Scootaloo's Secret

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Prologue

Every parent is supposed to love their child to the end of the earth right? They’re the ones that never leave your side, are always there to back you up and will never let you down. They help you out when you’re down on your luck, and they accept you for who you really are. They’re your friend, bodyguard, advisor, confidant and in some cases, taxi driver. That’s what a parent is right?

Scootaloo was always just a little bit different. When she was born, her eyes were slightly larger than other foals, but her parents just passed it off as one of those things that every child has: a birthmark, an unusually large toe, or being left-handed. Nothing to worry about, it’s fine.

As Scootaloo grew older however, more ‘special’ things started to appear; Things like confusing simple words, losing her balance and going into her room for days at a time. While other foals went out to make friends, Scootaloo would usually remain inside, running around erratically. They usually passed it off as her being unique, and nothing to be concerned about, until the day Scootaloo tried to fly.

“Go Scoots!” “You can do it!” Cries like this echoed to Scoots from the ground, which was only about 2 metres below her, but to Scootaloo, it felt like 2 miles. Pegasi are born with an instinctive knowledge of how to fly, it just takes them time to develop the confidence. Her parents knew that there was no chance of her falling, as her instincts would kick in and she would easily pick up the wing movements required to fly.

As Scootaloo trembled on the roof of her small house on the outskirts of Ponyville, her parents began to become slightly disinterested. They kept cheering her on, and they were still excited, but some of the anticipation and excitement had left over time. Finally, Scootaloo took a few steps back, jumped off the roof, and plummeted to the ground...

“Gotcha!” Flying Breeze yelled as Scootaloo found herself in her dad’s arms. Flying Breeze had performed quite a magnificent dive to catch her, and he had caught her with roughly half a metre to spare. “You okay, Squirt?” he asked Scootaloo when he had recovered. He was confused as to why Scootaloo had plummeted, and resolved to check her wings when she had recovered from the shock. “Yeah... just a bit scared” Scootaloo practically whispered back. Flying Breeze had sneaked a look at her wings, and interestingly hadn’t noticed anything wrong with them. “Why don’t we take you to a doctor, Squirt? Just to check that you’re completely okay?” Scootaloo caught none of the worry in his voice, nor the concerned glance he shot at his wife...

“I’m sorry Mr Breeze, but I’m afraid we can’t do anything for her at the moment” Dr Fixem had informed the sad couple, who were at that moment hovering over Scootaloo’s bed, with tears in their eyes. As Scootaloo awoke from the anaesthetic, she had no idea that her life would change in the next words the doctor spoke. “I’m sorry, but your daughter has a severe case of Dowell Syndrome”.

“Hey Kiddo!” Flying Breeze had half-heartedly greeted his daughter when she awoke. Scootaloo didn’t know what was wrong with her, and Flying Breeze had no intention of letting her find out. He would remain the loving parent, and with any luck, they would have a fairly normal life together. He could admit that he hoped for a healthy young filly, that he could go flying with and could help out of scrapes, but he had to accept what he had got, and he was going to be the best damned father he could be...

“Scootaloo! Where are you honey?” Flying Breeze called out, looking around anxiously for the young filly. Ever since, Feather Wind had walked out on them both, he had become very protective of his daughter and wanted to know where she was all the time. He had an annoying habit of checking his watch to see if it was time to pick her up from day care, and he was never late. Ever since that annoying foal Diamond Crown, or whatever her name was, had pulled on Scootaloos wings and mane on her 3rd day, he had always been cautious about sending her to day care.

“Daddy!” Scootaloo cried out excitedly as she raced towards him. “Hey Sweetie, no need to crash tackle me” he joked to her, only to receive a confused frown in response. “Daddy, why do you look different today?” Flying Breeze was very confused. “What do you mean, Sweetie?” he answered cautiously, knowing that at least 11 other parents at day care were eyeing him extremely suspiciously. “You’ve got hair on your face today...” Scootaloo answered, wondering why it wasn’t as immediately obvious to him as it was to her. “Oh!” Scootaloo’s dad laughed in relief. “Sweetie, I’ve already explained to you that my face grows hair overnight, and I simply forgot to take it off this morning”. He laughed again, at the simplicity of that problem, and slung Scootaloo over his back playfully.

