Life's Lessons

A lone and frail leaf detached itself from a tree and made its way down to earth in the burnt autumn sky. Many others did the same as the cold breeze blew them over the hill’s edge, down onto a small dirt road that was completely lifeless at this time of evening. The quiet sound of the sunset breeze also worked its way across the small dirt road on the outskirts of a small earth pony village, far out in the land of Equestria.

Within this quiet part of the village, the soft sounds of hoofsteps made themselves known. The hooves belonging to a small orange filly who was quietly making her way over the fallen leaves, trotting to her final destination. To any normal pony it would seem as though the filly was just enjoying a stroll around town, but in her mind she was contemplating her final actions. Whether she wanted to or not, she couldn't back out now, this was going to be her final stand… she just wished somepony cared.

It was all the filly had ever wanted in her life, she found it a mockery that most ponies took it for granted. She'd always longed for that sense of care...that sense of security... that sense of love, that's all the filly wanted; yet it was something that was always out of her reach. The little filly slowed down her trotting, she stopped and turned to the dirt road behind her. She sighed heavily when she couldn’t see anypony coming after her... she wished they were. Lifting her eyes slightly she spotted the distant town through the low clouds; a lone tear made its way down the fillies cheek before she turned back to the road and started trotting again, knowing it would all be over soon.

...Meanwhile

Rainbow Dash was flying across the small earth pony town known as Ponyville as she finished off her evening weather duties, leaving Flitter and Cloudchaser to finish off the rest of the cloud moving around town. She was now heading off to meet with her friends at Twilight’s library for their weekly get together. The cyan mare dashed through the town merely dodging market stalls and various buildings, not taking long for the tomboyish mare to reach the famous Golden Oaks Library near to the center of town.

Landing squarely on the front step of the large oak tree house, the mare put on her trademark smirk before knocking on the door a few times and waiting for a response. The library door was suddenly surrounded in a purple aura, opening to reveal a lavender mare with purple and magenta mane. She smiled warmly at her friend. “Hello Rainbow Dash, come on in.” she said happily, as she let the rainbow maned pony into the library.

Dash walked in and saw the rest of her friends sitting in various places around the main living area of the tree house. She smiled, turning back to the unicorn. “Thanks Twi, I thought Spike would be opening the door?” she asked quizzically, before looking back and making her way over to the wooden couch to sit next to her friends.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, he’s out helping Sweetie Belle and Applebloom with something,” she replied, coming over to the five other ponies in the living room of the library.

Dash threw a questionable look towards Twilight, “Why is Spike helping them?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The lavender mare was quick to respond. “Well they came over a few minutes ago to ask if we’d seen Scootaloo. When we said we hadn’t, they told us that they needed help on some crusade,” Twilight explained with a grin as she sat down next to Pinkie Pie on the floor; who was currently occupied with the cake tray that had been placed on the small wooden coffee table.

Dash was confused by the mare’s words. “You mean Scootaloo’s missing?!” she asked with a slightly worried expression.

The purple mare shook her head quickly; trying to calm her loyal friend down. “Not that I know of, she’s probably been ill or something.” she answered, hoping her rationalism could tame the cyan mare.

To Twilight's relief Rainbow nodded understandably. “Yeah she probably is… just hope she’s okay though.” Rainbow said trailing off the last few words. She felt her gut swell, almost screaming at her to go and find the orange filly and make sure everything was okay. However, her mind kept her straight as she returned to her original posture and continued her conversation with the group.

...On the outskirts of Ponyville

The little orange filly continued on her way down the path until she came up to a red building, which was surrounded by foliage and had a golden bell at the top. The word Schoolhouse was engraved above the doorway. The orange filly trotted next to the side of the building and ran a hoof along the slightly worn wood. It didn’t take long before the filly arrived at her final destination - the School playground. The filly sighed and trotted over to the bench, where she would sit with her friends during school lunch times, the place where many happy memories were made. The orange filly took the time to sit on the bench and contemplate her thoughts and feelings. Looking up to the fading sky as it made way for night. She had a feeling that this day would come and a part of her asked why she didn’t get it over with, but one last glimmer of hope stopped her from completing her final mission, forcing her to wait in hope that maybe somepony would care - she sighed again and sat there waiting for the inevitable…

...Back in Ponyville

Laughter could be heard from inside the Golden Oaks Library as six ponies conversed over drinks and food, Rainbow Dash had long since forgotten about her previous worries, although she still had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind about her number one fan.

A sudden knock startling the mares in the room, making them turn towards the red oak door. Twilight used her magic to opened the door which revealed Spike accompanied by two fillies; one with a white coat and the other with a yellow coat. They all looked completely worn out and were breathing heavily, this brought concern to the six mares in the room.

Applejack was first to speak. “Now why ya’ll are runnin’ round like a bunch of headless chickens?” she asked quizzically.

