[i]Dawn patrol,[/i] Dash always called it even though it hardly ever happened at dawn. After all, dragging herself out of bed at the crack of noon or sharing a long, laughter-filled brunch with the girls or spending the morning drilling with the Bolts, she would usually look up to see that it was two or three o'clock by the time she was ready to go.

But [i]dawn patrol[/i] sounded way cooler than [i]midday stroll.[/i] And she was pretty sure she'd done the actual crack of dawn thing once or twice during the ten years she'd been living in Ponyville.

Still, whatever the season and whatever the weather, every other day or so, Dash would take an hour out of her busy schedule to cruise the Everfree Forest looking for trouble.

Mostly this turned out to be rogue weather, but with manticores, hydras, timberwolves, cragodiles and other assorted monsters wandering around out there even after the Tree of Harmony had regained its full strength, Dash always figured better safe than sorry. Kick a stormy cloud or a toothy snout, make sure the place remembered who was boss and who was keeping an eye on it, and she could maybe stop Ponyville from crashing and burning as often as it would otherwise.

A net, though, springing up from the tree canopy to tangle itself around her wings, forelegs, and barrel definitely was [i]not[/i] the sort of thing she was expecting. Blue balloons sprouted from the woven webbing so at least she didn't fall, but something started tugging her downward: a rope attached to the net and pulling her toward the silent green leaves below.

By the time she shook off her shock and started struggling, her rear hoofs were already brushing through the branches. The strands of the net proved too well-woven to stretch or bite through, and craning her head around to see where she was going just got her poked in the face with twigs.

"Ow!" she shouted. "Pinkie! If this is a joke, yeah, okay, it's a pretty good one, sure! But shooting nets at pegasi when they're flying? Anypony less awesome than me might've gotten hurt or something!"

The leaves beneath her opened to reveal something big, flat, and dark: a roof, Dash realized as she was hauled through a square hole in it. A solid surface smacked up underneath her, shadows all around, and the hole above her slammed shut, plunging the whole place into complete darkness.

"Who's out there?" Dash yelled, straining at the net some more. The dusty, earthy scent that filled her nose didn't hold a trace of Pinkie's usual cotton-candy-and-marshmallow aroma, so the whole prank idea was starting to seem less and less likely. "What's the big idea? You can't just—"

Fireflies sparked to life a few paces ahead of her, and she gaped to see Scootaloo standing under the lantern and glaring at her. The downward angle of the light accented the filly's physique, muscular from all the running around she did since, even on the cusp of marehood, she still couldn't fly. Tendons stood out along her neck, her wings flared as much as she could flare them, her hooves spread and planted like she was expecting a squall.

Dash swallowed. "Squirt? What— I mean—"

"No." Scootaloo's voice was always raspy, but Dash had never heard anything like the stone cold rumble coming out of her now. "We're done with all that. No more baby nicknames, no more 'big sister/little sister' crap, no more waiting for you to notice me." She took a step forward, everything about her making Dash try to wriggle back and maintain the distance between them. "'Cause I'm all grown up now, Dash. And that means you're finally going to fall in love with me."

Ice shot through Dash's whole body, and she did some more backward wriggling. "Look, Scoots, I don't know what—"

"Exactly!" At the stomp of Scootaloo's hoof, the whole place shook: a little treehouse, Dash realized with a start, the firefly light showing her nothing but a mattress in a corner and the walls completely plastered with photos and drawings and posters of her own face and figure waving and smiling, posing and winking.

"You [i]don't[/i] know!" Scootaloo was going on. "Ever since I was five years old, I've been in love with you! Been [i]yearning[/i] for you!" Her fiery eyes lost focus. "I've dreamed of it for so long, just you scooping me up in the moonlight, settling me down on a cloud, and snuggling with me. Lately when I dream it, we do more than snuggle, and I just— I want— I can't— I can't wait for you anymore!" She was pretty much shouting by this time. "So it's over, see? I'm done hinting and flirting and dancing at the edges of it like a kid! Done with it!"

