The Wound is Reopened
Miss. Cheerilee was rambling in her lecture again, as she had a habit of doing on the last days of the week of school. Frankly, nopony was listening. Though their eyes were all on their beloved teacher, their focus was at the clock; its clicking was silent but was still audible in the imaginations of every student in the room, the second hand was moving oh so slowly, following the minute hand grazing the cylinder time turner at an even slower rate. Each and every thought was on that clock (including Cheerilee’s, though she still had a responsibility as a teacher to uphold).
All save one. The little firecracker, known to her friends as Scootaloo, and known to her enemies as “Blank Flank,” had grown disinterested in the clock a while ago. She had zoned out to the adventures in her head, where she and her surrogate sister, Rainbow Dash, the Fastest and Coolest Pony of all Equestria, were fighting off a Hydra in a fierce and epic battle. It was a fun adventure, Scootaloo even managed to save her sister from the Hydra’s crushing grasp before it could eat her.
She fell asleep eventually. And an inky blackness was all she could see as she zoned in and out of consciousness. She was having a dream, or was it dreams? She kept forgetting them as soon as she woke up, but she could remember what they left her with. They were memories, however in her lack of conscious thought, she couldn’t decipher whether or not they were all real, all false, or a convoluted mixture of the two.
But it only lasted a few moments before Scootaloo was lost to the realms of reality. Cheerilee was facing the board up front, writing down something lame that just had to be written down. Scootaloo took advantage of her teacher’s distraction to stretch and look around the room. Her hoofs and legs were an uncomfortable combo of numb and sore, her wings were restless, and the popliteal part of her hind legs were sweaty. She stretched her body, twisted and shook every limb, until she felt more awake.
While finishing her stretching, her neck twisted up to a pony she unfortunately knew all too well, the bane of her life, Diamond Tiara. The filly was up front, two seats forward and one seat to the left from where Scootaloo sat. Right now, Diamond Tiara had both hoofs on each of her cheeks, clearly sleeping from the way she sat in her chair, Scootaloo observed. Scootaloo knew that Miss. Cheerilee would not get on to her for this though, she didn’t sit up front so she could pay attention better in class like Snips or Snails, many colts and fillies knew firsthand that it was so Cheerilee could prevent Diamond Tiara from behaving like… well, Diamond Tiara.
Her tiara that she wore all the time was sitting gently on her head, the sight of it made Scootaloo almost chip a tooth from gritting them so hard. Diamond Tiara was much more well off than other ponies her age, a fact that she loved to boast about all the time. She would brag about anything: her butlers and maids, her expensive and expansive vacations to some of Equestria’s greatest places, and most notoriously her tiara. It was so silly, because anypony could see from looking at it that the tiara was a fake made of cheap plastic and rubies, yet the spoiled filly wore it on her head like a crown made for a princess with power over a fine establishment of subjects; the missing royal sister: Diamond Tiara, the Princess of being a Pain in the Flank.
If ever asked to name the things that Scootaloo hated the most, she would definitely put that tiara at the top somewhere. Thinking about that tiara made Scootaloo think about all the times Diamond Tiara bullied her and her friends.The time that hurt the most was about a year ago when she had called the little pegasus out for being unable to fly. Scootaloo always tried to hide that memory from herself, but sometimes, when she thought about something for a long enough time, she would find a way to remind herself of Diamond Tiara, that was the type of pony she was. Heck, her ex-friend, Silver Spoon, stopped being around her because even she had grown miserable of her attitude.
This pattern of thinking turned the filly’s mood from bored and nonchalant quickly to angry and hurt. She wanted Diamond Tiara to feel justice through her own hooves now. The bully was still sleeping, a sliver of drool slipping down from the edge of her lip, down to her cheek, then her hoof where it temporarily seemed to stop just above her elbow. Scootaloo felt around in her desk to see if maybe she still had -
there it was. Scootaloo pulled out a small singles carton of apple juice from her lunch today. Scootaloo pulled the straw out and straightened it out, she tore a piece of paper from her notebook, quietly so Miss. Cheerilee wouldn’t hear, and slipped it in her mouth and into a ball. Maybe if she spat a few spitballs at her snooty adversary, she would act up enough for Cheerilee to get on to her. Scootaloo aimed and shot. Direct hit! The spitball landed right in Diamond Tiara’s hair, but the bully didn’t stir or twitch from it. Scootaloo figured that she would need to approach a different part of her target to catch Diamond Tiara’s attention. Scootaloo ripped and chewed on another piece of ammo, this time aiming for the muzzle. Scootaloo fired, but it was too high and went right over Diamond Tiara’s snout. Scootaloo would need to be careful. She didn’t want to be the one in trouble if Cheerilee caught her, which she would if she kept missing.
Another piece of ammo, locked and loaded, Scootaloo aimed, fired… She had no clue if she had hit her target or not, it was so close and Diamond Tiara didn’t move… for a moment. The spitball had landed just so that when Diamond Tiara took another breath in, the spitball was sucked into her nostril.
Diamond Tiara woke up with a fright and began coughing and choking for a full ten seconds. For a moment, Scootaloo felt a panic and saw orange straight suits in her future and a trial for manslaughter from death by spitball.
Cheerilee reacted quickly, stopping her lecture to come up behind the choking filly and forcefully slap her on the back till she stopped. “Are you alright, now?” Cheerilee asked concernedly.
“Yes, ma'am.” Diamond Tiara said in a cough.
“Well, if you can manage to stay awake for just a little while longer,” Miss. Cheerilee muttered quietly in Diamond Tiara’s ear, “perhaps you will have an easier time not choking on your own saliva.” Cheerilee subtly swiped a tissue for the embarrassed Diamond Tiara to clean herself off with.
That… was hilarious. Scootaloo was able to suppress her laughter, but had no power in preventing the large smirk on her face. She grinned from ear to ear. She just HAD to do that again, but not immediately, she didn’t need to give herself away so obviously. Scootaloo, ripped another piece, extremely quietly now that everypony in the class would be a little more awake and would be able to notice her making spitballs. She ripped up a large piece and ripped it into three smaller pieces in her mouth. She rolled her eyes left and right to make sure nopony was watching her, then she took her straw out quickly and spat before anypony in class could see her.
It was a hit, and Diamond Tiara played with the area of her mane where it landed. Scootaloo fired again and when it once again made its target, this time Diamond Tiara turned around sharply with a mean look in her eye, studying where the spitball could have come from. She may have looked at Scootaloo for a second or two longer than she did any other pony but Scootaloo wasn’t about to give herself awa-
“Diamond, would you kindly turn yourself around and pay attention?”
