Spellbound Fireflies (5 page)

Twilight stared wide-eyed at the pegasus currently tunneling face-first into her soft coat. “What’s wrong? I thought Scootaloo did terrifically today.”

Rainbow moaned loudly, hugging the unicorn close with her wings. “Twilight…I just had to explain gayness to Scoots.”

“Ooh, ouch.” She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s neck, gently petting her windswept mane. “How’d that go?”

“Okay, I guess. Don’t think I messed up too badly.” She smiled vaguely up at Twilight, her cheek pressed firmly into the unicorn’s chest. “I mean, she didn’t become a Cutie Mark Holy-War Crusader and try ta burn us with torches, so that’s a bonus.”

Twilight grinned and planted a soft kiss on the mare’s forehead. “I’m sure you did wonderfully. You’re really good with her. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“You’re good with her, too. She really likes havin’ you there,” she said, sitting up and smiling fondly at her marefriend. Rainbow leaned in slowly and their muzzles met, Twilight’s grip around her neck tightening and her wings around Twilight’s back pulling them close. She nuzzled the side of Twilight’s face and whispered, “I like havin’ you there, too.”

“Mm,” Twilight tousled the back of her marefriend’s mane, “I like being there. I thought I might be bored, but I didn’t even get two sentences read. You’re right about her; she’s a good kid. A great kid.” Twilight smirked, pressing her face strongly into Rainbow Dash’s nuzzles. “And ‘gayness,’ Rainbow? Hasn’t your vocabulary expanded even a little after all that reading you’ve done?”

“Now, Twilight, be fair. Most of the time I’m readin’ around you I’m actually staring at your ass.”

Twilight’s chuckle slowly faded to a frown. “…You know…I don’t understand why Scootaloo’s caretakers hadn’t given her ‘the gay talk’ yet.”

Kissing the base of the bookworm’s jaw, Rainbow stood and stretched out her legs, wings folding back at her sides. She cantered to the glass doorway leading out to the balcony and sat on her haunches, staring out into the blue afternoon sky. “Doesn’t surprise me. I know the type.”

“Oh?” Twilight levitated the saddlebag off her neck and dropped it on her desk, cantering over to her vanity and grabbing a hairbrush. “What type?”

“They’re there, but not really.” She frowned, tapping her chin. “Scoots has food and a bed and somepony to tell her to do homework and brush her teeth and all that junk, but they’re not
there
if that makes sense. They’re foster parents, y’know? Takin’ care of Scoots is their job. They’ll take her to the doctor if she gets sick, make sure she’s doin’ okay in school, all that sorta stuff, but for the rest of it Scoots is on her own.”

Twilight frowned into the mirror, straightening the flight from the park out of her mane. From her vantage point, she didn’t see the shadow cross over Rainbow Dash’s face. “Well…Scootaloo’s lucky then.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes refocused and she turned a raised eyebrow towards the unicorn. “Lucky?”

“She’s got you looking out for her.”

Rainbow Dash smiled affectionately and cantered over to the vanity. She extended her wing, holding up two of her primaries to give Twilight’s reflection a pair of sky blue bunny ears. “So what’ve you got goin’ on the rest of the day?”

“Go on; I saw your wings fidgeting all through that training. Go practice your stunts. I’ll be fine; I got an experiment to run in the basement.”

Rainbow caught the side of Twilight’s muzzle with a peck. “Love ya, babe. I’ll catch ya for dinner.” Twilight caught her quickly retreating chin with a hoof and gave Rainbow a proper kiss. Grinning, the pegasus flapped her wings and flashed out of the tree through her window. Twilight dropped her brush and cantered down the stairs.

Halfway to the main room she called out, “Spike!”

She heard a brief scrambling before Spike stuck his head out of the door to his bedroom. “What’s up, Twilight?”

Twilight grinned brightly. “To the basement, Spike! It’s time for
science!
”

“Alright, class,” Cheerilee chimed, setting her piece of chalk on the desk, “Time for recess!”

A rush of noise filled the small classroom as the foals rushed out through the door. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stopped midway to the door and turned expectantly towards Scootaloo. The pegasus filly blinked herself out of her thoughts and shook her head, leaping from her desk and bolting to join her friends, a sheepish smile on her face.

Apple Bloom frowned, holding the door open for the trio. “Everythin’ alright there, Scoots? You been awful distracted all day.”

Scootaloo zoomed past the pair and tackled a spare rubber ball before it could be snagged by any other foal. Smirking triumphantly, she cocked an eyebrow at Apple Bloom. “What was that?”

