2616 14.98 KB 217
Somepony Who Cares by Ice
By splishsplashCreated: 2022-01-05 17:17:03
Updated: 2022-03-11 15:15:26
Expiry: Never
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                                            1.
                                            Somepony Who Cares by Ice
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                                            2.
                                            (Rainbow Dash / Scootaloo)
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                                            3.
                                            
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                                            4.
                                            (06/09/2018)
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                                            5.
                                            
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                                            7.
                                            
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                                            8.
                                            ---
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                                            9.
                                            
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                                            10.
                                            >"She did... WHAT?!"
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                                            11.
                                            >Rainbow Dash had heard just fine of course, but it was one of those instances where she just needed to defer thought for a moment
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                                            12.
                                            >If only for an instant
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                                            13.
                                            >Because for all she knew of Scootaloo, this caught her off guard
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                                            14.
                                            >"I'm afraid so," responded Cheerilee with a stern note in her voice
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                                            15.
                                            >The disappointment her teacher tried to conceal gave Scootaloo a twinge in her stomach, for the first time all afternoon
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                                            16.
                                            >But Rainbow's anger, far from encouraging the filly's introspection, only served to remind her of her own indignation
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                                            17.
                                            >"Vandalizing the school bathroom?! What in Equestria were you thinking?!"
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                                            18.
                                            >Her temper flaring up again, she spit back "Oh like you care! This stupid school had it coming!"
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                                            19.
                                            >"SCOOTALOO!"
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                                            20.
                                            >This was officially beyond the realm of Rainbow's experience as a caretaker, and she could hardly think straight
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                                            21.
                                            >"Go outside and wait by the front door! And don't THINK about moving until I come to get you!"
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                                            22.
                                            >While her anger was still simmering within, she also couldn't really remember seeing Rainbow this angry before...
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                                            23.
                                            >With a contemptuous look, she slunk out of the classroom and down the hall
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                                            24.
                                            >"Don't be too cross with her Rainbow," Cheerilee tried to soothe the blue pegasus after showing her Scootaloo's work
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                                            25.
                                            >"TOO cross?! I can't believe this is happening! Where did she even pick up language like that?!"
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                                            26.
                                            >Glancing over the vulgarities scrawled on the wall
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                                            27.
                                            >"You know how these foals are. It seems like some of the others had been teasing her again this morning..."
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                                            28.
                                            >"Teasing... ?" Rainbow sighed. "That still doesn't excuse this kind of behavior"
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                                            29.
                                            >Rainbow almost gasped when she heard her own voice
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                                            30.
                                            >Heard her own father's voice in it
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                                            31.
                                            >"It's not even that serious, really," Cheerilee commented. "It was just one of the markers the foals use for hoofwriting practice. It will wash right off"
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                                            32.
                                            >"And Scootaloo will be the one washing it off tomorrow," replied Rainbow
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                                            33.
                                            >"I mean, if that works for you..." she added with a glance at her old teacher
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                                            34.
                                            >Cheerilee smiled
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                                            35.
                                            >"Rainbow Dash, did your own parents rub off on you?"
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                                            36.
                                            >Before Rainbow could reply, Cheerilee patted her on the shoulder
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                                            37.
                                            >"I think that's a good idea," and then in a more serious tone, "Really Rainbow, Scootaloo has been doing so much better ever since you moved her in with you. Everypony can see how good it has been for her"
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                                            38.
                                            >"Sometimes I just don't know," Rainbow opined
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                                            39.
                                            >"I never really thought about how much work it is to have a little filly around"
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                                            40.
                                            >"I worry I'm not doing it right, or something. And now this happens, like... yeah Rainbow, you really screwed up"
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                                            41.
                                            >Cheerilee put an arm around her
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                                            42.
                                            >"You're doing just wonderful Rainbow"
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                                            43.
                                            >"If I recall, you were something of a hoof-ful yourself, for your parents"
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                                            44.
