Scootaloo rested her orange hoof against the hard wooden door. Behind the wooden door was her worst nightmare, her fillyhood home. She was tempted to hit her head against the door, Scootaloo felt so stupid. She knew that inside there was nothing to be scared of, she knew there was only five rooms: a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry. But, it wasn’t the house itself that scared her.
It was something much worse, that she was scared of, her mother. She didn’t know what to do, she was so confused! Why couldn’t she have a family like Applebloom and Sweetie Belle! She thought angrily, they each had caring loving family. That cared about them, that loved them.
Scootaloo shook her head quickly, which caused her to lose balance and fall. She quickly used her hoof against the door to stop her descent towards the veranda. Scootaloo thanked her quick thinking and leaned all her weight against the door. She couldn’t think like that, she didn’t want to be jealous of her friends. After all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood together no matter what, they were more than friends. They were family.
But, she didn’t feel as if it was enough. She wanted more, she wanted a real family. She wanted to meet her father, that she had only dreamed of meeting, and she wanted to have a real mother, who cared and supported her.Why did such a stupid dream hold her mind? Her mother had told her numerous times that Scootaloo’s father didn’t want her and had abandoned them because of Scootaloo’s birth. They would never be a family, they never had a chance.
Scootaloo had understood that family could not only be blood and she loved all the important ponies in her life, not that she would tell them that. But, she had held this wish all of her life, That her father would could charging in and save her mother from herself and fix their family. He would hug her and tell her how much he loved her and they would finally be a family.
It wouldn’t happen, Scootaloo thought vehemently, after all how could they be a family when Scootaloo couldn’t even knock on the door to speak with her mother. All she wanted from her mother was love and support. Like the door, that she was currently leaning on, she wanted her mother to catch her when she fell or even help her up. Not to tell her that she shouldn’t ever fall or tell her to be better.
Scootaloo’s face began to redden and she pushed herself away from the door, falling onto the hard wooden floor. What kind of pony was so desperate for support that they gained it from a door? Disappointing ponies and Scootaloo couldn’t be a disappointing pony. That would mean her mother was right and she was wasting everypony’s time.
It hurt, it hurt even thinking that she was everything her mother said she was. That she really was a disappointment not meant for anything. She couldn’t be that! She couldn’t not when she had ponies who believed in her.
Scootaloo quickly pushed herself off the hard wooden floor and dashed away, she thought she heard a noise from the inside. She wanted to see her mother but she was scared! What if she was treated worse for not coming home!? Or worse her mother hadn’t even noticed she left. What if… What if…. Her mother never let her see Rainbow.. Scootaloo pushed her small body to run faster she couldn’t let her mother see her! She wasn’t ready to leave Rainbow! She wasn’t! If her mother saw her she would take her back and force her to leave Rainbow forever! She wasn’t ready!
The world began to fuse into a blurr, it didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was that her mother didn't see her and that she wasn’t taken away from Rainbow! Faster! Faster! She willed her body! Faster! She quickly collapsed. Her injured body couldn’t handle the non-stop running. Scootaloo continued to crawl, she couldn’t be caught. She couldn’t be taken away from Rainbow! They had to stay together!
She refused to stop until her body was exhausted. Until she couldn’t stop moving, she refused to let her mother see her. With determination filling her body, Scootaloo managed to use her shaky limbs to pull her body up and continued her quick pace towards Rainbow’s cloud house and away from her fillyhood home. She collapsed again in the plains close to Rainbow’s house. She curled into a small body and hid her face using her long purple tail. She didn’t want anyone to see that she was a scared little filly.
Scootaloo closed her eyes and imagined a new life, one where she was never forced to run away from her mother. One where she was never bullied and that she was strong enough to stop the bullies. One where her wings worked probably and her parents encouraged her to try her best.
She dreamed she would have a fillyhood that she would one day be able to look back and smile, as she had seen Rainbow do with Fluttershy about their fillyhood in Cloudsdale.
Scootaloo laid there for some time dreaming about her new life, she had even imagined younger siblings and a pet turtle called blaze. Unfortunately, Scootaloo knew she couldn’t sit there forever. She needed to get home or else Rainbow would worry about her.
Her dreams were quickly abandoned as her body began to move again, and she began to walk home. Hoping that Rainbow wouldn’t question the redness surrounding her eyes.
She had enough on her mind and didn’t want to add worrying about Rainbow and her mother meeting. Scootaloo already had a feeling that, that meeting would not end well. Rainbow had already tried to meet her mother and Scootaloo had stopped her. The confrontation between the two would be awful! Almost as bad as the confrontation between Rainbow and her bully, Cobalt. Luckily Scootaloo had been able to prevent both of these confrontations from happening.
Scootaloo shuddered, she never wanted to think about that bully again. But, he always seemed to be on her mind. She, just couldn’t forget about what he did, what he said and most importantly what he promised.