The air around Dash seemed to have frozen solid; she could barely pull a breath into her lungs. "Scootaloo," she more squeaked than said, "maybe you don't [i]think[/i] you're a kid, but—"

"But what?" Spinning, Scootaloo thrust her flank into Dash's face, practically rubbed her cutie mark against her. "D'you know what I've been doing ever since me and Bloom and Sweetie got these? I've been showing ponies what they're meant to do with their lives, showing [i]adult[/i] ponies what they're meant to do, I mean! More than twice my age sometimes, coming to me for advice, and you tell me I'm not grown up?"

Sliding back half a step, she waved a hoof and rolled her eyes. "I mean, yeah, sure, legally I'm still a minor." Her gaze fixed on Dash's, Dash unable to look away from the feverish glassiness there. "But laws don't apply to ponies like us: you taught me that." She reached out and touched Dash's jaw. "When you're awesome enough, you do what you want."

Dash tried to flinch away, but her head bashed into the wall behind her.

Giving a low chuckle, Scootaloo moved her hoof to caress Dash's cheek. "It'll be all right, Dash," she murmured, her eyes half closing and a smile drfting over her lips. "I'll make you feel [i]better[/i] than all right."

No choice, then. "Yeah, right!" Dash shoved herself forward so she could shout it directly into Scootaloo's face. "Is this the advice you give out? 'If you wanna make friends with somepony, tie them up out in the middle of the Everfree Forest'? Is that what Twilight taught you?" She couldn't keep her voice from catching. "Is that what [i]I[/i] taught you?"

Scootaloo jumped back like she'd been stung, her smile vanishing and her eyes going wide. "What? Dash, no! I—"

"Is this how you got to be friends with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom? Ropes and nets and—"

"I don't wanna be [i]friends[/i] with you!" When Scootaloo stomped this time, it seemed more petulant than scary. "I [i]love[/i] you! I wanna—"

"Your mom and dad! Your aunts! Mr. and Mrs. Cake! Cranky and Matilda!" Dash knew there were more happily married ponies in town, but she hoped they'd forgive her for not being able to think of them right then. "You're saying none of them are friends?"

"What?" Everything menacing about Scootaloo was melting as quickly as ice cream in the noonday sun. "No! I'm not saying anything [i]like[/i] that!"

"So they're friends but more than friends!" Dash shimmied the net that firmly bound her forelegs and wings. "So if this isn't what you do when you want to become friends, how much more is it not what you do when you want to become more than friends?"

Now it was Scootaloo who seemed frozen, and for all that Dash's heart was rattling as jagged as a chunk of granite against her ribs, she couldn't afford to let up despite how little sense her last sentence had made. "I know your blood's pounding inside you," she said, trying to pitch each word quietly but precisely, "and I know how your body's screaming at you for relief.  But you've got to use your head, Scootaloo, got to think about what you're trying to do and what you want to do and how's the best way to do it. 'Cause if you let your blood take over, it'll drive you to places you don't ever wanna go..."

Scootaloo's whimper shattered the rock in Dash's chest; the filly's eyes pulled shut, and she slumped forward onto the floorboards. "I've ruined it," she whispered, the words coming out all cracked and awful. "All of it, always, forever, ruined..."

"No!" Bracing herself, Dash stretched and pitched forward to crash down with her head turned and her snout maybe a hoof's span away from Scootaloo's. "[i]Not[/i] ruined, Scootaloo! Never ruined! You untie me, we'll go back into town, and we'll get you some help."

"What?" The sour stink of panic burst from Scootaloo, and she jumped to her hooves, her eyes wide and her ears folded. "You can't tell Twilight! Please! And Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, if they ever found out I did this, I... I'll die! Tear my own throat out and—"

"Not Twilight!" Dash tried to roll over so she could see Scootaloo more easily, but in the wavering light, she couldn't focus any higher than those orange knees. "Not any of our friends! A real pro! Dr. Pineal! She's got her office on the town square across from City Hall!"

"A...doctor?" That Scootaloo wasn't running away screaming gave Dash the first glimmer of hope she'd had since this whole thing had started.
 
