Rainbow Dash never really appreciated how lucky she was. Little did she know, that in just a few hours, she would discover just how well of she was.
Rainbow Dash soared though the air, simply enjoying the great pleasures of flying. The wind in her mane, the way that her wings, combined with the wind, effortlessly lifted her off the ground. She loved every moment of it. Sure, she was kinda meant to be working, but it's not like it would take her long to kick a few clouds, so why not have a little fun beforehand?
She was about to turn around to get to work, but something caught her eye. She had no idea why, but something compelled her to go and investigate.
Fate really wanted her to get yelled at by her boss today.
She flew a little closer, to find that the "thing" that had caught her eye was in fact a Who, and this particular Who was trailing towards the orphanage just out of town, as though every step pained them.
Come to think of it, it probably did. The orphanage wasn't to far away for Dash, but by the looks of things, the who had probably been in Ponyville. This Who was just a young foal, and had probably walked a good few miles to get where they were now.
Rainbow Dash lowered herself so that she could ask this foal if she wanted a ride back to the orphanage, to see that this Who was... Scootaloo?
Rainbow had to investigate now. There was no two ways about it. She dived down towards the ground, and landed neatly infront of Scootaloo.
"Hey, Scoots! Wha'cha doing around here?" She tried to sound normal, an endeavor that was hard for her to pull of in he current circumstances.
"Oh, uh... Hey! I was just... Making my way home! We live a bit out of town, so..." Scootaloo sounded as though she wasn't even trying to be nonchalant.
"Well, how about I give you a ride? It must be a really long way from here, judging by the way you're walking." Said Rainbow Dash. She knew that is Scootaloo passed this up, there was definitely something up.
"N-no, that's fine! It's not to far away now!"
This was not exactly a lie.
"Well, at least let me walk you home. There are all sorts of shady ponies around here, and who knows your parents would do to me if something happened because I wasn't the responsible adult I should be?" When Dash had ever been a responsible adult was not something she wished to be brought up right now.
"My parents don't like it when I bring strangers into the house." Whoa! That was a good one!
"Well, I won't be a stranger if you let me introduce myself."
Wrong move.
Scootaloo burst into tears "Just leave me alone!" And she ran away from Dash.
Dash mentally kicked herself. She had sworn ever since she had met Scootaloo to never make her upset, and now she had actually driven her to tears. And it wasn't like she was a sensitive filly like Sweetie Belle, either. Scootaloo hardly ever cried.
She wasn't going to give up, though. She was going to find out what Scootaloo was hiding from her, though she had a sneaking suspicion she already knew.
She flew upwards, but not so high that she couldn't see what was going on beneath her. Then came the hard part. Hiding.
It was hard enough for a mare like Dash to hide anyway, but this time around she needed to find a spot no more than a few feet from where she was, where she could still see relatively clearly. Luckily for her, though, there was a tree not so far away. She nestled inside it, so that the branches covered her, but still so that she could clearly see out of the masses of leaves.
Scootaloo appeared from behind a building, looked around, and entered the orphanage.
Rainbow Dash was filled with sadness for the little filly. She couldn't imagine her childhood without her family. If it weren't for her big brother and father, she wouldn't have learned to fly. If it weren't for her mother, she wouldn't have learned to dream big. How Scootaloo was coping was truly beyond her.
Rainbow Dash stood before a desk at the orphanage. The plump mare behind it was far from intimidating, but for some reason, Dash had to summon all of her courage to walk up to it.
"How may I help you?" Said the mare. her voice was fruity and feminine, just the sort of voice that any orphan would want to hear on their first day at the orphanage. Heck, on any day at the orphanage.
"Um... Hey, I wanna see Scootaloo?" Whether this was a suitable way to ask to see a child was also beyond Dash.
The mare smiled and said, "Of course you may, but I'm afraid I'm going to ask a few questions first." She rummaged around in a drawer for a while, and eventually produced a piece of paper.
"What race is Scootaloo?"
"Pegasus." Easy question.
"When is Scootaloo's birthday?"
"7th of January, right?"
"And how old is Scootaloo?"
"Eleven?"
"Absolutely. Let me show you to her room."
The two trotted up the stairs, and made their way to the door at the end of the corridor.
The mare knocked on the door.
"Scootaloo? You have a visitor."
Two large purple eyes peeped through the half open door.
"I'll leave you two alone."
Scootaloo sighed.
"Well, I guess you know now."
She gestured for Dash to come in.
The room was small, and had little to see in it. Along one wall was a brass bed, and on another was a bookcase. The books were untouched, apart from seven.
"You like Harry Trotter, then?"
Scootaloo blushed.
"I'm going to have to try them out sometime."
Rainbow Dash couldn't hold it back any longer.
"Why didn't you tell me, Scoots?"
"I was scared! I didn't want anyone else too know! I was embarrassed! Everyone else had a place to call home, were ponies loved them!"
"Scootaloo... I love you..."
Scootaloo started to sob again.
"And you should know that you're always welcome at my house..."
Tears were positively flowing down Scootaloo's cheeks now.
"The very thought of a house is heaven for me." Scootaloo managed to choke out between sobs.
"How come?"
Stupid question.
"I guess I better tell you whole story. When I was I really little foal, my dad worked at some sort of factory, and my mom stayed at home to take care of me. Then one day, my dad came back from work looking real sad-" Scootaloo burst into a fresh flood of tears.
"You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to." Comforted Dash.
"No, you need to know. Anyway, and my mom and dad talked into the next room for a while, and then they came out again, and my mom was real sad as well. My dad said that his work had stopped, and that we weren't going to be getting anymore money. At first, I didn't think it was a big deal. I went around Ponyville doing jobs for other ponies to earn some money to give to my dad. But then some stallions in suits came and said that we were homeless now. We had to leave the house. For a few months, we lived on the street. Sometimes ponies would give us money, or take us all to Gustav Le Grande's. But then my dad got real sick. They said it was Tob- Tub -Tib-"
"Tuberculous?" suggested Dash.
"That's the one. And then one day he went to Sugarcube Corner to see if they had any leftovers for us. We waited a really long time, and then Mrs. Cake came along and spoke to my mom. My mom came back after a while, and said that my dad had gone to heaven. The next day, my mom took me to the orphanage-" Scootaloo could barely carry on for tears.
"She said that she was going to meet my dad in heaven real soon, and she didn't want me to be sad when she did. I lost all contact with her after that. I wrote her letters for the first few days, but I never got a reply, so I gave up. I'm pretty sure that she died."
"Scootaloo... You should have told me..."
"Are you mad at me?" Asked the young filly.
"No, I just wish you'd have told me sooner."
Rainbow Dash blinked away the tears in her eyes, and stood up.
"Pack your things, Scoots, you're staying at mine tonight."
"Really?!" Scootaloo said, her wings buzzing with excitement.
"Yep. And then we can sort something out in the morning."
"What do you mean, 'sort something out'?"
"Well, I know a really excellent Adopt-A-Sister organisation in Cloudsdale."
Scootaloo plummeted herself at Rainbow Dash and nuzzled her.
"You're the best sister ever, Rainbow Dash."
The very words warmed Rainbow Dash to the very soul.
Author's Note
Here you go! This should be better than some of my other fics, since Scootalove is more my forte, but there are probably tons of holes in the bit where Dash is checking into the orphanage, since I've never even been to an orphanage.
