On the Wings of a Pegasus

by Jinzou

First published 25th of April, 2020

When Scootaloo visits Rainbow Dash over the weekend, a terrible secret is revealed. Now Rainbow Dash must do everything she can to keep the filly happy.

Scootaloo is refusing to go home. She's flinching at things that shouldn't scare her. She's refusing to talk about her parents.

Rainbow has to figure out what's wrong with her little sister, and how much of her idyllic sounding childhood she had made up.

---

Starts a little before Season 4's finale.

Chapter 1

"-And then right before they hit the ground there was this giant colorful explosion! And she caught Rarity! A-And then she caught Spitfire, Soarin, and Misty Fly all at the same time! If she was a second later nobody would've made it, but Rainbow has a flair for the dramatic!" The little orange pegasus recalled excitedly, smacking the ground for emphasis as her wings buzzed. "And then she flew them all back up to the stadium, and Princess Celestia called her down and said she was the best ever, and then she spent the rest of the day hanging out with the Wonderbolts and impressing them with her moves!"

"Wow!" Chorused the other foals, save two hiding in the background with sour looks upon their faces. One such foal decided it had been long enough that the spotlight wasn't on her.

"Oh sure, the flightless blank flank became good friends with a mare recognized by the Princess herself. I think we all know this is the chicken's lies to make her seem less pathetic." Spoke the pink earth pony from the background. "Get real, even if somebody could do that, they would never hang out with a loser like you!"

Giving off her trademark antagonistic laugh, Diamond Tiara drank in the attention, relishing at the crestfallen look on Scootaloo's face, but her gloating was cut short when a cream colored earth pony walked up to her, an angry look on her face.

"Oh yea? Well why don't y'all just stick around when Rainbow Dash comes to help Scoots with a flyin' lesson? Ah bet she'll show you then that she ain't playin'!"

Undeterred, Diamond that as took another chance to insult the pegasus.

"What, now you need to get flying lessons from strangers? Mommy and Daddy already give up on you? Can't blame them, they must know chickens belong on the ground." She spat, her own grin growing wider as Scootaloo seemed to find something very interesting on the ground to stare at.

It was Sweetie Belle's turn to step up. The white unicorn didn't know about Scootaloo's family situation, she only knew that every time somebody brought it up, Scootaloo deflected questions with ease. It seemed to be a very sensitive subject for her.

"Hey!" She interjected, her voice cracking. "What's wrong with getting help from a Wonderbolt? Maybe it means she's gonna be on their level!"

"Oh I'm sure." Said Diamond slowly, watching Sweetie Belle pat her friend on the back, trying to rouse her spirits.

"Yeah! Scootaloo shot back, jumping to her hooves. "You come along and I'll prove that Rainbow Dash can do it!"

Diamond just gave her a curt nod as she prepared to follow the pegasus to her lesson, thinking she was sure that she just won.

"Rainbow Dash! Over here!" A small voice beneath the cyan pegasus called out.

Catching the telltale color of the orange filly walking to the pre-arranged meeting ground, Rainbow smiled and flew over to her surrogate sister and gently noogie'd her, granting an exciting giggle from her.

"Hey sis! How are you doin?" She chuckled, before catching sight of the slew of other fillies behind her. She recognized the other members of the CMC, her friend's younger sisters, and a few other foals she didn't recognize. "Heya Applebloom, Sweetie Belle. Who are your friends here?"

Scootaloo showed disgust as soon as Rainbow Dash said "friends". Her wings buzzing again, she pointed at a pink earth pony wearing some sort of head wear.

"Diamond Tiara here said that the Sonic Rainboom was impossible, and even if it was, nobody that could do it would hang out with me. So I wondered if you could prove them wrong?" Scootaloo gave her best sad puppy eyes.

Diamond Tiara.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she recognized the name. She'd heard all too many times from Scootaloo how badly Diamond Tiara had bullied her and her friends. She was also pretty sure Scootaloo downplayed a lot of it to seem tough. Seeing the cautiously hopeful look in her sister's eyes, and having the intense desire to make a bully eat their own words granted her a big smile. Oh, she would take divine pleasure in this.

