You Are Not Alone

by BurningMockingJay

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance, Scootaloo, Tragedy, Rumble, Diamond Tiara, Slice of Life, Sad, Drama
Length: 8949

Never knowing your parents can truly be a horrible thing, but it's even worse when you saw them go.

Scootaloo is now a little older than the ambitious filly she used to be. Now more mature and aware of the world she lives in, her story is more than what anypony would expect it to be.

During a Family Appreciation Day at her school, an incident causes her to run out of class without warning in a mess of tears. Only when a very dear and close friend of hers comes after her to find that she has locked herself in the safe confines of her house does he find out the horrifying truth as to why she feels so hurt in the first place. Concealed feelings of affection ensue.

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Teen for Themes.
Credit for the cover image goes to the rightful owner! (Chloe Hayes)

Published 2015-10-02 20:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-20 02:37:16 UTC

You Aren't Alone, Scoots

Author's Note

This was an idea that came to me and is a one shot!

If there is anything that I as a writer know how to do, it's how to pluck your heartstrings and how to get those eyes watering!

Let's see if this proves me right! Enjoy!

=========
FireRain

You Aren't Alone, Scoots

In the back of her darkened room, Scootaloo sat hugging her legs with her hooves, pressed tightly to herself as she possibly could whilst hot, streaming tears blurred her vision and flowed down her cheeks, matting down her orange fur.

She had hidden herself away in her room in her house that she now had no option to share with one of her aunts, Violet Sage, due to an unfortunate accident that happened some years ago. Ever since then, it killed a part of her inside and she hasn't ever been the same. She was so torn up by it that she didn't even bring it up when she was around her closest and most dearest friends whilst she was at school.

As for the reason she was crying now, it involved a certain pink coated, white and violet two tone maned spoiled little runt by the name of Diamond Tiara.

All of this because of family appreciation day, sadly not the best time for Scootaloo to be at school and to be asked to see if one of her parents could come in for a turn to speak.

*** *** ***

It was just another typical day at Ponyville's local school and family appreciation day was taking place. As usual, Diamond Tiara was asked first upon volunteering to bring her father in and because of her not having a mother that she knew of, it was always going to be Filthy Rich, giving the same speech of how Barnyard Bargains got so popular in the sales market and the all the more boring lecture on business and how it works, much to everypony's disinterest, excluding Diamond.

While Filthy was still talking about sales charts, all but Diamond listened intently. The other students found that sleeping was the only way out of this, all apart from Scootaloo who sat with her head in her hooves, staring down at her desk and lost in her thoughts.
Aside from her, her two best friends sat in the same row as her. Apple Bloom on the far left and Sweetie on the far right, both equally as bored as her.

The talk through how Filthy came to be so successful was so boring in fact that Scootaloo had barely even heard Miss Cheerilee call her name after his speech had ended.

''Scootaloo? Scootaloo!'' Miss Cheerilee raised her voice to the distracted pegasus for the third time, eventually catching her attention. In a snap, Scootaloo's mind came back to reality and she managed to pick her head from between her hooves and look up to her teacher who was facing her with a frown and a serious look in her eyes. ''Were you sleeping through Mister Rich's presentation?'' She inquired, to which an embarrassed blush marked her cheeks upon realizing that everypony was staring at her.

It wasn't that unusual for the pegasus to fall asleep in class and especially not whenever Filthy Rich gave the same, boring presentation each year.

''Miss Cheerilee, I...'' Scootaloo started but didn't really have anything to say for herself. However, when Cheerilee was about to respond to presumably give some kind of punishment, Filthy simply put his hoof to her shoulder with a knowing smile on his lips. Looking back at him, Cheerilee seemed to have an understanding and gave him a simple nod.

''Alright everypony, Mister Rich!'' Filthy gave a bow in thanks from the class and everypony applauded, mostly Diamond. After Filthy took his leave, Cheerilee turned her attention back to her class and a soft smile came to her lips. ''So then, class, next week is Sweetie Belle's turn for Family Appreciation Day!'' She turned to face Sweetie who's face held a disappointed look.

''Miss Cheerilee, I'm sorry, but Rarity or my parents won't be able to make it next week. Rarity had to get them to help her move her things around to her new boutique in Canterlot.'' At that, Cheerilee frowned, going down the row and to Scootaloo who sat next to Sweetie.

''How about you Scootaloo? Can your parents make it?'' She asked her, her expression still hopeful that the answer was anything but negative.

Scootaloo blinked softly, looking over to her teacher and when she was about to respond, the pink brute of the class decided to speak for her.

''Miss Cheerilee!'' Diamond Tiara called out to her teacher, catching her attention along with every other pupil's. ''Scootaloo's parents won't ever be able to make it!'' She snickered evilly into her hoof and Miss Cheerilee cocked her head at her, wondering what she meant and Scootaloo could of sworn her heart stopped beating and her blood turned to ice at what she said next. ''Do you really think a pair of flightless ponies like her parents that she is a descendant of'' She pointed her hoof to Scootaloo. ''can truly make it down here? Everypony knows what happened up in Cloudsdale and how pathetic they are!'' She laughed that same, evil and blood boiling laugh that she always would do whenever she found entertainment and pleasure in torturing the CMC.