"She's good." Sprawled there, of course, Dash couldn't think of the actual word and didn't want to use any of the slang terms. "Sometimes, you need to talk to somepony about things going on in your head and your heart and your life that you can't talk to anypony about—and what I mean is that sometimes [i]I[/i] need to talk to somepony about that stuff. But Dr. Pineal's job is to be the one pony you can talk to about anything."

The silence went on for longer than Dash liked, but at least Scootaloo still wasn't running. "You," Scootaloo said after a couple seconds or minutes or hours—Dash wasn't sure which it was. "You see a psychiatrist?"

[i]That[/i] was the word. "She helps me a lot. It's not that she knows the answers or anything like that. But she knows how to help me find the answers myself." Bunching up a hind leg, Dash managed to flop over sideways so she could see Scootaloo's white-rimmed eyes. "Please, Scoots?"

"Oh, my gosh!" Scootaloo jumped forward with a flurry of wings, her hooves digging into Dash's back and the net loosening. "I'm so, so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I didn't— I mean, I wasn't— I don't—"

"It's okay," Dash said though she was sure both of them knew it was a lie. Unfolding her front legs for the first time in what seemed like days, she stood and shook out her wings.

With a squeak, Scootaloo scrambled away to bunch herself into the nearest corner, the stale, salty odor of fear wafting off her hide. It took every ounce of the control Dash had learned during her training not to run over and wrap the filly in a hug; the last thing either of them needed right now was mixed messages. She gritted her teeth against the pins-and-needles sensation of the circulation returning to her wings, then she blew out a breath. "Okay," she said again. "You ready to go?"

"I can't." Scootaloo had buried her face under her forelegs. "I can't ever look at you again, can't ever look at [i]anypony[/i] again..."

"Stop it!" Clenching her teeth kept Dash from shouting it, but she did stomp a hoof, Scootaloo's head snapping up, her face wet with tears. "You made a mistake, Scoots, yeah, but you stopped before things got completely out of hoof. And now you're coming with me so we can make sure it never goes this far ever again. You got it?"

Nodding, Scootaloo rose shakily to her hooves.

[hr]

Sitting with her eyes closed in the waiting room outside Dr. Pineal's office, Dash concentrated on just breathing. The trip back to Ponyville had been nothing less than a nightmare, but at least Scootaloo had that big scooter she used these days to keep their pace from becoming completely glacial.  Still, watching in every direction for some random basilisk or other monster to leap out at them had made the tension in the air even tenser.

The meeting with Dr. Pineal had almost been worse, the silver-gray unicorn not saying a word while Dash mechanically and Scootaloo weepily recounted what had happened. "Very well," she'd said when they'd finished. "I'll need to speak to your parents and care-givers, Scootaloo, before we can go any further."

Which had meant more tears and even some shouting: Dash had stayed right in this same seat while Scootaloo's mom and dad and both her aunts had filed into the office with Dr. Pineal and Scootaloo, but the sounds that had leaked out even with the door closed had made Dash wish she'd brought some ear plugs.

In the end, Dr. Pineal had gotten in touch with a colleague of hers in Canterlot, and Dr. Callosum had agreed to come to Ponyville tomorrow to meet with Scootaloo and her family. Dash had somehow scraped up a smile for the five of them, had waved off the older ponies' attempts to apologize for Scootaloo, had even nodded to Scootaloo when the filly's shaky gaze had met hers just as the whole group had left.

She'd fallen back into the chair and done her best not to think about anything for she didn't know how long. Then a voice, Dr. Pineal's oh so familiar voice as cool as a glass of lemonade on a summer day. "And how are you, Rainbow Dash?"

"How the fuck do you [i]think[/i] I am?" Dash shot back without thinking, then started up, her eyes snapping open and glancing around the waiting room.

Thankfully, it was empty, even the nurse gone from her little desk. Dr. Pineal stood beside the open door to her office and gestured to it with a hoof. Dash swallowed, pushed herself up, and stumped in, Dr. Pineal closing the door behind her.

The office always looked the same—bookshelves lining the walls, a couple potted ferns scattered among them, the place dim and cozy no matter what the time or temperature was outside. Dash crossed straight to the window and looked out through the gauzy curtains at the town square under the blue of a late afternoon, Applejack across the way at her cart, Fluttershy a couple rows over nosing through some carrots.

