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