At home, Scootaloo usually raced around the house at a million miles an hour, however, today she merely sat on the lounge and stared at the ground. “Hey Scoots, what’s up?” Feather Breeze asked her, being very careful about the words he used. Scootaloo gave no indication that she had heard him, except for a barely perceptible shake of her head. “You don’t want to talk about it?” Another shake of the head. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Another shake. Feather Breeze pondered for a moment, before deciding to leave Scootaloo alone for the moment, and let her recover from whatever happened to her by herself, in her own time. As soon as her father left the room, Scootaloo finally broke down and cried. Outside the door, listening through the keyhole, her father silently cried along with her.

Chapter 2

Scootaloo’s large eyelids slowly rose up her face, despite her best efforts to remain asleep. She rolled over in her bed, in a last-ditch effort to force herself back to sleep. Alas, her eyes remained firmly open, and she reluctantly admitted defeat. As she rolled over the side of the bed, her wings flapped furiously, to try and keep her from falling. Instead, she stuck her front right hoof on the ground, and stood up on the floor of her bedroom. Flying Breeze poked his head in the door curiously, and blink-blinked a few times. “You ready for school kiddo?” He asked, taken aback by the fact that Scootaloo was already in her school clothes.

“Yeah, I slept in my clothes so that I could sleep in this afternoon”

“Morning, sweetie”

“Yeah... morning”

“But if you don’t hurry up and get to school, it’ll be afternoon by the time you get there! Come on, up and at ‘em!

Scootaloo walked into their rather small kitchen, and peered into the pantry. “Ah. There they are.” She said as her dad pointed out the Wheat-bites on the bench, with a small carton of milk next to them. She stuck a hoof-full of wheat in her mouth, and took a gulp of milk, allowing the dry wheat to mix with the milk in her mouth. After 20 minutes of this long process, Scootaloo decreed that she was nourished and ready to begin the day. She just had to find her scooter.

Scootaloo was excellent at being fast. Some had said that it was because her brain moved at a mile a minute, however her dad thought she merely liked going fast. As usual, her dad was right. Scootaloo liked going fast so much, that she almost beat Rainbow Dash in a race. If she hadn’t been distracted by the ponies at the finish line, she probably would have won. Sadly, however good Scootaloo was at speed, she was below average in balance. As she sped up on her scooter, she failed to notice how far she was leaning to the right. As her scooter finally tipped over, Scootaloo found herself inexplicably falling through the air... before being encased in a warm fuzzy feeling, and hovering above the ground by about 3 inches.

“NNNGGGHHH!” Sweetie Belle groaned, as her horn stopped glowing and she fell to the ground, utterly exhausted. “Sweetie Belle! Are ya’ll okay?” A familiar accent rang out. As Apple Bloom ran over to Sweetie Belle, she got up sporting an enormous grin and the unmistakable stance of pride. “Check it out! Rarity taught me how to levitate things!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly, as the trio resumed walking/riding to school together.

“So anyway, Applejack and Big Macintosh are working the fields, and then Granny Smith starts screaming something, only we can’t tell what she’s saying!” Apple Bloom whispered conspiratorially. “So what happened next?” Scootaloo whispered, equally excited as Apple Bloom to finish her story. “And it turns out, she’s still sleepin’ and she was just havin’ a nightmare!” Apple Bloom finished up her story with a pose, before losing her straight face and rolling around on the ground. “Wait... grown-ups have nightmares too?” Scootaloo asked, confused. “Well, yeah!” Sweetie Belle answered her, having had the unfortunate experience of having to comfort Rarity when her sister had another dream about Blueblood splashing mud all over her favourite dress. “But I thought they were like, invisible!” Scootaloo exclaimed dramatically, waving her arms around for emphasis. “You mean invincible? Sweetie Belle smirked to herself, amused by her friends mistake. “Yeah! Invince-agility! She exclaimed, extremely proud of herself. “You mean-“ Sweetie Belle began, only to be deterred by Apple Bloom’s elbow. “Let it slide, Sweetie Belle. Let it slide.”

Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were also walking to school. “Well, I wouldn’t normally be walking, but daddy’s limousine broke down and now I have to walk. It is so demeaning! Wouldn’t you agree, Silver Spoon?” Silver Spoon, who walked to school every day, bent her head down and made a barely perceptible nod. Most ponies misinterpreted Silver Spoon’s and Diamond Tiara’s friendship, mistaking them for equals. In reality, Silver Spoon was just as much a victim as the cutie mark crusaders, if not more. Diamond Tiara was a rather forceful friend, and whenever Silver Spoon walked or talked with someone else, she would threaten her ‘friend’ into submission.

So Silver Spoon silently waited for someone to come and save her from Diamond Tiara, and nodded along with everything that she said. If Diamond Tiara asked her how she got her cutie mark, she would give her the same story she gave everyone. “I got it when I was really small, when my daddy gave me a small silver spoon as a present.” Silver Spoon was an extraordinarily good liar, and managed to convince nearly everyone of this story. Nearly everyone.