A normal day in Ponyville.

Dr. Pineal's gentle voice spoke behind her. "Would you like to talk about what happened today, Rainbow Dash?"

"What's to talk about?" Dash had to turn away from the window, Dr. Pineal in her big chair with her notebook and pencil floating in front of her and her little glasses perched on her snout. "Scootaloo snatched me outta the sky, tied me up in her treehouse, and told me she wanted to rape me." A tremor rattled Dash's right front knee, and she stomped her hoof. "And it was perfect! Absolutely perfect! My every fantasy right there in front of me, all real and absolutely fucking [i]perfect![/i]"

Springing into the air, Dash slammed herself down onto the couch beside Dr. Pineal's chair. "All I hadta do was lay back and let it happen! I mean, how many fucking years have I dreamed about Scootaloo forcing herself on me, huh? 'Cause if she did that, I wouldn't be a foal molester, would I? I'd be innocent, a victim, helpless to stop that gorgeous little filly from having her fucking way with me!" Bunching a hoof, Dash almost pounded it into the table on her right, but the memory of how many repairs she'd had to pay for over the years stopped her. "Perfect," she whispered again.

Silence settled in, and even though Dash was sure she'd been grinding her teeth all afternoon, now she started in even harder. "But I didn't do that," she said. "'Cause if I had, I mean, that woulda been it: the end of everything. Both our twisted fucking minds wrapping around each other so tight, we woulda strangled ourselves to death."

She took a breath, blew it out, took another. "Right now, though, the way things actually happened, it might not completely ruin Scootaloo's life. She went a little crazy, nopony got hurt, she gets some treatment, and—" Dash's voice wanted to choke off, but she pushed through it. "And she gets over me."

The thought squeezed her eyes closed. "Three years," she whispered, "eight months and twenty-two days from now, her and me together woulda been legal in every part of Equestria, and I coulda started courting her. I already know her folks, her aunts show that her family doesn't have a problem with two mares in a relationship, we already both, y'know, worship each other. I coulda started hanging out at her aunts' place more often, coulda let Scoots know how special I think she is, coulda set out to get her unfolding like a flower at dawn under my touch until—"

Her throat tightened, but the words just wouldn't stop. "For so long," she more coughed than said, "I've been so careful around her, done what's right, done what's good. All the times I almost cracked, almost let her know, almost gave in to her obvious little tries to seduce me, and it didn't even enter my mind that [i]she'd[/i] break first! I mean, I just figured her and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom would take care of each other when they started feeling the itch, y'know?" It was her second favorite fantasy, after all, imagining the Cutie Mark Crusaders experimenting in that clubhouse of theirs...

She shook her head. "But that's all gone now. Maybe if I'd known how close to the edge she was—" She shook her head again. "Me doing anything would've screwed it up even more. She's an amazing kid and the love of my life, but she's still just a kid. She needs to make mistakes and learn from them without me rubbing up against her, and I'll do everything I can to help her even if...even if she never feels comfortable talking to me again..."

Dash snapped her head over to glare at Dr. Pineal. "And yes, I know: I don't get to feel sorry for myself, and they don't give out awards for not molesting a kid. Behaving decently is the rock-bottom minimum for everypony everywhere, and helping a friend get over a problem is just what friends do." She swallowed and flopped back on the couch. "Even if the problem is that the friend you're in love with shouldn't be in love with you."

Dr. Pineal's pencil scratched in the silence, then she actually spoke. "So you'll stop loving her?"

"What?" Again, Dash snapped her head over and glared. "I can't just turn it off! That's the whole problem! I feel the way I feel: my only choice is whether I act on the feeling and go to prison, or don't act on it and just dream about her! That's not gonna change!" She winced. "I was hoping it [i]would[/i] change in four years or so, but..."

"But you expect her to stop loving you?"

