Scootaloo couldn’t sleep. It had been a rough day trying to keep her secret on the down low. Her aunts helped her cover for it as best they could, but now there were rumors about some orange bug thing living near the town, and that spelled trouble for Scootaloo. Deciding to get some fresh air, she grabbed her helmet, got out her scooter, and donned her disguise for a midnight ride.
Once she quietly reached the outskirts of Ponyville, she kicked off on her scooter and roamed aimlessly around the fields outside of town. Not really focusing on doing anything or going anywhere, she just needed to be in her thoughts. She was a changeling. She had always been a changeling. Why was it getting so hard to keep it a secret? And why did she have to keep it a secret at all? Why couldn’t she just be herself? Everypony else can. Scootaloo tried not to dwell on these thoughts for too long. She knows they tend to get her feeling down, but she couldn’t help it.
Shaking herself to clear her head, she looked up to see that she had wandered into Sweet Apple Acres, moseying among the trees. She was just about to turn back when she heard a noise. A woosh followed by the unmistakable sound of hooves skidding on dirt. She turned around to look directly into the eyes of a rainbow-maned mare. “Heya Scoots, whatcha doin’ out so late?” Rainbow Dash grinned at her.
“Hey Rainbow Dash! I was just going for a nighttime ride. I needed to clear my thoughts, that’s all. I was about to head back anyway.” Scootaloo said. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was happy to see her mentor. Scootaloo was worried that she’d keep falling deeper and deeper into the recesses of her mind.
“Hey, no worries, I get it. I was just doing the same. C’mon, I’ll walk you back to your house. Wanna talk about it on the way?” Hearing this made Scootaloo freeze. Talk about her problems with Rainbow Dash? It wasn’t anything they hadn’t done before. Why was she reacting like this? “Uh, Scoots? You doing alright?” Rainbow dash gave her a worried look.
“Uh, y-yeah, I’m fine.” This was a lie. Scootaloo knew it. Rainbow Dash knew it. They both knew that they both knew it.
“Riiight. I doubt that. I won’t bug ya about it, but I want you to know that you can trust me, whatever it is. You know I care for you, right?”
Scootaloo took a deep breath. She decided right then and there, that she had to do it. Rainbow Dash was practically her big sister. If anyone should know that Scootaloo’s a changeling, it should be her. “Well to be honest, there is kinda something I need to tell you.” Rainbow Dash sat and stared patiently while she waited for Scootaloo to gather her thoughts. “First of all, I want you to know that I am me. What I’m about to say won’t change that. I’m the me you’ve always known. I know you probably won’t feel the same once I say it though.” Rainbow Dash looked more worried at this.
“Scoots, c’mon. You’re like my little sister. No matter what it is, I’ll stand by you. Even if it’s some big scary secret, I’ll be here for you. You know that, right?” Scootaloo did know that, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“Alright, here it is.” Scootaloo took in a deep breath, let it out again, and continued. “I’m Scootaloo. I always have been Scootaloo. Nothing will ever change that. But the truth is, I’m not a pony. I’m a changeling.” She stared determinedly into Rainbow Dash’s eyes when she said those last few words. “It’s a secret I’ve been hiding my entire life, but I needed to tell somepony else.” As Scootaloo said this, green flames billowed around her until she was in her normal, undisguised state. An orange pony shaped creature, only with a hard outer shell. In place of her normal feathery wings was a pair of thin transparent bug wings. Her mane was replaced by a thin purple fin on the top of her head. Placed directly in front of her fin was a short and sharp horn that seemed to glisten in the moonlight. As she watched, her friend’s face seemed to shift from emotion to emotion. Sadness, concern, fear, thoughtfulness. Finally her face settled on serious.
“Well that is not what I expected.” Rainbow Dash said. “But Scoots, this is serious. I need you to know that.”
“I know, I know. You’re gonna have to tell Twilight or the princesses or somepony like that.”
“What? No! I meant that you sharing this with me is serious. Scoots, I would never do that to you. I’m not about to abandon the most awesome pony- er, bug-pony I know just because they’re a little different, especially because you trusted me with this secret, knowing full well that I could have flipped out on you. I don’t know what it’s been like to have to hide this from your friends for your whole life, but I do know it’s probably been really hard. I’m worried for you Scoots, I don’t want you to feel alone in life just cause you’re not a pony.” Rainbow walked up to Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug “You’ll always be my sis, no matter what.” Scootaloo was stunned. This was definitely not the reaction she had expected.
“So you’re not mad at me? Even after the invasion at the wedding?”