Smiling and shaking her head, Apple Bloom followed her friends over to the painted grid of a four-square court. Scootaloo took the serving square, Apple Bloom the second, and Sweetie Belle the third. Before Scootaloo could serve, she heard the sound of somepony clearing their throat.

Rumble stood just out of the court, a tentative smile on his face. “You mind if I join?”

Scootaloo glanced sideways, trying not to smirk at the pink dotting Apple Bloom’s cheeks. “Sure, the more the merrier!” Wings fluttering with excitement, Rumble hopped into the last square. “Alright, let’s get started!”

Scootaloo served the ball to Apple Bloom and the game started with little competition. Easy serves bounced merrily between the four, with a simple bump of a hoof or muzzle sending it onto the next pony. After a dozen passes the pace picked up, with harder hits sending the ball faster and at more difficult to return angles. A sharp smack from Rumble flew straight through Sweetie Belle’s hooves and the two switched places.

Dribbling the retrieved ball, Scootaloo grinned and said, “Okay, this round we’re playin’ Around-Equestria.” She served once again to Apple Bloom and the ball went around the grid in a clockwise pattern. Several serves in, Apple Bloom started giggling as she passed to Rumble. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and focused on the ball, intercepting Sweetie Belle’s serves to send them towards her goofy friend.

Scootaloo wasn’t certain, but she thought Rumble might have started picking up on Apple Bloom’s demeanor. He fumbled awkwardly and nearly missed a few easy passes, nervously darting his eyes to and from the earth filly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exchanged an amused grin, silently agreeing to give the two as much privacy as a four-square court would allow.

Rumble’s distraction caught up with him and he overshot a hit out of bounds. A line of foals waiting turns had formed and Rumble retreated to the back of the line. Shortly into the third round, Apple Bloom missed an easy pass and joined him at the back of the queue, leaving Sweetie Belle in the second spot and two colts making up the other end.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said with a smirk, “Double-taps.” Competition picked up with the new colts, despite the limitation of return serves bouncing in a player’s own square first. One of the colts overshot and rounds began to go rapid-fire, rotating the line and players at an exhilarating pace.

Two days fresh from a work-out and several days in a row of a stretch regimen, Scootaloo was a force to be reckoned with. Returning difficult serves and knocking other players out of the game without breaking a sweat, the filly held onto her serving position round after round. She noted with amusement that Apple Bloom once again missed immediately after Rumble, but kept her focus on the game. Sweetie Belle lost her place and made a complete circuit in the queue, playing and losing a turn again, before Scootaloo finally gave up her position.

Seeing her friend finally waiting in the line, Sweetie Belle let a few foals cut in front of her to stand next to Scootaloo. “You’re on fire, today.”

Grinning, the pegasus cleaned the back of her hoof on her chest. “I am pretty awesome like that.”

Sweetie smiled and struck Scootaloo in the shoulder. “And as modest as Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, duh,” she agreed with a wink. “Havin’ fun?”

“Sure.” She scanned ahead in line, catching sight of Apple Bloom laughing at something Rumble had said. She turned back to Scootaloo and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Think Apple Bloom’s gonna ask Rumble out?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Dunno.” She craned her neck around the line and watched the two with a contemplative frown. “She should. It looks like Rumble’d say yes.” The gray colt’s cheeks were pretty far away, but Scootaloo thought she might be able to detect some color even at her current distance. “Think we should gang up on her an’ make her ask?”

Sweetie Belle tapped her chin, peering around the crowd. “I don’t think she’d be keen on that. Maybe we should leave it alone.”

“But Rumble’s totally into her!” she ribbed the unicorn with a knee, “We at least gotta tell her he looks interested. Maybe she’ll get the guts to ask then.”

“Yeah, alright.” Sweetie frowned. “Let’s just not go all Cheerilee and Big Mac on them, yeah?”

A shiver ran down Scootaloo’s spine. “Yeah, definitely.” The two shared a small giggle as the line slowly advanced. As she watched Apple Bloom from the distance, her expression grew contemplative and a frown creased her muzzle.

Eyeing her friend, Sweetie Belle jabbed Scootaloo in the shoulder. “That’s the same look you had earlier. What’s up, Scoots?”

“Hmn?” Scootaloo shook her head. “Just thinkin’ about stuff.”

“What stuff?”