Gasping for breath Spike held up a hand, begging for a moment. Taking a couple more gasps of air he spoke, “We found...this...in the treehouse...it's for you Rainbow…. Dash.” the dragon explained before running out of air again as he returned to his heavy breathing and held out the letter. Twilight helped her assistant by levitating the letter from Spike to Rainbow, who eagerly took the letter which was indeed made out to her. With great speed the cyan mare ripped the top part of the letter open revealing its contents; she took out the letter and read the crudely drawn words on the parchment.

Dear Rainbow,

My life has been nothing but hollow and dark since I was born, I never got the things that most normal ponies take for granted. I wish I had normal wings and a normal life and a normal home, but I don't have any of that. If anything all I have is my friends, but they don't know the truth. Why you may ask? Because they wouldn’t care if I told them, just like any pony who wouldn’t care... no pony cares about me. I’m writing this because this is going to be my last words, I’ve had enough of this horrible world which has no love and no care for a pony with no purpose in life. I know I’ll probably never find my cutie mark because of these stupid wings and I know I’m never going to come home after being bullied by Diamond Tiara and get at least some sort of comfort, but before I go I wanted to give you this letter to tell you that you are the only pony who made me feel wanted, you gave me hope and inspiration and someone who I felt I could talk to, but you never had time for me and every day, I feel more like an annoyance to you rather than a friend. But with you I hold my best memories and that's why I wanted you to know the truth.

I’m an orphan, I’ve been one ever since I was born. I lived in Trottingham’s home for girls, but I was heavily bullied because of my wings. So I ran, hoping I could find someplace nice, someplace I could find that special pony who would make this all go away. My legs finally stopped one night and then I woke up just outside Ponyville. I enrolled myself into school and that's how I got here, not that you probably care at all. I get money from bits I find scattered around town and I live on the alleyway behind Mr and Mrs Cake’s store.

I guess that leaves you with my whole life story, kinda ironic I'm only seven years of age and my life's already been that bad. So why haven't I ended it already you may ask? Well it was you Rainbow, you brought me the closest to the security and love that I wanted and it kept me going every day because I got to see you every day, but that was just it, I was to close yet not close enough. I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I loved the time we spent together. It was just like having a sister, but times have changed and I’ve made up my mind... I just hope you can all forgive me.

Scootaloo

Staring at the letter in utter shock Rainbow Dash scanned it over again quickly; spotting the visible tear marks that had stained the page and seemed to wrinkle the paper. Looking up to her friends she noticed they were all staring at her in shock. Rainbow soon realized that the tear marks hadn’t been from Scootaloo, but had been from herself. She quickly turned to face the two fillies. Seeing that they hadn’t moved from their position at the door she quickly spoke up, “Girls, is there anywhere at all that Scootaloo hangs out by herself!?” she asked, her voice now in a pleading tone.

Both fillies pondered quickly as everypony - and dragon - in the room waited tensely for their answer. Finally, after a short while Sweetie Belle broke the silence, “I think she likes going to the school playground sometimes, usually when she’s waiting for one of us to meet her.” the little filly said knowingly as Applebloom nodded in agreement.

Before anypony could argue there was a loud boom and a shattering of glass as a blaze of cyan and rainbow blasted out of the library’s window obliterating it to pieces as the cyan pony darted into the sky. Twilight turned to the rest of the ponies all looking at the broken window in awe. “So what do you think that was?” she asked in a concerned tone that was for a few reasons. One, because Rainbow Dash never cries and two, because Rainbow never panics. This caused all the ponies to wonder what the problem was.

Fluttershy was the first to speak up, “Do you think Scootaloo’s in trouble… they are like sisters um.. kinda.”

Everypony gasped as the realization of the orange filly being in trouble hit them; both cutie mark crusaders looked at each other in distress, while Pinkie Pie burst out in wails. Soon the whole library was sent into a fit of chaos when Twilight suddenly shouted, “Quiet!” This sudden outburst caused everypony in the room to come to a halt as the lavender mare continued. “Okay, everypony lets just calm down.” she said lowering her tone as everypony started to relax. She soon started up again, “We just need to calm down and wait for Rainbow to sort things out.” Twilight said as everypony became silent; leaving the intensity in the room to rise again as they waited eagerly to see what had happened.

Rainbow Dash flew high above the clouds before hovering around; as she desperately searched for the location of the little filly. She spied the bell of the school building peeking out of the low cloud layer as she dashed off in said direction. “Please be okay Scoots.” Dash whispered to herself as she pushed her wings harder; blazing through the night sky.

...A few moments earlier

The school playground was utterly silent, Scootaloo watched the moon rise in the night sky for one final time. She felt another tear etch its way down her cheek as the realization struck - no pony was coming for her. Feeling her stomach swell as a large part of her brain started to worry about what she was about to do. The little filly pulled herself up from the bench as she made her way over to the red building. There was a green hose pipe which was used for watering the school plants, it had been left next to the water pipe. Taking the item in both hooves Scootaloo examined it before gripping it tightly and walking away from the building. Once again, she trotted up to the swing set at the far side of the playground. Scootaloo’s whole body began to tense up as the fear of death crept in, she felt the journey to the end of the playground take for what seemed like forever. When she finally got to the swings she checked the night sky a final time for any signs of life. Seeing there wasn’t anything she turned back to her task and set to climbing up to the top of the swing set.

