Archive of Our Own

The hallway was empty. Rainbow Dash pursed her lips, inching forward slightly, ears pricked and wings still. As she crept around the corner, she debated on calling out or staying silent: her questioning voice might prompt a taunting response, but she might also miss any conspicuous noises by talking over them.

Rainbow opted for silence. Let the kid stew — anticipation might get her nervously giggling all on its own. That's usually how Rainbow won their games of Ambush.

Having already combed the living room, kitchen, and bathroom downstairs, Rainbow had ascended in her hunt for Scootaloo. That she'd overlooked the filly wasn't completely out of the question, but there were only so many viable hiding places for Scoot to take advantage of.

Rooms that were off-limits also narrowed down Rainbow's options. The master bedroom was a no-go — Snap Shutter's darkroom in particular, which was attached. As Rainbow peered into the upstairs bathroom and eyed the shower curtain, she once again thought it was kind of a shame. All that space in such a nice house and the ponies it belonged to where hardly ever around. Rainbow totally understood doing whatever it took for your dream job, but it was different when you had to leave so much behind… Wasn't it?

The thought helped refocus her, and Rainbow — finding no evidence of her mark in the bathroom — moved on. The walls upstairs were a neutral cream with wood wainscoting running parallel to an army of framed photographs. Most were pictures of Scootaloo in her youngest years: a shot of her as a foal swaddled in a blanket, one of her mother encouraging Scoot to take her first shaky steps, a group shot of the whole family standing in front of their house.

That last one included Scootaloo's aunts, Holiday and Lofty. Something about seeing them there made Rainbow slow her pace. She glanced at the opposite wall, seeking out more images of the older mares.

Near the guest bedroom there hung an ovular wood frame showcasing Holiday and Lofty on vacation. In one hoof, Holiday was clutching a tall, colorful drink; the other was hooked around her wife's long neck. Despite the rambunctious energy of the full grown mare hanging off of her, Lofty looked perfectly serene. Against a brilliant sunset settling upon the ocean behind them, her mane took on a shade of deep, lush green. Together, the mares and their warm coats seemed part of the scene as a whole, mellow and happy. Like laughing and being together was as natural as anything.

There was a sound; Rainbow Dash was so distracted by the picture that she only registered it a few seconds after the fact. As soon as she did, Rainbow twisted around, eyeing the door to Scootaloo's bedroom.

Right, she was in the middle of something. Smirking, Rainbow hurriedly trotted through the open door. "Hey! Did I hear somepony make a noise in here?"

She paused, ears pricked, waiting for her teasing call to produce evidence of the filly's presence in the room. There came no giggling nor horrified gasp upon being discovered. Rainbow loudly hummed as she walked further into the room. "That's so weird, 'cause I really thought I heard somethin'! Better not be somepony trying to get the jump on me."

A quick, shallow scan of the room didn't reveal much. The closet door was wide open and Scoot didn't wear enough clothing to make for any good cover in the tiny space. There was a hanging net above the bed, its colorful contents drawing Rainbow's attention but briefly. Scoot kept her collection of odd plush toys up there — things her parents sent to her from wherever the hay in Equestria they were at any given time. Some were normal animals, but plenty were novelty toys of local monsters her parents were studying. It made for a mess of odd shapes, limbs, and dangerous claws decorated with sequins.

Scootaloo's bed, draped in a patchy quilt of forest green, had been disturbed. The pillows were askew and most of the blankets were sliding off, obscuring one's view of the underside. Beneath the hanging basket of toys was a small wooden shelf, and Rainbow saw now that a rectangular picture frame had been knocked off its perch there and onto its face atop the comforter. Perhaps when a sneaky little pony was rushing to hide herself beneath the bed?

"Ah-ha!" Rainbow tossed away the covers as she bent to look under Scootaloo's bed, hoping to startle the lurking filly, but there was nothing to be discovered beyond dust bunnies and lost toys. "Oh. Hmph."

Sitting up, Rainbow grumbled as she readjusted the covers to be a bit less messy. She also picked up the fallen picture intending to set it back on the shelf. Her hoof stalled as she saw what the image was: a photograph of the most recent Sisterhooves Social. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were posed at the center; Applejack and Apple Bloom were on one side of them while Rarity and Sweetie Belle stood on the other. They were all clustered together to fit within the frame, fillies pushed to the front so they stayed visible.

Rainbow Dash recalled the moment with surprising clarity despite not thinking on it much since it happened. She remembered how Applejack stank of mud and sweat, so much so it nearly banished the ever-present aroma of apples that clung to her like a perfume. Rainbow suspected she didn't smell much better after all the running around, wrestling, and games everypony played that day. But nopony — not even Rarity — had complained when they all pulled in close for the picture. Rainbow remembered draping her foreleg across Applejack's withers and grinning as Granny Smith and Big McIntosh readied their camera.

A thought had come to her in that moment: was it weird that she was so close to Applejack?

Before Rainbow could question where that thought even came from, the picture was taken and their pillar of sisterly comradery was dissolved. Applejack offered Rainbow a playful shove, extracting herself from under the pegasus' hoof as she bid the others farewell. Rainbow had quickly gotten distracted by Scootaloo's energetic commentary, and in the bustle, Rainbow forgot about her strange thought altogether.