Scootaloo looked around her erratically, not really looking at anything in particular. She watched a small bunny for a while, until it disappeared behind a bush and she lost interest. She stared at a funny looking pegasus stallion, who also had tiny wings like her. As they made eye contact, she shrunk down behind her scooter, and the white stallion shrugged and bought his new set of weights. “YEAH!” He screamed and flexed his muscles as the mare behind the counter attempted to peer around him to see if there were any more customers. Scootaloo moved around, to hide behind her friends. All three of them slowly shuffled further away from the white stallion. Thankfully, Apple Bloom was there and caught Scootaloo as she fell.

“Do ya’ll think she’s okay?” Apple Bloom whispered to Sweetie Belle. “She’s fine!” Sweetie Belle said, although her voice betrayed her. “Do you think she'll be able to come to the cutie mark crusader sleepover tonight?” She continued, her mouth wilted in disappointment. “Yeah, when does Scootaloo ever miss a sleepover?” Apple Bloom reassured her, to Sweetie Belle’s delight. “YAY! We’re going to have so much fun! We can be cutie mark crusader... mechanics! We could build a robot, or a... robot!” Apple Bloom sighed in exasperation.

Chapter 3

Cheerilee jumped onto her desk as soon as the bell rang. On her first day, she had almost been trampled as 18 over-enthusiastic fillies and colts raced out the doors in their excitement to get home, and it was this experience that had taught her to get onto high ground. “Now remember to fill in that maths sheet when you get home everyone!” She called out, knowing that none of them would. She couldn’t help but notice Silver Spoon’s depressed posture, and her pleading eyes. She made a mental note to mention it to Silver Spoon’s parents the next parent-teacher day.

“Scootaloo, can I speak to you for a second?” Miss Cheerilee called out, as the excitable orange filly raced out the door, wings buzzing. She winced at the smoke pouring out from under the filly’s hooves as she skidded to a halt. “Sure thing Miss! What about?” Scootaloo seemed unaffected by the apparent burning underneath her, and Miss Cheerilee ignored it. It couldn’t be weirder than that pink pony that appeared in the chalkboard the other day. “I just wanted to say, with your... condition, it’s okay if you can’t complete all the homework. And... if any of the other ponies are teasing you, don’t hesitate to talk to me okay?” Scootaloo was confused. What condition? She didn’t have any condition.

“Okay miss!” She chirped brightly. “I’m confused though... condition?”

Miss Cheerilee finally stepped down from her desk, and sat down. After several moments of thought, she dismissed Scootaloo with a simple “I must be thinking of somepony else... never mind then!” It was a rather unconvincing lie, although Scootaloo seemed satisfied with the answer.

“Bye miss!” She called out over her shoulder as she grabbed her scooter and raced to catch up with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Miss Cheerilee didn’t hear her. She was busy debating whether or not she should tell Scootaloo, or leave it to her parents to tell her when the time comes. As she was mentally weighing the pros and cons of it all, the stack of test papers caught her eye. It was going to be another sleepless night for the schoolteacher.

Scootaloo was bored. She was lying in bed, with her mind racing faster than a sonic rainboom. Everything she had seen that day ran through her mind, not allowing her to go to sleep. She had already done lots of thinking that day with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, but her mind would not leave her alone. She groaned into her pillow, thinking about how tired she would be the next morning. As she finally gave up on sleeping for the moment, she allowed herself to concentrate on the thoughts running through her head. There was something different about Silver Spoon today. She seemed sort of, reserved and quiet. Maybe she was sad, and needed cheering up. ‘Yeah, but... she has been being mean to me for a long time...’ she spoke to herself. ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right, Scootaloo...’ a small voice in her head whispered. ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ Scootaloo got up from her chair, and trotted over to her computer. As the bright colours began to load on the screen, her eyelids began to droop. She scowled at the irony of it all, and forced herself to stay awake. What was that stuff Dad drank when he needed to stay awake? It looked sort of like petrol, but smelt different. He always called it... c...c...cough...no, that sounded wrong... COPY! But Cheerilee always said that copying was bad... Scootaloo decided to ask her dad about it the next morning.

By the time this had all run through her head, her computer had loaded, and she double clicked the button for the internet. After the browser had opened up, she clicked on a small link at the side; that took her to her emails. Taking a deep breath, she began to type...

