Scootaloo had no tears left to shed... She was so, so hurt inside.
At the edge of the Apple Family orchards, Scootaloo sat with a broken heart, staring at the sunset. She had never felt more guilty in her entire life, and she couldn't bear to look anypony in the eye after what she did to Rainbow Dash.
That mare was her hero, whether she knew it or not. She lived at an orphanage that almost nopony ever really talked about, mostly because nopony knew about it. She never learned anything about her father, and her mother died shortly after giving birth to her. She didn't miss her mother; She never really knew what it felt like to have somepony there for you, no matter how badly you messed up, no matter how much you hurt them... Not until she found Dashie.
Scootaloo held her face in her hooves as she leaned back against the apple tree. Dashie didn't know it, but she would just as well have been her mother. She wanted to be everything Dashie could be, and then some... She was just so cool. And now that might never happen, because Rainbow Dash probably wouldn't want to see her anymore after the stunt Scootaloo pulled this morning...
"...RAINBOW DASH!" She was going as fast as she could, weaving in between colts and fillies on her scooter as she chased the multicolored wake. Dashie was probably working on a new trick or something, but she just HAD to know what she was up to.
Using a reserve of strength she didn't know she had, Scootaloo made her final push toward the ramp she and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had set up in the town square. It all happened so fast.
Scootaloo's front wheel hit the end of the ramp and suddenly stopped, causing her to fly over the handlebars and sail through the air after Rainbow Dash. The loyal mare turned in mid flight and smile for a split second, thinking that Scootaloo was actually flying after her; The filly was going so fast that it was hard to tell.
From another angle, Twilight Sparkle and Spike could see Scootaloo soaring through the air after Rainbow Dash. Twilight, however, instantly knew that she was going to hit Rainbow Dash. She was going faster than Twilight thought possible.
Rainbow Dash only had time to turn around as Scootaloo was fired through the air at her. The impact was like running into a wall; How Scootaloo managed to attain such a speed was incomprehensible to Dashie.
Scootaloo closed her eyes and waited to hit the ground, her life flashing before her eyes in a heartbeat. She was already in a lot of pain, and she couldn't imagine what it was like for Dashie. Her skull connected with her abdomen and knocked the air out of her upon impact.
Right before Scootaloo hit the ground, she felt a pair of arms take her in an iron grip as she landed... But on something soft. Even so, the impact was so rough that Scootaloo was knocked unconscious.
...Scootaloo began to cry again as she relived the ordeal. Scootaloo was the lucky one; Dashie had latched onto the filly to take the brunt of the fall, and Scootaloo escaped with a few bruises. Dashie, however, was not so lucky. Doctor Whooves and a few others rushed to her side to take her to the hospital. Her right foreleg was cut open from her shoulder to her knee by a sharp rock that jutted out of the dirt, and her right wing was broken in four places... And that was the good part. Rainbow Dash's skull had been cracked on a wagon wheel, and as far as Scootaloo knew, was still fighting for her life in the hospital.
Scootaloo began beating her own head with her hoof until she couldn't do it anymore. She messed up so bad, and she messed up Dashie even worse, and she couldn't even look at herself. She looked to the setting Sun as she put her face in her hooves again. "Dashie, I'm sorry... I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to be like you so much... You were like a mommy to me, and I looked up to you because you were so cool... I never wanted this. I'm so sorry. Dashie..."
Scootaloo now spoke through sobs and gritted teeth. "I know I'll never be as cool as you, and I know I'll never be able to make it up to you... But I'd take your place if I could, Dashie, I really would. And now... I might never see you again. I'm sorry."
Scootaloo leaned back against the apple tree and looked up at the Sun again through her bloodshot eyes. She was miserable, and all she wanted was her friend back. Her mother back.
As Scootaloo looked down to the grass at a small ladybug, she was startled by a hoof on her right shoulder. It was Rainbow Dash, her wing in a cast and a bandage around her head. Scootaloo looked away, not knowing what to do with herself. "I'm sorry, Dashie..." Rainbow Dash said nothing.
"I wont be mad at you if you never want to see me again. I don't want to see me again. I-"
"Scootaloo, I heard." Rainbow dash sat beside her and pulled her close. Scootaloo's eyes were wide with shock as she looked up to her idol.
"Why are you here, Dashie? You were bleeding and the doctors said you wouldn't wake up and-" Dashie put her hoof under her chin to look into her eyes.
"Scootaloo, you silly filly, I couldn't let you sit here and torture yourself... The doctors and everypony else said I was an idiot to have left the hospital so soon after what happened, but I hate hospitals... Anyway, I came here for you."
Scootaloo didn't know what to think. "So... You're not mad at me?" Rainbow Dash coughed up a little bit of blood onto the grass and said
"Squirt, I can't get mad at you..." Scootaloo turned and hugged Dashie, just a bit too hard. "Woah, cut it out, that hurts!"
"Sorry..." The orange filly was overcome with joy and relief. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo held each other for a long time as they gazed off into the orange and pink sunset above the Equestrian horizon.
"Scootaloo?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you really mean all that... About me being awesome, and being your mom and stuff?"
Scootaloo blushed. "Yeah..." Rainbow Dash held her even tighter and said nothing.
"It means a lot, Scootaloo." Neither seemed to care about keeping track of time. It was far too pleasant of a moment to ruin with words, anyway. Long after the Equestrian moon rose above the horizon, Dashie and Scootaloo still lay together beneath the canopy of the orchard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rightest rights
and the wrongest wrongs
and the darkest nights
and the saddest songs
were all written with but one thing in mind:
To leave your sorrows and woes far behind.
Love does not hate, and hate cannot love.
Spite cannot put your friends far above
the differences you have or the wrongs you have done,
but there is a remedy; Yes, there is one:
One shining, undying quality
that never fades away,
a fire from within that burns for forever and a day.
All you'll ever need is a dash of loyalty.
Special thanks to AcousticBrony and MandoPony. The title, as well as the entire story, are based off of their song "Loyalty." This song can be found here, and I feel that it is in the top five pony related songs ever made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voj9MhBUaTI