Scootaloo flapped her aching wings, as if a small breeze could somehow remove all traces of him from her mind and the damage he had done to her body. She wished she could remove him from her mind and memories as easily as that. It felt as if, he would remain with her forever.
The sight of Rainbow’s house banished the bully and all her worries from her mind and she ran the rest of the way. Unaware of the eyes that had been watching her since the beginning.
The mare looked out the window and watched the filly run away. She snorted and pulled the curtain over the window. She had no desire to watch anymore of the filly.
She wanted nothing more to do with that pest. She was the reason that the love of her life had abandoned her. She hadn’t given up though, she had hope, that he would one day return. He was after all her soulmate, the only one her heart truly loved.
April remembered it like to be loved and single, no child and no responsibilities. She remembered what it was like when she was young, free of everything.
April swung her flank to the amazing beat. She loved dancing in the middle of the club, it showed everypony how important she was! April stopped for a moment and looked across the dance floor. She was looking for her special somepony, he had promised he would be here tonight so they could talk. April was excited to share the amazing new with him, something incredible had happened. She was pregnant with his foal.
After many months of dreaming of having Curly’s foal, it was finally happening! They had spent so long talking about having a foal, that April had almost lost hope that they would actually happen. Now, they could move on with the rest of their plans. First, they would marry, then they would open up Curly’s own club which was why they needed lots of foals. They would need heirs to continue their legacy of awesomeness. After the club’s opening, April would retire and leave their foals to a fillysitter. Then the rest of their lives would be spent together and they would be happy together forever.
They would need lots of fillysitter’s, April refused to clean up vomit or change diapers, she wanted fillies for the same reason everypony else wanted them.She needed them to carry on her business and make bits for her.
They would need to marry soon, April refused to be fat during her perfect wedding. Nopony would let her live it down if she was pregnant, they would claim it was a shotgun wedding if she was pregnant. They would make their love seem cheap.
April was so happy she met Curly all those months ago, before him she never planned on marrying. Just spending the rest of her life bouncing from rich stallion to rich stallion. However, it was destiny that they met. They were soulmates and together they would get everything they wanted.
"Babe!" A pony called from across the club, interrupting her thoughts. April turned around and saw her stallion, waltzing over to her. He had the body of an alicorn; his mane was a stream of purple; his body was enhanced with the latest clothing and; his blue coat shimmered when the club’s lights flashed.
Once, he was close enough she immediately leaned into his strong body. He was so perfect, too perfect, "My love, where have you been?" She asked, she hadn’t seen her stallion in at least two days.
"I've been looking for you baby, I've booked the special room for us again. To have some real fun." He smiled dreamily and looked over her body towards her flank.
April wanted to go, she had missed him so much. But, she needed to tell him the good news first, "Can we just talk first?" April asked, pouting. Pouting always seemed to work with him.
He stepped closer to her body, “Why? You have never wanted to talk before, Why ruin a good thing?”
April desperately wanted to go into their private room. However, she needed to tell him the best news of their life and they needed to get married soon. She would start getting fat soon. She stepped away from his beautiful body and looked him in the eye, “Its important. We need to talk,” April said, firmly putting her hoof down for the first time in the relationship.
He looked disappointed and surprised, his disappointment almost made her gave in, she hated seeing her coltfriend sad, "Fine babe. But, it better be important. Show me where you want to talk." He said reluctantly. She pulled him over to the tables using her wings. It was quiet over here, everypony else was on the dance floor or in the ‘special VIP’ rooms.
Only those who wanted to talk or a quick PG rated make out session came over here. They took their seats on table far away from the music and the other ponies. April had never been to this part lf the club before, she was always on the dance floor or in the “private” room.
They cuddled together in the booth and she wrapped her wing around him, "So babe, what did you want to talk about?" Curly asked, after minutes of silence, she could see he wanted to get this over with. April felt a little disappointed by how he was acting, but she refused to let it spoil her mood.
"Curly, I have the best news. I'm pregnant. We are going to have our first foal." April said, excitingly. Curly ran out of his seat and used his earth pony strength to pick her up. He then spun her around and hugged her tight.
This was the reaction she wanted.
That was the best moment of her life. She felt more loved than ever, during that time. Curly spent minute with her for the next 11 months. He helped her shop for foal supplies, he helped her when she felt sick and he brought her cute clothes to cover her bulging stomach.
It was a dream come true, a dream that quickly turned into a nightmare. When the foal was born, her life became a living nightmare.
That parasite ruined everything.
April held her little filly in her hooves, she was an angel. She quietly placed the filly back her crib and exited Scootaloo’s room. They had decided to name to their filly, Scootaloo. April had wanted to name their foal either Louise or Louisa, but Curly only wanted the name Scooter. April hated that name, it wasn’t refined or intelligent like she wanted. It didn’t sound like a name their foal deserved, she wanted the foal’s name to show the world how amazing their family was, particularly April and Curly.