                                            >"But you turned out a lot better than alright"
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                                            45.
                                            >Rainbow felt her cheeks burning
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                                            46.
                                            >"Aw geez Miss, er... I mean, Cheerilee. Thanks"
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                                            47.
                                            >"It's the truth, you know. But perhaps you should tend to your own little one, before she wanders off"
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                                            48.
                                            >"If she even THINKS about it...!
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                                            49.
                                            >Cheerilee chuckled
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                                            50.
                                            >"Don't be too harsh with her"
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                                            51.
                                            >If only Cheerilee knew, thought Rainbow
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                                            52.
                                            >She wasn't nearly strict enough
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                                            53.
                                            >On the way back home, they were both pretty quiet
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                                            54.
                                            >Each lost in her own thoughts
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                                            55.
                                            >The relatively lighthearted mood Rainbow had briefly enjoyed with her old teacher was quickly eclipsed by her own anger and disappointment
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                                            56.
                                            >When they got to the house, Scootaloo immediately made for the stairs
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                                            57.
                                            >"Where do you think you're going?" Rainbow focused on keeping her voice measured, while still trying to convey a sense of her newfound authority
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                                            58.
                                            >"You are seriously in trouble right now. What were you thinking?"
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                                            59.
                                            >"What do you mean trouble? You can't get me in trouble!" the orange filly retorted.
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                                            60.
                                            >"Scootaloo, you are living in my house and that means you are living by my rules"
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                                            61.
                                            >Her mind was racing
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                                            62.
                                            >Thinking back to the countless lectures she had received as a filly
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                                            63.
                                            >And to what she had too often received immediately thereafter...
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                                            64.
                                            >But there was no way she could do that
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                                            65.
                                            >Like, how does one even go about doing that?!
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                                            66.
                                            >No, she definitely couldn't do that
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                                            67.
                                            >What Rainbow had really wanted to keep to a "civilized and calm discussion" quickly devolved into a fully-fledged argument
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                                            68.
                                            >Especially when Scootaloo tried to recount how the other foals had been teasing her
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                                            69.
                                            >"Scootaloo doesn't have any family, Scootaloo has to pretend that Rainbow Dash is her sister, nopony cares about Scootaloo!"
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                                            70.
                                            >"And THEY'RE RIGHT!"
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                                            71.
                                            >"Everypony at school laughs at me!" she exclaimed with mounting distress
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                                            72.
                                            >"And YOU DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ME!"
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                                            73.
                                            >Her voice was a veritable shriek, all composure leaving her as she turned suddenly and bolted up the stairs
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                                            74.
                                            >Leaving Rainbow rooted to the spot
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                                            75.
                                            >And though her words stung her, it was only a superficial pain
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                                            76.
                                            >Because she knew what the little pegasus was going through, the turmoil that a headstrong filly felt at her age
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                                            77.
                                            >After all, she had been in just that spot herself
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                                            78.
                                            >Had said similar things to her own parents
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                                            79.
                                            >But by the same token, she knew now what her parents had known then
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                                            80.
                                            >That a willful filly - especially when her attitude started to get the better of her - needed a firm hoof
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                                            81.
                                            >Her own father had put her over his knee many times when she had strayed out of line
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                                            82.
                                            >Okay, now maybe she could actually do that
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                                            83.
                                            >Scootaloo slammed the bedroom door behind her
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                                            84.
                                            >As she stormed past the bedside table, she flipped on the phonograph sitting there, which promptly launched into her new Appleloosa is the Reason album
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                                            85.
                                            >Before finally throwing herself down onto the bed with a ragged sigh of frustration
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                                            86.
                                            >All the tension just overflowed in that moment, as her body shuddered and she brought a hoof down dramatically onto the comforter
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                                            87.
                                            >Rainbow Dash just didn't understand!
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                                            88.
                                            >And yet... she felt her eyes sting with the hot beginnings of tears
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                                            89.