Silver Spoon collapsed on her bed, exhausted from another day of lying and torment. Over the years, the pain and exhaustion had increased each day, to the point that after school she would fall asleep, and would occasionally not get up until the next school day. Her dad passed this behaviour off as odd, but not strange enough to warrant serious action.

After almost 3 hours of sleep, Silver Spoon groggily rose from her bed, and made her way to the computer, on her desk. She readjusted the book stuck under one of the legs to keep it steady, and logged in. Her desktop background showed a picture of her and her best friend from Manehattan, Caramel Bangle. She smiled briefly, before double clicking and opening up the internet. She checked her emails, but found only the same spam and chain letters that she had neglected to delete yesterday, along with another 30 that were new. With a sigh, she closed the browser, and shut down the computer. As she was about to open her door and go outside the safety and privacy of her bedroom, something compelled her to go back and check her emails again.

To: silver.spoon@maremail.com

From: scootaloo@maremail.com

Subject: What’s up?

Hi Silver Spoon!

It’s Scootaloo. I noticed you seemed a bit depressed in class today, and I was wander winder thinking whether you were okay or not. If there’s anything I can do to cheer you up, please don’t hesitate to tell me. I know you probably won’t respond seriously to this, because you usually deny it when somepony asks if something is wrong, but I won’t judge you.

If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too. I’m just telling you that you can talk to me if you want to. If you do want to talk about it, do you want to meet at the bike lock after school?

Seriously Sincerely,

Scootaloo.

Silver Spoon reread the email 5 times before allowing herself to believe it. Someone wanted to help her! All she had to do was go to the bike lock after school, and all her problems would be solved! Her fatigue instantly vanished, replaced by excitement, hope and anticipation. The bike lock after school...

Both Scootaloo and Silver Spoon fell asleep, satisfied and looking forward to a new day.

Chapter 4

Silver Spoon awoke at sunrise the next morning, but could not quite find the energy to drag herself out of bed. As she lay staring at the roof, her mind recalled a memory from the night before. Fatigue made it hazy, and it seemed like a decade ago, but she slowly remembered the email she had received only 9 hours previously. Suddenly, she seemed to have a lot more energy.

Scootaloo and Silver Spoon both seemed distracted that day. To the untrained eye, it would seem like Scootaloo was being herself and Silver Spoon just had way too much sugar on her oatmeal. Cheerilee was a very well-trained eye. Others did not, however she noticed all the quick glances they shot each other during class. As the theories shot through her head like chocolate bullets, she noticed her students staring at her intently. She hurriedly checked the clock, and, to her horror, found that she had not said one word for ten minutes. Scootaloo and Silver Spoon didn’t notice.

“So, Scoots, you up for some more crusading today?” Apple Bloom asked excitedly, followed by Sweetie Belles’ “It’ll be so much fun!”

“Uh... not today girls...I have, uh... a lot of homework to do!” Scootaloo said with a very, very forced smile.

“Since when did you do all your homework... wait... since when did you do ANY of your homework?” Apple Bloom, living with the element of honesty herself, had become quite the lie detector, and had an instinctive knowledge that Scootaloo was lying.

“Umm... heylookisthatDinkyIgottagobye!” Scootaloo raced off, leaving her two counterparts coughing in the dust she stirred up. “Ah think something strange is going on, don’t you?” Apple Bloom inquired of Sweetie. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SECRET INVEST-“ Sweetie Belle cheered excitedly, before finding Apple Bloom’s hoof shoved into her mouth.

“Well?” Diamond Tiara asked Silver Spoon. “OH! Umm... what was the question?” Silver Spoon responded with a sheepish grin. “I said, do you want to come over to my place, and we can spy on those blank-flanks again!”.

“Umm... not today Diamond... I’m busy after school.”

“Busy doing what?

“Umm... uh... I’m busy doing... garden work! Yup, my garden got overrun by weeds the other day” Silver Spoon was rather proud of herself, knowing Diamond Tiara’s hatred of dirt and leaves. There was no way she would want to come and help. It was absolutely foolproof.

“Don’t you live in an apartment?”

Interestingly, when Diamond Tiara looked around, Silver Spoon was nowhere to be found.

“Now class, who can tell me what AI stands for?” Miss Cheerilee braced herself for the incoming onslaught of usually-wrong answers. “Apple Initiative!” “Amazing Incense!” “Ah Insist!” “Rainbow Dash!”

“Rainbow Dash doesn’t start with AI, you penguin!”

“Aainbow Iash can start with whatever she wants!”