“But-”
“No ‘buts’ Diamond Tiara.” Diamond obeyed her teacher in a quiet grunt. She was at her tipping point, all it would take was one more hit. Scootaloo needed to act fast for her plan to work, she didn’t even check to see if anyone was watching, she fired.
Scootaloo saw the spitball in slow motion, it was aiming right for Diamond Tiara, she was hit, she turned around almost as fast as Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom, she yelped ferociously, “Who’s doing that?!,” and then finally…
What an interesting lesson that Cheerilee was teaching. What was it? Numbers? Math. It was math, how delightful, it completely drowned out the tears and yelps in Diamond Tiara’s voice. What was the lesson about? It would seem it was multiplying by 7’s. Scootaloo had trouble with those, but she loved a challenge. Was Cheerilee running over to Diamond Tiara, surely to, to, oh it wasn’t important, math was important here.
“My tiara! My tiara broke!”
Oh? did it? What could have caused that? Scootaloo wondered. Gee it sure was cold, so cold that she was sweating. And what was that sound, was there a percussion of marching drummers outside? It certainly wasn’t her heart racing to climb through her throat and out of her mouth.
“My tiara! Please Miss. Cheerilee, you have to fix it! YOU HAVE TO FIX IT, NOW!”
“Diamond, calm down, we’ll have this-”
“SOMEPONY BROKE IT! THEY THREW SPITBALLS AT ME AND MADE ME BREAK IT!”
There was drama like this for a few minutes until the bell rang. Luckily. Even for a class that enjoyed a little drama to keep things interesting, it was very peculiar and awkward to watch Diamond Tiara cry. The empathic emotions for her were quite confused. Everyone ran out the door, save Cheerilee, Diamond Tiara, and for whatever reason (nopony was that curious just yet), Silver Spoon.
Soon though everypony forgot about the sudden tragedy that had become of poor Diamond Tiara as they began to run free with the remembrance that the weekend had started! Fillies and colts began to break up into their own collective groups so they could start off their three day break.
One of these groups was the Cutie Mark Crusaders made up of fellow Pegasus Scootaloo, Earth Pony Apple Bloom, and the Unicorn Sweetie Belle. Their never ending mission: to find their special talents and earn their Cutie Marks, was going to be at full throttle until the next day of school. And today, like everyday, the three fillies had a special feeling in their stomachs, for they could feel that today, like they did everyday, was the the day for at least one of them to get their Cutie Marks.
They had it all planned, they were going to go over to Apple Bloom’s home at Sweet Apple Acres and help Apple Bloom’s sister, Applejack, with a few chores. They had figured out that if the three of them could work together to do the work of one, they could get their crusading started sooner. When finished they would try to do things that Apple Bloom thought of.
She would normally come up with things that were fun but menial like carpentry work, woodwork, lassoing, painting, sewing, knitting, craft design, gardening, apple selling, apple bucking, apple picking, cider making, baking, cooking, and, if Apple Bloom was feeling pesky about it, reorganizing anything and everything in sight. Apple Bloom had many different talents, and she was aware of at least most of them, and she figured that her special talent had something to do with all of her already existing talents, but there were so many that she had done already that she wondered how she was missing the big one. So she spent her days trying to see if performing any of these amazing talents would guide her to finding her cutie mark.
The next day, the trio would spend the day doing what Scootaloo wanted. It was important that they choose this day as Scootaloo’s day, for Scootaloo had a habit of having bad and stupid ideas, and they usually needed a day of recovery very quickly. Scootaloo was certain that her talent was going to be something daredevil related, similar to her sister’s special talent.
Scootaloo had always known from the moment that she found Rainbow Dash, that her own special talent would be just like her’s. And so, on her day Scootaloo felt that she and her friends could spend those days hanggliding and racing the wind on her scooter with her two friends and some very big rocks (or at least as big as three fillies could manage) saddled up behind her on a wagon.
Fortunately Sweetie Belle’s days were slower and more relaxed, therefore they all could recover from Scootaloo’s wild rides. Sweetie Belle frankly, had absolutely no leads into her special talent. She was even beginning to think that she didn’t even have a Cutie Mark, that she had nothing to give society and was cursed to forever be a blank flank. She had tried many things, but nothing really clicked. They had helped Fluttershy with the animals once, and she was good for a beginner, but she just couldn’t see herself spending her whole life surrounded by animals. They had visited the hospital one day on a school field trip, and Sweetie Belle really admired all the jobs of all the ponies there, respected them greatly, but the idea of being a nurse or doctor and doing their job for even a day was scary. She could sing, as any pony in Ponyville could vouch, but… well taking stage fright aside, she felt that being able to sing as your special talent was a waste. Most ponies of Equestria could sing greatly, and they all had non-singing related Cutie Marks. How bad would it be to find out that your greatest talent that was supposed to tell you your destiny was showing off that you could sound nice for a few minutes? Singing was fun, but you can’t make a good life based off of that.
She was always willing to do any activities with her friends in hopes of finding inspiration. Even if that meant she was often the voice of reason and had to lecture Scootaloo of the necessities of a helmet, or remind Apple Bloom that if acrilic and oil paints can permanently stain, then they shouldn’t be used over a table that had apparently been made by Apple Bloom’s father back during his young stallion years.
“So any ideas for your day, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle was quick to ask.
“Well my sister was telling me that there was a small patch of land behind the new barn that was ripe with worms, I thought maybe it might be fun to try fishin’ later. What do ya guys think?”
“Worms? Cool!” yelped Scootaloo.
“Worms? Yech!? yelped Sweetie Belle.
“Alright, fine. What did you have in mind Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom retorted in with a snort.
Sweetie Belle lowered her head and ears with shame from her lack of response.
“Well I know what we’re going to do on my day! Bring your guts and grab your glory, cause we’re going down Gopher Hill for the big race!” Scootaloo said with enough confidence for the three of them.
The reasonable one reminded Scootaloo, “Gopher Hill? I thought we were just going to go down safe and not-at-all threatening Sugarcube Hill.”
“Ya, we were, but we’ve done that like a bagillion times already. It’s so boring now! Gopher Hill has all of those pothole you get to dodge.”
“Hey! Blank Flank!” a screech that was mixed with rage and a dash of self righteousness blaired in the ears of the three fillies. How Diamond Tiara was able to find and catch up with them was a mystery, they were far from the school now.
“Who do ya think she’s yelling at?” Apple Bloom pondered.