"Sure thing sis. You got it."

With a big smile from her little sister, Rainbow rocketed into the air, flying up several hundreds of feet. She could just imagine the sour look on Diamond Tiara's face outmatched by the gleeful one on Scootaloo's. With a deep breath, Rainbow closed her eyes and stopped flapping, instantly falling back down into a nosedive. Her eyes snapped open, and she let out her breath slowly as the adrenaline started pumping through her veins.

These were the moments she lived for.

All too soon the familiar mach cone started forming around her, and with a sly grin, she broke it, throwing a prismatic ring around her as the shock wave from the boom blew the manes back of her eagerly watching audience.

Not content for the show to end, she skimmed along the ground, reaching the back of the group of fillies before turning horizontal, her primary feather brushing the ground. She spun a few tight circles around the fillies before shooting straight back up again to raucous cheers.

As she landed back down on the ground she couldn't help but smile back at Scootaloo, who's face had almost been bisected by the giant grin she wore. Rainbow decided to embellish her next words a bit just to mess with the bully.

"Couple more flying lessons squirt, and you'll be able to do that too!" She laughed, looking over at the shocked face of Scootaloo's tormentor, whose face had frozen in a look of pure shock.

Struggling for words, Diamond Tiara grasped at her mental straws.

"I... I... Uh, well do you honestly think Scootaloo could ever do that?"

Rainbow pretended not to understand.

"Well..." Rainbow began. "It might be a bit less colorful considering squirt here doesn't have a rainbow mane, but I don't see why not." At this, Scootaloo started jumping for joy, buzzing her wings in pure excitement.

Diamond flashed back to her coup de grâce. When in doubt, make fun of her enemy.

"Well, she obviously can't fly. So she never will."

Rainbow wanted so back to jump at the filly. To make her eat her words. But she took a deep breath knowing that would only make the situation worse in the long run.

"Way I see it." Rainbow said haughtily, winking at the ecstatic orange pegasus. "Even in the unlikely case Scoots here does end up unable to fly, she'd still be a hundred times more awesome than... Oh, I dunno, some bratty bully. Y'know, in a hypothetical situation." Rainbow shot an innocent look at Diamond Tiara.

Turning back to Scootaloo, she grabbed her in her forelegs and took off. "Anyway, very special pegasus business here, we really must go." And flew off before the preppy pink pony could offer a rebuttal.

"Rainbow Dash! That was awesome! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Scootaloo squeaked as Rainbow Dash tossed her up, and turned so the filly landed straight on her back. Scootaloo climbed up to her shoulders and grasped her neck in an iron hug.

"No problem champ. Can't let those other ponies make you think you aren't every bit as awesome as you actually are." Rainbow smiled. "Now c'mon. Applejack showed me how to cook something new and I'm pretty sure I can make it for you without burning my cloudhouse down."

Chapter 2

Scootaloo was always impressed by Rainbow's house. It floated several hundred feet in the air. It was three stories high, had several different rainbow waterfalls, and had a giant picture of her cutie mark pasted above her front door. All the more impressively, Rainbow Dash had told her she built it entirely herself.

As usual, Scootaloo was captivated by the sight as Rainbow flew over to her front door. Scootaloo hadn't been up to Rainbow's home very many times yet, but each time felt like a treat.

Landing smoothly. Rainbow reached her front door and pushed through, depositing the small filly on the nearby couch with a giggle as she declared she was gonna make lunch.

While Rainbow sauntered over to the kitchen, Scootaloo drank in the sights. Immediately to the right of the front door was a large couch that could probably fit four fully grown ponies. The couch extended ninety degrees, and between the two sides there was a large ottoman. Opposite the couch, on the left side of the door was a large window with light blue curtains.

Immediately opposite the door, there was a large open staircase that led into the kitchen. Once there, there was a bunch of cupboards and the stove, enchanted to stay above clouds, on the left, making way to a large table on the corner opposite that. On the right was a large fridge. Further in than that was a staircase that led to three rooms. The guest room first, on the right. Then a little further on was Rainbow Dash's room to the left, then finally on the right again was the bathroom. At the end of the hall was the drop ladder that led to the attic, which mostly contained a lot of dusty old boxes.