Once the orange Pegasus had climbed the short distance to the top of the swing set, she wrapped the hose tightly around the top bar of the swings before making a noose for herself. The filly stopped before looking at the circular shape. She felt more tears escape her eyelids. Scootaloo never wanted it to come to this in life, but she wasn’t going to stop now, ‘no pony cares about you, your a no pony!’ a distant yet memorable voice at the back of the small fillies mind spoke as she put the makeshift noose around her neck and tightened it, bracing herself for the inevitable.

“Goodbye world.” Scootaloo said to herself, she was about to take her hind legs off the top bar when a noise caught her attention.

Rainbow Dash soared over the dense fog as she made her way to the schoolhouse, bracing herself for what she might find as she landed just outside the entrance of the school. The entrance that was barely visible from the layer of mist that covered the ground. The cold burnt breeze made its way into the cyan mare’s nostrils as she gingerly made her way to the side of the school. She could feel her breathing start to shake as she trotted up to the school playground.

Checking for any signs of Scootaloo, Rainbow moved over to the bench and put her hooves on the wood. Feeling the warmth that radiating from it meant that somepony had been here very recently. Suddenly, a sound in the distance made the cyan mare turn to see a black figure in the mist. Quietly, she trotted closer until the moon rose behind the cloud layer, like a big shining beacon it shone down on the playground, lighting the world around the rainbow maned mare. Her eyes widened when she saw the filly standing on top of a set of swings with a some sort of object wrapped tightly around her neck.

Dash shouted, “Scootaloo!” This caused the filly to turn around to face the cyan mare.

Scootaloo turned to the voice and saw the shocked and slightly distressed cyan mare standing not to far away from where she was positioned. “Rainbow Dash?” she said silently. Just then Scootaloo felt her hind leg slip on the iron bar - she screamed.

Rainbow Dash launched herself forward as she felt time seem to slow down. She watched the filly fall - flaying her hooves in the air. Scootaloo then looked towards her idol, Dash felt a wrench in her heart. She needed to get to the filly, the filly that meant so much to her, the filly that meant more to Rainbow than she would ever know.

Suddenly, Scootaloo felt time stop, she saw darkness and felt numb. Slowly, but surely, she felt time speeding back up. She opened her eyes to see the Rainbow, her idol and the one she felt the closest bond with holding her tightly in an embrace. Scootaloo could feel tears rolling off the side of her shoulder, looking up she saw Rainbow Dash’s muzzle buried deep within her fur as the cyan mare let her tears fall. Scootaloo felt her heart soar as she came to terms with what had just happened. Rainbow did care for her, she was concerned about her… she loved her. It was at that point Scootaloo felt her own tears well up, as she too started to cry and nuzzled into Dash’s chest.

After a few seconds Rainbow spoke, “Don’t you ever think of trying that again Scoots!” she said in a shaky voice as she held the filly close. Rainbow took the makeshift noose off Scootaloo’s neck and threw it away in disgust before going back to holding the filly tightly. The two Pegasi cried their hearts out until both their furs were matted together.

Scootaloo smiled beneath Dash’s fur as she cried tears of joy. She finally felt the feeling of being loved, that feeling she had been searching for all of her life, and now she finally had it. Slowly but surely she let go of the cyan mare and trotted back a few paces before wiping a few tears from her muzzle then spoke, “Rainbow Dash, d-do you-”

She was cut off as a wing suddenly wrapped itself around her and pulled her in tighter as Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Of course I do kid, Of course I care for you. I-It’s just I didn’t know the truth.” Rainbow explained.

Scootaloo started to feel the guilt in her chest. “I’m sorry Dash-” she said before a hoof made contact with her mouth. Dash grinned. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything Scoots, I-I should have seen it sooner; from now on I’m gonna be there for you Squirt, and those bullies better start runnin’ when they see me!” the cyan Pegasus said proudly as she ruffled the little filly’s mane.

Scootaloo smiled hugging her idol back as the overwhelming feeling began to tire her out as she felt her eyelids slowly come to a close once more.

Rainbow Dash smiled when she realized the filly had fallen asleep. leaning down to softly nuzzle the filly’s cheek she whispered in her ear. “Don’t you worry Scoots, we’re gonna do this together, my little sister.” she said before putting the snoozing filly on her back as she launched off into the air.

Rainbow knew that taking on this task would be easier said than done, she knew there were going to have to be many changes to her current role in life and her current dreams; but if she was anything like her element she knew that this came first. She would do everything to give her little sister the valuable lessons of life.