The Sleepless Horse

The Sleepless Horse

By Sterling Davis

"Scoot?"

"Huh?" The young filly cocked her head at hearing her idol's voice.

They were in Rainbow Dash's Cloud House and the sun was beginning to set, and after speaking with Twilight she had offered Scootaloo to come and spend the night with her once more.

"I want to talk to you about...something." she replied, uncertain how to proceed.

"Like what?" she asked, her tiny wings fluttering with excitement, but stopped when she caught the solemn expression on Dash's face.

"It's about...your parents."

Her wings stopped, almost instantly as her expression fell.

"Wh-what do you want to know?" she asked, timidly.

"Why did you lie to me?"

There was no anger in her tone-only hurt.

"Huh?"

"Why couldn't you just tell me the truth about them?" she demanded.

"I-I was scared..." she replied softly, her voice barely louder than a squeak.

"And you were afraid, that I would think that you were crazy by pretending that they were still around?" she added, remembering the conversation she'd had with Twilight, earlier.

"I...I was afraid to lose you..." she admitted, with tears in her eyes. "And if I didn't have you...I'd have nopony-do you have any idea what it's like to be all alone?" she almost shouted.

"Yes...I do." Rainbow admitted, sadly. "I understand what your going through, probably better than anypony in Equestria..."

"But, you don't have to anymore..." she wrapped a wing around Scootaloo and pulled her closer. "You have me now, and I promise you, that I will never, ever hurt you or abandon you."

Scootaloo wiped the tears from her eyes and embraced her mentor and starting up again.

"I'm truly sorry, if I had paid more attention-I would have realized sooner how much you needed me..." she trailed off, before softly running her hoof through the sobbing filly's mane.

They stood there in Rainbow's kitchen like that for a few more moments, before releasing each other and Rainbow Dash wiped a tear from one of Scootaloo's eyes.

"Why don't you get ready for bed, 'kay squirt?" she asked.

She merely nodded before walking off as Rainbow Dash sighed, she had been slightly ashamed of herself for not realizing that she'd never seen or even heard of Scootaloo's parents when she spent the week over last time, it wasn't until she talked to Twilight about it that she began to understand.

Twilight theorized that Scootaloo might have made them up to come up with a sense of stability and normality to be more like her friends; Applebloom and Sweetie Belle and the more Dash thought about it, the more sense it made-after all, at the time she found it kind of weird that her parents didn't show up to see their own daughter at the talent show.

So what had happened to them?

Did they die...or did they just abandon her?

Apparently nopony-not even Scootaloo knew.

But, more than anything Rainbow Dash felt disgusted for herself for not knowing these things-what kind of big sister was she, anyway?

Twilight had tried to convince her not to worry about it, but she couldn't help feeling like she'd failed her...and at that point Dash decided she'd find a way to make it up to Scootaloo...somehow.