Scootaloo sighed.
Another day, another lesson, another subject where she was struggling to understand.
Yesterday it was Maths, today it was Equestrian, what would it be tomorrow? Geography?
She just felt so useless, so worthless, at everything. Everypony else seemed to understand, yet there she was, not getting it, yet feeling unable to ask for fear of getting laughed at or worse. Even her friends in her class apparently had no problem understanding what Ms Cheerilee was saying, yet didn't think to check if she needed any help. It had started so small, a lesson or two she didnt get so well in Geography. But those lessons lead to tests. Scootaloo became so tense and scared about them, she began to waver in Maths, one of her favourite lessons to be in. And the more pressure she came under in class, the more her other subjects began to suffer. Just two weeks before, after staying awake all night practicing for a Griffin exam, she fell asleep during Biology. And the worst thing was how lonely and cut off she felt. Scootaloo's friends began to struggle to make her smile, and several times she recieved hugs from concerned class mates when she nearly broke down in class. Even then she was throwing up barriers around herself. Flimsy barriers, but they were mistaken for her wanting space, so the other ponies who cared began to back off.
Who could she go to? Twilight? No, she'd just make it more complicated. Rainbow Dash? No, she didn't care about school. She would be no help. Applejack? Pinkie? No, both of them never seemed to have any trouble with anything, they wouldn't understand what she was going through. Fluttershy? Bad idea. Scootaloo had scared the timid pegasus too recently, Fluttershy would be no help. Rarity? Never. She'd just blab it all over town, the last thing Scootaloo wanted.
She felt entirely helpless, there was nopony left who could help her.
Sweetie Belle had noticed Scootaloo was down recently, but didn't know what could have caused it. Was it something she had done? Did Scootaloo not want to be a crusader any more? Confusion was the enemy of both fillies, and kept them from speaking. The vicious circle of Scootaloo's life continued. With each day that came and went, Scootaloo slipped further and further behind and was more and more obviously depressed. Of course Diamond Tiara was making things no easier for the helpless, depressed filly, and after a while of no acknowledgement for her bullying efforts she did something a lot worse, she ignored the orange pegasus; not even giving her even the slightest bit of the attention that Scootaloo needed. With every Pony who ceased to notice, or worse, care, Scootaloo slipped further and further away from help. She stopped joining the mad crusades of her friends, and stopped going to Sugarcube Corner, where almost every Pony would go at some point in the day. When other Ponies realized what had happened, they couldn't find the filly to talk to her. In her depression, she had sealed herself away from all help, and subsequently, could understand even less. When Cheerilee took her aside at the end of the day, Scootaloo could do nothing, so said nothing, and Cheerilee left her alone, hoping that her friends could help, not knowing they had already been shut out.
Even sport, which had once been her favorite subject, fell by the wayside. In Scootaloo's depression she descended from a happy, active, skilled player of games like hoofball, like she had been, to a listless, lonely pony who was lucky to get near the ball, let alone do anything with it. More often than not, she would end up on the floor, sprawled after a tackle, and she just wouldn't get up. She ignored all help and was unresponsive to talking. Even Featherweight, whom she had often talked to, was shut out. He had been Scootaloo's closest friend, outside the Crusader's private group, but even he had the door closed to him. Even so, he still maintained hope that she would break out of it, until the day when she didn't turn up at all. The day when he silently prayed to the Princesses that somepony could help her, because he had run out of ideas. Hope is a very powerful thing. Hope could very possibly change a destiny. Combine that with faith in a demi-god to make things right and you had one of the most powerful things in Equestria. You could quite possibly turn the tide of fate itself.
As Scootaloo's broken mind spiraled down, further and further into depression, the lonelier she quickly became. Three months this carried on, and by the end she was less than a shell of her former self, the only similarity being her coat and mane, which by this point were becoming lank and disheveled, all traces of her formerly bubbly, hyper personality buried beneath confusion, loss and regret. And it lead to this day. Scootaloo opened her eyes from her remembrance, revealing her surroundings as the top of Twilight's tree, the tallest structure for miles around, and was surprised to sense another pony behind her. And it wasn't the Lavender Mare. Scootaloo's hooves, scratched and cut from her desperate, maddened, suicidal climb up the tree, were barely enough to keep her standing, let alone turn round. It had been her maddened brain's final thought before she bolted, just end it, nopony cares, escape. So she looked for the highest point near to Ponyville that she could reach. She thought the presence behind her was probably just Rainbow Dash checking on her. Again, her guess was wrong. She was expecting the voice of an adult, so she received a double surprise. Not only did someone care, but it was someone she thought had given up on her a long time ago.
"Scootaloo?" the voice of Sweetie Belle intruded on her thoughts. "I should have asked you a long time ago Scootaloo, what's wrong? Why are you so sad?"
Somepony cared. It was a shock to Scootaloo's failing willpower. Somepony cared. Somepony actually cared. Her broken mind repeated those words to her, trying to make sense of them, trying to work out what had happened.
"You... Came to... Find... Me?" Scootaloo, her voice unused for so long, croaked, tone of surprise barely being audible over the unicorn filly's gasp, "You... Care about me? After all this time?"
"Yes Scootaloo, I should have asked a long time ago. I always care about my friends, I just didn't realize how bad it was. I'm sorry, Scoots" the unicorn replied, ears drooping. In front of her, the orange pegasus swayed dangerously to one side.
"I'm so tired, Sweetie, stay with me, until I wake, please?" before she even finished her sentence, Scootaloo felt her midriff clutched in a light, but firm grip, that pulled the cold, lonely, broken pegasus towards the warmth of the other filly.
"Of course I will Scootaloo, sleep now, I will stay with you." Sweetie Belle laid her head across her friend's neck, and Scootaloo's eyes closed, as she slipped into a dreamless sleep. Sweetie Belle, front hooves still clasped around her friend, closed her own eyes, and soon slept too. This was how Rainbow Dash found them, a couple of hours later, and the way they woke up the following morning on Twilight's bed.
With the discovery that someone still cared, Scootaloo could begin the long path to recovery. It would not be easy, but with Sweetie Belle, and soon, once again, Apple Bloom, by her side, she no longer felt so lonely and helpless when she got stuck in class. When Sweetie Belle was later asked why she had climbed the tree, instead of finding Twilight, when she spotted Scootaloo, she simply replied "Because however tough the problem, Rainbow is not the only one who doesn't leave her friends hanging."