"What the hay're you DOIN'?"
The three fillies looked up at the orange mare tipping her Stetson over her eyes. The cream and red blank-flanked filly stepped up first.
"AJ, whad'da ya mean? We're jus' doin' what we always be doin', findin' our cutie marks!"
The white unicorn and the orange pegasus joined in to chant, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, YAY!"
The barn was decorated like a cloud, with rainbows littering the walls. They had painted the walls, which Applejack should have expected, but still made her angry.
"Scootaloo... I know you like Rainbow Dash, but ah mean, really?"
At the mention of her name, the cyan pegasus swooped in to the barn.
"Hey, guys! Whoa, cool cloud room! Wait... what?"
"Rainbow, you see, I just wanted to..." Scootaloo stumbled. "I wanted to be able to... uh... live in a cloud, like you! At least, for a little while! I mean, you're so cool, and since I can't fly, I figured I would make my own cloud home! Um, yeah! This is... um... nothing other than that!"
"Well, it's cool, kid!"
"Awesome! I- I mean, um, cool. Yeah, that's cool."
"Y'all best clean this up, now! An' repaint these here walls!"
"Yes, Applejack..." the fillies sighed in unison.
"Rainbow Dash, can you stay?!?"
"Nah, I gotta fly. But I'll see you later, kid!"
"But..."
Scootaloo couldn't protest. Dash was gone, with only a rainbow colored cloud proving her presence. She flew off, just leaving Scootaloo sitting in the dust, tears building in her eyes, her idol having left her. Why couldn't Rainbow be her sister or something? Sweetie Bell had Rarity, Apple Bloom had Applejack... why was she so... alone?
Laying on the park bench under a small quilt, the only reminder of her family, Scootaloo trembled of depression. She couldn't get her family off her mind.
Scoots hadn't had a family in a long, long time. She remembered that night with vivid detail...
Running through the hall, eyes wet from being penetrated with ash, she screams at the top of her small filly lungs for her parents. All she hears is the crackle of the fire and some almost unintelligible pleas from her mommy and daddy to get out of the house. She didn't understand, but she never disobeyed her parents. Grabbing her hoof-made quilt, little Scootaloo rushed out of the house in time to feel a ball of fire erupt out of the doors and windows as the fire reached the basement where they kept the fluids for the stove, the heater, everything. She felt the extreme heat of it, but wasn't hurt by it. Somehow she knew it had helped her parents, they were in so much pain, but she didn't know how until later. The explosion had put them out of their misery.
Scootaloo woke up in a bed that felt like heaven- relative to her usual wooden bench, that is. She heard monotonous beeping and a strangely relaxing drip, drip of some sort of fluid coming from above her. She fluttered one eye open, then shut it immediately against the excruciating bright light.
"Hehe, eh, umm... I tried to get them to dim it, but at least you're awake now!" a rough, familiar chuckle filled Scoot's ears.
"Rah... Rainbow?" Her throat felt odd and numb, making her fear she would swallow her tongue. She giggled at the rhyme in her head, but the pegasus didn't notice.
"Yeah, kid. Do you remember what happened last night?" Dash asked, sitting next to the hospital bed, hoof-in-hoof with Scootaloo.
"Nah... not at all. I remember being so sad after... after you... umm, after I was alone. Yeah. Yeah, I remember being super sad then going to the par-" Scootaloo coughed. "Before going home, I mean, and going to bed."
"Kid, you don't have me fooled for a second! I found you laying on that bench, crying and whimpering about some fire before you let out this HUGE scream and passed out. I brought you here... you know, AFTER you woke up everypony in the area from Ponyville to Fillydelphia and outward! The doctor says you passed out 'cause you had some sort of mental breakdown, post-traumatic stress or something." Rainbow chuckled slightly.
"I'm sorry, Dash. I was just thinking abo-" Scootaloo stopped- not on her own accord- when she found a hoof covering her mouth.
"Scoots, chill. I'M sorry for freaking out and leaving you yesterday. I really over-reacted." Dash covered her eyes with her hooves, holding back sobs.
Finding her muzzle unblocked, Scoots blurted out the question she had been meaning to ask, but had forgotten what it was.
"Oh, Celestia! Where's my quilt?" Scootaloo broke down, an emotional wreck. "My quilt! Gramma LooLoo made it for me! NO, NO, NO, Nono no no NO! It CAN'T be gone!"
"Scootaloo, dear," Nurse Redheart entered the room. "We have your blanket, but I'm afraid that it... well, it could be in better condition."
As Scootaloo thought of the possible damage, two white unicorns trotted into the room.
"Scootaloo, my DAHR-ling! Oh, look at YOU! Oh, don't you worry your scruffy little head about that old thing- I mean, be-a-YOO-tiful antique quilt! I shall have it fixed for you, and even let little Sweetie Bell here help, if you would like that!"
Scoots nodded a quick "yes" as she was mauled by Sweetie Bell.