When their foal arrived, they combined the names making everypony happy. This formed Scoot-a-loo, Scoot for Scooter, a for and, and loo for Louisa. April, however, called her Louisa when they were alone. She still preferred it to Scootaloo, Scootaloo didn’t sound right at all. But, she couldn't say no to her stallion.
Curly constantly told April how proud he was of her for delivering such a special filly. Their filly was so special, she had three words which formed her name. She felt so happy, it made all the pain of foalbirth worth it.
April walked into the kitchen, she began tidying the pots and pans. Her place was so messy now that Curly had invited himself to live with April and Scootaloo. He was soo romantic, he came to live with them because he didn't want them to be separated. He couldn't bare to be separated from his soulmate, April thought with a sigh, he was so perfect.
They had decided until they became rich, somepony would need to take care of little Scootaloo. April quickly volunteered to quit her job, so that Curly could continue to make money for them.
But, Curly had recently quit his job as a bartender. Which, meant that April would have to return to work soon. She didn’t really mind, Curly’s mind was being wasted working. He needed to save his brain for his ideas to make them rich.
She had been staying home for months now, she constantly wondered when they would marry. April had hoped that they would marry before the birth of Scootaloo but Curly refused to propose. He said, they should wait until Scooter was older. April didn’t agree but folded, it would be too cute to have their filly be a flower girl.
April still hoped he would propose soon, though. They didn’t need to have Louisa being their flower girl. They could have somepony else do it. April had decided to start feeding Louisa formula instead of breastfeeding. She wanted her body to be perfect when Curly proposed.
April started washing the dishes and continued to dream about her perfect wedding, it would be white and on the ground. They would have everypony invited and April would be wearing the most beautiful dress, and…
“WAAAAAAA!!”, April winced and stopped dreaming. Louisa must have woken up from her nap and wanted her dinner. She dropped the dish into the soapy water and walked towards the foal’s room with a bottle in wing.
April walked into the lounge and saw the most horrifying thing. Curly was pressed against her precious green couch by a purple mare. She dropped the bottle onto the floor, which did not gain the attention of the couple. April ignored the spilt milk and focused on the couple, particularly the mare.
How dare she! How dare she take advantage of April’s stallion! April had to act, she had to grab something to defend her stallion. She sneaked into the her room and grabbed her umbrella. This was the perfect weapon to use against that wicked mare.
April raced into the living room and began hitting the mare with the umbrella, “Get off, my stallion!” April yelled at the couple.
The couple stopped kissing and turned towards April, “What is going on!?” the mare yelled, sounding very confused.
“Don’t act innocent, you were kissing my stallion! My soulmate! The father of my child!” April yelled back, she was outraged.
“What!?” the mare yelled, she turned to Curly, “you told me you were a single father! You pig!” the mare yelled shooting Curly a disgusted glare.
Curly stood up and opened his lips, but before he could say a word April swooped in, “Curly is not a single father! He is my lover! Now get out, and I never want to see you again! Or I, his fiancee, will stop you!” April screamed as she gestured towards the front door using her wing.
The mare stood up and began walking away, “Don’t worry you will never see me here again. Oh, and in case neither of you great parents noticed your foal has been crying for the past thirty minutes!” the mare yelled as she stormed out.
April ignored the mare’s final words and turned to face her love, “its okay, Curly. I know she forced herself on yo-”
“Why did you do that April? And who said you were my fiancée!?” Curly yelled, interrupting April.
April ignored, half of his speech, “I did that because she was forcing herself on you and you needed help!”
“I did not! Indi was a nice mare!” Curly said, turning away from April and walking towards the door. Was he planning on going after the mare? Why would he want to do that? April thought confused.
“She was not! How could you think that!,” April yelled, her speech had little effect on the stallion. He barely paused, “don’t walk away from me!” April yelled, at his retreating back. She wanted him to stay! Why would he want to leave?
“Why?! Do you own me! I can do whatever you want! You are nothing to me! Nothing but a disappointment, who can’t even produce a colt! I need a colt to follow in my hoof prints! A mare won’t be respected in the club industry,” Curly yelled, without turning back to face her.
What club? She scoffed, but she did not voice her thoughts knowing that they would outrage him. Curly was a little sensitive about such topics. She didn’t want to fight with Curly, there was only one solution, “I don't even want her! All I want is you! We can get rid of her! Nopony would have to know,” April whispered into his ear, she began to place her hooves on his flank. Only to be shoved off my Curly, What was he doing?! April wondered, she was offering him what he wanted.
“Well, I don’t want you! You're not the mare I thought you were! The April I knew would never abandon a foal on the streets just for argument's sake! Keep the foal! Maybe she can teach you something! I don’t want her, I don’t want anything that has a connection to you! I bet it's not even mine, somepony as awesome as me should have had a colt not a filly! I’m leaving! Plenty of stallions and mares want me! I don’t have to stay here with you!” Curly yelled, running out the door and leaving the house behind.