“Oh who cares,” Scootaloo spat, “if we pretend like we didn’t hear her, maybe we can still get out before she-” Diamond Tiara jumped in front of the trio with more red in her face than the pink fur that groomed her body. “Oh darn it.”
“You!” She screamed some more, “You made me break my tiara and now you’re going to fix it!”
Scootaloo got defensive, “What? You think one of us did it? Look Diamond, even if it was one of us spitting those spitballs, you broke that stupid plastic tiara not us, how could we even plan for that? Hypothetically?”
“I wasn’t talking to you, so shut up!” Diamond Tiara took a few steps closer and now it was more evident that she was pointing to Sweetie Belle. “I know it was you, so you’re going to fix it now! Or else I’ll - I’ll tell your mom what you did!”
“Me? What makes you think it was me?”
“You were the one sitting right behind me, it couldn’t have been anyone else!”
That’s right, Sweetie Belle was sitting right behind her. Scootaloo could now vaguely remember making sure not to hit her when she fired, but it was an instinctive memory and wasn’t processed consciously.
“Now wait just an apple-pickin’ minute here.” Apple Bloom intervened, “that ain’t proof she’s the one who did it.”
“Ya, well I know it was her, it couldn’t have been anyone else. Anypony close enough to spit a spitball that far was being watched, so it had to be her.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes, she would like to keep her secret, but not at the cost of one of her friends taking the blame. Still, maybe she could have both, “Diamond it’s just a stupid piece of plastic, your dad’s Filthy Rich, he can get you another one without any hastle.”
“I don’t need my daddy to buy me a new one, I want this one to fix the one she made me break!” Again she pointed at Sweetie Belle.
“But I didn’t do it!” Sweetie almost looked like she was going to break into tears like Diamond Tiara had earlier. “Diamond it wasn’t me!”
“Liar!”
“I’m not lying!”
“Yes you are, you’re a liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!”
“No she ain’t! Now go away!”
Scootaloo had enough, “Oh for the love of Celestia! Diamond Tiara it was me, okay? I was the one who spitballed all over you, okay?” Interestingly enough to Scootaloo, there was more anger coming out of her than guilt. In fact, now that it was out there, there was no guilt.
“You did it Scootaloo?” Scootaloo’s own anger made it difficult to know for sure which of her friends had asked the question.
“Ya well, I was still angry about how she said I can’t fly. I didn’t know her toy tiara was going to break, it was an accident.” Scootaloo huffed in a mumble, “But that doesn’t mean that I’m sorry.”
“Well then - You have to fix my tiara.”
“No. It was a stupid piece of plastic and you can’t just fix it. Just have your filthy rich dad get you another one and leave us alone.”
Scootaloo began to lead the way around Diamond Tiara, but she jumped up in front of them.
“Fix it!”
“No.”
“FIX IT! FIX IT, NOW!”
“NO!”
“Fix. It. Or i’ll make you fix it.”
Scootaloo had no more patience left, she quickly remembered something she had heard Rainbow Dash say to her own friends a while back, “You know what Diamond Tiara? Maybe if I liked you, I would, but I don’t like you; no one likes you because you’re a huge jerk, and your daddy spoils you so rotten that you don’t even know how to keep a friend.”
“Oh ya? Well… Well…”
Scootaloo stuck her tongue out in victory and walked around her foe, her friends wobbling behind her. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were both flustered by what they had just heard their friend say. They had all thought those thoughts plentifully, and said things like that in private, but Scootaloo flatout said it to her face, that was different.
Diamond Tiara was shell shocked, she wanted to cry from what she had heard, but she wasn’t weak and only weak ponies cried. Strong ponies won fights. “Well.. AT LEAST I HAVE A DAD!”
The world stood still. Scootaloo was now the one stunned by sharp words, Apple Bloom had her hoof to her mouth, and Sweetie Belle… Sweetie Belle had swung her own hoof around and punched Diamond Tiara right on her nose. She didn’t even know she had until she saw the crying filly rubbing her snout.
“My nose! My nose! My nose!” and she ran off in the opposite direction.
“Sweetie Belle. Did you just, hit Diamond Tiara?” A stunned Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie Belle looked at her friends while also feeling the panic setting in her heartbeat, “You guys can’t tell anypony! If my sister finds out she won’t take me to Manehatten next week and I’ve been looking forward to it for a whole moon, please! Don’t say anything, PLEASE!”
She turned her head to Apple Bloom, who was too wide eyed still, “I can’t lie to my sister, she always knows when I’m lyin.’ She ALWAYS knows!”
“I’m not telling you to lie, just to not say anything,” Sweetie Belle pleaded.
“But she’s told me that those two are the exact same things.”
“Apple Bloom please. If Applejack finds out, then she’ll tell Rarity for sure! Please, Rarity already bought tickets for us to go see Beauty and the Draconequus and I really, really, really have been wanting to see it ever since I found out that there was a play, and I can’t go if Rarity finds out!”
“Alright, Alright! I won’t say anything. But let’s not go to the farm yet. If I see my sister right now, I’ll squeal for sure!”
“So then… What do we do?” asked a filly.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle spun their heads at Scootaloo, whom they just realized had been staring at the little hill that Diamond Tiara had run off to before she started speaking.
“Hide and hope that Diamond Tiara doesn’t tell her dad about her tiara or nose,” Apple Bloom mumbled.
“No way would she tell on us. Her dad knows how much of a bully she is, and if she does tell on us, she’ll have explain why Sweetie Belle hit her, and she won’t want to do that.” Scootaloo reassured, mostly for her own sake than for Sweetie Belle’s.
“You think so?” Sweetie Belle asked unsurely.
Scootaloo folded her ears and looked off, “I hope.”
Sweetie Belle broke into tears then, now unable to control her panic, “I wanted to go to Manehatten again so bad! Now Rarity won’t invite me to go with her ever again!”
“Wait!” The honest one screamed, “Look we need help with this and obviously tellin’ our sisters about this ain’t goin’ to help us, and tellin’ most any other pony we know would be even worse, but there is one pony out there that we know who could never break a promise…”
“...”
“Especially if the promise was a, Pinkie Promise!”
“Wait, Pinkie Pie?” Sweetie Belle asked while wiping away a tear, “Do you think she can?”
“Worth a shot.” Apple Bloom responded.
“I think it’s worth the risk,” Scootaloo said back.
The two walked over to Sugarcube Corner in a paranoid silence, worried that at any moment somepony was going to spot them and stop them for what they were up to. They reached the pastry bakery soon though, where Pinkie Pie was just pulling a new batch of brownies out of the oven.