“CLASS!” Miss Cheerilee raised her voice, to be heard above Sweetie Belle’s and Scootaloo’s bickering. Somewhere, deep in her mind, she couldn’t help thinking that one day, something romantic would happen between them.

“Now class, we’ve got 5 minutes until the bell, so I’d like you all to pack up your things, and get ready to leave.” At that exact moment, Pinkie Pie decided to fall off the ceiling fan. With a magnificent dive over her desk, Cheerilee managed to almost catch Pinkie Pie... who had just begun to float, 3 centimetres above her outstretched hooves.

As 18 fillies jostled each other to get out of the school, two fillies sneaked out the back door, one of them stumbling over their own hooves. As Scootaloo struggled with the door, misunderstanding ‘push’ as ‘pull’, Silver Spoon left her hiding spot behind the bookshelf, and went to help open that damned door. Following them, unbeknownst to each other, were Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“So umm... you wanted to talk to me?” Silver Spoon asked, quietly. “Well, yeah.” Scootaloo realised quite suddenly, that she really hadn’t thought this out. As Scootaloo wondered what she was going to say, Silver Spoon threw her a lifeline.

“Well, can I tell you why I was sad?” Silver Spoon boldly took control of the conversation, somehow keeping that element of shyness. “Yeah, sure!” Scootaloo began feeling a little bolder, now that she didn’t have to steer the conversation.

“Well, Diamond Tiara was being really mean to you guys, and she was forcing me to help her, and if I didn’t, she said she was going to beat me up and...” As Silver Spoon poured her heart out, she failed to notice Diamond Tiara walking up behind her.

“And then we went home and ate ice-cream, isn’t that right Silver Spoon?” Diamond Tiara spoke through clenched teeth. “Umm... not really.” In their short conversation, Silver Spoon had decided to finally stand up for herself.

“Why are you talking to Scootaloo? She’s just a pathetic blank-flank.”

“HEY! Leave our friend alone!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle simultaneously decided to make themselves known. Scootaloo looked around, panicking at the amount of ponies that all appeared.

“Why? What’s she going to do to me?” Diamond Tiara taunted them, her face one of a pony who knew she had them trapped. “Oh, that’s right! Scootaloo doesn’t know about her disease yet does she?”

Scootaloo finally decided to speak up. “What disease?”

The ensuing silence spoke for itself.

Seven minutes later, everypony there was screaming at each other, except for Scootaloo. Scootaloo was crying in the corner, after a reluctant Apple Bloom explained everything that Cheerilee had explained to the class on Wednesday, while Scootaloo was at her dentist appointment. As she struggled to get her head around it all, the others continued fighting.

“How could you? Cheerilee asked us not to tell her!” Sweetie Belle screamed in Diamond Tiara’s face. “Well, Apple Bloom is the one who explained it to her!” Diamond Tiara knew she had screwed up, it was her own pride and stubbornness keeping her arguing.

“Well, it’s your own damn fault that Ah even needed to!”

“Silver Spoon, you saw what happened. It wasn’t my fault right?” Diamond Tiara pleaded, in a last-ditch effort to save face.

“No. It was your fault Diamond, and I don’t think we can be friends anymore.” Silver Spoon humbly turned to look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Do you guys mind if I come with you?” Silver Spoon asked them, ears flattened. “Well, sure.” “Now, let’s get Scootaloo back to her place.”

As Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon walked off, the last filly looked around. A small tear fell down her cheek, as Diamond Tiara was left alone by Silver Spoon, for the first time in years.

Chapter 5

Silver Spoon sat in the CMC clubhouse, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

“I wonder if Scootaloo’s finished talking with her dad?” Sweetie Belle asked nopony in particular.

“Ah don’t think so. I think she was going to come here after they finished.”

They both turned to look at Silver Spoon, rather menacingly. Silver Spoon gulped. “Umm... hi?”

Sweetie Belle chortled, snickered, tittered, then burst out laughing. Watching her roll around on the floor, neither Apple Bloom nor Silver Spoon could keep a straight face. Within thirty seconds, they were all on the floor, Sweetie Belle trapped in Apple Bloom’s headlock.

Three minutes later, they had resumed sitting on the boxes the CMC used as chairs. “So anyway, Silver Spoon, how did you get your cutie mark? You never told us.” Sweetie Belle cocked her head to the side, gazing at her newest friend.

“Do I really have to tell you?” Silver Spoon blushed, and looked down at the ground.

“YE-” Sweetie Belle started, before being interrupted by Apple Bloom.

“Well... not if you don’t want to, but it is a club about gaining cutie marks and all. We just want to know is all.”