“No! Please Curly! Don’t go, we can work things out!” April cried, chasing after him. She was too slow! She cursed her tiny Pegasus legs and sobbed. How could this have happened? Curly was her soulmate, the live of her life. The love of her life was gone forever.
She wandered back to their house. Curly would have to return sooner or later, Right? She closed the door behind her and laid on the floor, she would wait for him! He would be back eventually and when he returned, she would apologize and everything would be perfect. She would be the mother he expected her to be, she would give him the colt he desired and they would happily ever after with their family.
Until Curly returned, she would have to make Louisa perfect. She would be raised by the perfect mother and become the perfect daughter. The first step was to enroll her into a private school to teach her how to fly, next……..
April refused to go after the disappointment, she was the one at fault. She ruined April’s life, without her Curly would still be by her side.
April had been the best mother she could, she had enrolled her foal in a private specialised boarding school for the gifted as soon as she was old enough. It was very expensive and April had taken loans from the bank to ensure that her foal was the best. The best for Curly, when he returned. Which he would, eventually.
Unfortunately, the brat was not smart enough and quickly fell behind in both her academic and her specialised flying lessons. The school had no choice but to suggest that Scootaloo may be happier at a different school.
April was furious, all that work and her brat had disappointed her. She had failed every test and flying simulation. All that money had been wasted and now she had to pay off a useless debt. She would have to find another way to make her disappointment a star, a star that would shine bright enough to attract Curly’s attention.
April quickly enrolled Louisa in her new school and hired several tutors for the filly, she then enrolled her daughter in Art and dancing classes to refine her. Now, she never had to spend any time with the brat and could spend her time completing a new goal.
She wanted to have a colt with another stallion to prove to Curly that it could happen. April had figured, after weeks of thinking, that this could be the only reason that Curly had not returned.
She had taken to the clubs to find a stallion, after all that was where she had met Curly. She tried her best to not be picky, she already knew that nopony could be as perfect as Curly. But, somepony similar. Somepony handsome, kind and rich.
Unfortunately, the brat ruined that too. After all, many stallions that fit the description weren’t interested in a middle aged mare with stretch marks. She also couldn’t spend as much time as she wanted at the club, she had to work and take care of the brat.
She had decided to prioritize this new goal and leave Scootaloo home alone to fend for herself. Everything was working fine until Louisa teacher’s called her in for a chat after school.
April walked into the school at the requested time, she hoped this meeting didn’t take long. She wanted to head the club soon, she had heard a rumour that a group of buckball players had arrived today. She desperately wanted to bag one of them for her plans. They would make the most beautiful foals.
April walked into the small classroom, it was rather small she thought. The private school was far more beautiful and classy and this place was not somewhere April wanted to be. This was a place for normal ponies, April was anything but normal. She was the soulmate of Curly, after all, it was not her fault that she had a disappointing foal who couldn’t make it in a private school.
Why couldn’t her daughter stay there? Why was she so useless? Why couldn’t she be like the foal she dreamed?
A pink earth pony sat behind the desk in front of all the chairs. This must be the teacher, she had to prove herself too, to make sure she wouldn’t get in trouble. April cleared her throat, loudly to gain her attention.
The pink earth pony’s head snapped up and looked across the room towards April, “Scootaloo’s mother?” the teacher asked, raising a hoof to shake hers.
April ignored not the hoof, “Yes, I am. I would prefer if you refer to my daughter as Louisa,” April said, walking towards the teacher. Why did she ever let Curly convince her to name their foal Scootaloo? Louisa was so much nicer, it was the name of somepony her deserved to be their daughter.
The teacher lowered the hoof and sat back down,“Scootaloo has never mentioned that is her preferred name,” the earth pony whispered softly. She then cleared her throat and spoke louder, “I am Miss Cheerilee, Sco- Louisa’s teacher.”
“I am April, why did you want to meet with me?” April asked, bluntly. She was in a hurry to leave.
“Why don’t you take a seat?” the earth pony offered, pointing to a nearby seat in the front row.
April stared at it, she didn’t want to sit down in some disgusting foal’s seat. She was in a hurry, “No, now what do you want? I’m in a hurry!,” April announced, impatiently.
“I….see...Well, I have noticed recently that Scootaloo seemed to be a bit more tired and more on the…. ,” the earth pony gestured her hooves awkwardly, “The?” April said, hoping to hurry this conversation along.
“Well more on the skinny side and I'm concerned. I asked her if there were any problems at home and she mentioned that you had been staying out late, lately,” the teacher explained.
Brat, April thought, “I see, well my Louisa is fine. I have been out but I have organised a fillysitter and Pegasi are always light and lean, it is our nature. How do you think we fly?
“No, bu-”
April walked away not waiting for the teacher’s response, she did not care anymore and she was running late. Besides, she did not want to be caught telling lies. She would never waste money on a fillysitter. Scootaloo was old enough to look after herself.