“Hello there Cutiemark Crusaders! How goes the hunt for your red octobers?” The gleeful chirp of that pink pony was enough to already lighten the hearts of the fillies.
“Hello Pinkie Pie,” the three said.
“The hunt for what? That doesn’t make any sense.” No. It couldn’t be. Of all the rotten luck right now.“Hey Scoots! How was school?”
...
“Oh. Hey. Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo slivered a straight and slightly slanted smile. In shock, she shivered like an empty shell.
“You okay, Scoots? You look a little jumpier than your usual self.”
“I’m fine!” She screamed, “Well confused, I just thought you’d still be working with the rest of the clouds patrol.”
“Eh, we got off early today. Apparently the boss has a date.”
“Tornado Alley has a date?” Pinkie Pie giggled, “With who?”
“I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Some unicorn who really digs sharks or something.”
“And he let you off work? He never does that, like ne-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ever! I remember that one time you had to work through the night to put together that last minute storm. He didn’t let anypony go home until it was done and that thing took all night!”
“Ya and to have him say that he was letting us go early for a mare? We all thought something was up ‘cause no way he was being serious.” Rainbow took a swig of her drink that Scootaloo just now notice she had. She continued, “He must really be in love though cause when she arrived at the ground he was skipping over one of the rainbows so fast he jumped right over her. Seeing how she has a shark for a cutiemark, the metaphor is fitting, ‘cause you know Tornado Alley isn’t very attractive or charming, but this mare was making stallions’ jaws drop from a mile.”
“Ah hahahahahah!” Pinkie Pie laughed hysterically at Rainbow Dash’s roast of her boss, but it didn’t stop her from catching the three fillies from before trying to leave, “Oh, hey girls! Don’t go just yet!” Scootaloo gritted her teeth. It had been a chore to just quietly convince her two friends to leave with her. Pinkie Pie trotted around the counter she was standing behind towards the Crusaders, who were ready to leave the pastry shop and the unexpected guest, “Hey, sorry we forgot to invite you into the conversation that you started, girls. Did you want to talk about something?”
“No!” Scootaloo said, “We thought we were, but we changed our minds.”
At this Rainbow Dash stood up, “Whoa Scoots, now you really are starting to seem jumpy. In fact, all three of you are beginning to look a little jumpy. Scootaloo? What’s going on here?”
The three were silent.
“Hmm? Sweetie Belle? Would you care to explain?”
The three were still silent.
“Apple Bloom?”
“SWEETIE BELLE PUNCHED DIAMOND TIARA IN THE NOSE, BECAUSE SHE SHE WAS BEING HER BULLY SELF, BECAUSE SCOOTALOO WAS SPITBALLIN’ HER IN CLASS AND MADE HER ACCIDENTALLY BREAK HER TIARA!!!”
“Apple Bloom!” her friends shouted out.
“You promised!”
Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest and stood at her best and foremost Wonderbolts stance shouting out, “Attention!” in the proper authoritarian manner, instinctively forcing the three fillies (and, for some reason, Pinkie Pie) to pose as their cyan leader did. The things she picked up from the Academy came in handy for messy situations like this.
Rainbow Dash steadied her hooves accordingly to a military strut in front of the three fillies. “Scootaloo, can you confirm what Apple Bloom has reported?”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”
“And do you wish to add anything in your own defense?”
“Ma’am, no ma’am!”
“And Sweetie Belle, do you wish to add anything?”
“Um, ma’am, I only did it because… because Diamond Tiara was mocking Scootaloo for, for not having a dad. Ma’am.”
Rainbow Dash hadn’t expected that obviously. It literally blew her backwards: she slumped her body with a resounding, “At ease, fillies,” allowing the trio to hook their spines and show the truth of their anxiety. Rainbow Dash sighed to give her mind another second to process what she was going to say.
“Could you guys wait in here while me and Scootaloo talk for a minute?” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gave a worried look, but silently agreed. Scootaloo had her eyes closed in frustration; she kept them closed all the way outside, allowing Rainbow Dash’s gentle nudges to let her know where it was that she wanted her to go. Both her friends had betrayed her to Rainbow Dash, there was no way she was forgiving them any time soon.
They stopped. The clapping of hooves let Scootaloo know that Rainbow Dash was turning around to face her. “Scoots, could you please look at me?” Scootaloo opened her eyes, but she was not going to look at her mentor and sister just yet. “Scoots, look at me, please.” She did now.
“Do you care to explain why you did what you did before we get to the other thing?”
Scootaloo groan in a rant of shame and aggravation, “I was angry because of what she said about my wings last year. I guess I never forgave her for that.”
“Aw heck, Scoots. I can get that, more than anypony, trust me on that, but really? A year ago? Don’t you think you should let that go?”
“I guess.”
“And about that other thing, are doing alright?”
“Ya, I am.”
Surely not, “Are you sure.”
“Positive, Sweetie Belle punched her right in the nose as soon as she said it, so I’m happy.”
“You’re sure? You’re not upset about anything?” Just like that? Is that even possible?
“Ya, I’m not upset with her.”
Meanwhile, the other two Crusaders couldn’t help but feel the pull of curiosity’s strings, and were tempted to look outside and check up on their friend. They were in no range to hear the conversation, but they were able to guess a few things given the body language of the two ponies.
Rainbow Dash was kneeling down now so she could be eye level with her surrogate little sister. She could get her number one fan to look her in the eyes regardless of any of her verbal or physical methods. She was also saying things, things that clearly were having some effect on Scootaloo. The constant dodging of her mentor’s eyes and the shakiness in her face let the two know that their friend was breaking down. This was something that only Rainbow Dash could do, she would give her little pep talks from time to time when needed, and then Scootaloo would smile to let everyone present know that everything was alright again. This did happen, followed by a quick hug exchange from the sisters and a squeal of sincerity from the snooping Crusader members.
Rainbow and Scootaloo walked back into Sugarcube Corner to take care of some final details. “Alright, me and Scootaloo have talked it over, and I have agreed to not to let either of your sisters know about this little event, but only if you make sure to tell them before tomorrow, otherwise, deal’s off.”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” they cheered with smiles on their faces.
“Now fellow Crusaders, ten hut, onwards and forwards!”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” And off they scurried to do their duty.
“whew,” Rainbow Dash sighed, “I’ll be honest, Pinkie, that was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever had to do… Pinkie?”
The Pink and puffy Earth pony was still in an attention facade, straining to stay still, straining to stay silent, like an attentive statue.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with a sigh, “At ease, Pinkie Pie.”