Behind her desk, Scootaloo hid tightly behind her hooves and she could feel the tears start to flood her eyes, some already breaking through. She knew something like this might happen when word got around with what happened to her parents only nights ago and despite anything she tried to not come in, auntie Violet Sage told her to go to school anyway.

The other school kids gasped in shock and outrage of what Diamond had just said, their faces painted with looks of disgust towards the small pink, diamond tiara wearing filly.

On her back, Scootaloo could feel the hooves of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gently embracing her in an effort to console her. She hasn't ever told them about it, but now that they knew of that sad look they saw in her eyes, all they wanted to do was console her. Scootaloo may not have told her friends about what happened to her parents in Cloudsdale but neither did Apple Bloom. Most ponies knew that she didn't have any parents either on account of a tragic accident and as calm as a pony she is, even she didn't open up about it.

''Hey! You leave her alone, Tiara!'' A voice from the back of the room said, and when the pink filly turned around, her royal blue eyes set upon Rumble who glared right back at her as he leaned on his desk with anger burning in his purple eyes.

Before Diamond could retort to her fellow class mate, Cheerilee placed herself between the two, doing her best to avoid any kind of fight. ''Alright you two, break it up! And Diamond, I'll speak to you after class!'' She said sourly with an expression full of disgust to the filly who just huffed and turned around, crossing her hooves.

Now Scootaloo was crying openly, both embarrassed and upset as her bottled up emotions were released. No matter how much her friends tried to comfort her, it only made her cry more and no matter how hard she tried not to cry, it was of no use. Getting shakily up from her seat, she ran for the door and unfurled her wings, leaving the school house and taking to the skies, her two friends and Rumble going after her.

*** *** ***

A Week Ago

*** *** ***

Night was coming over Cloudsdale, sheeting the city of clouds in a blanket of dark colour, making the clouds appear to be a mix of a soft navy blue and grey.

Over at the weather factory, work ponies of the various sectors in the factory were hard at work and were preparing for the storm that was to be scheduled by later that evening. The whole group of ponies in charge of making thunderclouds and rain clouds were at their necks on a short leash to make sure they got what they could done for the upcoming hour when the storm was scheduled to be set to go.

Two ponies, a mare and a stallion in specific had this job and were instructed by their boss, Lightning Heart, to help prepare the different clouds for the night.The stallion had a soft touch of blue for a coat, nearly resembling the colour of water and his mane was white and his eyes were purple. His cutie mark was that of a thunderbolt cutting through the middle of a halo made from clouds.

The mare was orange in colour and her mane was a royal purple colour and her eyes were crimson, shining with life. Her cutie mark was of a purple heart in front of purple flames.

''Hey, Halo Strike! Blossom Fire!'' The two heard the voice of Lightning Heart call them from behind. Turning to face her, they could see that she had a sympathetic look in her eyes. Lightning's coat was pearl white and her mane was a vibrant shade of blue, the same as her eyes. Her cutie mark was of a heart with the tip at the bottom shaped like the end of a lightning bolt in a yellow colour.

''Oh, hey, Lightning.'' Halo greeted her. ''What's up?'' He asked upon noticing that look in her eyes.

''First of all, we're running short on staff and workers for the cloud section of the factory and I'm going to need you to help them out if we are to get this storm underway in the upcoming hour. Second, as sorry as I am about this, the company is making it so that I have to take some bits from both yours and everypony else's paychecks.''

Halo and Blossom's eyes went wide. ''W-What?! Howcome? Surely they can't just do that!'' Blossom said, outraged by the news. Lightning shrugged unknowingly.

''Hey, it includes me too, y'know? Besides, as annoying as it is, the owners of this place need the bits to fix up a few of the machines around here.'' She sighed through her nostrils. ''Sometimes I wonder why we even bother working at the rates we're payed in.''

Blossom and Halo shared a worrysome look. ''But what about Scootaloo? She's expecting us home soon and we both promised to take her out with her friends tomorrow.'' Blossom said, feeling bad at knowing what her daughter may be feeling when she finds she wasn't able to come home.

''Yeah, like I said, I'm sorry about this. Besides, you must have somepony who's capable of looking after the kid. I'd do it myself but I have to stay behind late along with the rest of you. Don't you have anyone else who can look after her for a while?''

The two looked thoughtful for a moment. ''Perhaps...Violet Sage? She's in Ponyville today to run a few errands. Do you think you can get a message to her, Lightning?'' Halo asked, a hopeful tone in his voice. Thankfully, Lightning smiled and nodded her head.

''Yeah, sure. I'll see what I can do.''

*** *** ***

Back at home, Scootaloo sat beside the living room window on the couch, watching the rain begin to pour down, creating soft tapping noises against the glass with her head in her hooves, wandering where her parents were.

They told her that they would be home by eight and now it was nearly ten. In her heart, she kept feeling the pang of loneliness and sadness without her parents beside her. She never was used to not having her parents around her for long periods of time and by this point in time, she was hoping nothing has happened to cause them to be late.

Moment later after staring mindlessly at the now pouring rain, the front door opened with a loud click, catching Scootaloo's attention and causing her to snap her head in the direction of the front door that was across from her position on the living room couch. However, when the door closed, she got even more sad at seeing it wasn't her parents and yet she did feel a little warmer inside at knowing she wasn't alone.