                                            >Because while she was sure, okay almost sure, that Rainbow didn't care
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                                            90.
                                            >(almost, maybe, probably sure)
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                                            91.
                                            >The thing that hurt most in her chest suddenly wasn't her anger, or her resentment, or even the sadness beneath them
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                                            92.
                                            >It was the look on Rainbow's face when she had accused her of not caring
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                                            93.
                                            >As Rainbow marched up the stairs gravely, she understood finally how her father, how parents all over Equestria, actually did this
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                                            94.
                                            >She didn't really feel angry now, just resolute
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                                            95.
                                            >And it was simply because - she loved that little filly
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                                            96.
                                            >And she knew that she needed this
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                                            97.
                                            >So Rainbow had made up her mind, made the decision that this was happening and nothing could change that
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                                            98.
                                            >Because she would be failing Scootaloo otherwise
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                                            99.
                                            >And just like that, it was out of her hooves - it was just a simple fact of the universe
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                                            100.
                                            >The sky is blue
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                                            101.
                                            >Apples fall to earth
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                                            102.
                                            >Scootaloo was getting a spanking
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                                            103.
                                            >"Alright Scootaloo"
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                                            104.
                                            >Opening the bedroom door slowly but implacably
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                                            105.
                                            >"We need-" but cut herself off in the face of the blaring midwest Equestrian rock
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                                            106.
                                            >"Young filly!" switching off the turntable
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                                            107.
                                            >Scootaloo jumped up with an indignant "Hey!"
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                                            108.
                                            >Rainbow just met her with a stern gaze
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                                            109.
                                            >"This isn't going to slide this time. I'm going to do what I should have already done"
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                                            110.
                                            >Oh geez, she really did sound like her father
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                                            111.
                                            >And, stepping towards the little filly, had some strange vision of herself from a floating, third-pony point of view
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                                            112.
                                            >This surely wasn't real...
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                                            113.
                                            >No
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                                            114.
                                            >The sky is blue...
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                                            115.
                                            >It was like being on the race track
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                                            116.
                                            >She seemed to sense her own hesitation, in some kind of slow motion precognition, before it actually arrived
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                                            117.
                                            >And she put her head down and moved right through it
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                                            118.
                                            >Crossing the short distance between them, she scooped up the orange filly in one strong arm and sat down on the bed in one fluid motion
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                                            119.
                                            >And just like that, Scootaloo fell deftly (though through no effort of her own) across Rainbow's lap
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                                            120.
                                            >And was promptly held down by a gentle but unyielding hoof on her back
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                                            121.
                                            >"Wha-?! Rainbow Dash!"
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                                            122.
                                            >"Oh yes, young filly. If I had acted the way you have today, my dad would have made sure I didn't sit down for a week!"
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                                            123.
                                            >Suddenly Scootaloo's mind was filled with unbidden scenes
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                                            124.
                                            >Her friends at school
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                                            125.
                                            >Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, showing up to class in the morning
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                                            126.
                                            >Sweetie Belle's pure white haunches veritaby glowing pink, or the thin stripes that a switch had left across Applebloom's flank
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                                            127.
                                            >And she always stuck up for them when other foals gave them a hard time -duh!
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                                            128.
                                            >But that was something that happened to other ponies
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                                            129.
                                            >"Rainbow, you can't!" and for the first time her voice took the slightest edge of panic
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                                            130.
                                            >"Can and am!"
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                                            131.
                                            >And, moving on instinct, Rainbow brought her hoof down sharply
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                                            132.
                                            >The sudden, resounding crack surprised them both
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                                            133.
                                            >Scootaloo squealed with the shock of it, before her drawn-out appeal of "Rainnnboowwwww!"
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                                            134.
                                            >If the blue pegasus had been surprised for one moment, she had to suppress a melancholy chuckle in the next, as she saw herself as a little filly lying there under the strict hoof of authority
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                                            135.