And a large amount of air escaped Pinkie’s lungs as she stretched her achy muscles from the pressure of being motionless, “Oh thank Celestia, I wanted to say my fill for the last five minutes! I thought you were going to leave me there like that for forever, and then I wouldn’t be able to talk or sing or dance or jump or laugh or cry or scream or -”
Suddenly Pinkie Pie began to feel a Pinkie Sense combo begin. She started by tasting rubber chicken on her tongue, followed with a pinchy knee, and concluded with an itchy nose. “Uh oh, I’ll see you real soon Rainbow Dash, but this is an emergency!” Pinkie Pie pulled out a black circle from who-knew-where and threw it to the ground, and then jumped in it, going who-knew-where.
A surprised and shocked Rainbow Dash leaned forward to see the black circle, but no Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash carefully put her hoof down on it and found that it was just a black circle now. She slowly placed another hoof and another and another, then jumped on it forcefully with still no results.
“I don’t understand you Pinkie Pie,” and she walked off, accidentally kicking a random cupcake from a table at the circle only to see it bounce on the floor and shake off a few sprinkles before disappearing in front of her eyes inside the black hole. But that’s another story.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders became busy with taking care of telling their other sisters about what had happened. Sweetie Belle suggested they start with Applejack, even though Rarity was nearer. Applejack had taken the news with stride, there really was no other way to take it, seeing as how her sister didn’t do anything except witness the event; Applejack was the easy part.
It was Rarity who was going to be difficult. Sweetie Belle worked her sister slowly at first, pretending to be interested in whatever it was that was happening, having she and her friends be pony-kinns for Rarity’s sudden inspirations (which nopony liked doing at the moment, especially Scootaloo who had a very grim face the whole time, which threw Rarity off a few times), ever so slowly bringing up school, and finally letting it slip like it was something that happened casually and in passing. For about a full minute it worked, until Rarity slipped out of her inspiration coma and woke up to realize what she had heard.
It was a boring conversation that followed for Applebloom and Scootaloo but essentially Sweetie Belle was going to be punished, but not to the extreme that she had originally imagined. She was going to have to apologize to Diamond Tiara, and she wasn’t allowed to have her Crusader’s day on the final day of the weekend, she was going to clean up shop for a week, and in return, Rarity promised to not bring it up to their parents.
After that tedious time spent wasted on apologies and confessions, the trio walked back to Sweet Apple Acres to help with any of the chores that still needed to be done. They spent a good few hours working, bucking down trees, cleaning up the old ones that were no good for selling for pigs feed, cleaning up the inside of the house, and… well honestly there was something else, but by the time the trio of fillies had finished with just that, they were so tired they forgot. And frankly, so did Applejack, and she knew it was something important too.
Soon, Celestia had lowered the sun and Luna had given the night her moonlight. Tonight was a special moon, it was a rainbow moon. Luna had devised a magic onto her moon where it would fluently shine the colors of the rainbow onto the surrounding sky and earth, while still keeping its glorious white glow. It was named, the Lunar Rainbow Display. No real elegance in the name, but it was simple to remember on tests and word of mouth so there would be hardly any misinterpreting what it was called.
The three fillies watched the moon shine it’s new radiance all over Equestria. The new night was captivating.
“Hehe, do either of you get a tickle whenever one of the colors shines on you?”
“I do! What about you, Scootaloo?”
“...”
“Hey Scootaloo.”
“...”
“Scootaloo!”
“Huh? Yeah, I heard you, it would be cool.”
“You’re not tired just yet are ya?” Apple Bloom questioned.
“No, I mean maybe. That was a whole lot of work that we did today. I don’t think I’ve done that much work in my life.”
“Imagine if I didn’t have my two best friends here to help me out. With Granny Smith and Big Macintosh off to the Appleloosa Rodeo Games this year, it’s been a tough week.”
Sweetie Belle was quick to comment, “Your welcome for that. I’m going to be too tired to do anything Scootaloo plans for Gopher Hill tomorrow.”
A quiet sigh left left Scootaloo, a quiet sigh that was just silent enough to escape her friends’ ears. After maybe a minute of thinking to herself she said finally, “That’ll be fun.”
“What?”
“Gopher Hill, that’ll be fun.”
“Oh, right…” The two looked at Scootaloo, who was distant with the rainbow display outside again, one of them yawned loudly and the other one said, “Whelp, I’m beat. I think we should all get to bed now.”
“Ya, sure,” Scootaloo replied, “I sure hope Luna has another one of these Rainbow Displays soon, they’re awesome. I wished I knew why though, it’s just rainbows at night when you think about it.”
Apple Bloom had the answer really quickly, “It’s because unlike the rainbows made in Cloudsdale, these rainbows are made out of the magic of the moonlight and have been colored usin’ alicorn magic, which is really advianced magic and tends to leave a small dose of empathy on anything that it touches like the moon and sun risin’ and lowerin’, and the colors from the rainbow are stronger cause of the extra effort put into them. Fact, there hasn’t been one in a few centuries.”
“How? Do you know that?” Sweetie Belle queeried.
“Cause potions books tend to be filled more with why and how the ingredients work instead of what the ingredients are and how to mix them. That’s why Twilight always lets me take the potions books home even though I’m not allowed to do anything without her supervision.”
“And what potion needs rainbow alicorn moonlight?”
“The green parts of the rainbow make really great herbal teas that are great for old ponies who are feeling weak. It was from one of those books that my sister found when the map lead her to that creepy town called Echidna. You know, the one with all of those monsters. ”
The two shivered remembering the details that Applejack had given them about the place. Then Apple Bloom continued, “It’s been really handy for Granny Smith’s saggy ole hip, that’s how she was able to compete in the Ole Timer’s Swimmin’ Championship this weekend. Twilight and I made sure to make a huge batch for her during our last Twilight Time.”
“Oh was that what you guys were doing? Cool!” Suddenly the two twisted their heads to see Scootaloo in her part of the bed sound asleep. “I didn’t realize she was so tired,” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“She was workin’ hard, she didn’t stop for nothin’ except maybe a small drink of water here and there,” Apple Bloom whispered back, “She’s been actin’ weird today ever since Diamond Tiara said, ‘you-know-what’, to her. Do you think she’s still upset about that.”
“I would be. We should let her know that we’re there for her.”
Applebloom yawned a hefty sigh, “In the mornin’. She’s asleep and it’s late.”
