I'm Sorry I Couldn't Be There
It wasn't long after Rainbow Dash left Cloudsdale, she wound up in Manehattan, hoping to try and make some sort of life for herself. It had been a stressful few months, she had to take a menial job at a restaurant just to pay the bills.
That's when he entered her life, he was a charming Pegasus Stallion a year older than her, the teenaged Pegasus had become enamored with him. He showed her the city like she had never seen before, it was amazingly romantic.
At least that was a few weeks ago, he said he had to go out on a business trip, or so he claimed. It was weird, but for the past few days Rainbow had been feeling sick to her stomach.
She went back to Cloudsdale, she didn't have a Doctor in town, but she knew one back in Cloudsdale. It was worth trying to talk to her at least.
"So, you've been experiencing this for a few days now, Miss. Dash?" Dr. Highlight, a white Pegasus said as she looked Rainbow Dash over.
"That's right," Rainbow said. "Am I gonna live, doc?"
Dr. Highlight looked at her nervously for a moment, not sure how to answer. "I believe so, Miss. Dash, this is a personal question, but when was your last Estrus?"
"It was a little over a month ago," Rainbow answered, it was when she and... oh Celestia, no.
"Did you have, sexual intercourse during that time?" Dr. Highlight asked, Rainbow was suddenly very nervous.
She had practically jumped him, Celestia, why couldn't she control her emotions? Okay, this had to be a coincidence, it had been pretty late in her cycle, there was no way that she was pregnant, right?
A nurse came in a minute later with a piece of paper under her wing that she gave to the doctor. Rainbow was suddenly very nervous as Dr. Highlight read it over and looked over at the cyan colored Pegasus.
"Miss. Dash, I, don't know how to tell you this, but you're pregnant," Dr. Highlight said.
And with that one sentence, it felt like Rainbow Dash's whole world was going to fall apart.
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A few days later, the next piece of bad news came, Rainbow finally heard from the Stallion she had met. It had been a simple, short letter, he had apparently moved to Las Pegasus and met a mare there.
Rainbow was devastated, she had hoped that maybe if she had some support she could've at least raised the child. She couldn't raise a foal on her own, she thought about going back to Cloudsdale, but she was afraid to face her parents.
The next few months passed quickly, she kept her job as long as she could, but it wasn't going to pay the bills. Finally one day in late spring she went into labor.
"Congratulations Miss. Dash, you have a healthy filly," the doctor said as the baby was carefully placed in her forehooves.
"She's so small..." Rainbow said, tears in her eyes as she looked down at the orange and purple bundle.
"Do you have a name for her?" The Doctor asked, he was a little concerned that the baby's father wasn't there.
Rainbow looked at the foal long and hard, she had given it some thought sure, but she had never thought of any names that she really liked. Well, there was one, but it was kind of silly.
"Scootaloo," she said softly. "Welcome to the world Scootaloo..."
She just wished that she could be there for her daughter, like she needed her to be.
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Rainbow Dash tried to raise the foal for a month, but it was becoming more and more obvious that she wasn't in any position to raise a child. She could barely get enough money to feed herself, let alone take care of a child.
Deep down she knew there was only one thing she could do, it was the hardest decision she had ever made. One night she gathered Scootaloo up in a basket and took her to Manehattan's orphanage with a note.
This is Scootaloo, I'm sorry, I wish I could've taken better care of her, please give her a good family.
As she took one last look back at her daughter, the filly's purple eyes opened up and looked at her.
"Mama..." The small filly cried out, a sound that sent shivers down Rainbow's spine.
"I'm sorry Scootaloo... you'll find a much better family than I could ever give you..." she said sadly. "I'll always love you..."
She couldn't take it any longer, she flapped her wings and took off, going at her top speed as fast as she could. She just wanted to get away from Manehattan as fast as she possibly could.
After flying for what felt like forever, her body finally gave out and she nearly crashed into a small cottage on the outskirts of a town.
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"Umm, are you okay?" A soft voice said as Rainbow started to regain consciousness, she opened her eyes to see a canary yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail.
"Oh hey, you're that Pony from Flight School..." she said, trying to remember her name, Fluttershy, that was it. "Where am I?"
"You're in my home, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.
"Kind of..." Rainbow said sadly. "I... honestly don't know if I'll ever be okay again."
"Well, you're free to stay here as long as you need," Fluttershy said softly.
Rainbow looked at the Pegasus for a moment before nodding. "Thanks..."
She just hoped that Scootaloo was going to be okay.
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A few years had passed, Rainbow Dash had come to like Ponyville and moved in after making a Cloud Mansion for herself. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think of Scootaloo though, sometimes she wished that she could go back and get the filly, but she was sure that wherever she was, she was happy at least.
"Hey Rainbow Dash!" A familiar voice called up to her, she looked over the side of the cloud to see Pinkie Pie waving to her. "Are you okay up there?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just chilling out up here," Rainbow said with a shrug. "What's up?"
"Oh, well a train's approaching town and I was going to go greet the ponies, was wondering if you might want to join me."
Rainbow rolled her eyes at that, Pinkie was a weird Pony, she had better things to do than that anyway. Okay, not really, her duties were pretty much done for the day, eh, why not, what would it hurt?
She got to her hooves and flew down to the train station. Not very many ponies actually got off the train, Ponyville wasn't exactly a major tourist destination, unless Cider season counted.
She was about to go back to her nap when one more pony stepped off the train and her eyes went wide. The pony was an orange Pegasus filly with a short purple mane and tail, carrying saddlebags.
"Scootalooo..." She said to herself and flew off so fast that if she went much faster she would've done a Sonic Rainboom.
"What was that about?" Pinkie asked perplexed.
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A few days later, Rainbow had tried to avoid Scootaloo, she didn't want to tell her the truth of their history together. Just seeing the filly pained her, a reminder of what she had given up on so many years ago.
She was doing the one thing that could get her mind off it, she was flying around a makeshift obstacle course she had built over a field on the outskirts of town.
"Why did she have to come here..." She muttered to herself as she did a loop in the air and flew around a cloud. "What am I going to do now..."
"Oh, wow, that's so cool!" A small voice called out from the ground, she looked down to see Scootaloo watching her. "You're so cool!"
"Heh, thanks kid," Rainbow said sheepishly, trying to be casual about it. "Are you new in town?"
"Yeah, I just moved here from Manehattan, I'm living in the orphanage on the outside of town," Scootaloo said sadly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Rainbow said, she had hoped that she would've been adopted by now.
"But hey, you're really cool, I wish I could fly like you!" Scootaloo said excitedly as she flapped her wings quickly, but only got enough lift for a few feet.
Rainbow couldn't help but watch sadly, Scootaloo couldn't fly, at least not like she should be able to. What was the problem? Her wings were on the small size, but that shouldn't make a huge difference...
Rainbow Dash flew down to Scootaloo and offered her a hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash, best flier in Equestria and future Wonderbolt."
"I'm Scootaloo," Scootaloo said, shaking her hoof. "Hey, I'll see you around town, I gotta get back."
Rainbow watched sadly as Scootaloo ran off, a tear falling down her face as she watched her daughter run off.
"I'm sorry Scootaloo..." she said sadly and flew off at a slower pace. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you..."
Author's Note
This was actually the original chapter 1 for Please Forgive Me (with some extra stuff added), but was scraped early on in the writing. I decided I wanted to release it as a stand-alone one shot fanfic to show more of the story, I hope you all enjoyed.