She couldn’t believe the brat had forgotten to feed herself, was she trying to get her mother in trouble? April quickly left the school behind her and ran to the club. Luckily, the stallions were still there. This day could still be salvaged.
After that day, April had yelled at Louisa. Reminding her it was important to eat, she didn’t want mummy to get in trouble and for her to be sent to an orphanage. April had told Louisa awful stories of the Ponyville orphanage to get her to behave.
Louisa took excellent care of herself after that, she ate food and if she didn’t. Louisa would sit at the back of the class away from her teacher’s eyes. April however, did not want to take the risk of anything happening and decided to hire a fillysitter for some of the days she was out.
Sometimes, April felt like foal’s were nothing but an expense and she hoped Curly was rich when he returned to her. She deserved to be carefree for the rest of her life after taking care of Louisa for Curly.
April had faith, that like Curly, Louisa would return to her. If she didn’t well, all that effort would have been for nothing. However, April was prepared to leave Ponyville if the brat never returned and go look for Curly. She would just tell him Louisa died in a fire many years ago and comfort him. They would bond over the loss of their foal and connect again. She would forgive him and, finally, be happy with Curly by her side.
Scootaloo walked up the cloud stairs that Rainbow had created for her. She still couldn’t fly. Once she reached the top of the stairs she took a moment to rub her face hoping that she didn’t look like a pony who had just been crying. Rainbow knowing the truth would just make things more complicated and Scootaloo didn’t want things to be more complicated.
Scootaloo hadn’t told Rainbow that she went to her mother’s house everyday. She didn’t want to cause any more trouble for anypony. If Rainbow found out the confrontation she had been avoiding would finally be happening.
But at least it would draw Rainbow’s attention away from the bully, Scootaloo tried to ignore the shudders her body produced at the mere thought of him.
Scootaloo felt like nopony could protect her, after all, Cobalt had gotten away with his “flying lessons” because of his rich and powerful family. Rainbow had promised her she would get justice for her. But, she wanted Rainbow to leave him alone, he might hurt her! His family might hurt her and then, nopony would be left to take care of her and she would be forced to return to her mother. She didn’t want to lose Rainbow!
The thought of losing Rainbow, of losing her big sister hurt more then the pain Cobalt caused her. Scootaloo didn’t want to get hurt by him again, She wanted to never she him again. But, she would face him everyday if it meant she wasn’t taken away from Rainbow and that Rainbow wouldn’t be hurt.
She wished and prayed to every god she knew that Rainbow wouldn’t be hurt by Colbalt and his power family and walked into the house trying to ignore her mother’s voice in the back of her head whispering that fillies who were disappointments, like her, didn’t get their wishes coming true. Scootaloo shook her head and ignored her mother’s voice.
She smiled and pretended everything all right, she didn’t want Rainbow’s home to become tainted by the mention of her problems.
Rainbow ran around her kitchen, opening and closing cupboards with her wings. What could she cook? What could she cook? Carrots? No, Brolocci? Yuck. She wasn’t very good at making “proper meals” for a filly, Rainbow admitted to herself.
She had to become better at though if she wanted to Scootaloo to be a healthy filly. She rummaged through the remainder of her kitchen until she discovered a pancake mixture, did pancakes count as a dinner option? Scootaloo had assured her that pancakes was perfect for every meal and that they had recently been re-engineered to be more nutritional.
Rainbow didn’t remember hearing about any of that though, she thought as she put shook the pancake mixture. Surely, AJ would have mentioned feeding Applebloom lots of pancakes. Maybe Applejack didn’t know yet, which meant Rainbow could finally beat her at something food related. She couldn’t wait till she saw AJ next, the look on the farmer’s face that Rainbow knew more about food then her would be priceless.
“Hi Rainbow!” Scootaloo yelled, from across the house. Rainbow shook the pancake mix faster, Scootaloo would be hungry.
“Hey Squirt,” Rainbow called, putting down the mix and began walking towards the filly. She didn’t go very far as Scootaloo walked into the kitchen, “What happened here?!’ Scootaloo exclaimed.
Rainbow ignored the filly’s question and saw the red surrounding her eyes. She felt her blood boil, she knew that Scootaloo had be crying because of the bullying for that punk. She wished Scootaloo would let her drop that kid from the sky and not save him. But, Scootaloo always seemed to stop her whenever she got close to carrying out her plan. Sure it was illegal but nobody would catch her.
You’re becoming a protective mama bear, a voice whispered in the back of her head which sounded mysteriously like AppleJack. Rainbow quickly pushed back that voice, Scootaloo didn’t need a mother she needed a sister and a friend.
“Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked concerned, waving a hoof hoof in front of her face.
Rainbow pushed down her anger, and looked around the kitchen. It wasn’t that bad, it just had bits of water everywhere from the pancake mix, “just making dinner, Tank knocked me over,” Rainbow said throwing her loyal pet under the bus to protect her secret of her horrible cooking skills.
