaloo then made herself look as though she was never interested in the game in the first place.

Dash laughed on the inside as she again saw herself in the orange filly. She now knew the reason why they were so alike, and because of this more and more things started to click. The constant competing between the two pegasi, their similar personalities, their brash attitudes, and everything else they had done similarly now made sense to Dash who delighted in the fact.

There was a short few knocks on the door to the room before the green earth pony nurse walked in.

"Hello, Scootaloo," she said in a gruff and hoarse voice quite unlike the gray unicorn's, "let's see that throat."

Scootaloo opened wide and said "ah" as the nurse looked at the red esophagus. After peering into the filly's mouth for a moment, she let out a "hmph" and motioned for Scootaloo to close it.

"Well, looks okay enough fo' you to go home. And your wing wasn't hurt too bad to keep you here eitha'. Yep, guess it's time for you to check out, young lady."

Scootaloo's face lit up. "Really? Awesome! Now I can go back home!" She kept her face upwards in excitement, but unfortunately it was the only face in the room like it.

"But Scootaloo, the orphanage burned down. What do you mean home?" said Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo's face fell and her ears snapped back. She looked down at her lap to keep from meeting her friends' eyes.

"So you know, then?" she muttered.

"Why didn't yah just tell us? What's so bad about livin' in an orphanage?" comforted Applebloom.

Scootaloo lifted her head to reveal a bitter expression plastered on her face. "Because," she croaked, "you all have homes with loving families, and I don't. Do you know how embarrassing it is?"

"But we're your family, right?" replied Sweetie Belle. "And Rainbow Dash is too! Scootaloo, there's no reason to be ashamed of what your family is."

"Yeah, if we knew y'all were havin' a tough time, we could have helped you," added Applebloom.

"Well I don't need your help, I can handle myself!" retorted Scootaloo. "I've been getting along just fine without anypony." She crossed her arms to add to her matter-of-fact tone.

"Scootaloo, lissin' to yourself!" battled Applebloom, "Why are yah fightin'?"

"Yeah!" added Sweetie Belle. Both of the uninjured fillies were getting tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats. "You're our…f-friend!" she squeaked.

Scootaloo's tough façade was dissolving. Bit by bit she was starting to feel the twinge of sadness creep up on her. Eventually, two fillies reached over and wrapped their forelegs around their orange friend who returned the gesture. The three huddling crusaders were starting to cry quite heavily.

Four mares were sitting on chairs against the wall watching this upsetting scene unfold. A white unicorn moved her head close to a cyan pegasus.

"You have the power to end this!" she whispered. Rarity and Applejack glared straight at Dash, both realizing that their friend had the key to ending their sisters' suffering. Dash scrunched her face, and looked at her friends.

"But…but I want it to be a surprise!" she whispered back. Dash turned her head over to the three fillies on the bed. She saw that her own sister was being wracked with heaving sobs slightly more violently than the other two crusaders.

The earth pony filly looked behind her and met the eyes of her sister. "Applejack, can't we do something? L-like take her in?"

Applejack, knowing her friend's plans, and her own words to be true, replied with apologetically. "Sorry, Sugarcube, yah know how much we've been hurtin' fer bits at the farm. Addin' another member to the Apple house wouldn't help anypony."

Applebloom was downcast, and clung tighter to her winged friend. Then, the unicorn filly looked to meet the eyes of her sister.

"Rarity?" she asked.

The older unicorn was in an exactly similar situation to Applejack, and replied in the same tone.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I can barely take care of you. I'm afraid I can't do anything either."

Sweetie Belle cried slightly harder. When the three pairs of small eyes were closed, three larger sets shot directly in the direction of Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus wouldn't even dare an attempt at a passive expression at this time. Sighing softly, she got to her hooves and began walking over to the bed.

"Hey, Kid." Dash made sure she had Scootaloo's full attention. The filly looked up and started at her through her tears.

"Don't worry. You're not going anywhere!" Dash declared with fire in her eyes.

Scootaloo scrunched her face in confusion. "N-not going anywhere? W-what do you mean?"

Quickly saving herself, the pegasus formulated a half-truth. "I, uh, know of somepony that would love to take you in!" Dash then smiled awkwardly. The three mares still sitting all collectively face-hoofed.