They both hopped into their appropriate spots on the bed. “Hey that reminds me, does Granny Smith where a wig? I’ve wondered cause of the way it falls when she sleeps in her rocking chair.”
“No, her hair’s just really thin, but she poofs it out so much that it looks like a wig when she moves around.”
It was almost an hour later until the two slept. But unbeknownst to them, their pegasus ally was not asleep as they thought. Scootaloo had kept her eyes closed whilst listening to her friends ramble about things. She said nothing and gave no indication to her conscious nature, a difficult feat, but she had done it. She heard her friends talk, but they never once talked about her.
Scootaloo knew it was selfish, but she secretly hoped that her friends of all ponies would have figured out what was bothering her. She needed some apple juice.
Scootaloo trotted her hooves quietly to the Apple kitchen for a singles carton of apple juice, talking to herself in her mind, ‘They didn’t notice. They saw me acting weird, they thought it was weird the way I acted, but they weren’t smart enough to figure it out.’
‘No. That’s cruel. I should tell them what’s going on. They’re my friends, they would understand, they would want to help.’
‘But they didn’t figure out why I wasn’t okay. A true friend would be able to see that I was faking. Not even Rainbow Dash was able to figure it out today, she bought the whole thing. I told a little truth, but hid the big one and she bought it. She couldn’t see that I was hiding anything else.”
Scootaloo had reached the edge of the stairs now and was proceeding to walk down them without a change of rhythm, Rainbow Dash had lowered her body to be equal with Scoots, ‘Scootaloo you can tell me anything. If you’re upset about what Diamond Tiara said, you have every right to be. Please tell me what it is that you’re going through though.’ Scootaloo didn’t say anything to her sister at that point but then she continued, “Scoots, it’s okay to cry in front of me. It’s just the two of us, and I won’t think any less of you for it.” Scoots didn’t cry, but she did admit that she hated Diamond Tiara for what she said, if anything to end the subject. But really, she didn’t care as much about that than what Diamond Tiara had opened up. ‘It’s going to be alright now. It’s going to get better, trust me.” But Rainbow Dash didn’t ask anything else after that, she thought that she was done now, and Scootaloo didn’t even hint that there was more.
Scootaloo reached the bottom step and then proceeded to the kitchen. She knew it was selfish of her to assume for somepony to be interpretive enough to know that something else was wrong, but she felt even more selfish for just bothering people with it, they all had their own problems, who was she to whine about hers, that was real selfishness.
The kitchen was shining with moonlight, regular moonlight, the rainbow light show had ended and now the moon was just the moon again. Scootaloo crept in the shadows since the moonlight was blinding just from its reflection off of the floor. She carefully tip-toed to the refrigerator and opened it, but unfortunately, she had forgotten about the bright lightbulb from the inside and was blasted from its radiance. She quickly grabbed a carton of apple juice and closed the door.
It wasn’t like she was trying to seek showers of attention, she didn’t want advice on how to fix the problem or people saying that it was going to get better, she had heard those words before and frankly she hated that most of all. ‘They may have gone through something like I did, but that doesn’t make them me. They can’t just assume that they are me just because our pasts are similar.’
Scootaloo placed the straw in her carton and drank it. She then rushed over to the sink and spat out the juice. What a terrible taste, it was the same as any other apple juice carton, but she could taste the sugar from the apples with that sip, and it was so strong that it even made the taste of the apples from the juice taste sickly sweet. Scootaloo threw the carton in the sink and washed her mouth out with water to get rid of the sickly flavor from her tongue.
She rubbed her eyes with the cold water on her hooves, wiping any specks of sand the Sand-pony might have thrown over her head. There was no way she was going to sleep now.
...
Maybe it was the chill, maybe some kind of instinct, but Apple Bloom was awake now, and it didn’t take too long for her to realize that Scootaloo was not in bed, or in the room. Apple Bloom hopped out of bed herself, Scootaloo was always sneaking into the kitchen to get a sip of apple juice when she could, and sometimes she would even be caught shoveling food into her mouth despite having a huge dinner. Apple Bloom smacked her lips together, the thought of apple juice made her realize just how thirsty she really was.
“Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle moaned like Winona did when she was on those pain medications after her nasty run in with some timberwolves last summer. The memory sent shivers down her spine. Why did she think of that? “You woke me up. What are you doing now?”
“Sorry, Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo’s gone off to get some apple juice again and I was just goin’ down to join her. You want any?
“Nooooooooooooo. I want to go back to sleep,” just like Winona did.
“Alrighty then,” and Apple Bloom walked down to the kitchen. It was funny that Sweetie Belle was the one to complain about needing her rest, since she was the one who had tried to keep all of them awake way past their bedtime; and when Scootaloo dozed off, she had manipulated Apple Bloom into staying up with her to talk for like an hour. Still it was not hard for her to go back to sleep, she was gone again before Apple Bloom left the room.
In thought, having Apple Bloom shake her awake again seemed like only a second, but her internal clock led her to the truth that it had been quite a few minutes.
“Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle! Wake up! WAKE UP! Sweetie Belle, I can’t find Scootaloo anywhere!”
What more needed to be spoken to motivate her to wake? “What do you mean ‘can’t find her?’”
“I mean she wasn’t in the kitchen or anywhere inside or outside of the house. She’s not here!” Apple Bloom wrapped her front hooves around her head, “I told Applejack, and then she looked in all the places I’d already checked, and when she still couldn’t find her she told me to wake you up, but ---Scootaloo’s gone and there are timberwolves at night; what if she finds one, or a pack, or an army, or-”
Sweetie Belle had rushed to the door while Apple Bloomed rambled, “Let’s go join in the hunt.”
They joined Applejack,who was searching the barn calling out Scootaloo’s name. Her cutie mark was doing that thing that normally happened when she was being summoned to the map at Twilight’s Castle, but Apple Bloom knew that what it really meant was that Applejack had contacted her friends for help.
“Still nothin’?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Nope, I’m afraid not Sugarcube. I'm lettin’ the others know to come here but that could take-”
CRASH!
From somewhere above a pink shadow fell down, crashing a hole in the roof of the barn and landing inside a pile of nearby hay, “Guess who!” popped the cheery voice of Pinkie Pie as she popped her head out.
“-seconds,” Applejack concluded, “Pinkie Pie, how’d you get her so fast?”
“Well I got one of my combos earlier today at Sugarcube Corner after the girls left, and this one told me that something serious was going to happen later and that I would be needed here, but that I wouldn’t be needed until later, and at first I thought I would just wait it out so when you did call, I could just move at the speed of plot contrivance, but then I thought, ‘Na, it would take me too long to get here by then,’ and then my next thought was, ‘I could just wait here,’ but I thought that you would just get upset with me staying here doing nothing.