Silver Spoon considered all that had happened, and thought of Diamond Tiara.

Silver Spoon was playing at the park, with her friend Caramel Bangle. “Wheeee!” Silver Spoon exclaimed as she zoomed down the slide. Caramel was sitting on the swings, eating a container of pureed fruit, with a small silver spoon.

“Do you want a go on the slide Caramel?”

“Sure!” Caramel raced over to the slide, while Silver Spoon walked over to the swings, where the fruit lay forgotten. Watching Caramel slide was fun, but then Silver got an idea. It was a bad idea, but bad ideas are usually the most fun, in Silver Spoon’s experience.

Three minutes later, she was ready.

“Bye Cara! I’ve got to go home!”

“Bye SS!”

Silver Spoon gave one last look at the small container, before walking away. Something in her gut felt bad, but she gave it no thought. I mean, nopony really cared about it right?

It would be 15 minutes before Caramel noticed that her small spoon was missing.

“So that’s how I got my cutie mark. My special talent is thievery and deceit.”

“Woah...”

Silver Spoon looked at the ground. “I never told my parents the true story.”

She looked up through her eyelashes, at the two sympathetic fillies. “Will you two still trust me, now that I told you that?”

“Of course we’ll still trust you SS!” “We wouldn’t abandon a friend just because she made a bad decision!”

“Diamond Tiara would.” The small filly mumbled under her breath, but just loud enough that Apple Bloom could hear.

“Well, SS, we’re not Diamond Tiara, are we?” Apple Bloom whispered in Silver’s ear.

“No... you’re not.” Silver Spoon grinned. For the first time, it really dawned on her that she had friends. Real friends, that wouldn’t abandon her for somepony else.

Scootaloo looked at the ground, shuffling her hooves a bit. “Umm... so Apple Bloom and I were talking and umm... she told me that umm... I had... umm... a disease?” Scootaloo’s fathers eyes widened, in a mixture of shock and horror. Ever the calm, collected pony, he gently took Scootaloo’s hoof in his own, and led her into his lounge room.

“Well Scootaloo, a couple of years ago, when you were trying to learn how to fly, we took you to a hospital. Mummy and I talked to the doctors there, who told us that you had a mental disease.

The two ponies stood anxiously awaiting the next words. “Ma’am, sir, we’re sorry to tell you this, but Scootaloo has a very rare disease called Dowell Syndrome.”

“Is there a cure?”

“Not at the moment. Research is being done, but they estimate it will take at least 20 years, even with proper funding. There are some schools available though, made to help ponies who suffer from Dowell Syndrome, and from what I hear, they’re quite good.”

“Mummy and I talked for a long time, about whether we should send you to one of these special schools or not. I wanted you to have a normal life, disease or not. Mummy wanted to send you to this school.

“Is that why mummy left?” Scootaloo’s eyes filled with tears.

“...Yes, Scootaloo. Your mother left because we were fighting over you, and she didn’t like it.”

“I JUST WANT WHATEVER’S BEST FOR SCOOTALOO!”

“SHE DESERVES TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE!”

“SHE NEEDS TO GET HELP! SHE’S SICK!”

“SHE’S NOT SICK ANY MORE THAN SOMEPONY WITH A WHEELCHAIR IS SICK!”

“Does that mean I’m not normal?” Scootaloo was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, and her dad knew it. Nonetheless, he decided not to lie in such an important conversation.

“Well Scootaloo... no. Your brain is wired a bit differently to other ponies brains... but that doesn’t mean that it’s any worse, or that other ponies are better than you.”

“Anyway, back to the story, me and her were fighting a lot, and so she left. She tried to send you to the school, but the judge let you stay with me.” Scootaloo’s dad held back tears as he remembered his wife.

“Where did she go?” Now Scootaloo was asking more straightforward questions, her dad grew noticeable more relaxed.

“To be honest Scootaloo, I don’t know.” “The letters stopped sometime after she reached Fillydelphia, she may have moved on since then, I don’t know.”

“Okay...” Scootaloo’s face fell. “Tell me more about my disease.”

Flying Breeze and his wife sat at a table, food untouched. They were reading a brochure about Dowell Syndrome, mournfully. “Dowell Syndrome” it said, “is a fairly uncommon occurrence that affects young ponies brains.”

“There are no real physical symptoms, most symptoms are characteristic, or affect mentality. Ponies suffering from Dowell Syndrome can often be moody, eccentric and have difficulty concentrating.”

Many other things were mentioned in the brochure, including an interesting fact that Leoneighdo Da Vinci suffered from Dowell Syndrome, that Flying Breeze made a note to remember.

