The mall was getting more and more packed with people. Sunset noticed this as she sat down on a nearby bench and began to eat her snack. Rainbow followed her to the bench, looking very worried. She breathed heavily while Sunset ate her pretzel. Rainbow began to get annoyed with the whole situation. She started to head for the door, stopping when she noticed that Sunset wasn’t following her. Turning around quickly, she looked at her, then back down at her phone as it bleeped out that she had another text message coming in.

“Wer r u Rainbow?” the message read.

“Sunset, we have to go, like, right now!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Sunset remained where she was. She finished her pretzel, then let out a soft, quick breath before speaking.

“Hold on there, Rainbow. Look, I know you want to get to your sister's swim meet, but getting all worked up over it won’t help you at all.”

“But I--”

“No buts about this," Sunset interrupted. "Now, take a deep breath and calm down. You’ll feel better afterward.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she did as she was told, taking a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, slowly calming herself down. Sunset walked over to her, laying both hands onto Rainbow's shoulders. Rainbow looked at Sunset, nodded to her, and said, “Thank you, Sunset. You're right, I can’t show up all worked up like that. Now can we go?”

“Sure thing,” Sunset replied warmly, “but it won’t be me that's going. I'll head home, while you head to your sisters swim meet.”

The two headed out of the mall together. Sunset started to walk towards her bus stop, stopping when she heard Rainbow call out to her.

“Hey, Sunset, I’ll catch you at school tomorrow, alright?”

Sunset turned around, smiled, and waved back to Rainbow as she watched the blue-skinned athlete get onto her bus headed into the city. Her own bus came within twenty minutes of Rainbow departing the mall. Sunset got on and was soon on her way home.
Rainbow kept looking at her phone while another message from her sister popped up on the screen.

“Y r u not hre Rainbow?”

Rainbow quickly texted back to her sister, “I wil b ther s%n Scoots dw.”

“Yea sur u wil! U shud hve bin hre 2 hrs ago RD!”

Rainbow winced when she saw Scootaloo’s reply. She knew she had royally screwed up with her sister. She texted back, “I shud b ther n 45 mins.”

“Fin w/e! Jst git hre!!” Scootaloo texted back. Rainbow looked at her screen. She could tell that her sister was not happy with her.

---

“Where were you!?” Scootaloo screamed angrily when she saw her sister getting off the bus an hour later.

Putting her hands up in a slightly defensive posture, Rainbow waved her hands back and forth a few times as she said, “Whoa chill out, Scoots. I didn’t mean to forget about your swim meeting.”

“You forgot!” Scootaloo spat back in anger. “How in the hell could you just forget about this!?”

Rainbow replied to her sister with a slight half-smirk on her face, “I was kinda shopping with Sunset, and I sort of,” Rainbow cleared her throat, “lost track of time is all. It’s no big deal, Scootaloo. I'll be at the next meeting. I promise.”

“THERE WON’T BE A NEXT MEETING!” Scootaloo screamed back at her sister. Rainbow could only stare back at her like a deer caught in headlights as Scootaloo stomped her foot into the ground.

“What do you mean there won’t be another meeting? Of course, there will be another meeting. I mean, it’s not like you got kicked off the team, right?” Rainbow replied, trying to comfort her sister.

Scootaloo looked away as tears began to slowly trickle down her cheeks. She sobbed out in anger, “That's exactly what happened, Rainbow. I got kicked off the team because I was so worked up about you not being here that I wasn’t able to complete my lap on time. I got four minutes and forty-eight seconds. I lost confidence in myself, and you were having a blast spending your time with Sunset instead of me!”

Before Rainbow could get another word in, Scootaloo raced forward, pushing past her sister as she ran towards an approaching bus. Scootaloo boarded the bus, leaving Rainbow standing at the pool completely dumbfounded. By the time Rainbow realized what Scootaloo had said to her and had turned around, the bus was already halfway down the street. Quickly taking out her phone, Rainbow dialed her mother for a fast pick-up.

Answering her phone, Rainbow's mother was greeted with, "M-Mom, I need you to p-pick me up. S-Scootaloo just took off, and I think I know where she's going."

“What did you say to her to make her take off, Rainbow?” Her mother almost snarled back.

“It's not what I said. It's more of what I didn’t do that caused this.” Rainbow facepalmed as she began to walk back and forth. “Look, we can hash this out later, Mom. Right now I need you to pick me up and take me to Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Where are you right now?”

“At the Canterlot Administration Membership Building. I can’t believe I forgot that today was Scootaloo’s swim meet.”

“Wait, stop. Back up! What do you mean you forgot about her swim meeting today, Rainbow?”

“Just what I said. I forgot about it because I was busy having too much fun with Sunset.”

“Dammit, Rainbow Dash! I have reminded you about your sister's meeting for almost three whole days now. This is why I don’t want you around that girl. She is a bad influence on you, Rainbow!”

“Mom, it wasn’t Sunset's fault that I forgot,” Rainbow snarled back. “Now, we can fight about this later! Right now, I need to take care of Scootaloo.”

“I’ll be there in about twenty-five minutes.”

Rainbow hung up the phone and waited for her mother to show up. Unbeknownst to Rainbow or her mother, Scootaloo was already texting Apple Bloom. As the two of them talked, they both decided to meet at the tree house just outside of Sweet Apple Acres.

Scootaloo got off the bus thirty minutes later and headed into the orchard, where she soon found Apple Bloom, looking just as grim and lonely as she was feeling. Taking a seat next to the normally perky redhead, Scootaloo let out a forced sigh as she said, “I don’t get it, Apple Bloom. How could Sunset Shimmer be more important than us?”

Apple Bloom didn’t reply right away. She was still too upset with her own sister for missing sister night. Getting up from her place inside the clubhouse, Apple Bloom walked outside, getting to the first level of it a few moments later. She let out a loud grunt of anger, kicking some rocks into the nearby trees, while Scootaloo watched her from the windows of the clubhouse. She turned to look up at Scootaloo and said, “You wanna help me get Sunset out of our sisters' lives so we can get our sisters back, Scootaloo?”

“You bet I do!” Scootaloo exclaimed back.

“Good! Because Ah know just how ta do it,” Apple Bloom replied.

Next Chapter: I'll Show You (Edited by Icreammac) Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 47 Minutes