Standing in front of the closed door and covered lightly in rain was her auntie Violet Sage.

Violet Sage's coat was a soft lavender that contrasted nicely with her deeper purple and red two tone mane. The dark purple in her mane matched her eyes and her cutie mark was of a red and purple sage intertwined with each other at their spines.

Turning her head, she smiled warmly at Scootaloo who could only manage a weak smile from all the worry in her mind for her missing parents. Sage came up to Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug, gently ruffling her mane when she pulled away.

''Hey, Scoots, it's been so long since I've seen you.'' Sage said, smiling down at her niece. ''Your parents won't be back until tomorrow, so I've been asked by them to look after you for a while. How's that sound?'' Scootaloo's weak smile transformed into a deep frown. She may of been happier that she didn't have to wait alone for her parents, but Violet Sage wasn't the best of company she could of asked for.

Whilst Scootaloo liked hanging out with Sage, they didn't really have all that much in common so when there was a suggestion for anything like a game that Scootaloo hated or didn't like and Sage loved to play, there was normally an objection. In fact, the only thing that the pair had in common was that they were both part of the same family. Nothing more can truly be said about what they have in common other than that and in some areas, it annoyed her.

It would of been nice to have somepony to relate to that wasn't either Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle every once in a while. Unfortunately, the bad luck of the young filly made it the opposite way for her than which she would of liked.

''T-Tomorrow?'' Scootaloo said quietly and disappointedly. ''But they promised me that they'd both be back tonight!'' She complained, upset that she was going to have to be separated from her parents by work. It wouldn't of been the first time, either. There have been some previous times in Scootaloo's life in which she had to spend time with Violet Sage whilst her parents worked on irregular hours because something came up at their workplace on short notice.

''Come on, Scoots, we can still have fun! How about a game or a film?'' Sage suggested, trying to hopefully lighten the sad and distraught filly's mood, to no avail.

Yeah, I've heard that a million times before, Scootaloo thought to herself, not looking forward to the rest of the night ahead of her.

*** *** ***

''Scootaloo? You in here?'' A knock sounded on Scootaloo's bedroom door before the head of Rumble stuck his head through the gap as he pushed it open and peered inside the orange pegasus's dark bedroom. The noise that drew his attention to her room was what sounded like crying and the first thing he noticed upon looking inside was that her curtains were drew shut, cutting out any light to illuminate the bedroom.

The second thing he noticed was Scootaloo, sat in the corner of her room and clasped tightly against herself as she looked down at something in her hooves, appearing to Rumble like a piece of paper or something of the kind.

Pushing the door open to allow him space to move in, he closed the door again with a quiet squeak from the hinges. ''Scootaloo?'' He asked, but she didn't respond. He had a worry in his heart for his friend and deep inside, he truly did care about her so much, more than she could possibly know. To see her like this now pained him.

Coming up to her, Rumble slowly sat down beside her, barely making a sound whilst he did so and he slowly peered at the piece of paper in her hooves, noticing that it was actually a picture. It was of both her parents and herself all cuddling together with smiles on their faces as they looked at the camera.

Frowning, he momentarily looked to her, seeing that she was still looking down before asking in a quiet voice, ''What happened, Scoots?'' As pressing as it may have seemed in the current state that she was in, Rumble knew that she would never get over it if she didn't talk about it to anypony.

Personally, Rumble had met both her parents before and even liked them. At an even younger age than they are now, they used to always plan play dates so they could meet up and hang out together. There probably wasn't a pony around that knew Scootaloo like he did.

Sniffling heavily, Scootaloo wiped her eyes with a hoof and forced herself to speak through her tears.

*** *** ***

The storm had been long prepared by the pegasus ponies of the weather factory in Cloudsdale and the rain has already began to pour down upon the lands below.

Teams in groups of twos and threes were instructed to gather what clouds they can and position them to the places they have been assigned to by the boss of the weather factory. It wasn't the most easy job or the least dangerous job around, but somepony had to do it. As for Halo Strike and Blossom Fire, they were fortunate enough to not be outside with the others in the increasingly harsh weather and were assigned to help sort out the thunder storage room where high voltage bolts of lightning where held in enchanted jars to keep them safe.

Alongside of Halo and Blossom, around three other ponies who normally worked in this section of the factory were hauling the jars off with great care to avoid any hazards. Unfortunately, Blossom nor Halo had the experience with the assignment and were slowing things down for them.

They couldn't help but feel guilty about it, but there wasn't any last minute job switches to get away from it. Work was tight enough as it is and with all that's happening in the factory to produce one of the fiercest storms yet, it would cause chaos to keep assigning ponies to different sectors of work every hour.

Picking up a jar full of deadly, white hot electricity, Blossom carefully managed to keep hold of it with her wings to keep herself balanced upon finding that it was heavier than she had anticipated it to be and to reduce her chances of dropping the jar, Halo doing the same. Following the other ponies with the jars of the lightning bolts, Blossom lost her balance with the jar in her hooves and was about to drop it moments before she slipped on the cloud floor from being too focused on the jar.