The pet in question looked at Rainbow, trying to guilt her. But, Rainbow quickly turned away from Tank mentally promising to make it up later. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Scootaloo lowered herself down to Tank’s level and whispered in his ear, “It’s okay Tank. I know you didn’t make this mess.”
The turtle began to slowly smile and Rainbow rolled her eyes, pretending she couldn’t hear and that she wasn’t secretly watching the two. Scootaloo picked herself up and turned to face Rainbow, “Why are you making pancakes? I thought we were going to do it together tomorrow for breakfast.”
Rainbow felt slightly guilty for not waiting for Scootaloo, “Sorry squirt. I forgot that I promised. Next time okay?”
“Okay,” Scootaloo looked disappointed and very surprised.
“So how about I make it up to you by letting you join Tank and me on our evening fly?”
“I don’t know if that's enough,” Scootaloo said with a cheeky grin.
“Well, I was saving this for later. But tomorrow we make pancakes from scratch and you can be the taste tester.”
“That sounds better.”
“Good, now grab your jacket and I’ll get Tank ready.”
“Okay and remember to turn off the pancakes!” Scootaloo yelled, S**t! Rainbow thought. She quickly raced to the stove and kicked the rain cloud above it. That was close, she thought. Tomorrow she would definitely do better, Rainbow quickly grabbed the leash from the Tank’s mouth and clipped it on his propeller.
Scootaloo grabbed her purple coat from her closet and slipped it on, she loved her new room that Rainbow and her had designed together. It wasn’t quite as large as her room in her old ‘home’ but size didn’t matter and even if it did Scootaloo didn’t care. This room was her room, and it the short time she had stayed there it was already full of happy memories with Rainbow and Tank.
Memories that were simple as Rainbow reading to her or as complicated as her nightmares that haunted her. The nightmares didn’t seem like a happy memory at first but it was the aftermath that made her feel love and a sense of belonging.
When she had a nightmare, Rainbow would immediately run to her side with Tank far behind, she didn’t blame him though he was a tortoise after all. Rainbow would stay awake and comfort her and if she didn’t want to go back to bed Rainbow would drag her out to the lounge room and make terrible hot chocolate. While Rainbow was making the hot chocolate, Scootaloo would sit on the ratty blue couch, that Rainbow loved, and Tank would join her and usually give her a slow lick on the cheek.
Rainbow would then join them and they would watch tv until Scootaloo was ready to talk, sometimes they stayed up the whole night. Those nights were classified as the bad nights full of tears and evil thoughts.
She didn’t like to think of those nights so she usually didn’t and just got on with her life. She didn't want to talk about it because it usually made her feel bad. Scootaloo quickly shrugged off that line of thoughts.
She couldn’t become trapped again in a cycle of memories or thoughts as she had earlier. Scootaloo quickly ran her of room and ran towards the front where she hoped Rainbow and Tank were waiting, another fire or leash missing disaster would be traumatic.
Luckily, Rainbow, and Tank, were in one piece. Scootaloo breathed out a silent sigh of relief, nothing had happened and Rainbow had successfully turned off the stove by herself.
“You ready to go squirt?” Rainbow asked, while opening the door.
Scootaloo nodded her head and followed Rainbow, and Tank, out of the house where she watched Rainbow get ready to fly. She flexed her blue wings and did a few stretches while Scootaloo and Tank watched intently.
“Ok, squirt. I’ll go as slowly as I can. When your ready jump on,” Rainbow said while lowering herself towards the ground.
Scootaloo slowly walked towards Rainbow and climbed onto her back, she was still frightened of flying despite her passion for it. She just wished she could fly without actually leaving the ground.
Rainbow took off her slowly and waved Tank’s leash in her right hoof, “Do you want to hold him?”
Scootaloo shook her head and wrapped her hooves tightly around Rainbow’s neck, she didn’t want to fall, “Hey Scoots if I’m going too fast I can slow down and turn around,” Rainbow said bringing herself and Tank to a stop screeching stop.
She shook her head and loosened her grip on Rainbow, she was alright... she was alright. Rainbow was the best flyer and wouldn’t drop her like Cobalt. Rainbow was nothing like Cobalt. Scootaloo stood up on her shaky legs and looked down upon Ponyville and let the wind flow through her mane.
This was why she loved flying, the freedom, the air and the safety it promised from those who wished to hurt her. Scootaloo relaxed her shaky legs and returned to a sitting position on Rainbow’s back. Scootaloo closed her eyes, and imagined it was her wings that were doing this. Her imagination slowly lured her to the realm of dreams, where she flew free of her chains and limitations.
Author's Note
Hi Everyone,
This took forever, I have another 6,000 words written but I'm not happy with it yet so this is all you'll get for now. This was originally suppose to be a one-shot but I decided to post something instead of waiting another ten thousand years for anything.
Hope it all makes sense, I wrote/edited some of this while I was sick.