Busy drinking in the sights, Scootaloo didn't notice Rainbow Dash sneaking up behind her. Biting back the desire to scare the filly, Rainbow casually decided to open conversation.

"Hey squirt, what's got you so blue?"

Jumping slightly, Scootaloo whipped her head around to see a calm Rainbow Dash. Her temporary panic instantly quelled, she led out a giggle.

"I'm not blue Rainbow, I'm orange! You're blue!"

Rainbow let out a soft "hmm" as she picked Scootaloo up in her forelegs, pretending to inspect the giggling filly.

"You might just be right, Scoot." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Well, just came to tell you I made food. And I only almost burned my kitchen down. C'mon!"

Letting the filly down, Rainbow Dash led her to the kitchen where a steaming plate of pancakes sat. There was a tray of butter, a small bottle of syrup, and a small cup of strawberries between two empty plates.

"That was the meal Applejack taught you?" Scootaloo teased. "You didn't know how to make pancakes?"

Rainbow stuck her tongue out in retort. "Well do you know how to make pancakes?"

"Fair point." Scootaloo giggled, before sitting down next to Dash. She put five pancakes on her plate and drizzled them in syrup.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this. "Jeez squirt, I know pegasi, especially us daredevils, have a fast metabolism but dang. You eating enough at home?"

Scootaloo put down her fork, all the happiness fled from her face. "Oh no, no, no it's fine. I had a small lunch at school because I didn't want to cramp for practice. And I was looking at one of my mom's old diet books because athletes are supposed to stay in shape, r-right?"

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about dieting at your age. You need enough fuel to power those wings and starving yourself won't do you any favors." Rainbow spoke with trepidation. "But you'd let me know if something wasn't alright, right?" Rainbow didn't say anything about how Scootaloo couldn't have been following a diet if she was gorging herself on so many pancakes right after school.

Scootaloo just smiled and nodded. And with that, the pancakes were devoured without mercy. The two pegasi spent the next few hours working on building up Scootaloo's wing strength, and collapsed onto the couch just before the sun began to set.

Rainbow gave a heavy yawn as she rolled onto her back. "Alright champ. If I have you out too much longer, no doubt your parents can nab me on a foalnapping charge. So how's about I give you a little fly home?"

Scootaloo, who had previously been rolling around on the couch, trying to find the most comfortable position, froze.

"W-well, they're kinda off celebrating their anniversary this weekend, so I told them I'd find a place to crash." Scootaloo mumbled. "C-can I..." She trailed off, looking away.

"Can you what?" Rainbow asked, rolling onto her stomach to fix the filly with an inquisitive stare.

"Um... Well I mean I was gonna ask if I could... stay... here?" Scootaloo refuses to meet Rainbow's stare, staring at the opposite wall instead. "I mean if not it's fine. I can go and try to ask Sweetie Belle, I mean that's what I did last year a-"

Rainbow Dash silenced her with a hoof on her shoulder. Scootaloo's eyes eventually met hers, obviously assuming the worst.

"Yeah, no problem squirt. I can clear out the guest bedroom and you can crash as long as you want."

Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, wings buzzing in excitement. "Really Rainbow Dash? Oh thank you. Thank you!"

Rainbow just chuckled and indicated Scootaloo should follow her with her head. She led Scootaloo to the guest bedroom, which more recently become something a bit more akin to a trophy room with a couple of Wonderbolts and Daring Do posters. Scootaloo however, was impressed as expected.

"Sorry it's a little crowded in here." Rainbow started, pulling the curtains open and dusting off the bed. "I haven't had a guest stay over the night in forever."

"It's amazing!" Scootaloo jumped with glee, zooming to inspect all the trophies. "Ooh, this is the one for the Best Young Flier competition! And the Junior Flappers' Club! And the Cloudsdale Derby! I didn't even know Cloudsdale had a derby!"

Rainbow Dash just smiled, seeing the cute filly so happy. "Alright, I'm right across the hall. If you need anything, don't hesitate to knock."