Thankfully, Halo managed to swoop in and save her from falling but as he rushed to save his beloved wife, he dropped his own jar of electricity and it went flying through the air before hitting the floor, fortunately not smashing to pieces and letting loose a whole bunch of deadly sparks and strikes.

Their sighs of relief were short lives as they saw the jar crack and their eyes went small. All along the side of the jar, a small crack soon turned into a large crack that eventually caused the whole thing to shatter, followed by alarmed gasps from the other work ponies who were in the room.

Within seconds, the sound of thunder crashed, followed by blast by blast of white hot, deadly yellow streaks of lightning.

The floor where the jar once had been had been partially blown away by the explosion from the strike and both Blossom and Halo screamed as they fell through whilst also being partially electrocuted by the highly charged electricity.

No matter how hard the two tried to unfurl their wings to get to safety and right themselves, it was of no use. The pain coursing through their bodies proved all too great for them to bear and they found themselves falling faster and faster through the middle of the storm that was underway in showers of hard rain and biting cold winds, followed by the occasional blasts of lightning and crashes of thunder.

*** *** ***

Outside of Scootaloo's house, the storm had picked up to a more forceful level and she kept finding herself to be staring out the window and at the rain outside, hoping to see her parents coming home, even if she knew that they weren't.

Violet Sage too was looking out at the rain from the window beside Scootaloo, feeling somewhat sad. Every time she would be asked occasionally to look after Scoots while her parents were at work, she would always try to make the filly feel like she was one of her own kids, yet some part of her knows that Scootaloo may not like doing some things she likes to do and the other parts feels like she has let her niece down.

In all of the rain outside, flashes of lightning could be seen in the distance, followed by the rumble of thunder and illuminating the room in brief seconds of white-yellow light. The pair watched it go on for minutes before a knock was heard at the door, catching their attention. They certainly weren't expecting anyone to be arriving so late or especially in this kind of weather, so who could it be.

Wearily opening the front door to the house, Sage found that the knock came from a police pony, a stallion with a pure white coat and black mane and tail with blue eyes. He was wrapped in a police-blue specialized uniform to protect him against harsh weather conditions of storms and the like and despite the lack of vision, Sage could see the regretful look in his eyes.

Allowing the officer to come in and get out of the rain, she closed the door behind him and the officer took off his hat, placing it to his chest with a sympathetic look that grew when he met the sad, purple eyes of Scootaloo.

''Ma'am, are you Violet Sage?'' He asked softly, to which Sage nodded slowly, hoping nothing bad has happened to bring the officer over to her sister's house. ''We need to talk, Miss Sage, there's been an accident.''

*** *** ***

By the time Scootaloo had finished talking, her voice had fully broken and she was crying harder than she ever has before. Rumble too was crying upon hearing the story of what happened to his friend and he wrapped a hoof around her shoulders, pulling her close against him and allowing her to cry into his chest, stroking her mane lovingly with his other hoof to comfort her.

''I-I'm sorry, Scootaloo,'' He said, nuzzling her cheek. ''I'm so sorry!'' He gave a soft sniffle. He felt Scootaloo pull him closer to her chest and he felt a small blush appear on his cheeks.

''It's not your f-fault, R-Rum-Rumble.'' She sniffled heavily, wiping her eyes and looking up into his, seeing the tears run down his face and that blush upon his cheeks. ''If a-anyth-anything, I b-blame the weather factory! I-I never forgot that look on Sage's face when she was told that Mum and Dad d-d-died!''

Rumble leaned down and wiped her eyes. ''Shh, it's alright, Scoots. You have every right to be mad and upset.'' He held her shoulders. ''You don't have to go through it alone.'' He moved in and kissed her cheek, igniting a blush and a surprised gasp escaped from her mouth out of shock.

When Rumble pulled away, Scootaloo could see that he was blushing brighter than she was. For a moment, she felt a fuzzy feeling in her chest that she normally only felt around somepony close to her, much like her parents. In Rumble's case, it was pretty much the same. She and him have known each other since they were quite young, toddlers in fact, and they pretty much know each other to the core.

Even though her heart ached, it was nice to know somepony still cared for her as deeply as her parents did, the way in which Violet Sage tried to love her in but didn't quite know how to express it in the way that she was so used to.

Scootaloo leaned forward and returned the kiss with a peck on Rumble's own cheek before she hugged him tightly, crying what she could out of her system. Rumble could only hold her, stroking her back with a hoof to help calm her down.

He couldn't imagine what it was like to live without parents. He knew only a few ponies like Apple Bloom who lost theirs from a very young age that didn't know about their parents entirely enough to call them a relation or to feel sad about them being gone from the world and that they never had the chance to get to know them.

What burned the blood in Rumble's veins was the fact that Diamond Tiara had deliberately hurt and embarrassed Scootaloo in front of everyone because she found bliss in her own moments as she tortures them verbally with insults and accusations and getting them down about themselves. Sometimes, he'd even think about hitting Diamond for hurting one of his life-long friends like that, despite what may happen to him as a consequence.

Now, though, he was going to comfort his friend and stay with her. He was the only closest pony to her aside from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that she felt as comfortable as she did around her parents.

He held her as she eventually began to calm down, the tears slowing down before she tired herself out from the emotional wave of sadness. Feeling relaxed, she settled herself in Rumble's hooves and closed her eyes as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Rumble smiled softly down at her as she slept, stroking her mane with a hoof as he too began to fall asleep next to her, resting his head on top of her mane.