                                            >And she wondered how she had doubted that she would know exactly how this went
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                                            136.
                                            >As she began Scootaloo's punishment in earnest, the orange filly couldn't help but grip the comforter for dear life, as though she could burrow into it and escape
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                                            137.
                                            >This was totally new to her, and the tears sprang to her eyes almost immediately
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                                            138.
                                            >As Rainbow spanked her methodically, left-right-left-right, she squealed and shrieked softly with each slap of the strong hoof
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                                            139.
                                            >Her back legs rubbing across one another, one hoof atop the other before they switched places
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                                            140.
                                            >Gasping "Ow, ow, ow!" as the stinging slaps added up and she felt tears roll down her muzzle
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                                            141.
                                            >Rainbow paused now, as the little filly began to cry in earnest under her ministrations
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                                            142.
                                            >Remembering the heavy look her father always wore when she had misbehaved
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                                            143.
                                            >Like some great burden lay across his powerful shoulders
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                                            144.
                                            >Of course, she understood in an intellectual way, as she grew up, how hard it must have been to punish his little filly
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                                            145.
                                            >But for the first time now, she realized, she understood it
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                                            146.
                                            >Really, actually understood it
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                                            147.
                                            >And so understood anew that she had to finish this
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                                            148.
                                            >She wasn't going to let this little filly down - not on her watch
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                                            149.
                                            >Glancing across the room at the orange pony's dresser, where her hairbrush lay
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                                            150.
                                            >A lot like the hairbrush Rainbow used to have
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                                            151.
                                            >"Scootaloo," she said, and the little pony started with a gasp between her tears
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                                            152.
                                            >"I want you to bring me your hairbrush"
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                                            153.
                                            >"R-Rainbow, n-n-no! Please!" she could barely keep her composure to utter the plea
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                                            154.
                                            >And in a stern voice, Rainbow warned her "I swear to Celestia, young filly, if I have to get up myself it will be twice as bad for you"
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                                            155.
                                            >Okay, she thought, that might have been harsh
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                                            156.
                                            >But it seemed to do the trick, as Scootaloo fumbled her way off Rainbow's lap, scurried across the room, and barely hesitated in bringing the brush to her waiting caretaker
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                                            157.
                                            >When the orange filly looked like she might protest again, Rainbow spared her the effort, grabbing her once more and pulling her across her knee again
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                                            158.
                                            >A barely whispered "Please..." was all that she managed
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                                            159.
                                            >Rainbow sighed a heavy sigh
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                                            160.
                                            >"Scoots," she began in a softer tone of voice
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                                            161.
                                            >"After your behavior today... I have to do this"
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                                            162.
                                            >In a small voice, the orange filly responded, "I know it was wrong Rainbow..."
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                                            163.
                                            >"And I'm going to make sure that you remember it" came the reply
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                                            164.
                                            >"I know it might not make sense right now, but... I understand where you are right now, Scoots"
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                                            165.
                                            >"This is for your own good"
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                                            166.
                                            >Scootaloo might have repsonded were it not for the lump in her throat
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                                            167.
                                            >But Rainbow made it a moot point in any case with the first stinging swat of that big wooden hairbrush
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                                            168.
                                            >If getting spanked was something new and unpleasant for Scootaloo, getting spanked with her own hairbrush was a whole different level
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                                            169.
                                            >Because, by Celestia, that thing stung horribly each time it touched her flank
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                                            170.
                                            >Like some kind of magic wand with a particularly vicious enchantment
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                                            171.
                                            >It took scant moments for Scootaloo to lose it completely
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                                            172.
                                            >The tears were flowing in earnest, her muzzle was downright soaked, and the bedspread was damp where she tried to burrow into it
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                                            173.
                                            >Her hind legs kicked up and down rapidly under the onslaught
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                                            174.
                                            >Rainbow steeled herself against the sobs of her young charge
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                                            175.
