On Azure Wings

Rainbow Dash sat on a plush cloud overlooking Sweet Apple Acres, watching the sunset. Vivid reds, oranges, and yellows emitted by the falling sun splashed across the panorama before her, contrasting with the dimming blue sky. Vibrantly coloured leaves floated in the still air, lazily piling in the grass below. Autumn was one of Rainbow Dash’s favourite seasons, and she was eagerly anticipating the Running of the Leaves that was now only a week away. It would finally give her another chance to show Applejack who was really the greatest athlete in all of Equestria. She could almost taste her inevitable victory, and grinned as she imagined the look on the country mare’s face when she bested her at her own sport.

Rainbow Dash’s weather duties had ended earlier than normal today, all she had to do was buck the clouds just right to elicit a light drizzle over the farmlands to water the crops, and prepare the clouds for a warm afternoon. Once, there was a time when she wouldn’t have cared much for the sunset, but being around her friends had helped her appreciate the simple beauty in things. Maybe Fluttershy was rubbing off on her.

Dash’s ears perked up, walking down the orchard’s path below her was a familiar orange filly with a purple mane. Scootaloo’s head was hung low, her ears folded back. She was crying.

Rainbow Dash leapt off her cloud, and floated down to the filly. Her brow furrowed in concern, she hardly ever saw Scootaloo cry. Whatever it was, it must’ve been serious. “Hey kid, what’s wrong?” she asked gently, landing beside her.
Scootaloo looked up at her, blinking back the tears that were burning in her eyes. “O – Oh, Rainbow Dash. I was just, admiring the leaves,” she stammered, barely choking out the words.

Dash frowned, clearly unconvinced. “Scootaloo, don’t you lie to me,” she said sternly. “Whatever’s bothering you, I promise I’ll understand.”

“You could never understand!” the filly shouted. Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the filly pushed past her, galloping into the orchard and leaving a stunned Rainbow Dash behind her.

Dash had been searching for Scootaloo in the seemingly endless orchards of Sweet Apple Acres for hours. Part of her was angry that she had run off on her like that, but she knew that whatever was bothering Scootaloo was serious. She was just too stubborn to ask for help. In all the years she had known the filly she had never acted like this, and Dash was never one for subtlety when it came to solving problems. The night was almost still but freezing cold, silent save for the faint rustling of leaves and forest animals. She scratched her head with a hoof and wondered how Applejack was able to navigate these fields without getting lost during late night harvests. Then she saw a faint orange glow illuminate in the distance. Somepony was at the Cutie Mark Crusader tree house. She took off for it, praying Scootaloo was there.

Scootaloo huddled in a corner of the treehouse, shivering under the ragged blanket she had carried with her in her saddlebag. Scattered on the floor around her was the entirety of her possessions – a neatly wrapped cupcake, the cutie mark crusader dress that she had now grown out of, her riding helmet and goggles, and the damning eviction notice. She squeezed her eyes shut, futilely trying to shut out the screaming inside her head, and the endless replay of painful memories from just a few hours ago.

The bully, a brown coloured Pegasus colt named Gnasher, glared at the cowering foal at his hooves. “That’s a nice necklace you’ve got there,” he sneered, pointing a hoof at the fire ruby hanging from her neck. “I bet it’s worth a lot. Give it to me.”

“N – NO!” she stammered, backing away from him. “Please. My mother gave it to me, before she died. It’s all I have left to remember her! It was a birthday present!”

“Oh, now I really want it,” the Pegasus chuckled wickedly, advancing on her. The foal backed up against the wall, screaming for help. Nopony answered her pleas, the sooner one learnt stay out of Gnasher’s way, the better. “It’ll sell for quite a price at the markets.”

“Hey, Scootaloo, look.”

Scootaloo was roused from eating a daffodil sandwich by her unicorn friend, Syrup. The little Pegasus followed the young colt’s pointing hoof to gaze at the other side of the orphanage’s playground. The colts and fillies were backing away cautiously, or trying to pretend that nothing was happening. “It’s Gnasher again. He’s picking on the new kid.”
Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m just glad he’s letting up on us, he’s been taking my food for weeks,” Syrup said. His stomach growled as if in agreement. Wordlessly Scootaloo leapt off the playground bench and cantered to the other side of the playground, seething. Gnasher had been tormenting foals every since he arrived, and nopony had done a thing about it. Not even the caretakers, who conveniently were never around when he acted like this. The poor filly was young, she’d lost her parents, and now this monster was going to take away the only thing that she had to remember them by to add insult to injury.
Not this time.

“Scootaloo? Scootaloo are you crazy!?” Syrup exclaimed, galloping in front of her. “You can’t just -” Scootaloo shoved him aside.

The foal screamed as Gnasher wrenched the necklace from the foal’s neck with his teeth. The filly broke into choking sobs
.
“Give. That. Back.”