You Are Not Alone (Remastered Version)

Author's Note

Right, then.

So, here we are again, my fellow readers! The title irked me, seeing as it should be ''Are Not'' instead of ''Aren't'', and now it's fixed. Hooray!

This ''Remastered Version'' is actually a re-do of the original story, meaning that I basically stuck it through an editing program, switched and added a couple of things in there, fixed the grammatical errors and altered them where needed.

And so you have it: a completely new, freshly re-model of the original story!

She looks fantastic to me!

You Are Not Alone (Remastered Version)

In the back of her darkened room, Scootaloo sat hugging her legs with her hooves, pressed tightly to herself as she possibly could whilst hot, streaming tears blurred her vision and flowed down her cheeks, matting down her orange fur.

She had hidden herself away in her bedroom in her house that she now had no option to share with one of her aunts, Violet Sage, due to an unfortunate accident that happened some years ago. Ever since then, it killed a part of her inside and she hasn't ever been the same. She was so torn up by it that she didn't even bring it up when she was around her closest and dearest friends whilst she was at school.

As for the reason that she was crying now, it involved a certain pink coated, white and violet two-tone-haired, spoiled little runt by the name of Diamond Tiara.

All of this because of Family Appreciation Day, sadly, not the best time for Scootaloo to be at school and to be asked to see if one of her parents could come in for a turn to speak.

Ponyville School House

It was just another typical day at Ponyville's local school and family appreciation day was taking place. As usual, Diamond Tiara was asked first upon volunteering to bring her father in and because of her not having a mother that she knew of, it was always going to be Filthy Rich, giving the same speech of how Barnyard Bargains got so popular in the sales market and the all the more boring lecture on business and how it works, much to everypony's disinterest, excluding Diamond.

While Filthy was still talking about sales charts, all but Diamond listened intently. The other students found that sleeping was the only way out of this, all apart from Scootaloo who sat with her head in her hooves, staring down at her desk and lost in her thoughts.

Aside from her, her two best friends sat in the same row as her. Apple Bloom on the far left and Sweetie on the far right, both equally as bored as her.

The talk through how Filthy came to be so successful was so boring in fact that Scootaloo had barely even heard Miss Cheerilee call her name after his speech had ended.

''Scootaloo? Scootaloo!'' Miss Cheerilee raised her voice to the distracted pegasus for the third time, eventually catching her attention. In a snap, Scootaloo's mind came back to reality and she managed to pick her head from between her hooves and look up to her teacher who was facing her with a frown and a serious look in her eyes. ''Were you sleeping through Mister Rich's presentation?'' She inquired, to which an embarrassed blush marked her cheeks upon realising that everypony was staring at her.

It wasn't that unusual for the pegasus to fall asleep in class and especially not whenever Filthy Rich gave the same, boring presentation each year.

''Miss Cheerilee, I...'' Scootaloo started but didn't really have anything to say for herself. However, when Cheerilee was about to respond to presumably give some kind of punishment, Filthy simply put his hoof on her shoulder with a knowing smile on his lips. Looking back at him, Cheerilee seemed to have an understanding and gave him a simple nod.

''Alright everypony, Mister Rich!'' Filthy gave a bow in thanks from the class and everypony applauded, but it was mostly Diamond. After Filthy took his leave, Cheerilee turned her attention back to her class and a soft smile came to her lips. ''So then, class, next week is Sweetie Belle's turn for Family Appreciation Day!'' She turned to face Sweetie who's face held a disappointed look.

''Miss Cheerilee, I'm sorry, but Rarity or my parents won't be able to make it next week. Rarity had to get them to help her move her things around to her new boutique in Canterlot.'' At that, Cheerilee frowned, going down the row and to Scootaloo who sat next to Sweetie.
''How about you Scootaloo? Can your parents make it?'' She asked her, her expression still hopeful that the answer was anything but negative.

Scootaloo blinked softly, looking over to her teacher and when she was about to respond, the pink brute of the class decided to speak for her.
''Miss Cheerilee!'' Diamond Tiara called out to her teacher, catching her attention along with every other pupil.

''Scootaloo's parents won't ever be able to make it!'' She snickered evilly into her hoof and Miss Cheerilee cocked her head at her, wondering what she meant and Scootaloo could have sworn her heart stopped beating and her blood turned to ice at what she said next. ''Do you really think a pair of flightless ponies like her parents that she is a descendant of'' She pointed her hoof to Scootaloo. ''can truly make it down here? Everypony knows what happened up in Cloudsdale and how pathetic they are!'' She laughed that same, evil and blood boiling laugh that she always would do whenever she found entertainment and pleasure in torturing the CMC.

Behind her desk, Scootaloo hid tightly behind her hooves and she could feel the tears start to flood her eyes, some already breaking through. She knew something like this might happen when word got around with what happened to her parents only nights ago and despite anything she tried to not come in, auntie Violet Sage told her to go to school anyway.

The other school kids gasped in shock and outrage of what Diamond had just said, their faces painted with looks of disgust towards the small pink, diamond tiara wearing filly.