Sliver Swirl
P.s Enjoy
Rainbow felt Tank nudge her from his spot beside her, “not now Tank,” Rainbow said, using her hoof to push him aside without taking her eyes off the sky in front of her. Rainbow couldn’t afford to focus on anything but flying slowly.
She couldn’t afford to further distance Scootaloo from flying, she was so proud of her fil- sister for having the courage to take to the skies once more. However, telling her that might ruin the cool image she had of Rainbow, so she kept her mouth shut and cheered her on inside her head not wanting to destroy Scootaloo’s image of her.Tank nudge her again using his head, she looked at this time, determined to get him to stop distracting her, only to see him, slowly, stretch his neck towards her back where Scootaloo who had fallen asleep on her back.
Oh, she hadn’t realised, Rainbow thought, “Sorry buddy, looks like we are heading home,” whispered quietly Rainbow to her green friend. She slowly turned and flew the way she came until her cloudhouse came into view to get the filly to bed.
Rainbow gently landed and folded her wings over the sleeping filly, keeping warm and secure. While, quietly trotting into the cloudhouse Rainbow unclipped Tank from his leash and left him to his own devices. She would check on him after Scootaloo was asleep.
She turned towards the hallway and walked up the hall slowly, determined not to wake the filly. It felt painful moving so slow but Rainbow was determined and nothing would ever stop Rainbow when she was determined.
Once she arrived at the filly’s room, she opened the door and walked towards the bed avoiding the few toys on the floor. Rainbow used her wings to place the filly on her bed, it was then she noticed a problem. Scootaloo was wearing her jacket and wearing a jacket would make her too hot and wake up.
Rainbow nervously tapped her hooves, what could she do?!? Did she call Twilight? Fluttershy? Applejack? Pull yourself together Rainbow, she muttered to herself, Twilight was the anxious one not Rainbow. Rainbow was calm, cool and confident.
In the end the only solution, Rainbow could think of was ripping the jacket off. But, then Scootaloo might be upset that her jacket would be ruined. She hoped Scootaloo would understand. With this in thought, Rainbow gently pulled on the jacket using her teeth and pulled it off Scootaloo’s body with a quick rip.
B***, Rainbow thought, she hadn’t expected ripping the jacket to make such a loud sound. She then turned towards the filly making sure she was still asleep. Fortunately, the sound hadn’t caused Scootaloo to wake.
Rainbow then used her wings to get the pieces vowing to bring it to Rarity when she had a time, it wouldn’t be tomorrow she would be busy with Twilight and the day after that she would be with Twilight again and then she had work…..
That meant Scootaloo would have to wait a long time until she had her jacket back, maybe… there was another way. With this is mind, she tucked her filly in and walked out of the room only to see a familiar shape taking residence next to the sleeping fully.
“Thank you Tank”
Now, that Scootaloo was asleep and her special project was hidden from both Tank and Scootaloo’s wondering eyes Rainbow could work on tidying her house. All her friends, mainly Twilight, had told her the importance of a filly having a stable and clean living space which apparently meant Rainbow had to clean more then once every year or two years.
She grabbed a feather duster, not thinking about where the feathers came from, and began dusting the living room until it was clean or at least better. She then moved on to the kitchen and groaned, seeing the remains of her pancake disaster.
Only to see a batch of, slightly, burned uneaten pancakes. Buck, Rainbow thought, she had forgotten to feed Scootaloo.
There was only one way to fix this, make a massive breakfast to make up for no dinner. Humming I’m Awesome, Rainbow spread her wings and checked the time on her WonderBolts Alarm clock, she had four hours. That was plenty of time to make the best breakfast ever!
Now first she would start with a pancake mix, that she wouldn’t cook Rainbow didn’t want to disappoint her number one fan and taste tester. Next, would be eggs and then maybe a sweet.. Or should she do cereal. Both, Rainbow decided, this needs to be a big breakfast after all she thought to herself.
Rainbow collapsed on her kitchen floor, now she understood why Pinkie had so much energy. She needed it for all the baking. Almost done, she thought, pulling her aching body off the floor. All Rainbow had to do was take the pancakes off the pan in 15 minutes, but instead of waiting Rainbow decided she needed sleep or she wouldn’t be much help in the master plan today.
Reluctantly, Rainbow pulled her body away from the kitchen and moved towards her bedroom, and collapsed into her bed once it was within reach. She quickly reached over and set the alarm clock for 10 minutes.
10 minutes….nap….must wake up in 10 minutes….. Can’t burn food…..can’t let down Scoots…………..
Scootaloo stood in a beautiful field full of daisies and orchids, she stretched her orange wings and felt each individual feather enjoying the warm sun and the wind blowing through it. She loved her wings….
“Scootaloo,” a voice whispered behind her, Scootaloo recognised the voice but she didn’t know where from. It was warm and kind, it made her want to stand beside her forever in the sun.
In a moment, everything changed. The sun turned from shining brightly to hiding behind the clouds, darkening the field, the wind turned from friendly to cold and the air changed completely, it was filled with smoke and made her cough.