Gnasher turned. Scootaloo stood behind him, her wings unfurled threateningly. “Ex-cuuuse me?” he growled, advancing on her. His eyes narrowing. “Did you just talk to me, little filly? Because it sounded like you talked, but I didn’t give you permission to.”

Scootaloo gulped, the colt was bigger, stronger than her. She felt as if her brain had frozen. Her survival instincts screamed at her to run away.

“Well, did you!?” the colt demanded, towering over her. A tense silence broke over the schoolyard, the other ponies stopped playing. All their eyes were on her. Scootaloo said nothing as he stared her down, her head hung. Her nerve broke. Why would she risk getting hurt for a total stranger? Nopony messed with Gnasher for a reason - he was unnaturally well built for a Pegasus, and he never got caught by the adults. Gnasher smirked. “I didn’t think so.”

Scootaloo grit her teeth, flushing with shame. What would Rainbow Dash do?
“I said,” she spoke, raising her head to face him. Her eyes seethed with rage. “Give. It. Back!”

The ponies around her gasped in shock. Nopony ever spoke against Gnasher. “You must’ve hit your head pretty hard, Scoot,” he said. “What do you care for this foal? She’s not your friend.”

“I’m not leaving till you give it back.”

“Fine,” the colt snarled, turning away from her. “I’ll make you!” he bucked at her with all his might. Scootaloo grit her teeth as pain exploded through her breast, her world tipping upside down as she hit the playground floor with an agonising thud. She rolled to her hooves, only in time to see the angry colt flying towards her. His brutish head slammed into her nose, sending her sprawling on her back.

Scootaloo fought to catch her breath, coughing and tasting blood in her mouth. Gnasher advanced on the spluttering filly, a wicked grin on his face. The other orphans shrank back in fear, thankful that at least they weren’t the target of his attention.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a Pegasus,” Gnasher growled, standing over her menacingly. “Consider yourself lucky you’re an orphan, no parent wants to see their kid grow up to be a loser.”

Scootaloo’s brain snapped. The colours of the world around her flushed out in a sea of red.
Scootaloo kicked out with all her might, her hoof slamming into Gnasher’s crotch with a painful squelch. The colt’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks as he keeled over clutching at his privates.

“Don’t you ever insult my family or I’ll end you!” Scootaloo screamed, annunciating each word with a stomp to his wings. She didn’t feel or hear anything but the blood pounding in her ears, she couldn’t even the screams of her fellow orphans.
Nor the crunch of shattering bone.

Everything else since then was a chaotic blur. The caretaker ponies had pulled her off him and restrained her. Gnasher was sent to the Ponyville hospital. Doctors found Scootaloo had shattered his wings in half a dozen places and broke the news that Gnasher may never fly again. There was no place in the Ponyville orphanage for violent fillies.
Scootaloo cursed. How could she have been stupid? In a blind fit of rage to defend a complete stranger, she had thrown away her home and the friends she had made there. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t feel, all she could do was shut her eyes and cry.

Rainbow Dash landed softly in the doorway of the clubhouse, the scooter parked outside was a clear sign that Scootaloo was here. Dash’s brow was furrowed angrily for running away from her, but her face softened when she saw she was crying so hard she didn’t even notice her.

Scootaloo looked up as she felt a comforting wing reach over her. Her eyes widened, shocked that Dash had been searching all night for her. Then again the mare was stubborn like that. “Hey, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said softly, smiling down at her. “It’s alright, I’m here now. When you’re ready, please tell me what’s wrong.”
A good few minutes passed before Scootaloo was able to talk again, she wiped the tears from her face. Rainbow Dash smiled down at her reassuringly, she was sure she could help her get through whatever was bothering her.
“I’m an orphan, and I’m homeless.”

Except that. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, a lump forming in her throat. She didn’t know what to say. She had known Scootaloo for four years now and all this time, had no idea she had no parents. Then she realized the damning bits of evidence now started to come together – Scootaloo calling in sick on Family Appreciation Day, refusing to having Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle over at her place (attributing it to strict and protective parents), and the filly always being alone. Dash fought down the rising guilt. Scootaloo looked up to her so much, and yet she had done nothing for her except treat her like a nuisance.

“I – I’m so sorry Scootaloo,” Dash said earnestly, hugging her. “I had no idea.”

“It’s not your fault. I was stupid,” Scootaloo whimpered. “I... I picked a fight with a bully and got kicked out of the orphanage.”
Dash’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not fair!” she exclaimed. “Bastard probably got what was coming to him. Why I ought to go down there and -”

“I broke his wings, Dash,” Scootaloo said, unable to bring herself to look at her idol. “He won’t ever fly again. I’ll never be able to go back now.”

“Scoots, I would’ve done the same thing,”Dash said, rising to her hooves. “But you know what? I wouldn’t let you go back even if you wanted to. It’s about time I started looking after my friends. From now on, you stay with me.”
Scootaloo’s smile was so wide that Dash was worried her face was going to split.