On her back, Scootaloo could feel the hooves of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gently embracing her in an effort to console her. She hasn't ever told them about it, but now that they knew of that sad look they saw in her eyes, all they wanted to do was console her. Scootaloo may not have told her friends about what happened to her parents in Cloudsdale but neither did Apple Bloom.

Most ponies knew that she didn't have any parents either on account of a tragic accident and as calm as a pony she is, even she didn't open up about it.

''Hey! You leave her alone, Tiara!'' A voice from the back of the room said, and when the pink filly turned around, her royal blue eyes set upon Rumble who glared right back at her as he leant on his desk with anger burning in his purple eyes.

Before Diamond could retort to her fellow classmate, Cheerilee placed herself between the two, doing her best to avoid any kind of fight. ''Alright you two, break it up! And Diamond, I'll speak to you after class!'' She said sourly with an expression full of disgust to the filly who just huffed and turned around, crossing her hooves.

Now Scootaloo was crying openly, both embarrassed and upset as her bottled up emotions were released. No matter how much her friends tried to comfort her, it only made her cry more and no matter how hard she tried not to cry, it was of no use. Getting shakily up from her seat, she ran for the door and unfurled her wings, leaving the school house and taking to the skies, her two friends and Rumble going after her.

Cloudsdale Weather Factory (Past)

The night was coming over Cloudsdale, sheeting the city of clouds in a blanket of dark colour, making the clouds appear to be a mix of a soft navy blue and grey.

Over at the weather factory, work ponies of the various sectors in the factory were hard at work and were preparing for the storm that was to be scheduled for later that evening. The whole group of ponies in charge of making thunder clouds and rain clouds were at their necks on a short leash to make sure they got what they could do in the upcoming hour when the storm was scheduled to be set to go.

Two ponies, a mare and a stallion in specific had this job and were instructed by their boss, Lightning Heart, to help prepare the different clouds for the night.The stallion had a soft touch of blue for a coat, resembling the colour of water, and his mane was white whilst his eyes were bright purple. His cutie mark was that of a thunderbolt cutting through the middle of a halo that was structured from clouds.

The mare was orange in colour with a mane of royal purple, and her eyes were crimson, shining with life. Her cutie mark was a light purple heart in front of dark purple flames.

''Halo Strike! Blossom Fire!'' The two heard the voice of Lightning Heart call them from behind. Turning to face her, they could see that she had a sympathetic look in her eyes. Lightning's coat was pearl white and her mane was a vibrant shade of blue, the same as her eyes. Her cutie mark was a yellow heart with the tip at the bottom shaped like the ending point of a sturdy lightning bolt.

''Oh, hey, Lightning.'' Halo greeted her. ''What's up?'' He asked upon noticing that look in her eyes.

''First of all, we're running short on staff and workers for the cloud section of the factory and I'm going to need you to help them out if we are to get this storm underway in the upcoming hour. Second, as sorry as I am about this, the company is making it so that I have to take some bits from both yours and everypony else's paychecks.''

Halo and Blossom's eyes went wide. ''W-What?! How come? Surely they can't just do that!'' Blossom said, outraged by the news. Lightning shrugged unknowingly.

''Hey, it includes me too, y'know? Besides, as annoying as it is, the owners of this place need the bits to fix up a few of the machines around here.'' She sighed through her nostrils. ''Sometimes I wonder why we even bother working at the rates we're paid in.''

Blossom and Halo shared a worrisome look. ''But what about Scootaloo? She's expecting us home soon and we both promised to take her out with her friends tomorrow.'' Blossom said, feeling bad at knowing what her daughter may be feeling when she finds she wasn't able to come home.

''Yeah, like I said, I'm sorry about this. Besides, you must have somepony who's capable of looking after the kid. I'd do it myself but I have to stay behind late along with the rest of you. Don't you have anyone else who can look after her for a while?''

The two looked thoughtful for a moment. ''Perhaps...Violet Sage? She's in Ponyville today to run a few errands. Do you think you can get a message to her, Lightning?'' Halo asked, a hopeful tone in his voice. Thankfully, Lightning smiled and nodded her head.

''Yeah, sure. I'll see what I can do.''

Scootaloo's Family Home (Past)

Back at home, Scootaloo sat beside the living room window on the couch, watching the rain begin to pour down, creating soft tapping noises against the glass with her head in her hooves, wondering where her parents were.

They told her that they would be home by eight and now it was nearly ten. In her heart, she kept feeling the pang of loneliness and sadness without her parents beside her. She never was used to not having her parents around her for long periods of time and by this point in time, she was hoping nothing has happened to cause them to be late.

A moment later after staring mindlessly at the now pouring rain, the front door opened with a loud click, catching Scootaloo's attention and causing her to snap her head in the direction of the front door that was across from her position on the living room couch. However, when the door closed, she got even sadder at seeing it wasn't her parents and yet she did feel a little warmer inside at knowing she wasn't alone.
Standing in front of the closed door and covered lightly in rain was her auntie, Violet Sage.

Violet Sage's coat was a soft lavender that contrasted nicely with her deeper purple and red two tone mane. The dark purple in her mane matched her eyes and her cutie mark was a red and purple sage intertwined with each other at their spines.