It came back to her now. Why had she even wondered such a thing? She and Applejack got close to each other all the time and it never posed any issue before; certainly, Applejack had never complained about Rainbow or anypony else being overly-familiar. She wasn't like Rarity or Fluttershy or Twilight, all so particular about physical contact in their own ways — Applejack didn't fuss about being touched nor did she restrain herself from touching others if need be. So why had Rainbow felt so self-conscious about it all of a sudden?

"Gotcha!"

A shadow fell across the picture, and before Rainbow could register what was happening, something fell across her back. Rainbow yelped, dropping the frame and flapping her wings for a single, frantic second before she realized who was clinging to her withers and cackling a storm into her ear. "Wh— Scoot!"

"Ambush!" Scoot cried out, making Rainbow's ears flatten reflexively. "I win!"

"Yeah, yeah." Grumpy at being so thoroughly startled by the filly, Rainbow Dash extended her right wing and tilted to the side. Scootaloo allowed herself to be rolled off Rainbow's back and down the length of her wing until she was on the floor, wiggling like a bug stuck on its back.

"I can't believe you didn't notice me!" Scoot said. "You were looking right at me at one point!"

"I was?"

"Yeah! I was right there, in the basket!"

Following Scoot's pointed orange hoof revealed her hiding spot: she'd been buried amidst her plush toys in the rope hammock. Several of them had been disrupted during Scootaloo's ambush, including a five-headed hydra that had tumbled all the way down onto the bed. It glared at Rainbow with a silent snarl, the fumbled picture frame tucked underneath its purple body.

"How the hay did you get up there?" Rainbow Dash wondered. For Scoot, the height wasn't exactly impossible, but there weren't exactly any useful hoofholds that would've helped her get a boost—

"I used the shelf!" Scootaloo explained as she rolled onto her fours. "It was a super cool move! You shoulda seen it! I did this thing where I, like, hopped onto the bed and then kicked off the wall and then practically did a flip to get my hoof on the shelf, and then I was able to leap off of it and flutter high enough to dive into the basket!"

The filly's wings started buzzing as she hopped back onto the bed, her excitement making the other objects bounce. "I totally bet I could do it again if I tried! I'll show you, watch!"

"Woah, woah, hold it!" Rainbow pressed her hooves into the bed to kill Scoot's momentum a little. "Hang on just a sec. You probably shouldn't bounce around your room like that. Your aunts are gonna give me an earful if they find hoofprints all over your walls." Again.

Scoot pouted, but stopped trying to launch herself from the bed. "Aw, okay. Are we gonna do another round of Ambush?"

Rainbow Dash tossed the hydra plush to Scootaloo, who didn't react fast enough to catch it. One snarling head bite her snout, making her squeak and wince as it fell back onto the bed. "Nah, that's enough playing. It's getting kinda late, so you should probably go to bed."

"What? It's not that late."

Smirking, Rainbow Dash put the picture frame back in its place. "It'll be late by the time you get ready for bed, if you're gonna try dragging your hooves."

Scootaloo squirmed in silent frustration for a moment, then bellowed a sigh of defeat. "Fine! I'll go brush my teeth."

And the filly was off, clumsy limbs nearly tripping her up as she bounced off her bed and scampered out of the room. A second later, Rainbow Dash heard the sound of a faucet running.

An oddly melancholic mood struck Rainbow Dash as she followed Scootaloo to the bathroom to brush her teeth, too. There was a time — way back when Rainbow first started volunteering to babysit for Scootaloo on days her aunts couldn't be there — when the very mention of bedtime would only ever result in an hour or more of begging, bartering, and bribing from Scootaloo. Already feeling that bending the rules a little never hurt anypony, Rainbow Dash was frequently swayed, and Scootaloo's many nights of being up past curfew became one of their first shared secrets.

Now Rainbow Dash watched as the filly hovered above the lip of a tall sink counter and brushed her teeth, hind leg kicking against the near wall to help her stay aloft and keep her position before the round mirror. Those limbs have gotten just a bit longer recently, Scootaloo's incremental growth spurts more glaringly obvious to a Wonderbolt whose busy schedule took her away from Ponyville for stretches of time. The most startling had been one afternoon when Rainbow Dash flew back in from a two-week long trip only to immediately spot a subtle but definite difference in height between the three Crusaders. Nopony else remarked upon it, too close to Scoot's every day to realize the filly was starting to grow up.

It was an odd emotion for Rainbow Dash to feel. It melted and mixed with lingering thoughts of Scootaloo's aunts and the Sisterhooves picture, saturating Rainbow in an unusually quiet, grey mood.

As she followed Scootaloo back to the filly's bedroom to tuck her in, Scoot suddenly rounded on her and asked, "Um, Rainbow Dash?"

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked, realizing she'd been staring at nothing and hadn't said much for a while. She looked down at Scootaloo. "Sorry, what's up?"

"You're not mad that I jumped on you when we were playing Ambush, right?"

"What? No! I'm not mad or anything."

"Really?" Scoot gently scuffed the floor with a hind leg in a shy manner. "You've been kinda grumpy-looking ever since."

Rainbow Dash shook her head and urged Scootaloo towards her bed. "I'm not upset at you over something dumb like that, squirt."

Scootaloo obeyed her guiding hoof, climbing into bed, but settled in with a stubborn little frown. "Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Really?"

"You're starting to sound like a broken record," Rainbow gently chided. "Seriously, it's nothing."

"I can help you out if you've got a problem, Rainbow Dash!"