"Who?" Scootaloo asked between her hiccups.

"Uh, umm, it's a, uh, surprise! I'll take you to where you'll be meeting them." Dash smiled awkwardly again, and looked around the room. She found that the green nurse had exited; probably a while earlier. "I'm just uh, going to go grab our release forms, and we can go meet your new guardian." Dash ran out and left the door ajar.

Dead silence spread among the six ponies in the room. Finally, the injured one broke it.

"Somepony's…adopting me?"

After a moment, Applejack answered. "Ahhh…guess so."

"Who though?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah don't know, but Ah hope they know what they hay they're doin'." Though she didn't approve of Dash leaving Scootaloo in the dark like this, she at least gave her friend the benefit of the doubt and upheld the charade.

Out in the hallway at that floor's office, Rainbow Dash had found the green nurse again.

"Hey," Dash called, "are you Scootaloo's nurse?"

"Yeh," the green pony replied. "She okay in there?"

"Yeah, she'll be okay. I was wondering about our release forms."

"Oh, suah, I'll take ya back an' we'll sign some papers."

The nurse led Dash into an office room where she placed a few documents on the desk. Pen in mouth, Dash began chipping away at the large number of signature lines. Because she had already signed all of the necessary documents prior to the fire, Dash was already Scootaloo's legal guardian. All that was left was to bring the filly home.

Finally she signed the last line on the last paper, and set the pen back down. The nurse collected the documents and placed them into two separate folders.

"Whelp, there ya go, Sweetie," said the nurse. "I'll get Scootaloo's doctah to sign these in a bit when he's not busy, but for now you're free to go."

Dash bid her farewell, and left the nurse in the office.

---

The sun hung low in the sky as it cast its dimming red light about the land. In front of a large building, there stood two still heavily bandaged pegasi.

"So, Rainbow Dash, who's adopting me?" asked the younger one.

Dash motioned for the temporarily flightless filly to climb onto her back. After Scootlaoo set her hind legs in front of Dash's equipped saddlebags, her question was answered.

"She's waiting over at my house where she'll be meeting you. Don't worry, Scootaloo, she's pretty awesome."

Scootaloo pondered who it could be. "Is she as awesome as you?"

Dash chuckled. "Yeah, she's as awesome as me."

She then spread her freshly preened wings and took to the sky. The two pegasi flew the entire way to Dash's house in total silence. Finally finding the cloud home that required a knowing eye to notice the strange new apparatus on one of its sides, Dash glided on the final stretch, then touched down softly onto the porch.

Scootaloo slid off of Dash's back and sunk her hooves into the cloud. Making a connection, Scootaloo groaned.

"It's not Fluttershy, is it?" she asked, hoping it wasn't true.

Dash giggled. "What? Of course not! She's nowhere near as awesome as I am!"

Scootaloo scrunched her face in thought. "Derpy?"

Dash giggled harder. "No way, she's too…well…Derpy! There's no way she'd be able to do it."

Before Scootaloo could guess again, Dash opened the door. Bliss ensued as the familiar scent of her home graced her sensitive nostrils. After the filly was inside, Dash closed the door and set her saddlebags down next to it.

"Here," said Dash as she sat on her couch, "come have a seat. We'll wait for her here."

Scootaloo climbed up onto the couch and sunk into it. She deeply enjoyed the feeling of clouds, and rejoiced in the fact that they were now within her reach at all times.

The two pegasi sat on the couch for some time before Scootaloo piped up.

"Uh, when's she going to be here?"

"She'll be here," replied Dash.

"When though?"

Dash looked over to a mirror she had hung for this specific occasion. Dash found her reflection, along with Scootaloo's, sitting on the couch.

"See that mirror?" she asked.

Scootaloo turned her head. "Yeah."

"What do you see?"

"Uh, you and me sitting on the couch."

Then, the connection was made. Scootaloo's features widened in disbelief. Of course! How could she not have seen it sooner?

"Y-…" she stammered, "You?!"

Dash reached over and wrapped her body around her sister.

"You're not going anywhere." she breathed into Scootaloo's mane.

The orange filly was stunned still, and just sat there in Dash's embrace. It had always been a dream of hers to be adopted by her idol, but she never imagined that it would actually happen. Scootaloo slowly lifted her arms up, and wrapped them around her sister.