“Puh-lease, you’d never be with those nasty bugs. You’re too awesome for that.”
Scootaloo didn’t know what to say. She just held Rainbow Dash tighter and started crying. “I was so scared you’d hate me. I was so scared you’d attack me or report me to the princesses. I-” She was cut off by Rainbow Dash.
“What? Are you crazy? Why would I do any of that? That would totally go against being the most awesome pony in Equestria!”
Scootaloo smiled, but then a thought occurred to her. “Is this gonna change how you see me? Cause I’m not exactly normal anymore. . .”
“Scoots, all I saw when I looked at you before was pure awesomeness, and that’s still what I see.” Rainbow Dash beamed down at Scootaloo.
“Hey Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“Can you help me tell Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?”
Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo out and smiled “Of course squirt! And I’ll be right there for you no matter what happens.”
The next day after school, Scootaloo and her two friends were sitting in front of their clubhouse. “What’s all this about Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ya said you had something ya wanted to tell us?”
“Yeah, just give me a bit, I’m waiting for someone.” Scootaloo replied. She was looking nervously towards the sky. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gave each other concerned expressions
“Scootaloo, are you okay? You seem kind of. . . on edge.” Sweetie Belle said. “You know we’re here for you if you need us, right?” Scootaloo was about to reply but was cut off before a rainbow streaked through the sky and landed in front of them.
“Heya scoots! Sorry I’m late, I accidentally napped a little longer than I meant to.” Rainbow Dash said, a bit embarrassed.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks again for being here.”
“Of course Squirt! I told you I’d be here, and I’m not about to leave you hanging when you need it.”
“Scootaloo, what’s this all about? Why is Rainbow Dash here? She have a plan for getting us our cutie marks or somethin’?” Apple bloom asked.
“Not Quite. Let’s go inside, there’s something I need to show you girls.” They made their way inside and Rainbow Dash closed the door behind them. “I asked Rainbow Dash to be here today, because I have something I need to tell you girls. Something big. Something that might change the way you look at me.” Scootaloo was looking nervous now, not meeting her friends’ gazes.
“Scootaloo, you can tell us. We’re your friends, nothing could ever change that.” Sweetie Belle said.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, and we’ll be right here to help you if you’re ever feeling down. It doesn’t matter what you say, you’ll always be a cutie mark crusader!”
Scootaloo looked at both of them gratefully, but said nothing. Instead she looked at Rainbow, who gave her an encouraging look, and looked back down at the floor again. As Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle watched, green flames enveloped their friend. Light filled the room, and when it died down again, they saw that Scootaloo was gone, replaced by a very Scootaloo-like bug creature.
“I’m a changeling. But I’m also Scootaloo. I’m your friend who went on crusades with you, and sang in the talent show with you. I’m your friend whose name sounds like a chicken call, and who hid under the table with Sweetie Belle during Diamond Tiara’s cuteceñeara. But I’m also a changeling.” By this point Rainbow Dash had walked up to Scootaloo’s side and wrapped a comforting wing around her. “I’d understand if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore-”
“Well I wouldn’t!” She was cut off as Rainbow Dash stepped forward. “Scootaloo’s just about the most awesome filly in the world, and if you two don’t want to be friends with her just cause she’s a little different, then you girls have got another thing coming”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shrunk back a bit, before looking at Scootaloo again. “Wait, why’d you think we wouldn’t wanna be friends with you? Just cause you’re a little buggy? Well that’d be a plum stupid decision” Apple Bloom said.
“Of course we still want to be friends with you Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle practically launched herself into a hug, soon followed by Apple Bloom.
“Wait, you’re not scared? Even after the invasion at Canterlot?” Scootaloo said through muffled manes.
Apple Bloom stepped back and stared at her questioningly. “Scootaloo, you were with us the entire time. Why on earth would we think yer with the changelings that invaded?”
Scootaloo looked from her, to Sweetie Belle, to Rainbow Dash. “So none of you hate me?”
“Nope!”
“Nuh-uh.”
“No way!”
Scootaloo couldn’t help it. She started crying. All this time she’d been so nervous to tell her friends, and all this time she didn’t need to be. She was finally able to be her true self with her friends. “I- I was so n- nervous!” She hiccuped. “I thought you’d hate me and want me gone and I’d have to run away again!” She stopped suddenly. She hadn’t meant to let that last part slip.
Author's Note
I'm gonna make the next chapter Scootaloo's story. By that I mean it's not gonna be in the format of her telling it, it's just gonna be in a normal third person story format, but it is the story Scootaloo is telling.