"I don't—!" Catching the start of her temper, Rainbow forced herself to take a breath. "...Look, kid, it's nothing you need to worry about. I'm really not mad or upset or nothin'. I'm just…" The pegasus rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I dunno, I just feel kinda weird tonight."

"Weird?"

"I guess. Got random stuff on my mind."

"Oh." The concerned frown turned into a more childish, easier-to-handle pout. "Is it some sorta grown-up stuff?"

Her peeved tone startled a snicker out of Rainbow Dash. "What?"

"Whenever Aunt Holiday or Auntie Lofty get all quiet and thoughtful and don't wanna tell me anything about it, they say it's 'cause of boring grown-up stuff I wouldn't care about anyway."

Rainbow laughed. "Uh, yeah, sure! It's boring grown-up stuff, I guess."

"…Well, if it's making you sad or something, you should still talk to somepony about it. If it's gotta be a grown-up, you can talk to my aunts! They always give me good advice for stuff when I ask 'em."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to dismiss the comment, then paused. Instead, she offered, "Hey, you wanna finish off that Daring Do book we were on last time I stayed the night?"

Scootaloo's blanket billowed as she excitedly kicked her legs. "Yeah! Oh, wait, I think I finished that one on my own." She gave a Rainbow a sheepish grin. "I got too curious! We were so close to the end! But I asked Auntie Lofty to get me the next one — it's on the shelf!"

Rainbow Dash fetched Daring Do and the Bottomless Lake, saying, "Sick, this one's one of my faves! Hope you're ready for another totally awesome adventure, Scoots."

"Rainbow Dash!"

The sound of sprightly hooves rumbled a distant warning. Rainbow Dash, barely conscious, tried to bury herself in comforting darkness and hide away from the noisy premonition.

"Rainbow Dash, c'mon! You promised you'd make pancakes for breakfast!"

"Bwa-huh?" Heavy-lidded red eyes peeked from beneath a pillow to squint at Scootaloo. "I don' remember sayin' that. S'lies. Or an imposter or somethin'."

"You totally said it!" Tiny wings furiously buzzed as Scoot lifted herself to perch atop Rainbow's hindquarters. Her hooves tossed away the last bit of blanket clinging to the mare's flank, finishing the job that Rainbow's nighttime kicking had started. "If you don't make 'em now, it's gonna be practically lunchtime, and you can't have pancakes for lunch."

"Tell that to Pinkie Pie," Rainbow grumbled. She twisted just enough to swat at Scootaloo with her pillow, making the filly squeal and roll around, which only did more damage to Rainbow's sleepy defenses. "C'mon, squirt, you're gettin' too big to climb all over me."

Scootaloo rolled off Rainbow, landing on steady hooves in a move that made Rainbow mentally nod in approval. Then huge purple eyes overwhelmed Rainbow's vision as Scoot begged, "Pleeeease? Please, please?"

"Okay, fine! Just gimmie a sec."

At least pancakes were easy. Rainbow Dash loved pancakes, and her mom had a killer recipe that wasn't even that hard to pull off, which meant the pegasus often made the indulgent breakfast for herself on any occasion she could excuse as being special enough.

Rainbow Dash was in the middle of flipping the third cake when she heard the front door unlock. Like a little orange rocket, Scoot immediately shot away from her seat and into the foyer. "They're here already!"

Glancing over her shoulder, Rainbow saw Scoot greet her aunts in the open doorway. She grabbed one of the smaller bags they'd been carrying and proceeded to hover-skip her way through the kitchen and towards the stairs, intent on bringing it to the guest room for them. Rainbow turned back to their food, and as she heard hooves click on the kitchen tiles, dared to flip the finished pancake high in the air. She snagged a plate already hosting two cakes, expertly catching the third as it fell.

"Good show, Rainbow!"

"Oh, hey, Miss Holiday!" Rainbow tossed a grin the mare's way before setting the plate down and reaching for a bowl of sweet, goopy goodness. She tilted it over the steaming pan, watching as pale batter oozed until there was enough for another perfectly sized cake. "How are you guys?"

"Right as rain! Thanks so much for taggin' in to spend a few nights here with Scootaloo. Also, Rainbow, I told you last time that you don't have to call me miss!" The mare giggled. "Nopony's called me 'Miss Holiday' since I stopped teaching."

Lofty let out a groan of relief as she unloaded their bags onto the floor. "Woof! Swear that walk from the train station keeps getting longer every time. Either that or I'm gettin' old."

"You're not old," Holiday assured, giving her wife's flank a playful prod. "But maybe sitting at your machine every day is taking a toll."

"Oh, sure, blame it on my hobby."

"It's not the sewing, it's the sitting!"

"Maybe we should start doing daily walks again."

"There's an idea! It might help you regain a bit of your stamina. And now that it's fall, the trees are so lovely to walk through…"

Scootaloo fluttered back down the stairs. "I put it away, Auntie!"

"Thank you, Scootaloo!"

"Hey, slugger!" Lofty tossed a foreleg around Scootaloo as soon as she was close enough. "Sorry we gotta crash your 'cool hang' with Rainbow Dash."

Scootaloo giggled, fighting to squirm out from under her aunt's smothering grip. "Do you guys want pancakes? Rainbow Dash is making pancakes!"

"Don't worry about us," Lofty said, eyeing the bowl of batter. "It doesn't look like there's gonna be enough for more after this last one."