Finally, after minutes of total stillness with the only noise being the wind blowing outside, Dash pulled away.

"C'mere, I wanna show you something."

Scootaloo reluctantly released her grasp on her new "mom", and followed her into the hallway. There was a grayish purple door where there used to be just a blank wall, and Dash motioned for it. "Couldn't be!" thought Scootaloo as she pushed it open.

The door slowly swung open to reveal Scootaloo's very own room. She always had to share a room with at least two other fillies, so having a place to call her own brought tears to her eyes. She covered her mouth with her leg, and turned to press her face into Dash's chest.

Scootaloo sobbed hard for several moments before eventually regaining control.

"Thank you," she whispered into Dash's coat, "Thank you."

"Any time, Squirt, any time."

The cyan pegasus picked the orange filly up and carried her via wing power over to the purple bed. Sitting Scootaloo in her lap, she began brushing the purple mane softly. Dash held the silence for as long as she could. Eventually, though, she grew tired of it and decided to break some more news.

"I was already planning on adopting you," said Dash.

Scootaloo slowly looked up into the mare's face. "What?"

"Yeah…I had the matrons keep you there at the orphanage that night. It was supposed to be a nice surprise for you when you woke up here in your own room the next morning. Unfortunately, you, uh…had to wake up in a hospital bed instead."

It dawned on Scootaloo what Dash meant by that. She pressed her cheek into the mare's coat again.

"It's okay, I don't blame you for that. There's no way you could have seen that fire coming. Besides, you got me out of there, right?"

Dash looked down at the filly, then started caressing her injured wing. "But, what about this?"

"Well, it's only for a couple of days. I think I can manage."

Dash admired her sister's nobleness. She was also extremely relieved to find that Scootaloo didn't care that it was entirely Dash's fault that she was in that fire. "My sister is just as awesome as I am!" thought Dash.

Sister…

Dash set Scootaloo down on the bed.

"I'll be right back," she called as she trotted out the room. Dash soon returned with a folder and set it down onto the nightstand.

"So guess what," she said as she rejoined Scootaloo on the bed.

"Hm?" she responded as she stared at the folder.

"The hospital looked through your files, and they found you a sister! A real one!"

Scootaloo's face lit up. "Really?! So, then, I have two sisters?!" Her eyes were gleaming in elation.

"Nope," replied Dash, "just one."

Scootaloo was confused. "So, what, are you going to by my mom now?"

Dash laughed at this. "What? No, of course not! I would never be able to be a mom."

"So…then you're not going to be my sister anymore?" continued Scootaloo, her thoughts turning to focus on despair.

"No, don't you see? It's me!" declared Dash. She then reached over and grabbed the folder lying on the nightstand. Opening it, she revealed copies of their birth certificates. "I know, it's kind of hard to believe, but here, look." Dash gave Scootaloo the two documents. Flicking her eyes between both of them, the filly worked to understand what was happening.

"S-so…" began Scootaloo, quickly losing her voice.

Dash wrapped her body around the orange filly again. She nodded her head after she rested it on Scootaloo's. "I guess my…our…parents weren't done making fillies they didn't want." Dash noticed that Scootaloo hadn't moved an inch; she just sat there staring at the papers.

"What's the matter? Aren't you happy?" asked Dash, hoping this hadn't upset her in some way.

"I-…" Scootaloo began, "I don't know…I don't know what to think…" A furious bout of hyperventilation consumed the filly. Sharp gasps punctuated her quick, heavy breaths. Dash had no idea what to do, only to try to bring her sister under control.

"Woah, woah, woah, calm down! I-it's okay! Uh…l-look at me!" Dash grabbed Scootaloo's cheeks and turned her tiny head so that their eyes met. Scootaloo could only stare and breathe heavily.

"It's okay, your sister is here," Dash said calmly. Scootaloo kept staring. Finally, she found her voice.

"S-s-s-so…you're telling me…that we have…the same…parents?!" Scootaloo's breathing wasn't getting any more regular.

"Yes, we do! It's crazy, I know, but please calm down! I promise, I don't have any more shocking news." Dash tried her best to console Scootaloo. Fortunately, the sound of Dash's voice began breaking down Scootaloo's panic attack.