Turning her head, she smiled warmly at Scootaloo who could only manage a weak smile from all the worry in her mind for her missing parents. Sage came up to Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug, gently ruffling her mane when she pulled away.

''Hey, Scoots, it's been so long since I've seen you,'' Sage said, smiling down at her niece. ''your parents won't be back until tomorrow, so I've been asked by them to look after you for a while. How's that sound?'' Scootaloo's weak smile transformed into a deep frown. She may have been happier that she didn't have to wait alone for her parents, but Violet Sage wasn't the best company she could have asked for.

Whilst Scootaloo liked hanging out with Sage, they didn't really have all that much in common so when there was a suggestion for anything like a game that Scootaloo hated or didn't like and Sage loved to play, there was normally an objection. In fact, the only thing that the pair had in common was that they were both parts of the same family. Nothing more can truly be said about what they have in common other than that and in some areas, it annoyed her.

It would have been nice to have somepony to relate to that wasn't either Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle every once in a while. Unfortunately, the bad luck of the young filly made it the opposite way for her than which she would have liked.

''T-Tomorrow?'' Scootaloo said quietly and disappointedly. ''But they promised me that they'd both be back tonight!'' She complained, upset that she was going to have to be separated from her parents by work.

It wouldn't have been the first time, either. There have been some previous times in Scootaloo's life in which she had to spend time with Violet Sage whilst her parents worked on irregular hours because something came up at their workplace on short notice.

''Come on, Scoots, we can still have fun! How about a game or a film?'' Sage suggested, trying to hopefully lighten the sad and distraught filly's mood, to no avail.

Yeah, I've heard that a million times before... Scootaloo thought to herself, not looking forward to the rest of the night ahead of her.

Scootaloo's Family Home (Present Day)

''Scootaloo? You in here?'' A knock sounded on Scootaloo's bedroom door before Rumble poked his head through the gap as he pushed it open and peered inside the orange pegasus's dark bedroom.

The noise that drew his attention to her room was what was unmistakably crying. The first thing he noticed upon looking inside was that her curtains were drawn shut, cutting out any light to illuminate the bedroom, leaving it in a blanket of darkness.

The second thing he noticed was Scootaloo, sat in the corner of her room and clasped tightly against herself as she looked down at something in her hooves, appearing to Rumble like a piece of paper or maybe a framed item. One of the two.

Pushing the door open to allow himself the space to move in, he closed the door again with a quiet squeak from the hinges. ''Scootaloo?'' He asked, but she didn't respond. He had a strong worry in his heart for his friend, and deep inside, he truly did care about her, more than she could possibly know. To see her like this now was akin to having a knife twisted into his gut.

Coming up to her, Rumble slowly sat down beside her, barely making a sound whilst he did so. From his seated position, he slowly peered over to the item clasped tightly in the hooves of Scootaloo, noticing that it was indeed a picture.

It was of her parents on both sides of her as a filly, all cuddling together with smiles on their faces as they faced the camera.

Frowning, he momentarily looked to her, seeing that she was still looking down before asking in a quiet voice, ''What happened, Scoots?'' As pressing as it may have seemed in the current state that she was in, Rumble knew that she would never get over it if she didn't talk about it to anypony.

Personally, Rumble had met both her parents before and even liked them. At an even younger age than they are now, they used to always plan play dates so they could meet up and hang out together. There probably wasn't a pony around that knew Scootaloo like he did.
Sniffling heavily, Scootaloo wiped her eyes with a hoof and forced herself to speak through her tears.

Cloudsdale Weather Factory (Past)

The storm had been long prepared by the pegasus ponies of the weather factory in Cloudsdale and the rain has already begun to pour down upon the lands below.

Teams in groups of twos and threes were instructed to gather what clouds they can and position them to the places they have been assigned to by the boss of the weather factory. It wasn't the easiest job or the least dangerous job around, but somepony had to do it. As for Halo Strike and Blossom Fire, they were fortunate enough to not be outside with the others in the increasingly harsh weather and were assigned to help sort out the thunder storage room where high voltage bolts of lightning were held in enchanted jars to keep them safe.

Alongside Halo and Blossom, around three other ponies who normally worked in this section of the factory were hauling the jars off with great care to avoid any hazards. Unfortunately, Blossom nor Halo had the experience with the assignment and this was slowing things down for them.

They couldn't help but feel guilty about it, but there weren't any last minute job switches to get away from it. Work was tight enough as it is and with all that's happening in the factory to produce one of the fiercest storms yet, it would cause chaos to keep assigning ponies to different sectors of work every hour.

Picking up a jar full of deadly, white-hot electricity, Blossom carefully managed to keep hold of it with her wings to keep herself balanced upon finding that it was heavier than she had anticipated it to be and to reduce her chances of dropping the jar, Halo doing the same. Following the other ponies with the jars of the lightning bolts, Blossom lost her balance with the jar in her hooves and was about to drop it moments before she slipped on the cloud floor from being too focused on the jar.

Thankfully, Halo managed to swoop in and save her from falling but as he rushed to save his beloved wife, he dropped his own jar of electricity and it went flying through the air before hitting the floor, fortunately not smashing to pieces and letting loose a whole bunch of deadly sparks and strikes.