"Thanks Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo squealed, giving Rainbow Dash's foreleg a quick hug. She zipped into the bed provided, softly ogling the room as Rainbow Dash retired to her own. Despite the filly's excitement, it wasn't too many minutes before the exhaustion of the day had lulled her to sleep.

Chapter 3

The moon cast a dim lighting on the secluded alleyway. On the right was a dumpster, on the left, some discarded cardboard boxes. Scootaloo found herself cantering along it, hoping against hope for a place to hide. She wasn't sure what from, but she was sure it was terrifying. She felt a dark presence behind her, set at a slow trot.

"Scootaloo..." the being began in a raspy, low voice.

With a soft squeal Scootaloo dived behind the dumpster, shutting her eyes tightly and rolling into a ball. As she felt the unfamiliar presence get closer she held her breath, her eyes tearing up when she felt it right around the corner.

She heard ragged breathing. The kind of breathing one only half aware of it's actions would make. Just the sound of it was enough to put fear in her heart. As the breathing grew nearer she felt the tears leak down her face. She felt its hot breath on her ear. She bit her lip to prevent herself from letting out a sob. This was it. The being had cornered her and she couldn't escape. She would never be heard from again. If only she had the strength to run. If only she had the strength to fight back. If only...

"Scoots, wake up!" She felt something shake her.

With a scream Scootaloo woke, immediately in a covering her head with her forehooves. She wasn't in some mysterious alleyway after all. Where was she? This wasn't home. This was nowhere familiar. Her head whipped around in panic, and her breath quickened when she saw a dark silhouette standing in front of her.

"Scoots? It's just me, Rainbow Dash. Are you okay?"

Rainbow Dash. It's just Rainbow Dash. Phew. Scootaloo let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Wha- What's going on? What am I doing here?" Scootaloo asked nervously, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"You... You asked to stay here last night because your parents were celebrating their anniversary." Rainbow asked worryingly. "Scoots, are you okay?"

Scootaloo took a deep breath to calm her nerves and stop shaking. "Y-yeah. Just woke up from a really weird dream, y'know?" Scootaloo turned and padded out the room, refusing to make eye contact.

"Yeah well, I made us some daisy and daffodil sandwiches... if you're sure you're alright." Rainbow continued pensively, not knowing how to handle the current situation. She had almost no experience dealing with foals, and absolutely none detailing how to console them after nightmares. "It uh, looks like you had a bad dream... do you want to talk about it?"

Scootaloo bit her lip. She couldn't tell anybody about this, much less her idol who she tried to keep a very brave and courageous persona around. "Nope. All fine. Just a surprise to wake up in a bed, since I was... y'know..."

There was a very pregnant silence.

"Uh, you were what?" Questioned Rainbow Dash.

"Flying! Yup, flying. I just spent so much time practicing yesterday that that's what all my dreams were about. Quite a shock when I suddenly found myself in a bed, y'know?" Scootaloo lied unconvincingly.

There was another long silence.

"Riiiight. Well I uh, I made us some lunch if you wanted. It's already all set up in the kitchen."

Scootaloo jumped on the opportunity to change subjects.

"Thanks Rainbow Dash!" She chirped, seemingly back to her full energy.

The two made their way down to the kitchen and ate in silence. Scootaloo seemed to be in a daze as she ate and helped Rainbow Dash clean the dishes from the last 12 hours.

Scootaloo made herself useful, drying the dishes as Rainbow washed them. As she absentmindedly stacked them on the counter, still thinking about her nightmare, she placed one after the counter ended, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter into pieces.

At that noise, Scootaloo gave out a terrified squeal and threw herself into the corner, hiding under a couch cushion and shaking like a leaf. She fought back tears. Tears would just make it worse. They always did.

Rainbow Dash paused. She didn't know what to do. She gently flew down to the terrified filly and tried gently touching her shoulder, but the touch just made the filly give off another terrified whimper and try to make herself even smaller. Rainbow heard the gentlest of sobs escape her.

"Scoots, it's just me. Rainbow Dash. Nobody here is going to hurt you. Please, just open your eyes and see you're completely safe."