She huffed. “Just about the sleepover…” a nervousness stole over the filly, but as she looked at Sweetie Belle it eased away without a fight. She cleared her throat, speaking quietly, but with no hesitation. “Maybe it’s silly, but I kinda feel like a baby for not thinkin’ about special someponies yet.” Her frown deepened. “I mean, it’s bad enough I haven’t gotten my cutie mark yet. We started crusadin’ three years ago, Sweetie! Everypony else got their marks when they were nine! And now AB’s interested in colts…”

“Hey,” she set a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder, offering an understanding smile. “You’re not a baby, Scoots, and nopony thinks you are. None of us three have our marks yet, but we’ll get ‘em. And so you haven’t got a crush on anypony. Big deal. You’re learning how to fly from Rainbow Dash! That’s not something that babies get to do.”

Scootaloo smiled wanly, her eyes trained on Apple Bloom and Rumble, both playing in the four-square game. “I just don’t get it, Sweetie. I mean…Rumble’s a cool guy. But why? What’s she see? How’d she know?” She glanced around at the other foals across the playground, from colt to colt, confusion chiseled into her features. “How’d she pick him out of anypony else?”

The line parted in front of them, Sweetie Belle next in the game and Scootaloo directly behind her. The unicorn leaned in conspiratorially, her voice low. “She just did. When she looks at Rumble or thinks about him, she feels kinda fluttery and weird and she can’t help smiling. She couldn’t help it.”

The melancholy on Sweetie’s voice filled her with confusion. Brow furrowed, Scootaloo opened her mouth as one of the fillies in the game missed a pass. Sweetie Belle hopped into the court and Scootaloo closed her jaw again. The introspective shadow didn’t leave her face for the remainder of the free period and she never got back into the game enough to reclaim her serving position. She followed the rest of the class back inside with a frown on her face.

Rainbow Dash eyed her stopwatch as Scootaloo finished her fast warm-up. “Ready for the speed test?”

The filly shook out her fuzzy head, a little out of breath from racing through the exercises. “Why’re we doin’ this again?”

She fiddled with the watch. “Because. We spent a couple’a days training ta get you loosened up and your muscles in the habit of working hard. Now we’re gonna see your base level so we know where you’re at and where you need to get to.”

“Uh-huh,” Scootaloo nodded weakly, lowering down on shaky hooves.

Rainbow smirked. “Alright, go!” Her hoof clapped down on the stopwatch. The filly grunted, pushing through the discomfort, racing through the wing push-ups. Teeth grit and sweat pouring from her brow, she bobbed up and down at a rapid pace. Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted back and forth between her and the stop-watch. “That’s thirty, Scoots, keep goin’!”

“Ugh.” She pumped her wings, willing the tremors away, daring to keep her chest from getting any closer than a hair’s breadth from the tops of the blades of grass.

“Aaand time!” she called, switching off the watch. Scootaloo flopped onto the sod, moaning. “Fifty five wing-ups in a minute, Scoots! That was awesome!”

The little pegasus rolled onto her back, wiping at her forehead with a hoof. “That was awful…”

Rainbow snorted and shook her head. “No pain, no gain, right Squirt?” Scootaloo moaned in response. “We’re aiming for over eighty in a minute. Ya get up to that and you should be strong enough for some long-distance hovering.” She grinned, looming over the panting filly. “You keep working like this and we’ll have you up in the air in no time.”

Smiling faintly, Scootaloo struggled up to her haunches, facing the older mare as she puzzled over the timer. “You really think so?”

“Hard worker like you? No sweat!”

Scootaloo’s heart pounded and her eyes wavered. She looked down quickly, willing herself even keel. She fought to keep her voice even. “…Thanks, Rainbow Dash. It…I…I’m glad you think I can do it.”

Rainbow clapped her on the back, most of her attention diverted towards fiddling with the stopwatch. “Course you can do it.” She muttered under her breath at the contraption, flipping it around in the grip of both forelegs and a wing. She turned towards the bench, raising her voice to an irritated yell. “Twilight, how do you reset this stupid thing?”

“Third button on the side!” she called back.

Rainbow grumbled, “I knew that,” under her breath and tossed the timer, now reset, to the grass. She pushed the edge mostly out of her voice, shouting an almost pleasant, “Thank you, Twi’!” to the unicorn.

“You’re welcome, Fluff-head!”

Rainbow shot her a nasty look. Scootaloo started giggling and got the mare’s ire directed at herself. “Alright, squirt, back to work.”

Still snickering, Scootaloo followed along through an hour of exercising. Wings already complaining from the speed test, she set her jaw and fought through the routines. Taking the usual breaks with Twilight at the bench, she chugged water and pictured yellow eyes watching her to keep from trying to throw in the towel. The filly thought Rainbow was perhaps being malicious that day, slamming her through even more strenuous exercise than the previous sessions. When cartwheels got added, she was sure of it. Midway through relay sprinting, the clacking of hooves on cobbled sidewalk drew the group’s attention.