Their sighs of relief were short lives as they saw the jar crack and their eyes went small. All along the side of the jar, a small crack soon turned into a large crack that eventually caused the whole thing to shatter, followed by alarmed gasps from the other work ponies who were in the room.

Within seconds, the sound of thunder crashed, followed by blast by blast of white hot, deadly yellow streaks of lightning.
The floor where the jar once had been had been partially blown away by the explosion from the strike and both Blossom and Halo screamed as they fell through whilst also being partially electrocuted by the highly charged electricity.

No matter how hard the two tried to unfurl their wings to get to safety and right themselves, it was of no use. The pain coursing through their bodies proved all too great for them to bear and they found themselves falling faster and faster through the middle of the storm that was underway in showers of hard rain and biting cold winds, followed by the occasional blasts of lightning and crashes of thunder.

Scootaloo's Family Home (Past)

Outside of Scootaloo's house, the storm had picked up to a more forceful level and she kept finding herself to be staring out the window and at the rain outside, hoping to see her parents coming home, even if she knew that they weren't.

Violet Sage too was looking out at the rain from the window beside Scootaloo, feeling somewhat sad. Every time she would be asked occasionally to look after Scoots while her parents were at work, she would always try to make the filly feel like she was one of her own kids, yet some part of her knows that Scootaloo may not like doing some things she likes to do and the other parts feels like she has let her niece down.

In all of the rain outside, flashes of lightning could be seen in the distance, followed by the rumble of thunder and illuminating the room in brief seconds of white-yellow light. The pair watched it go on for minutes before a knock was heard at the door, catching their attention. They certainly weren't expecting anyone to be arriving so late or especially in this kind of weather, so who could it be.

Wearily opening the front door to the house, Sage found that the knock came from a police pony, a stallion with a pure white coat and black mane and tail with blue eyes. He was wrapped in a police-blue specialised uniform to protect him against harsh weather conditions of storms and the like and despite the lack of vision, Sage could see the regretful look in his eyes.

Allowing the officer to come in and get out of the rain, she closed the door behind him and the officer took off his hat, placing it on his chest with a sympathetic look that grew when he met the sad, purple eyes of Scootaloo.

''Ma'am, are you Violet Sage?'' He asked softly, to which Sage nodded slowly, hoping nothing bad has happened to bring the officer over to her sister's house. ''We need to talk, Miss Sage, there's been an accident.''

Scootaloo's Family Home (Present)

By the time Scootaloo had finished talking, her voice had fully broken and she was crying harder than she ever has before. Rumble too was crying upon hearing the story of what happened to his friend and he wrapped a hoof around her shoulders, pulling her close against him and allowing her to cry into his chest, stroking her mane lovingly with his other hoof to comfort her.

''I-I'm sorry, Scootaloo,'' He said, nuzzling her cheek. ''I'm so sorry!'' He gave a soft sniffle. He felt Scootaloo pull him closer to her chest and he felt a small blush appear on his cheeks.

''It's not your f-fault, R-Rum-Rumble.'' She sniffled heavily, wiping her eyes and looking up into his, seeing the tears run down his face and that blush upon his cheeks. ''If a-anyth-anything, I b-blame the weather factory! I-I never forgot that look on Sage's face when she was told that Mum and Dad d-d-died!''

Rumble leant down and wiped her eyes. ''Shh, it's alright, Scoots. You have every right to be mad and upset.'' He held her shoulders. ''You don't have to go through it alone.'' He moved in and kissed her cheek, igniting a blush and a surprised gasp escaped from her mouth out of shock.

When Rumble pulled away, Scootaloo could see that he was blushing brighter than she was. For a moment, she felt a fuzzy feeling in her chest that she normally only felt around somepony close to her, much like her parents. In Rumble's case, it was pretty much the same.

She and he have known each other since they were quite young, toddlers in fact, and they pretty much know each other to the core.

Even though her heart ached, it was nice to know somepony still cared for her as deeply as her parents did, the way in which Violet Sage tried to love her in but didn't quite know how to express it in the way that she was so used to.

Scootaloo leant forward and returned the kiss with a peck on Rumble's own cheek before she hugged him tightly, crying what she could out of her system. Rumble could only hold her, stroking her back with a hoof to help calm her down.

He couldn't imagine what it was like to live without parents. He knew only a few ponies like Apple Bloom who lost theirs from a very young age that didn't know about their parents entirely enough to call them a relation or to feel sad about them being gone from the world and that they never had the chance to get to know them.

What burned the blood in Rumble's veins was the fact that Diamond Tiara had deliberately hurt and embarrassed Scootaloo in front of everyone because she found bliss in her own moments as she tortures them verbally with insults and accusations and getting them down on themselves. Sometimes, he'd even think about hitting Diamond for hurting one of his life-long friends like that, despite what may happen to him as a consequence.

Now, though, he was going to comfort his friend and stay with her. He was the only closest pony to her aside from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that she felt as comfortable as she did around her parents.

He held her as she eventually began to calm down, the tears slowing down before she tired herself out from the emotional wave of sadness. Feeling relaxed, she settled herself in Rumble's hooves and closed her eyes as she leant her head against his shoulder.

Rumble smiled softly down at her as she slept, stroking her mane with a hoof as he too began to fall asleep next to her, resting his head on top of her mane.