“We should send her to this school.”

“Why? Why can’t she just live a normal life?”

“Because she’s not normal. We can’t dance around the issue Flying!”

“There IS NO issue!”

They both took a deep breath. “Let’s just go home, we can discuss it more later.”

In total, their food cost $68.50. They ate $3.00 worth of it.

“So Scootaloo, you have a special kind of disease. Your disease only affects the brain, and changes the way you think. That’s why you get words wrong sometimes.”

“Do any other ponies have this disease?”

“I’m sure a lot of them do. A lot of them keep it secret though.”

“Why?”

“Because ponies are scared, that other ponies will judge them, or be mean to them”

“Like Diamond Tiara?”

“Exactly. Ponies like Diamond Tiara are often very judgmental, and think that other ponies different to them are ‘wrong’, or ‘bad’.”

“Oh. Thanks Dad.”

“No worries Kiddo. Ask me if you have any more questions.”

“Sure will.”

Flying Breeze, and his daughter Scootaloo Breeze, both sat, silently thinking about life, Scootaloo’s mother, and prejudice. Scootaloo thought about the cruelty of other ponies. As Scootaloo hugged her father, they cried as one, father and daughter. They cried for loss, they cried for bad luck, and they cried for the ponies who just couldn’t understand.

Chapter 6

Diamond Tiara didn’t wake up the next morning. As she thought about this, her immensely tired and sluggish brain stumbled upon a conclusion anyway. She had never got to sleep. After showering and brushing her teeth, she went over to the phone and started punching in those familiar numbers... 7283 54... oh. She wasn’t friends with Silver Spoon anymore was she? At the realisation that it was the weekend, she went back up to bed, and lay there for another 3 hours.

Silver Spoon did wake the next morning, in fact, she awoke with quite a start. “AARRRGGGHHH!” “Where am I?” she screamed, loud enough that on the other side of the orchard, the apples fell before anyone even bucked them. Needless to say, Applejack spent half a day investigating this strange phenomenon.

“Ya’ll are in the...the CMC clubhouse”, a yawning Apple Bloom responded.

“We’ve got a whole day to do some more crusading!” A far more energetic and excited Sweetie Belle bounced. “But... you’ve already got your cutie mark...” she continued on,thoughtfully.

“Does that mean... I can’t be part of your club?” Silver Spoon’s face fell.

Apple Bloom gasped. “NONSENSE! That’s no reason to stop you joining our club!”

Silver Spoon’s ears perked up, followed by her face lifting, and showing the biggest grin the cutie mark crusaders had ever seen. After careful deliberation, It was revealed that the cutie mark crusaders were not destined to have smiling cutie marks.

Somewhere else in town, a small orange filly stared at herself in the mirror. “No...” she spoke aloud to herself. “They’re not that big... are they?” Her large eyes blinked. Did Apple Bloom’s eyes seem that big? As she thought about the difference between her and Apple Bloom’s eyes, her racing and well-rested mind came to a relevant conclusion almost instantly... she was hungry.

After skidding to a halt in the kitchen (something quite impressive if you live in a cloud house), she lifted up the box of cereal to her wide-open mouth, before dejectedly putting it down on the bench. With sheer force of will, she retrieved a bowl, and slowly, determinedly poured the cereal into it. As it clattered around the ceramic, a hoof reached out and touched her shoulder, and she stopped. Looking up at her dad, he smiled, and took away the bowl, before passing her the box of cereal.

Diamond Tiara wandered the streets of Ponyville. She felt tired, she felt lost without her one companion, and most of all, she felt lonely. Every time she would notice something interesting, she would reach out to alert her friend. When her hoof met nothing but air, the wave of disappointment was crushing.

“HEY! Pipsqueak!” she called, in one last desperate attempt.

“Yeah?” he responded, wondering why on Equestria Diamond Tiara was talking to him.

“Do you want to hang out with me? Just, as friends...” This was it. Did she have other friends?

“Umm... sorry! I’ve got plans...”

“Doing what?” Diamond Tiara sneered, her cynical side taking over.

“Umm... I’m going to... the train... expedition... tomorrow...” As Pipsqueak realised his error, he turned and bolted. Diamond Tiara started after him, then gave up and cried.

Scootaloo wandered into the cutie mark crusader clubhouse, being greeted by two angry stares, and one shy filly hiding in the back.

“Where the tartarus have ya’ll been, Scoots? We’ve been worried!” Apple Bloom pounced first.