A few tense moments passed until Scootaloo cracked one eye open. Upon seeing Rainbow's worried face and nobody else nearby, she slowly stood up, still trembling. She bit her lip as she made eye contact with Rainbow, tears silently streaming down her face.

Rainbow Dash silently held her hooves out, inviting the filly in. The filly spent a moment staring her up and down, as if expecting her to pull out a knife and punish her for showing emotion, before throwing herself sobbing into Rainbow's shoulder.

"Please don't hate me! I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again! I'll be a good filly just don't... Don't..." Scootaloo sobbed, the rest of her words becoming unintelligible. She tightened her grip around Rainbow's neck. "Don't... Please don't."

Rainbow returned the hug, equal parts concerned as confused. Not knowing quite what else to do, she started running her left hoof gently through the filly's mane, trying to calm her down. "Don't what, Scoots?"

Her only answer were rough sobs from the terrified pegasus.

"Scootaloo I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

Scootaloo looked up with confusion, wiping her nose with a hoof. "Y-you're not gonna punish me? Not even hit me?"

Rainbow Dash was taken aback. "No, why would I do that?"

"I b-b-broke the plate!" Scootaloo managed through wails. "I'm a bad filly. I need to be punished!"

Rainbow Dash blanched. "No Scoots. It was an accident. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?"

Upon getting no response Rainbow gently lifted the filly's head to met her gaze. She gave her a reassuring smile and wiped her tears off with her wings. Scootaloo just shook her head and threw herself back into Rainbow Dash's embrace, dry sobs still wracking her tiny body.

Not knowing what else to do, Rainbow began gently rocking the filly back and forth. She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but eventually Scootaloo's sobs led way to heavy breathing as she drifted off in the older mare's embrace.

Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do. She had never seen anybody act this upset over something this small. And Scootaloo expected corporal punishment for such a small accident? Rainbow didn't pride herself on being an especially smart pony, but Scootaloo was obviously traumatized, and she didn't know how she could help the filly with that. Rainbow Dash sighed.

But maybe somebody else could.

Not wanting to move the child much and risk reawakening her, Rainbow Dash gently set her down on the couch. Rushing into the guest bedroom, she grabbed a sheet and pillow and went to tuck the filly in. She hastily scribbled a note and put it next to her on the couch. Then with one quick look back, she took off, flying toward Ponyville's library.

Chapter 4

Somewhere inside a tree, there was a small purple princess. This princess was curled up in her bed, quietly reading something boring. While reading this, said Princess heard the window next to her shatter, and a body hit the floor. Purple pony princess wasn't even phased.

"Hello Rainbow Dash. Why are you breaking my property now?" The purple pony princess precisely pronounced.

Y'know, someday I'm gonna get attacked, have an enemy break into my house, and I'm just going to ignore them because I assumed it's my dear destructive friend Rainbow Dash. That's really not the hallmark of a good habit forming here.

"Twilight, I need you to come quick! Scootaloo needs your help!" Rainbow Dash panted, grabbing Twilight in her forearms and lifting her up.

"What did the CMC do this time?" Twilight asked, rolling her eyes as she telekinetically moved her friend away from her, gently placing her on the ground.

"Just her! She was at my place and she broke a dish and got all terrified and started crying and.. and... Twilight I think she's getting abused!" Rainbow shouted. At that, the telekinetic aura around her broke and she grabbed Twilight, pulling her out the window. "Oh I hope she didn't wake up and start freaking out again!"

On the trip to the library Rainbow had just gotten more panicked. The little filly had clearly gone through hell, and had barely even opened up to her idol about it even after the cat got out of the bag. What secrets was her fan hiding? Could she be helped? And what could she even do? Rainbow Dash didn't know how to take care of kids! But Twilight had to know what to do to help. Twilight knew everything! She would just grab Twilight, bring her over, and everything would be alright again.

Not daring to slow down, Rainbow, with Twilight forcefully in tow, broke through the floor of her cloud home. While Twilight paused to catch her breath and shake off the impact, Rainbow dashed over to Scootaloo's still sleeping form, breathing a sigh of relief.