“So then I decided that this called for immediate action, so I threw a plot hole on the ground and jumped through it and skipped a whole bunch of paragraphs of build up.” And just then, a cupcake splattered all over the top of her head.
“Applejack!” Everyone turned to see the fastest flyer in all of Equestria swoop in, “I came as soon as I cou… Pinkie Pie is that a Strawberry-lishious Chocolate Cupcake on your head?”
Pinkie Pie swiped her whole tongue around her whole head, grabbing the whole cupcake, frosting and all, and swallowing it whole, “It sure was, though it could have used a few more sprinkles, why do you ask?
“No. Particular reason.” Rainbow Dash shook her head to get back on track, “What’s the crisis?”
Applejack squeezed her eyes shut knowing that Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to like this part, “It’s Scootaloo, she’s missin’.”
“WHAT!?” she yelped out loud with a screech as she hissed out an exasperation of dread. She quickly turned around and strutted her wings out with a fiery burst of wind, but Applejack was just quick enough to grab her friend’s tail and ground her own legs in the dirt.
“Hey, let go!”
“Shimmer doun, Shally,” Applejack groaned with the horse tail in her mouth slurring some of her words. She yanked her neck down hard and forced Rainbow Dash to the ground. She promptly spat out and stepped on Rainbow Dash’s tail to make sure she had a firm hold on her when she tried to escape, and deny it she might, even Rainbow Dash knew that battling Applejack’s strength was twice over pointless.
“Listen, you know I’m just as worried as you are and I can understand you wantin’ to start lookin’ for her now, but runnin’ out there is only goin’ to start more problems than it fixes.”
Rainbow Dash lowered her head in defeat, of course Applejack was right, she was rarely wrong, especially when it came to Scoots and her friends.
Applejack let go of Rainbow’s tail, “Come on, there are a few more places you can help me search before the others arrive and we split.” Rainbow Dash nodded and followed Applejack, Pinkie Pie and the two fillie Crusaders following behind silently.
The others arrived soon enough: Rarity had been petrified that something had happened to Sweetie Belle and had not chosen to remove any of her night clothings. She had huffed her way directly over in her gown, hair curlers, and mask. Twilight Sparkle was next to arrive via flying and teleportation, she had been again studying a new spell all night so she didn’t even notice her cutie mark for quite some time. Lastly was Fluttershy, who was understandably late since her cottage was on the opposite side of Ponyville and she had to come all the way across the other side of town. One by one per arrival, they were all informed of the predicament of Scootaloo’s absence.
Everyone was given their own assignment as soon as they arrived. It was decided Applejack and Rarity would be partnered with their sisters and the other four would go their own paths. The Apples would stay at the home in case she came trotting back, Rarity and Sweetie Belle would stay on the path, for they had keen eyes that only looked so far, Twilight took the northeast field, for only she could search through all the hills and trees, Pinkie Pie took the southeast end, for only she could be heard in the thick mass of bark that surrounded it, Rainbow Dash was given the northwest field, for the land was plain with few trees and could be seen easily if you flew over, and Fluttershy was given the southwest, for the fruit bats would not be spooked or shaken with her gentle voice.
The party searched vigorously. Corners and turns were searched thrice, the entire property was covered with no end or hope for her. No one knew how much time had passed when Pinkie Pie started to shine her flashlight into the sky. Rainbow Dash was the first to meet with her, she didn’t wait for the others to arrive.
“You found her Pinkie?” the desperate Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, sort of. See, I’ve been getting twitchy tail for a long time now and the first few times I ignored it cause at the time all of me was twitching cause it’s cold and windy between the trees, but soon nothing else was twitchy except my tail and I realized that it couldn’t be apples cause it’s the week after the Fall Leaves Formal and apples aren’t usually on trees after the Fall Leaves Formal and on top of that my twitchy tail isn’t telling me that these falls are that far so it would have to be something or someone that was doing it!”
“Do you or do you not know where she is!?” Rainbow demanded.
Before Pinkie Pie could answer, however, her tail twitchy twitched once again, “Ooh, I do now! She went, um… she went this way. This way, follow me!” And they ran.
…
She was just a few yards away. She was in the open field, she must have been avoiding everyone, for Rainbow had checked that area plenty of times. She recognized the stump, it was the same stump that Rainbow and Scoots had carved their initials into after their first flying lesson. Rainbow Dash would have seen her if she had been there.
Twilight and Fluttershy had been quick enough to fly over with them. Rainbow Dash hadn’t known if anypony was talking, she was ignoring them still as she watched Scootaloo plummet.
Everypony watched her for a few seconds. Rainbow knew what she was doing, but why? She observed Scootaloo hopping onto the stump, jumping off, flapping her wings and traveling a few inches, and falling onto the ground.
“So that’s what my Pinkie Sense was telling me,” the optimist whispered, a grim face tredging at her friends.
“Uh, girls?” Rainbow turned her head to her friends, “could you gather Rarity and Sweetie Belle and all wait back at Applejack’s while I take care of this? Me and her need to have a talk. You know, just us sisters.” They all delivered a solemn stare of understanding to Rainbow Dash, they nodded, and then quietly turned away.
Rainbow Dash waited with her eye on her sister and her ear on the graduating silence of her friends’ hooves on the dry grass. Scootaloo had made two more attempts before Rainbow Dash judged her friends to be a fair distance. She eased her hooves toward Scootaloo, on another doomed trial. The poor fillie, it appeared from this distance, was growing tired. She spun as if dizzy, her eyes clearly heavy, her mane a greasy mess; her body weakening from the strain of her practice. She jumped, poorly.
Rainbow Dash caught the filly in her hooves before she could crash head first. Scootaloo sensed the change of gravity leave her head and divert properly to her hooves. She sludged her head around to see Rainbow Dash flying upside down, holding her steady. Rainbow Dash let go, and Scootaloo felt her horseshoes jingle from the soft landing.
This was so embarrassing, she had heard Rainbow Dash calling her name, but she had hid once she did. She only came out of her hiding hole because Rainbow Dash had flown by and not came back. She was supposed to have snuck back into the house, pretend that she was somewhere that they overlooked, but she became sidetracked by the stump that she used to use for practicing her flying. Scootaloo attempted to make a noise and see if she could save herself, but her throat locked up and refused to let any sound come out.