Finally regaining control of her breathing after several more moments, Scootaloo lied back into Dash. "I don't believe it," she said, "I just don't believe it."

"It was hard for me to believe at first too, but trust me, we're sisters."

Scootaloo looked up and behind into Dash's face. Words were unnecessary noises right now; the two sisters' eyes communicated everything that needed to be said. Finally, the silence that ensued for a quarter of an hour straight was too much for the filly to bear.

"So let me get this straight," Scootaloo began. "You're my real sister…and you're adopting me?"

Dash thought about it. "Yep," she admitted. "That's pretty much it."

"And when the unicorn nurse pulled you out of the room for a while, that's when you found out?"

"Yep," Dash confirmed. "Do you like your new room?"

"Yeah, I do," replied Scootaloo, "Big Sis."

Dash beamed as she realized that that name was more fitting for this filly to call her by than ever.

"Welcome Home, Lil' Sis. Welcome Home."

---

"Dear Princess Celestia," Scootaloo began as a purple dragon scribbled the words on parchment, "today I learned that if you have a problem, it's best to tell somepony so they can help you, even if you think you can handle the problem on your own. Your faithful Crusader, Scootaloo. Oh, p.s., I'm really going to enjoy living at my sister Rainbow Dash's house."

"Got it," said Spike as he sent the letter on a magical wisp of green smoke.

"All done?" asked Rainbow Dash as she entered the room. Like always, she stared at the filly's bandaged wing. Just a few more days and she'll be able to take it off.

"Yep," responded Scootaloo as she walked back to the cyan pegasus.

"That was a very nice letter, Scootaloo," said Twilight as she joined the two ponies.

The filly giggled. "Thanks."

"Whelp, thanks Spike," said Dash.

"No problem," replied Spike from over his shoulder as the dragon walked up the stairs back to bed.

"So are we ready to go home?" asked Scootaloo.

Dash smirked. "Sure, Kid, climb on."

The cyan mare walked out of the library with the filly on her back, and waved her goodbye. She then took off towards Princess Celestia's dying sunset, and away from the direction of Princess Luna's awakening moon.

---

In the end, Rainbow Dash realized that she hadn't kept her sister's secret, but in doing so she had changed both of the ponies' lives for the better, so neither of them cared.

---

Whelp, there ya go. I'm almost finished with this poorly written, nearly completely unedited pile of garbage! Maybe I'll rewrite the first seven or eight chapters, but no promises.

Well, see ya! Probably not though, I most likely will never meet any of you guys in real life but...whatever you know what I mean :T

This will be one of the last chapters (almost finished with the next! Procrastination is the worst). This was originally a part of the thirteenth, but I've decided to make it its own. It also won't fit if I put it in the last chapter, so here it is.

Chapter Fourteen

The Princesses

Up in the most extravagant tower in Canterlot, the great Princess of the land and Sun, Celestia, sat on her poofy, purple cushion. She was going over some new bits of legislature from the Royal Court when a small, green-streaked cloud floated into her chamber through her window. It popped with a magical spark, and a scroll appeared in its place. Intrigued, the princess opened it, and began reading. Her eyes slowly scanned like a typewriter, and as she read her already broad grin grew larger. Finally, as she finished the last line, she called down the hall for her sister to enter.

"Luna, come quickly! You must read this."

After a moment, the large door to the royal chamber slowly creaked open, and through the crack, the Princess of the Moon, Luna, poked her head inside.

"Yes, sister? What is it you need me to read?"

"This touching letter from Ponyville. I think what it details might warm you."

"Let me see."

Celestia gave the scroll over, and Luna took it in her magic. Similarly to her sister, her grin widened. She sighed a relief, and looked out the window to catch a glimpse of the bright, shining ball of light that she controlled.

"I've been wondering when she was finally going to go through with it. We've been watching them for so long."

Celestia smiled again, and drew in closely to embrace her sister.

"Even though it's been nearly a year, I'm still ever so grateful for your return," she whispered.

"Well, I'm still happy to be back," Luna giggled.

They stayed in their embrace for a while. Even though they themselves would live for an eternity, they felt their hug to last one itself.

Just a couple more to go...