"We could each have one pancake instead! I'll share mine!"

Rainbow Dash wrinkled her nose as she flipped the bubbling pancake, admiring the even golden brown of its other side. She didn't appreciate having one of her two delicious pancakes volunteered without her input. Luckily for her, Holiday said, "That's quite alright, Scoot, we've already had a big breakfast! You two enjoy yours. Lofty and I will be upstairs getting ourselves sorted."

Soon enough, the double-stacks were plated, buttered, and thoroughly syrup'd. Scootaloo was in the middle of shoving an ambitious forkful into her mouth when the doorbell rang. "Shath Sfweeby Fwell anf Ahwul Foon!"

"Keep your cakes to yourself, Scoot!" Rainbow complained, tugging her plate away from the danger of flying, sticky crumbs. "I've already got my own."

"I'll get it!" Lofty's cut across the kitchen and got to the door before Rainbow could lift a hoof to check it herself. "Hey, girlies."

"Hi, Auntie Lofty!" rang the chorus of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who hurried inside.

"Are you ready to head out, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Puth a—"

Lofty snagged a napkin between her primaries and pushed it to Scootaloo's muzzle, smirking when the filly grumbled at being interrupted. "C'mon, slugger, try to remember your manners."

Scootaloo finished her bite and scrubbed her face with the napkin. When she pulled it away to speak, a corner remained glued to her chin from a stray glob of syrup. "Yeah, just lemme finish my pancakes first!"

"Aw, I wish I got some of Auntie Lofty's pancakes," Sweetie Belle lamented.

"She didn't make 'em, Rainbow did!" Scoot informed the girls, pointing her fork at Rainbow, who was busy soaking up the dregs of her syrup with a fluffy slice of pancake.

Rainbow Dash struck a pose as everypony's eyes fell on her, relishing in the last bite of her breakfast. "Mmhm!" After swallowing, she made a show of licking and smacking her lips. "That's right! Best pancakes outta Cloudsdale!"

Now both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked dejected about missing out. Rainbow Dash snickered. "Maybe you two can snag some next time, if you come over early enough."

"Will do!" Apple Bloom promised, always up to accept a challenge when she heard one. She and Sweetie watched Scootaloo chug her glass of milk before asking impatiently, "Ready?"

"Ready!"

Holiday caught her before the fillies could make a swift exit. "Not ready! You go wash up first, Scoot."

"But Aunt Holiday, we gotta go! We got… uh…" Scoot looked to her friends. "What do we gotta go do again?"

"Carrot Crunch asked us to help a friend of his brainstorm possible cutie marks," Sweetie Belle explained. "A friend who's just visiting Ponyville, so we only got two days to figure it out!"

"Right!"

Holiday leaned down to nuzzle Scootaloo, but her voice was firm as she said, "That's quite a day for you girls, but Scootaloo shouldn't run around with sticky hooves. Go rinse off and brush your teeth, sweetie. Then you can all head out."

Scootaloo did as she was told, throwing a quick, "Bye Rainbow, thanks for pancakes!" on her way out of the house.

"See ya, kiddo!" Rainbow sipped her milk as the door slammed shut.

Across from her, Holiday took a seat while Lofty got to making them both tea. To Rainbow, Holiday asked, "How was she, then?"

"Scoot? Totally fine," Rainbow easily assured, leaning back in her chair. "As usual. She's a great kid!"

"It's just been so long since her parents have had a chance to come home and see her," Holiday mused, a hint of melancholy dampening her typically bright demeanor. "I always start worrying she might fall into a mood about it… That sort of thing used to happen a lot more when she was younger."

"Really?"

Lofty gave an affirmative grunt from across the kitchen. "Holi's right! There'd be days or weeks when Scoot would get really down about it. A postcard here or there would help, but too long without seein' her folks and she'd wilt like a flower without any sunlight."

"Becoming friends with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom helped a lot," Holiday said. She leaned forward a little, grinning at Rainbow. "After the two of you got close, she was even better!"

"That's…" Rainbow Dash chuckled, rubbing her neck and avoiding the mare's warm gaze. "That's… cool. I'm stoked about helping Scoot however I can.

"Y'know, I was even thinking like, yesterday… it kinda sucks that her parents have to be away so much. They don't get to enjoy living in such a nice place or hanging out with a kid as rad as Scootaloo."

Holiday nodded, her smile bittersweet. "I'll admit, it's something I worried about even back when my brother first mentioned he and his new wife were having a foal. I wondered how long they'd be capable of staying in one place."

"That wasn't the plan at first," Lofty interjected, presenting her wife with a pretty china cup full of some greenish-yellow tea. Knowing Rainbow had no interest in such liquid offerings, Lofty settled in beside Holiday and focused on stirring sugar into her own cup. "Would you believe it if I told you their first idea was to just drag Scoot along with them?"

"Honestly, yeah," Rainbow said around half a chuckle. She'd only met Scootaloo's parents once before, but they were definitely… enthusiastically job-oriented. They spoke about their work with the kind of fervor that reminded her of the way Applejack could spout a thousand random facts about apples and how to farm them.

"Goodness, it took nearly the entire pregnancy to talk Snappy out of it." Holiday sighed as she briefly relived many exhausting arguments. "He didn't know anything about babies then — I suppose he still doesn't. At least Allgood is a mare who's always had a good head on her shoulders; she did very well with Scootaloo in the beginning."