"After you ran off, we couldn't find you, we were so WORRIED! Apple Bloom even did that 'chicken call' of hers,"
"Scootaloo! Scoot-Scoot-Scoota-LOO-oo!" The two fillies sang in unison, mocking their friend's southern accent and naive tendencies.
"Y'all ain't doin' it raight! Y'all put in an extra "Scoot" fer some reason! Yah silly fillies!"
The hair-bowed earth pony leaped onto the bed, given it was a colt-sized bed so there was enough room for the three fillies to be comfortable and spread out.
"Hay there, Scootsy," the entering orange mare drawled. "How're yah feelin'? Any better?"
"Yeah, AJ, though I'm still not exactly sure what happened. Why in Equestria did I pass out?"
"Well, Rainbow an' Scootsy, y'all best be gettin' rested up now an' we'll be outta' yer manes. But don' run away! We'll be bringin' some dinner an' dessert in a li'l while. An' don' ferget mornin' breakfast!"
Applejack gathered the two fillies under her arm and shooed them out of the room, Rarity waving and trotting out to keep an eye on them.
"Now, then, there be anythin' else I can do fer ya?"
"Nope!" Rainbow yawned, but Scoots wasn't so sure.
"Wait, AJ. You said for me AND Rainbow Dash to stay and rest. Don't you mean just me?"
Both of the older mares' faces drooped into a sorrowful gaze.
"Now, you listen here, sugarcube. We know now, 'bout yer family an' all, or at least some of it. We ain't about'a leave you alone while yer parents're gone an' you gots nopony. Rainbow here volunteered to stay with yah, fer a li'l while, so, fer now, she's yer sister. That a'right, sugarcube?"
"Yup!" Scootaloo said, her excitement just outweighing her sorrow. For a little bit. Just for a while. Why can't I have her forever? If they know about my parents, they know I NEVER have anypony! Wait, they weren't more upset while mentioning my mom and dad. It's not in any records that my parents are dead... to them, they could just be... "gone".... Heck, for all they know, my parents could be staying with Celestia in Canterlot!
When Scootaloo came back to reality, AJ had left and Dash was sitting, looking at her with a look of worry glazing over her dark pink eyes. Those pink eyes realized Scootaloo was "back", though, and cleared.
"What's bothering you, kid?"
"Nothing!" Scootaloo spat out defensively.
"Don't give me that BS, Scoot. You're obviously upset. Mumbling under your breath proves that. 'Mom and Dad... They know NOTHING about me!' What don't I know, kid?"
"I don't wanna talk about it, Dash. I just... well, I can't get myself out of this now. Dash, my parents... they aren't gone, like on a vacation. They're gone, like, forever. Buried. Except they burned in my house, so they couldn't really be buried..."
"Kid, talk to me. Scootaloo, please."
Scootaloo knew Dash was serious, she never called her by her full name. She took a deep breath, then told Rainbow about the night that she could still feel the heat from. She fit is as much as she could between sobs.
After Scootaloo cried herself to sleep, Rainbow sent Applejack to sit in for her at the hospital. Dash told her why the kid was upset, vaguely for the sake of Scoots. If she wanted to tell AJ, she could, but it wasn't Rainbow's story to tell.
She flew as slow, yet as hard, as she could, her sights locked on her house through her tears. Scootaloo's story brought memories back to her, memories she wished she could push to the back of her mind and lock up forever. She had forgotten them, for a while, but the randomly came back to her.
She had always said that she ran away, and, in a way, she had. But not from her family. They were already gone.
Dash's parents were earth ponies. She never understood that. Her dad... he always seemed skeptical of her. He loved her, sure, but he HATED when she flew. He basically just hated anything to do with her wings. When I went to Flying Camp, he wouldn't even write me. Pretty soon, he got abusive, injuring Dash and her mom, once to the point where she woke up in the hospital. Not wanting an innocent filly to ever have to go back to that, the Apple family took Dash in. Pretty soon, Dash became part of the family.
Sweet Apple Acres was nice. Especially Applejack, who was VERY nice, pretty, and Rainbow's age. When Rainbow and AJ first started hanging out, running through the fields and picking flowers, wrestling in the grass and telling each other everything, that's when Dash realized that she was different. She realized she liked mares, that maybe she just needed her dad to show her that. Being with AJ felt... right. She made Dash happy. One day, after they went swimming in the lake, AJ looked at Rainbow in the light of the sunset and said:
"Ah love you, Rainbow." It caught Dash off guard, her heart fluttered and skipped a beat.
"I... I love you too, AJ."
At that point, AJ leaned over and kissed her. Dash felt this...spark, this... happiness when it happened. When AJ pulled away and her green eyes met Dash's, Dash could tell she felt it too. They were in love.
Rainbow just hoped that, even though Scootaloo had lost her family like herself, Scootaloo could fall in love. She deserved it.