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “I’ve been wondering where-“

Scootaloo gave a small smile, beckoning another pony into the sacred building. Flying Breeze cautiously trotted in, crouching to ensure he didn’t hit his head against the door frame. “Hello.” He spoke, rather quietly. “I’m Scootaloo’s dad.” Apple Bloom looked warily at him, before approaching for a hoof shake. Sweetie Belle took a different approach. “HELLO!” She bounced up and down erratically, and launched herself at Scootaloo’s overwhelmed father. He toppled backwards as a pink and white ball of pain whirled itself towards his face.

3 minutes later, and they were sitting in a circle around the clubhouse, Flying Breeze with a small bandage around his muzzle. With 4 fillies and 1 adult stallion in a room built to fit three fillies, they were beginning to feel quite cramped. They began to feel even more cramped when a panting Pipsqueak rushed into the room. “Pipsqueak?!” the four fillies exclaimed, before Sweetie Belle finished her sentence. “We haven’t seen you since Nightmare Night! We thought Princess Luna had taken you as her apprentice or something!” Pip held back a chuckle, before the panicked expression returned to his face.

“It’s Diamond Tiara!” he held a hoof up to Sweetie Belle, right after she had opened her mouth, which led to an awkward 30 seconds of fumbling. “She said something about finding Silver Spoon and being her friend again!” Silver Spoon gasped.

“No... No she can’t!” Silver Spoon stopped speaking coherently, at that point, until Scootaloo put her arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay SS! We’re your friends, remember?” Scootaloo coaxed her into relaxing.

“It’s just, she was always so mean to everyone, and she forced me to be mean as well! If I didn’t like it, she would be really mean to me and blackmail me into going along with it!” Silver Spoon seemed on the verge of tears as she recounted her tale, and Pipsqueak kept a slightly paranoid watch out the window for their shared tormentor.

It was exactly 5 minutes and 52 seconds until Pipsqueak noticed Diamond Tiara walking purposefully up the path, towards the clubhouse, now dangerously overfilled. “SILVER SPOON!” Diamond Tiara shouted, “GET DOWN HERE!”. Silver Spoon gulped, and turned to the rest. “Goodbye...then...sorry about the whole bullying thing...” a tear gently rolled down her cheek, and dropped to the floor, making a small ‘plip’ sound.

As the newest honorary crusader left the clubhouse, so did Scootaloo. “HEY!” She called down to Diamond Tiara, “LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!” The spoilt pink filly looked up at Scootaloo.

“What are you going to do about it, you diseased freak!”

“She ain’t a freak, you stuck-up... stuck-up...” Apple Bloom stuttered. “Sweetie Belle, what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“ARROGANT SPOILT VERUCA!” Sweetie Belle called down. As Scootaloo gave a small smile, she walked down the ramp to Diamond Tiara.

“I’m not diseased. I’m different. If you’re too ignorant to understand that, then I pity you.” Silence fell upon the group, as all were enraptured by Scootaloo’s speech. The brave orange filly with the large eyes began walking toward a trembling Diamond Tiara.

“Also, it’s bad enough that you pick on other ponies, but to pick on your OWN FRIENDS?! That’s wrong, Diamond Tiara, and nopony is going to tolerate it anymore.” Scootaloo raised her voice on friends, only to lower it back to a calm, intimidating level on wrong.

At this point, Diamond Tiara began walking slowly backwards, only to be matched by Scootaloo, keeping pace while staring directly into her eyes.

“Silver Spoon is our friend now, not yours. If you think you can bully her into being your friend again, you’re mistaken. Friends look after each other Diamond Tiara, and the cutie mark crusaders are going to look after our FRIEND!” With this final word, Diamond Tiara turned and fled, while Scootaloo turned to her friends, and a proud smiling father.

“Thanks Scootaloo.” Silver Spoon finally spoke. “That was really nice of you.” She blushed, the red complimenting her silver cheeks nicely. “No probs.” Scootaloo grinned, before a worried frown took over her face. “You don’t think I’m wrong do you?”

Silver Spoon thought for a moment. “Scootaloo, you’re my friend. And right now, that feels like the rightest thing in the world.” Scootaloo smiled. She beckoned her other friends closer.

“So... guys... want to go persuading?”

Sweetie Belle’s natural talent with the English language kicked in. “Crusading, Scoots. We go crusading.”

3 metres behind them, Flying Breeze chuckled as he watched the four fillies race off down the path. As he stood there, a tear of happiness fell down his cheek as a thought came into his head. Scootaloo’s secret, was not a secret anymore.

The End