Rainbow Dash had no trouble. Oh the things she wanted to say . She landed with a scowl on her face, her shoulders and posture even more stern and authoritative than she was at Sugarcube Corner. She had worried for Scootaloo so much that she had begun to imagine all the horrible and gruesome tragedies that could have taken place. She had seen monsters and watched her cry out in pain, she had seen Scootaloo self-loathe and what she might think, she had pictured the filly lost, hungry, and frightened from the failure of finding her; all this she imagined and she was here playing. Now she was angry and she looked a terrible sight to Scootaloo.
Scootaloo could still save herself, “Uh-um, Rainbow Dash, what are you-
But before she could even react, she felt Rainbow Dash grab her, and embrace her with a squeezing hug. In the shock of it she almost missed the sniffling from Rainbow Dash; she hadn’t wanted that.
“Scoots. Scoots, I was so scared. Nopony had any idea where you were and I just knew something bad had happened!”
Hearing the words was breaking Scootaloo’s heart, “I’m- I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn’t want to do that, I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
Scootaloo could feel herself slowly beginning to cry now. Her lip quiveled, her face squeezed in tight, her eyes were hot and moist, her breath was humid and awkward; her whole body shook wildly just a hair’s length from her muscles contracting. How could she have done this to Rainbow Dash. She was such a terrible pony, she was so heartless, so selfish.
Rainbow Dash squeezed her Scoots a little bit tighter and wiped away any tears on her face and then did the same for Scootaloo. She wanted to keep holding on to her little filly sister, but she couldn’t, there were more pressing matters and concerns. She let go so Scootaloo could look her in the eyes, not that Scootaloo would look into her eyes, though.
“Scoots, what are you doing out here?”
“I’m sorry,” Scootaloo rushed her apology with disdain, “I just couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake anypony. Nopony was supposed to wake up and start a search party.”
“I figured that,” a lie, but rather she didn’t care, it was a diversion Scootaloo was playing, “What are you doing out here?”
“...” She lowered her head, as if the answer was shameful.
“Scootaloo!”
“I like to come here when I’m upset. Practicing my flying makes me happy.” Even if it’s pointless, she wanted to say.
Rainbow Dash was afraid to ask this next question, “Why are you upset?” She could guess the reason, “Are you, are you still angry with Diamond Tiara?”
“I don’t care about Diamond! She’s just a bully! I don’t care about what she said! I’m over that, I don’t care! I don’t care!”
Rainbow saw her eyes welting closed. She wanted to embrace her sister in another hug but her offered hoof was denied. Scootaloo turned around to hide her face, Rainbow was giving her that look, and she still hadn’t figured it out.
“Then is this about your dad?”
Finally. Somepony had figured it out. But now, Scootaloo felt guilty for forcing Rainbow Dash to guess what her turmoil was over. “Why did- Why did he have to- ?” Scootaloo began to actively hit the stump. “Why did you- ? Why did you do that to me!?”
Rainbow Dash tried to pull Scootaloo away from her target, because her blind temper was quickly starting to rip the fur and flesh on her hooves. Scootaloo, unfortunately however, seemed to be stronger than before in her sudden rage.
“I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!”
“Scoots. Whatever you do, don’t hate your dad. It’s not good for you.” Rainbow Dash pulled with more strength but if she pulled with any more, she feared she would hurt Scootaloo.
“I hate him; I’ll hate him!”
Rainbow Dash tugged back hard to separate Scootaloo from the stump. Yet the fillie only became more agitated from the separation. “Don’t! It’s not fair. It’s not fair to you. You have to let him go.” Whether from exhaustion, or from Rainbow Dash’s small words, Scootaloo lost all her energy and stopped her war against the wooden carcass.
But she was still angry. Her teeth were gritted so hard that she could hear the sound they made when they rubbed together, her sweat and tears were everywhere and she didn’t know which was which, her hooves, though tired, shook like a quake. Rainbow Dash didn’t even believe that Scootaloo was aware of how loud she was growling.
Rainbow Dash held onto Scootaloo, and she had to fight with her to do so, because Scootaloo kept pushing her away. Eventually though she accepted one of the hooves around her and cradled it in her own, and this time she let her tears fall down; she let herself wail and she let her wings flail like a wild and rouge animal.
“Ever- ever since Diamond Tiara said - that, I’ve been thinking about him. I-I-I’d forgot how much it hurt me when he-” Scootaloo couldn’t finish, “Rainbow Dash, please don’t ever leave me.”
“Never, I’ll never leave you.”
Rainbow Dash nearly fell back from Scootaloo attacking her in a loving embrace around her neck, “ I want to go home.”
Rainbow slipped Scootaloo onto her back, “Okay Scoots, but let’s go by the Apple’s cottage first to take a look at those hooves.” She felt a heavy load repeatedly move to display, “yes.”
The next ten minutes were spent in a gentle silence. Scootaloo nudged her head into Rainbow Dash’s shoulders and was comatose before Rainbow Dash had the opportunity to find the road leading back. When they reached the cottage, the other fillies had been sent to bed with reassurances that everything was going to be okay. Rainbow’s friends all began to whisper out questions about what happened: what happened, why were Scootaloo’s hooves bleeding, did she look like she had been crying, did she at least explain why she had given everypony a fright; but Rainbow Dash wouldn’t breath a word to any of them about tonight. What happened was for her and Scootaloo and nopony else.
Applejack patched up Scoots, who didn’t even acknowledge the sense of somepony touching her sore hooves except maybe once. Applejack didn’t have to ask questions, because when she had been Scootaloo once upon a time, she had often found herself, even in her grown mare mind today, asking the same questions. She hadn’t needed ask the story, that stump on their property was still there for nostalgia, and it seems it still held its purpose.
And then they left. A few hours of worry, heart palpitations, and tears and they left it behind. Rainbow Dash waited for the others to leave, no need to risk talking with them. Not tonight. Applejack sat with her with no words. Tonight, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t need help. It was three hours till dawn when Rainbow Dash found the power inside her to leave.
Now out the door, Rainbow Dash spread out and folded her wings in a disproportionate slant so that they would concave into a blanket for Scootaloo. A trick she still remembered her own father doing for her after a long, hard day of being a filly. She had never used her wings like this before, but she seemed to be a natural; like father, like daughter.
“Let’s get you home, Scoots.”
A little shiver of warmth from the feathered blanket crept over her, and Scootaloo squeezed her sister’s shoulders and nudged her cheek against her spine. It was dark out, but the moon was bright and lit the way for Rainbow Dash. All the way.
Author's Note
Tell me what you guys think, I'm curious to know.