"But the itch got 'em before too long." Lofty's tone carried no heavy judgment, no bitterness, but her expression was something weary and sad — a look Rainbow had never seen on the older mare before. "Scootaloo was only three when they decided to take a new assignment."

"Only for a month, they'd said," Holiday reminisced. "Maybe an extra week or two, if the weather was wild and they didn't have any other pegasi around to help them out. Three months later, they come home and act like almost nothing's changed, with another job already planned."

"…Wow." Rainbow Dash's eyes dart to her empty glass of milk, her well-polished plate, then to the mares sitting across from her. She knew they looked after Scootaloo a lot, though a bit less often now that they were so familiar with other ponies in town, ones they could trust to keep an eye on the filly for those times they had their own responsibilities or needed a break. When they started asking Rainbow Dash about babysitting, she hadn't thought much off it, enjoying Scootaloo's company and understanding at that point how much it would mean to her. But… it'd really been like that since Scootaloo was only three? "I mean, I knew they traveled a lot, but I guess I never thought about it like that."

Looking between the two mares, who were sharing a look of quiet understanding, Rainbow Dash felt like she was seeing them both in a new light — a familiar one.

"Hey, why would you?" Lofty said, waving a hoof. "That was all a long time ago. Frankly, we're lucky things worked out as well as they did."

"It's certainly not all bad," Holiday stated, smile returning. "Obviously, Lofty and I never had any big plans about having kids; we never expected to be raising a child in any capacity. But when Scootaloo came along and we realized she'd need us to be a bigger part of her life, it was easy to be there for her. It's just like you said, Rainbow: she's a great kid."

"She's lucky we're not the type of aunts who are only around for the fun stuff," Lofty said after taking a sip of tea. "Don't think I ever saw my Auntie Stitches except for Hearth's Warming. Wait, there was that one time she happened to be visiting when I had that accident in the equipment room and got a split in my ear. She's the one who sewed me back up!"

"Not that story," Holiday protested. "You know hearing about that one gives me the shivers!"

Lofty leaned towards Rainbow, stage-whispering behind a hoof, "Big hunk a' metal nearly sliced the tip clean off! You'd never believe it though, considering Auntie Stitches did such a good job that it didn't even scar." The mare flicked her left ear; it was difficult to see any distinguishing blemishes, but with her attention drawn to it, Rainbow Dash thought she saw the faintest hint of lighter skin. With Lofty's pale yellow coat, it was almost impossible to tell for sure.

"Lofty!" Holiday's fluffy orange tail swung up to catch her partner's flank.

As Lofty dutifully accepted a scolding about telling "icky, bloody" stories at the table, Rainbow Dash watched them. Her head suddenly felt like it contained a mile-high storm cloud, dark gray and heavy with all sorts of things. It was only a matter of time until the rain would fall, but as she was, Rainbow Dash had no idea what sort of rain it'd be. Right now the thoughts and feelings inside her were amorphous and totally undefined, and even a trained weather pony like herself was having trouble deciphering which way the wind ought to blow.

Of all the things her brain could've picked, for some reason Rainbow's mind brought forth the image of Fluttershy.

"…Um. Do you guys mind if I, like, ask you a question?"

The older pair paused their playful bickering. Rainbow Dash fought not to shrink as they looked at her. Rarely did a pony's full attention make her feel so nervous.

"'Course not, sweetie!"

"What's up, champ?"

Rainbow Dash stared at her empty plate, pushing it back and forth. "When... When did you guys, like… realize you liked each other? Or get together, or whatever?"

Looking back up at them was hard, but keeping her eyes trained downward made Rainbow feel less prepared for whatever this conversation would bring. When she braved their combined gaze, Rainbow found the two of them were instead looking at each other.

"When we met? It must've been… how long ago, exactly?"

"It was during the summer." Lofty propped her chin on a hoof and gave her wife a sly look. "Of course."

"Right, the year I visiting Neighagra Falls and stayed in the Cloud Nine resort!"

"Hey, I've been there!" Rainbow Dash's posture straightened up as she slipped into a more comfortable topic. "I did a show there with the Wonderbolts, like, last year?"

"It's a marvelous hotel, isn't it?" Holiday asked. Her eyes took on a dreamy glaze. "I only stayed the one time, but it was an absolutely beautiful weekend. The waterfalls, the mountain views… And of course, I'd never gotten to sleep on a cloud bed before!"

"I still don't understand how they get the clouds dense enough for unicorns and earth ponies to stay there," Lofty said.

"It's 'cause it's not just pegasi magic," Rainbow explained. "I had the same question, so I asked the on-site weather ponies who were helping us plan out our routine, and they said it's a combo of specially-mixed clouds, weather pony expertise, and a bit of unicorn magic. Apparently it's pretty similar to the kinds of spells Twilight would use to help my other friends visit me up in Cloudsdale."

"Well, whatever the case, Holiday wasn't the only pony enticed by a ritzy hotel in the mountains overlooking the biggest waterfall in Equestria." Lofty took a sip of her tea, then went on. "My folks used my twenty-first birthday as an excuse to have all of us stay there for a week. It was a big occasion, but it wasn't a special one until I ran into Holiday."

Holiday blushed prettily. "Stop teasing, already! You're trying to embarrass me in front of Rainbow Dash, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it!"

"You're such a liar, Lofty!"