                                            >She needs this
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                                            176.
                                            >Just do it right, and get it over with
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                                            177.
                                            >Left-right-left-right as the orange pegasus sobbed under her, deep sobs from her chest, punctuated by the thin whine of her inhalations
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                                            178.
                                            >Thinking back to how her own spankings typically ended, Rainbow brought the hairbrush down on the lower curves of Scootaloo's haunches, right where she would sit
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                                            179.
                                            >On the hard wooden chairs at school... she would be feeling this
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                                            180.
                                            >Over and over she spanked the little filly there
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                                            181.
                                            >Causing her to shriek out in pain
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                                            182.
                                            >And finally, after what felt like scant seconds or a few eternities (Rainbow wasn't sure which), she stopped
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                                            183.
                                            >Sitting there on the bed, Rainbow kept one hoof gently on Scootaloo's back as the small pony sobbed her eyes out
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                                            184.
                                            >And somehow she felt just as drained as the chastised little filly across her lap
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                                            185.
                                            >She waited while the sobs turned to sniffles, rubbing the filly's back softly
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                                            186.
                                            >"Hey, Scoots"
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                                            187.
                                            >What now?
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                                            188.
                                            >Well, if she was anything like Rainbow had been back then...
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                                            189.
                                            >The blue pony gingerly put her arm under Scootaloo and lifted her up towards her
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                                            190.
                                            >Scootaloo instantly wrapped her arms around Rainbow, buried her face in the larger pony's soft chest
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                                            191.
                                            >Moving on instinct
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                                            192.
                                            >And Rainbow wrapped her up in an embrace, her powerful wings folding around the little filly
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                                            193.
                                            >Scootaloo's muffled voice tried to come through her tears, through her remorse, and through Rainbow's thick fur
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                                            194.
                                            >"Rainbow, I'm so sorry... I know... I know that-"
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                                            195.
                                            >"Shhhhh," the blue pegasus whispered in her ear. "I know"
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                                            196.
                                            >"It's over now, it's all behind us. Everything is forgiven"
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                                            197.
                                            >Scootaloo stuttered out, "But... you don't... aren't you-"
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                                            198.
                                            >"Scoots," said Rainbow softly, bringing her muzzle down to brush the little pony's own, "We're here because I love you"
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                                            199.
                                            >"And nothing can ever change that"
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                                            200.
                                            >After a few minutes of silence, Rainbow reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a tissue from the box there
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                                            201.
                                            >Holding Scootaloo's head in one hoof, she wiped her face off the best she could
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                                            202.
                                            >"I think it's time we got you cleaned up"
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                                            203.
                                            >"...and me too," looking down at her chest, "since you decided to use me as a tissue"
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                                            204.
                                            >Scootaloo started to blush just a little
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                                            205.
                                            >"Well," she stammered, "you kinda asked for it!"
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                                            206.
                                            >Rainbow smiled
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                                            207.
                                            >"Come on kid, let's go! I'm sure we're both starving!"
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                                            208.
                                            >At school the next day, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were glued to her side the moment they saw her
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                                            209.
                                            >Applebloom even offered to share her lunch
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                                            210.
                                            >Not that she needed it - Rainbow had packed her a lunch, as usual
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                                            211.
                                            >But the thought sure was nice
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                                            212.
                                            >And besides, she spent most of lunchtime helping Miss Cheerilee clean up the bathroom
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                                            213.
                                            >But that was fine
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                                            214.
                                            >It was the least she could do after the way she acted yesterday
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                                            215.
                                            >How stupid, she thought to herself now that she was in a more clear-headed state of mind, to think that nopony cared about what she did
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                                            216.
                                            >Well, she certainly wouldn't forget now - Rainbow sure did!
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                                            217.
                                            THE END
 
                         by splishsplash
                         by splishsplash
                         by splishsplash
                         by splishsplash
                         by splishsplash