“Ms Dash, I must insist”
“Rainbow Dash, you have to answer the police pony”
“C’mon RD, just tell them what happened”
“Don’t worry Dashie. Just tell them and it’ll be over”
“Rainbow, I’m afraid you must talk”
“Um, Rainbow? You might get into trouble if you….”
Rainbow Dash stared at her hooves, turning them over, ignoring the stupid, pointless babble around her. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now.
Gone
She couldn’t believe it. It wouldn’t sink in.
Murderer, murderer….
A little voice chanted the hateful word over and over. She put her hooves over her ears.
“Go away…”
“Rainbow Dash?”
“SHUT UP!”
Her friends stared at her, shocked by her sudden outburst. Twilight stood up and spoke quietly to the police pony. He nodded grudgingly and left.
“Rainbow”
She looked up.
“We need to know where Scootaloo is. Can you tell us?”
Rainbow shook her head. Twilight put her head in her hooves in desperation. Silence filled the room.
“Dead”
“What!?”
“She’s……. dead.” More silence
“And it’s all my fault…”
“Come on Squirt! You can do it!”
“Ri- right”
Scootaloo clamped the rope tightly in her mouth, reaching up her hooves to adjust her crash helmet. The distance between her and the ground seemed to lengthen as she stepped forward.
“Rainbow Dash?”
She nodded. Scootaloo took a deep breath- and jumped. Her wings buzzed uselessly as she fell. The world slowed down. Her mane rippled in slow waves, Rainbow Dash’s cry seemed to stretch out, rebounding through the sky. But she found her wings slowly starting to flap, her body twisting round in the air as she flew. She finally flew! The world sped up again as she relished in the freedom of flight. Her eyes watered in the cold, fast moving air. Rainbow’s delighted laughter was just audible over the wind.
“You did it! You did it! You can fly!”
You can fly.
Those words seemed like the highest of compliments. Real tears welled up in the fillies eyes as she soared-
SLAM!
A dizzying impact to the side of her face. Her wings suddenly sped up, returning the desperate buzzing of before. They weren’t strong enough.
The fall was surprisingly relaxing. The air was cool and Scootaloo felt almost the same freedom as before. Her panic banished, she raised her eyes upwards.
“SCOOTALOOOOO!!”
Rainbow stared out of the window. Heavy rain pattered on the glass like stones. Twilight was the first to speak.
“What hit her?”
A long pause
“A bird”
“Wh- what!” Fluttershy stammered.
“A stupid, useless bird!”
“You don’t –“
“IT ENDED HER LIFE!!”
Tears streamed down the yellow pegasus’s face.
“I’m… so…” She couldn’t finish
Rainbow walked to the window, laying a hoof on it. She stared at the sky.
“I’m sorry everypony”
The fresh air was welcome to rainbow’s befuddled mind. The rain seemed to have got worse. Sheets of water poured from the sky like someone was pouring a bucket down upon Ponyville.
Nearly there
Scootaloo’s body had fallen in the middle of and tiny field on the outskirts of the town. Windswept, due to its position, but a peaceful place. A stone sat in the middle, marking the place where the young Pegasus had died. Died. Dead.
“SCOOTALOOOOO!!”
The name rang through the peaceful afternoon, shattering the sky with its volume and passion. The rainbow- maned Pegasus shot towards the filly, who was losing height rapidly. A million thoughts rushed through her mind. Catch her must catch her she’s going to die without her cutie mark, it’s my fault, my fault… scootaloo im coming im coming ill save you scootalooooo……….
Why didn’t she call the police? Why was she so foolish? Her parents noticed her disappearance and started to worry. It turned out Rainbow was the last pony seen with her, and now she was in this mess. Rainbow laid her hoof on the stone.
“I’m sorry scootaloo. Im so, so sorry”
The rain seemed to soften slightly, causing the mare to look up. Far, far away, in the dark blanket of the sky, a star shone for Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash walked down the almost deserted streets of ponyville, a basket clutched in her mouth.
Her magenta eyes scanned the market stalls, searching vaguely for the items she wanted. It’d been two years since the death of Scootaloo and it still hurt. Her hoofsteps seemed to echo on the street. She should be flying
Rainbow wiped that thought from her mind.
“Wind’s strong today”
Rainbow struggled across the wind beaten ground, her multi-coloured mane blowing in her face. The stone stood serenely in front of her, as if it had been awaiting her arrival. When she finally reached the grave, she realised that laying flowers there would be impossible, they would just get blown away.
“Hi Scoots “ Her voice seemed husky. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“Hey squirt! How ya doing?” No! Now she just sounded stupid. Scoots would be twelve now, she deserved better.
“Scootaloo. Uh- I hope you’re ok, y’know being dead and all” Her voice trailed off. No! I have to try.
“Um… Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are really missing you. They- they want to say thanks for being such a good friend. And me… well I wanna know if youre doing ok in paradise. I wonder if there are other fillies there.” Her eyes travelled to the ground at her hooves.
“Scootaloo”
“Ms Dash?” She turned quickly. A group of uniformed ponies surveyed her.
“Your time is up. Raise your hooves, we need to check you”
“They’re just flowers!” He looked her over.
“That may be so, but we need to check you just in case” She sighed.
“Look, I know you think I’m trying to break out, but why would I want to? Everypony knows what I did, and some think worse. Some ponies think I buried her when she was alive. Some think I killed her on purpose, by pushing her off the cloud. Some even think I let her die! I ask you, why would I do that!”
“Rainbow Dash…“
“I’m done with this!”
“Rainbow Dash!”
…
“What?!”
“Scotaloo isn’t dead.”
“What?”
“We should never have let her out of hospital” muttered a stallion
“What do you mean?!”
The stallion’s expression became slightly more gentle.
“Rainbow Dash, you’ve been in Ponyville Psychiatric hospital since you were a little filly. Scootaloo doesn’t exist.”
Rainbow stumbled. Fly away… away… away
Her wings wouldn’t open. They weren’t there.
“My wings!”
The doctor sighed.
“Not this again. You don’t have wings Rainbow Da-“
“NO!”
“Calm down, please-”
“MY WINGS! NO!”
“Rainbow Dash, please-“
“I can Fly”