Rainbow Dash awkwardly cleared her throat. "So, you guys met each other at Neighagra Falls, and…?"

Holiday rolled her eyes, batting at Lofty with her tail once more as she redirected her attention back to Rainbow. "Yes, right. So I was just popping over to Neighagra falls for a little vacation. It was back when I was still doing sailing lessons. It was decent money, so every now and then I got to splurge on a special trip. I was up on the big platform where you can see the water crashing down below, and I was using a fancy camera Snappy had given me — one of his hand-me-downs — when I felt somepony bump into me."

Smoothly picking up her part of the story, Lofty explained, "I was sneaking away from my parents. The waterfall was making 'em all… romantic. And nopony wants to see their parents making goo-goo eyes at each other — especially not in public! So I slipped away. Ended up rammin' my caboose right into poor Holiday."

Holiday laughed. "I nearly dropped my camera!"

"Thank heavens you didn't. Hand-me-down or not, those cameras Shutter gets are pricey! Even back then."

"Anyway, she was quick to apologize, but that's how we got to talking for the first time," Holiday told Rainbow. "And things just sort of… ran off from there."

"Way off," Lofty said with a grin. "We were only able to talk for two days, since Holiday went home after the weekend. But I spent the whole rest of my trip thinking about the pretty mare I couldn't resist ditching my parents for. Not that they minded; I'm pretty sure they were smuggling another honeymoon in my birthday trip.

"I was already smitten, but wouldn't be admitting it to myself for a while. Every day I thank Celestia that Holiday offered to keep in touch and left me with a way to write her letters."

"I hadn't made such a good friend in a long time!" Holiday explained. "I was so excited! I didn't realize it was a crush until after I got home and realized if you never wrote, I'd be horribly disappointed. I had no other way of ever getting in touch."

"Unfortunately, I kept her waiting a bit. It took me ages to accept my feelings for what they were, and even longer to tell myself it was okay to go for it — damn the consequences."

The sudden seriousness of Lofty's words prompts Rainbow to finally ask, "Was there… I mean, did you… Was it weird? That you, uh, liked a mare?"

"…I'd been with other mares before Holiday," Lofty said slowly. "But it wasn't ever explicitly… anything. And I couldn't have anypony know about it. Maybe some of them could've become something more, but I wouldn't have allowed it then."

"Why not?" Rainbow asked, wings tight against her sides.

"My family," Lofty sighed. "They're good ponies, but when it comes to family, they believed it was top priority. That meant following in the hoofsteps of our forebearers and having kids to extend our lineage and secure our legacy." Her words became rote, stale, a recitation spoken out of pure obligation. "Most ponies these days don't fuss so much about things like that. But in this case, being a mare who wasn't interested in stallions or having any kids with 'em was definitely an issue.

"Not only that, but it was obvious early on I wouldn't be landing any careers similar to those of my relatives." Lofty leaned back in her chair and chuckled. "Could you ever believe a pony like me used to box almost every day?"

"Wait, box? Like—" Rainbow punched at the air, a pantomime of boxing. Lofty nodded. "No way! You fought other ponies?"

"Oh, no, I never went far enough to do any actual boxing! I took lessons for almost three years, though. If I hadn't gotten my cutie mark, my parents probably would've kept me at it for longer."

Holiday jumped back into the conversation. "You see, Lofty's family had a lot of soldiers, ponies who ended up serving in the royal guard, or other similar positions. I believe there were even one or two who ended up in the Wonderbolts, right Lofty?"

"Pretty sure." Lofty held up a hoof and shook her head before Rainbow could speak. "If you're lookin' for names, don't ask me! I certainly don't remember."

"Aw, but that's so cool! Your family sounds rad."

"They're an impressive bunch, no denyin' that!"

"…But they didn't like that you liked mares?"

"Not particularly." Lofty's smile was small and worn. "But ponies change. They've come around — mostly. I mean, who could resist Holiday's radiant charms for very long?"

"Stop it," Holiday chided, but she didn't look bothered by her wife's compliments. To Rainbow, she said, "I had an easier time of it. I'd never been with a mare before meeting Lofty, but I had an uncle on my mother's side who married another stallion, and there were a few similar couples where I lived.

"Before, I'd been with a stallion here or there, but with them it was just a bit of fun between friends. Things never lasted long; something always felt missing.

"Then Lofty finally wrote to me, and we got to meet each other again, and I realized exactly what I was feeling!"

"…But what were you feeling?" Rainbow asked. "How did you know for sure, if it wasn't something you'd ever felt before?"

Holiday shrugged. "It's a hard thing to describe, sweetie. Especially after so many years. All I can say is that admitting I had those kinds of feelings for Lofty made everything else sort of… fit into place. And when we finally had a chance to see each other again, it just felt right."

Lofty leaned forward, chin atop her hoof, the wrinkles around her eyes prominent as she gave Rainbow a scrutinizing look. "Is there somethin' in particular you wanna tell us, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow immediately began sputtering a denial, but tripped over her own babble when Holiday said, "Now now, Lofty, you know it's not fair to push the poor thing! She'll tell us when she'd ready."

"Tell you what? There's nothing to tell!" Rainbow insisted. Yet even as she said it, the storm in her mind supplied her with all sorts of things to talk about. For just a moment, it felt as if Rainbow Dash was in the eye of that storm, and her staunch reluctance to confront any of it suddenly seemed overblown and nonsensical. What was she, scared?