“Scootaloo, won’t you stay?” the voice asked, it had also changed from kind to fake. What was happening?!?!
Scootaloo jumped out of her bed, and looking around trying to understand what was happening. She could barely see as sleep still filled her eyes, making the world blur before her eyes. She tried to collect herself, by taking in a deep breath but that just made her cough like in her dream.
She wanted to close her eyes and give up, but a nug and a lick stopped her. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and saw Tank beside her, pushing her to move. Even without the sleep in her eyes it was still hard to see. Everything was black and smoke was filling her room quickly.
“What cough happened?” She asked Tank, she knew he couldn’t talk but he might be able to tell her something. After a few moments, Tank slowly pointed his head towards her wall where she had a picture of a flame.
Scootaloo gasped and grabbed Tank, “we gotta go!’ She yelled, crawling below the smoke towards Rainbow’s room. She wouldn’t leave without Rainbow! And she was pretty sure Tank wouldn’t leave with Rainbow either…
She slowly made it to Rainbow’s room and tried her best not to inhale the smoke, swallowing the house whole. In the room, she saw Rainbow sleeping and her alarm clock ringing noisily next to her.
She crawled onto the bed and shaked Rainbow, “Rainbow!!!” she cried, “Rainbow!!’ she watched as Rainbow slowly opened her eyes and looked around confused, “Scootaloo? What's wrong… did you have another nightmare?” She asked, obviously concerned.
“There’s a fire!” Scootaloo yelled, and was immediately pulled into Rainbow’s hooves as she took off, “hang on!” Rainbow yelled. Scootaloo nodded her head and held on to Rainbow while making sure Tank was secure. She breathed in the fresh air and finally felt save in favourite pony’s hooves.
Rainbow cursed herself as she flew away from her burning home, how could she be stupid! She should've just stayed awake and toughed it out instead of taking a nap and burning the dish. She had ruined another thing for Scootaloo, first it was ruining her dinner and now ruining her breakfast. Maybe, she wasn't cut out to be a guardian. Maybe, love wasn't enough, maybe she needed more.
She shook her head, she couldn't deal with her feelings now. She had to focus on Tank and Scootaloo, she had to focus on getting them out of this inferno and making sure they were safe. First, she pulled the two close to her body and flew through the roof of her bedroom escaping the fire.
Once, outside Rainbow noticed lots of ponies surrounding her house dealing with the flames, "Over there!" she heard a medical pony shout, she looked towards the voice and saw a grey pegasus in a medical uniform fly towards her, "are you injured?" she asked.
"No," Rainbow answered, "but these two might be," she said lifting the tortoise and filly to her eye level. She felt Scootaloo shrink at being the centre of the nurse's attention as she scanned the filly for injuries, Rainbow wished she could make Scootaloo feel more comfortable but it was more important that she get checked out first by the nurse.
"Well?" Rainbow asked, praying she wouldn't have to take Scootaloo to the hospital, Scootaloo hated hospitals after her visit following the Cobalt incident.
The nurse pony raised her eyes to meet Rainbow's, "I think that we should take her to either a clinic or a hospital to ensure that she is fine. Also I'm a little worried about the amount of smoke she inhaled."
"I see," Rainbow replied, "Well Scoots looks like you are going to the hospital," Rainbow said as calm as she could. She hoped she was betraying her inner feelings, "NO!!" Scootaloo immediately shouted, "I don't want to unless you and Tank are coming with me!"
Rainbow sighed, "I'll come with you and so will Tank but we can't stay the whole time," before Scootaloo could state her opinion once more the nurse cut in,"But Miss Dash, I believe it would also be important that you also get checked out with the young filly."
"I will go but I do not need to be checked out!" Rainbow said, betraying her inner turmoil, "I'm sorry," she immediately apologised. It wasn't the nurse's fault.
"It is fine, Miss Dash. I understand this must be difficult, now shall we," the nurse asked, using a wing to wave in the direction of the hospital, Rainbow nodded and gripped tighter on the Scootaloo, who has begun wiggling. She leaded down towards the filly's ear as she followed the nurse,"It's gonna be fun Scoots and once we get back home after your check up we can redecorate and I can check if my pancake mixture survived."
Rainbow watched the filly nod slowly and continued to follow the nurse, ignoring the silence that followed and instead looked back at her beautiful home which had been consumed by a large dark cloud of smoke. She felt sadness try to slowly creep in, but she ignored it. She couldn't deal with her feelings now, she had more important things to deal with like dragging Scootaloo to the hospital, getting Tank checked as well, meeting Twilight and checking to make sure her bank account could handle the price of redecorating her house.
Author's Note
Hi Everyone,
So this is a very short chapter but I just wanted to publish something. So, here it is. Hope you enjoy and hope it all makes sense.
Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts, feelings or improvements for me.
Thanks for reading,
Swirl, Sliver Swirl.