"RAINBOW DASH" Twilight wheezed after catching her breath. "You can't just yank me from my home and crash into yours!"

"Twilight I..." Rainbow started, carefully inspecting the slumbering filly, checking to make sure she was alright. "Earlier on, we were doing the dishes, everything was fine. Then I hear one break, and the next thing I see is her shaking and sobbing on the other side of the room." Rainbow brushed a lock of hair out of Scootaloo's face, then sat down in resignation. "After I could get her to respond, she started acting like she expected a beating, then just... broke down in my arms."

Rainbow looked over to Twilight, tearing up.

"I don't know what to do."

Twilight didn't know what surprised her more. That a filly in Ponyville, a city with almost no crime, had the telltale signs of abuse; or that Rainbow Dash, a pony all about her ego and image, was openly in tears right in front of her.

"Twilight please. I need help."

Twilight simply nodded.

Rainbow Dash breathed a sign of relief. "Now what do we do?"

Twilight chewed her lip in thought. "Well, I haven't heard of an honest foal abuse case in... well, the entire time I've been alive, but we're definitely gonna have to get Foal Protective Services involved. And I think... I think I should write Celestia for further guidance just in case. We're going to have to approach this carefully. In the meantime... I think we need to get the full story from Scootaloo. If she's getting abused at home we're going to need every scrap of information we can find to get things right."

Rainbow nodded in understanding. "So... should we wait, or should we wake her now?"

"Let's gently wake her now. The sooner we get all the facts, the sooner we can get her into a safer environment."

Rainbow took a deep breath, and gently nuzzled Scootaloo. The filly stirred, and eventually slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing a yet unidentified pony in front of her, her eyes snapped open in panic and she tried backing away, only to be stopped by the back of the couch. A moment later the panic faded as she recognized Rainbow Dash.

"R-Rainbow Dash?" She started, looking around and spotting Twilight as well. "Princess Twilight? what's going on?"

With a heavy sigh, Rainbow stepped up onto the couch and sat next to the nervous pegasus. "Scootaloo. We know things aren't going well at home, and we're here to change things. But first, we need you to tell us what's going on."

Scootaloo swallowed hard. "Nothing's going on. Everything is... everything is fine. I just uh, I didn't sleep well last night, so when I broke that plate my mind wasn't working well, and... and then-" Scootaloo looked around frantically, desperately searching for a way to change the topic. "Oh speaking of which I should probably go clean that up. Can't just leave that laying around, somebody might get hurt!" She was stopped by a cyan hoof.

"Scootaloo, please." Rainbow started. "I know something is wrong. Please just let me help you. I promise, nobody is going to hurt you anymore. I don't know what your parents have done to you, but we need to know your story if we're going to be able to help." Rainbow couldn't help but notice Scootaloo flinch when she heard "parents".

"I... I can't" Scootaloo turned to face the floor. "If I say anything he'll find me again. And then it'll just make things worse!"

Rainbow Dash looked desperately at Twilight, who decided to try and press the pegasus further.

"Scootaloo, dear..." Twilight began. "I can get you out of that home and into somewhere safe, but first we have to have your side of the tale. Nobody can hurt you anymore, Dash and I will make sure of it."

Scootaloo started tearing up again. Quickly wiping them away, she stared hard at Twilight. "Then he'll find you two and hurt you both. I can't live with that. Please, don't make me talk."

"Scootaloo..." Rainbow started, gently turning the filly's head with a hoof to look at her. "I would go head to head with a manticore, an ursa, or hay, even Celestia herself to protect you. Come what may, as long as you're under this roof, you're the safest pony in Equestria."

"Don't worry about us." Twilight chipped in. "You're among capable hooves. Now please, just tell us what's wrong."

There was a tense silence. If Scootaloo's eyes weren't open, one could assume she fell asleep sitting. Finally, after Rainbow Dash was about to lose hope that she would open up at all, Scootaloo finally spoke.

"Fine." She sniffed. "It all started the first time I ran away from home."

Author's Notes:

I really wasn't feeling this chapter. It feels so weak. Please let me know how I could improve it.