Still, the sheer number of things on her mind was intimidating. Rainbow Dash went for the one that kick-started this whole conversation in the first place. "You guys know Fluttershy, right?"

"Fluttershy? Of course! Scootaloo's mentioned her before," Holiday said. "She's the one who works with animals, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

Lofty set aside her empty teacup and leaned back in her chair. "What about her?"

"Well, you see…" Where the heck to start? "See, Fluttershy's having a— a foal, and—"

Rainbow Dash was briefly overrun with exclamations of surprise and enthusiastic congratulations, sentiments which were apparently now her job to forward to Fluttershy.

"Uh, yeah, b-but what I'm talking about isn't about that! Not exactly, anyway. Look, it's like this…"

The pegasus hesitated as she debated how much she actually needed to tell them. She didn't like the idea of confessing certain things to two mares that she, in such a short time, had come to respect and admire quite a lot. Telling them about stuff she was still kind of ashamed over… Just thinking about it made Rainbow Dash want to barf up some excuse about how it wasn't important, actually, so she could fly straight out of the building.

Only the knowledge that all that weird, messy, clingy stuff would stay stuck in her brain kept her talking.

"Back when Fluttershy first broke the news to us, I was kinda… mad."

"Mad?" Holiday tilted her head, and Lofty lifted a thin brow with renewed interest. "What for?"

"'Cause I was like… I dunno! 'Cause she didn't tell us she was doing that kinda stuff with— with anypony. Fluttershy never mentioned liking somepony else or, like, y'know. And I get it, I know it's not like that's anypony else's business, but we're her best friends!"

Rainbow Dash realized her hind leg was jiggling and her wings were starting to twitch. She fought to restrain her wings but didn't bother with her leg, knowing any attempt to calm it down would only frustrate her more. "Whatever. All that still isn't the point, exactly. The main thing I was mad about wasn't even that, even though that's kinda what I thought it was about at the time."

"Sorry, sweetie, I think I'm getting a little confused," Holiday said.

Blue hooves dragged down Rainbow's face. "Uhg! Sorry, I know, it's just— it was stupid. I was just being dumb."

Lofty chuckled. "I think I get it. You were feeling left out?"

"Yeah, sorta."

"And maybe…" Lofty shared a look with her wife before saying, "…just a bit jealous?"

Rainbow's immediate desire was to loudly deny such a thing, but then she thought back to a conversation she'd had with Applejack. The farmer had confronted Rainbow Dash about her less-than-great behavior over Fluttershy's news, demanding to know what her problem was. At the time, Rainbow had claimed it was merely displeasure at Fluttershy telling Rarity ahead of the rest of them, apparently seeking the unicorn's advice on how to break the news to everypony else — and that did hurt Rainbow's feelings all on its own. She'd known Fluttershy since they were kids, and the two of them had been friends way longer than any of the other girls. The idea that Fluttershy had gone to share such big, important news with Rarity first hadn't sat right with Rainbow Dash.

But the real issue was why it hurt as much as it did, because Rainbow Dash eventually understood that her reaction wasn't fair or proportional. After apologizing to Fluttershy for her rude behavior, Rainbow thought everything would be fine, only to end up stewing on all these thoughts and feelings for months.

Slowly — very slowly — a single, fragile truth had started making itself known to her. Despite wanting to banish her inner turmoil, the revelation was one Rainbow hadn't been eager to confront.

If there was ever a time to voice it, however, now was probably it.

So reluctantly, Rainbow Dash admitted, "…Maybe. B-but, it's not like… I don't like Fluttershy!"

After a pause, she quickly added, "N-not like— we're friends! Obviously I like her, but I don't like-like her, like, I don't have a crush on her or anything like that!"

The looks on Holiday and Lofty's faces made Rainbow Dash's cheeks burn. She felt her wings slowly puff up as she grew even more flustered. "I'm being serious!"

"I believe you!" Lofty quickly assured. Holiday was doing a bad job of hiding a smile behind her hoof.

With a defeated air, Rainbow pushed onward. "Look, me and Fluttershy grew up together, so— I dunno. It felt bad that she didn't tell me, 'cause we've been best friends for years! And I didn't know she was with somepony like that, but then all of a sudden she's pregnant? So yeah, whatever, I guess I was jealous… but only 'cause I felt like if we're really so close, she could've been honest with me."

That was something Rainbow Dash had been very quick to appreciate about Applejack when they were getting to know each other better. Fluttershy was a great friend, but she could just be so… What was the word… reluctant? No, not that. A word she'd read in a Daring Do book once, one she'd needed to ask Twilight to explain. It was… reticent! All quiet and kinda mopey. Fluttershy didn't like bothering anypony else, but that meant she wasn't the best at stuff like giving feedback or being a cheerleader or telling a pony things they might need to know without having to pull the information out of her. Rainbow Dash was used to dealing with all that by now, but being with Applejack was refreshing because when it came to the farmer, Rainbow didn't need to push and prod and coax.

Holiday and Lofty were sharing another look. Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. "Okay, I'm done spilling my stupid guts to you guys!"

This time, it was Holiday who leaned forward. "Well, you said you didn't have any romantic feelings about Fluttershy these days, right?"

"Yeah, no."

"Alright. But you're still confused over why you had such a, hm, big reaction to her being with a special somepony and having a child with them without you knowing?"

