To Believe

Rain poured down from the sky onto the single cardboard box sitting at the side of the dirt road. The cold air around Scootaloo’s box, which she called home for the last few weeks of her life, chilled her to the bone as it passed by.

She curled herself up, pushing her body against the back of the box, hoping to stave off the stinging cold air. The wet shelter collapsed and the wind caused her to shiver and she whispered to herself, “Another night of nothing…”

She pulled herself out from under the crumpled box and onto the muddy road underneath the pouring rain. She looked up at the dark and gloomy sky, seeing nothing but shadows cast onto her from the roofs of the towering buildings beside her.

Rainbow Dash streaked through the air with a prismatic trail following her. Within her sight, another dark cloud appeared in front of her. Instinctively, she moved in for the kill, knowing that it was the last one before she could finally go home.

Kicking the cloud, Dash heard a loud ‘KABOOM’ and the scraping of brick against brick. She looked down and saw a shingle on one of the nearby roofs get knocked loose. Dash could only internally curse herself for not looking down beforehand.

Watching it slide down the roof, she huffed to herself, “Ugh. I better go get that.”

With a thrust from her wings, she flew towards where she had watched it fall off. Unfortunately, as she descended towards it, a sudden gust of wind picked it up and blew it speeding through the air. Dash grumbled as she gave chase.

Scootaloo looked down at her hooves and sighed. Hearing something move above her, she solemnly turned her head to see what the sound was.

SMACK.

A bright blinding pain filled her senses. Her eyes snapped shut as she stumbled back and tripped over her box into a mud puddle beside it. Unable to open her eyelids through the intense pain, she struggled to pull herself off of her back. Rolling in the mud beneath her, she was painted in pure brown.

She futilely tried to get out, but couldn’t. She sighed as mud started to seep into her mane and fur. She resigned herself to her fate as the cleaner-than-her substance slowly engulfed her body.

She let the void of her vision calm her as she thought about her friends and how they’ll take to never seeing her alive again. However much she wanted to resist the mud for her friends, she knew that she had no life out of suffering.

Not even the fond memories of the orphanage that took care of her when her family died could help her now. Wishing that she only helped more with the fundraising, maybe it would still be running… And she would still have a home.

A single, gleaming tear ran down her mud-soaked face as she thought about Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and most importantly… Rainbow Dash. Her only wish is that she could have been a better sister to her.

Maybe, she thought, I should have told her about everything and not have been so proud…”

She whimpered as her tiny frail body shook, “I’m sorry...”

Rainbow Dash flew down, internally scolding herself because of the paperwork she would have to fill out once she got back to work the next day.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Rainbow said as she smacked herself in the face with a hoof. Water dripped down her coat as she followed the shingle’s trajectory. Dash tried to shake herself dry as she flew, but she soon gave up after she felt herself losing control.

“This sucks!” Dash screamed in anger.

A bolt of lightning passed beside her, almost burning her mane right off. Rainbow stopped in her tracks, and yelled at the sky above her. “Hey feather-brain! Watch what you’re doing up there!”

There was no response from above. Dash felt like she deserved a belting to the face again for volunteering for the shift. It’s not like she needs the bits, she's never had money trouble, but it was just the right thing to do at the time. The weather team was desperately lacking ponies on account of better jobs opening elsewhere around Equestria. “Maybe I’m the dumb feather-brain.”

Flying over another street, Rainbow quickly scanned the mud covered path for the shingle. Before she dismissed the road as yet another failure, her eyes caught sight of her target. Though it was a quick sighting in the corner of her vision, a smile grew on her face as she was sure her hunt was over.

The harsh winds blew against her face, causing her to squint. Through the pouring downfall and the winds obscuring her vision, she spotted the shingle and flew over to it.

Slightly blown off course, she landed with a ‘CRUNCH’. She looked down at her hoof and sighed when she saw that she had landed on it and had smashed the shingle into multiple pieces.

“Great,” she whispered, “More paperwork.”

She contemplated leaving it for the next pony to find and was about to leave when she noticed an orange filly laying upside-down in a puddle. Her limbs were sprawled out and she seemed to be unconscious.

As she approached the filly, her eyes snapped open and she gasped, “S-Scoots?”

Unsure if it really was Scootaloo, she stepped closer and couldn’t turn away as she observed the scars on Scootaloo’s body and the thin trail of blood creeping down the side of her head.

Scootaloo’s eyes flickered open. The warmth of a nearby fire resonated throughout her entire body. She stared at the spot ahead of her and saw nothing but cloud and a blazing flame inside of a fireplace.

A dull ache bothered her as she lifted her head off the ground and scanned her surroundings. She turned just in time to see Rainbow Dash walk in from a doorway from across the room from her.

“Hey Squirt,” Rainbow Dash said as she trotted up to Scootaloo, “How’re you feeling.”

Scootaloo nervously answered, “I’m fine. Yes, completely fine!”

Dash came to a stop besides her and sat down. Facing Scootaloo, she continued, “I know everything's not alright. I found you outside in the rain and injured. Why were you out there?”

“I… uhhh. I was playing?”

“Everypony around Ponyville knew about the big storm. Why would you play outside in weather like that?”

“Errr, I was bored?”

Rainbow Dash extends her wing over Scootaloo and pulls her close, “I saw your box, Scoots. You don’t have to lie to me.”

A single tear flowed down Scootaloo’s face and she mushed her face into Rainbow Dash’s chest and cried out, “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I just didn’t want to be a burden on anypony!”

Dash slowly stroked Scootaloo’s mane as she sobbed into her fur. “It’s alright,” she whispered, “It’s going to be alright.”

Then Scoots knew, at that exact moment, that she would be okay…

Two years later…

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The whole attitude and mood floating around in the air of Sugarcube Corner was one of celebration. The whole building was packed full of ponies, many of which were new to Ponyville. Some were singing, some were laughing, but all were having fun.

Rainbow Dash placed the cake in front of Scootaloo. All of the ponies, including Scoots’ friends and Dash’s close family were singing, “Happy birthday, Scootaloo!”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom yelled out as the main crowd died down, “Happy birthday!”

Scootaloo grinned at friends while Rainbow Dash lit up the candles on the cake.

Once Rainbow Dash finished, she said, “Make a wish, Scootaloo!”

“I already had my wish come true!”

Scootaloo blew out the candles with joy.