A little spark tried to perk in Dash's chest, but she blew it out with a breath. "She's a kid. Her brain was still growing into the right shape till a couple years ago, and now it's, like, floating in an ocean of hormones. That's why there's those laws I've been trying so hard not to break for as long as I've been coming here." A headache wanted to start up between her eyes; Dash rubbed her forehead and flexed her shoulders. "Scoots is nowhere [i]near[/i] responsible enough to be in this sort of love yet, and by the time she is, all this stuff today might mean she can't even think about me that way anymore."

"That's possible, of course," Dr. Pineal's quiet voice said. "Or maybe it's that she'll be too old for you then."

The headache vanished, and Dash found herself hovering in front of the doctor, her hoof drawn back to smash those stupid little glasses right back into her expressionless-as-usual face. Silver light wavered in the air between them, though, and Dash knew from experience that Dr. Pineal's shield spell packed quite the electrical punch.

She [i]also[/i] knew after so long in therapy that she only reacted this strongly when she had a good reason. Backing off, Dash settled to the floor. "Sorry, doctor, but I...I don't think that's the case. I mean, yeah, after the Cutie Mark Crusaders started building their catapults and their bungee jumping courses and all that, I had a few fantasies where all three of them were tying me up and forcing me to do them. But for seven years now, regularly, it's always been centered on Scootaloo."

The realization fed that little spark she'd wanted to douse earlier, warmth tickling Dash's middle for the first time in hours. Reaching, then, she tried to find words in the jumble of her head to explain it. "She'll never be old is the thing, not if she lives as long as Granny Smith. She's...she's eternal, the perfect mix of fire and air like me, but...but she's earth and water, too, since she spends all her time on the ground." She had to wince. "Or maybe it's just as simple and awful as that. She'll always be a foal in my eyes 'cause she'll never fly."

The doctor said nothing, but Dash wasn't really expecting her to, another thought busily popping up. "But I...I don't fantasize at all about Dinky or Flurry Heart or the Cake twins, do I?"

Cocking her head, Dr. Pineal flipped back through her little notebook. "I don't find any mention of them here."

Dash could only blink, something as wispy as a summer morning's mist floating in her chest. "But...if I was a regular sort of pedophile, I...I [i]would[/i], wouldn't I? Isn't that how ponies like me work?"

Dr. Pineal sat forward. "As you said, Dash, it's your actions where you have a choice, and you made some definite and defining choices out in the forest today. You still need to be extremely careful and watch yourself every waking hour, but I don't mind saying that I'm very proud of the progress you've made."

It took a couple breaths before Dash could get enough air into her lungs to push words out. "Then...this might not be the end? For me and Scootaloo?"

The glow of her horn folded her notebook closed, and Dr. Pineal sat back. "Today's events have certainly changed your relationship, but only the two of you can decide how. As you said, being her friend is the most important thing right now, and if you can do that—and I mean [i]really[/i] do that—that'll help both of you the most."

With a sigh, Dash shook her head. "What we need around here are more monster attacks: the [i]other[/i] kind of monster, I mean, the kind that aren't like me. That's the kind I know how to deal with."

"Hmmm." Dr. Pineal's notebook came open again. "Even after what happened today, you still feel that you qualify as a monster?"

That made Dash snort. "More than ever."

Not looking away from her, Dr. Pineal scratched something on the pad with her pencil. "And why is that?"

Dash spread her forelegs. "For all these years, I could tell myself that I had to be extra careful around Scootaloo 'cause she was a sweet, innocent little kid. Now that I know she's a monster, too, well, why am I being extra careful around her again?"

The doctor got very still. "That's a good question, Dash. Why [i]are[/i] you being extra careful around her?"

In the silence, Dash concentrated on the in and out of her breath. She knew the answer, of course, knew that, no matter what happened tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that, the answer to that question was always the same if she was going to have friends and call herself a pony and not turn into Tirek or Chrysalis or Sombra. "Because it's the right thing to do, doctor." She shrugged. "For the next three years, eight months, and twenty-two days, I mean. After that?" The warmth wanted to flicker brighter in her chest, but she made a little mental whirlwind to suck the air away and keep it guttering low. "Well, me and Scoots both gotta get there first, don't we?"

Standing, Dash nodded and started for the door. "Which means I'll see you like usual on Tuesday."