"…Yeah. Guess so."

Lofty said with a knowing air, "Kid, have you considered you don't have a crush on her now, but maybe you used to? Maybe when the two of you were fillies?"

"What? No way!" Rainbow shook her head. "If I had a crush on somepony, don't you think I'd know that? I'm not stupid!"

"It's not about bein' smart or not," Lofty immediately rebutted. "When you're a kid, there's plenty of stuff you think and feel but don't really know what you're going on about. Puppy love is the sorta thing that flies under the radar all the time — I'd certainly know! Lots of cute little fillies in my boxing classes back in the day, and then there was me, feeling so overwhelmed bein' around 'em all the time without a clue why."

Holiday's voice was soft. "Sometimes, things like that are only very obvious in retrospect."

"But that's not how it was!" Rainbow insisted, even as her mind tried to offer flashes of her shared past with Fluttershy; the pegasus stubbornly ignored them. "I'm not into mares!"

A very heavy pause hung in the air. For a reason Rainbow couldn't understand, she felt her face burning unpleasantly, an urge to hide from the duo's gaze ballooning inside of her.

"Rainbow, do you think it's strange or bad that Lofty and I are married?" Holiday asked. Her voice was weighty, but not with anger or surprise.

"N-no! Of course not — that'd be stupid," Rainbow told them. "There's nothing wrong with that sorta thing!"

Lofty nodded along. "Right. But the way you reacted makes it seem like that's how you might feel."

"No," Rainbow told them firmly. "It's not— You guys liking each other is, like, normal! It's just… I dunno! You guys liking mares is one thing, but… but me? That's…"

Weird! The thought was one she'd never recognized for what it was, but the way it bounced in her skull felt suspiciously familiar.

"So it's okay for other ponies to feel that way, but not you?" Lofty pressed.

Rainbow Dash didn't know what to say, drawing into herself.

A peachy hoof slid across the pink tablecloth to tap against Rainbow Dash's. "Rainbow, it's okay. You said yourself there's nothing wrong with it."

"Yeah, but…"

Her aversion to the idea suddenly felt conspicuous and gross, like the taste of shame. Rainbow Dash's defensive posture loosened, but only slightly, as the tension of resistance left her body and she allowed herself to externalize a thought long suppressed. "I… maybe I do. Maybe I do like mares?"

"And if you did," Lofty offered in a completely casual tone, "it might explain why your feelings over Fluttershy are a bit more complicated than you were expecting."

"But I… I really don't like Fluttershy like that." Those words didn't feel like a lie, even if repeating them was beginning to feel foalish.

"If you had a crush on her when the two of you were young, but never really confronted that, maybe some of those feelings lingered," Holiday explained. "We both understand if you don't actually feel anything romantic for Fluttershy now that you're both adults, but it can be difficult to let go of strong feelings from youth if you don't allow yourself to process them."

"That… doesn't make sense," Rainbow grumbled.

The older mares shared a laugh at her expense. Rainbow couldn't find it in her to resent them, though — she was probably pretty funny to them right now. Why was she questioning them so much when it was obvious they were so much wiser than her when it came to this stuff? They were married, for Celestia's sake! If anypony was going to understand all these weird, messy feelings, it'd probably be the two mares who had been together for…

"How long have you guys been a couple?" Pure curiosity had the question blurting out of her mouth before Rainbow Dash could consider whether or not it might seem like a deflection.

Luckily for her, Lofty seemed more than happy to change the topic. "Twenty-three years!"

Rainbow's eyes bulged. "Woah! Seriously?"

"As serious as the dead, kid."

Holiday sighed and finally left the table. "Lofty, you're being morbid again!"

"Sorry, hon. Can I make it up to you with more tea?"

"How kind of you to offer when I've already gotten up."

"I know." Lofty grinned. "I told you how they taught us all that chivalry crap in my old etiquette classes too, didn't I?"

Rather than engage with her silly wife, Holiday turned to Rainbow as she poured two fresh cups of tea. "Sure you don't want any, Rainbow?"

"No, thanks. Actually, I think I should head off," Rainbow told them, pushing her chair back.

"Are you sure? We don't mind having you!" Holiday assured. Rainbow Dash hopped off her seat and flapped her wings, hovering just outside the foyer. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Nah, it's cool, honest!"

"Let the girl go, Holiday," Lofty said, waving off Rainbow Dash with ease. "She's spent enough time chatting with old bitties like us!"

With a few words of goodbye, Rainbow turned to fly out of the house, but hesitated with her hoof on the doorknob. After a second, she flapped back into the kitchen and asked, "Hey, uh, is it okay if I come back to talk to you guys again soon?"

Rainbow was going to have to get used to their knowing looks, huh? At least the couple's kind smiles made them a little easier to tolerate.

"Of course, sweetie; whenever you like!"

"See you around, kiddo."

Rainbow Dash departed from Scootaloo's place, taking off. She left Ponyville behind, yearning for the quiet emptiness of the sky.

Inside, her mind was no longer a tumult; the seemingly endless storm had passed. Now, in the calm of an open blue sky and quelled thoughts, Rainbow Dash considered herself.

In the end, all she could think was, "I guess that kinda explains some things, huh?"

Whatever, she'd done enough thinking to last her a solid week — maybe two! Rainbow Dash banked and flew in a random direction, content simply to ride the wind and see where it would take her from there.