Runawayby RedScootalooChaptersChapter 1: Unexpected ChangeChapter 2: BashChapter 3: "Family"Chapter 4: Taking a walkChapter 5: Rainbow DashChapter 6: LostChapter 7: MemoriesChapter 8: ClarityChapter 9: Convinced?EpilogueChapter 1: Unexpected Change„Why? “ Scootaloo asked. Her voice sounded like she was going to cry. “Oh why, Applebloom?” Applebloom avoided Scootaloos eyes. “Ah’m sorry, Scoots, but we just cain’t trust ya anymore. Ya’ve abused our trust for way too long.” She turned to Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie, it’s her - or me. Decide now.” Tears ran down as Sweetie tried to find an answer. She couldn’t believe what Applebloom just had said. But still, it seemed like the only possible way. “Scootaloo…” She started. Scootaloos eyes were slowly dropping tears now. She felt them on her cheek, but she didn’t make an attempt to wipe them. “I’m so sorry, Scoots, but Applebloom’s right…” She released a small whimper. “I can’t believe that you really did that. And you don’t even try to explain it! I still like you, Scootaloo, but I just can’t trust you anymore.” “Please, Sweetie!” “Just go! Leave, and never come back. I don’t want to see you anymore. How could you steal? All these years I thought I knew you, but you just lied to me all the time! I can’t trust you anymore, and I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. Maybe someday I can forgive what you’ve done, but I wouldn’t wait for it, if I was you.” Scootaloo was panicking. “But… We are the cutie mark crusaders! That does mean something, doesn’t it?” She wanted to explain everything so bad, but she couldn’t. But that would mean that she would lose the crusaders! They were the only thing that gave her hope. The only ones, who had awoken the will to live in her miserable life in the gutter. She knew she didn’t deserve their friendship. Who was she, after all? An orphan, a homeless filly, a thief. She knew it wasn’t right, but she had to eat something! She never took more than she needed to live! Sure, it was bad, but how was she supposed to live without food? She just wanted to live her life in peace. But the thing she wished most... was a big sister. Somepony that would care about her, somepony that would love her. But now it seemed like she was about to lose the last thing she had. Her friends, the ones that always had been there for her, when she needed moral support. She loved them, and she wished that they would never leave her. Still, she could understand them. She did abuse their trust, and she had lied to them. In this moment she got an idea. She knew what she would do. “Look, gals… You’re right. I did abuse your trust and I have stolen. I know it isn’t right, and I truly am sorry for it. But even though I wish that I could stay with you two forever, I will accept your choice, whether it is to kick me out of the crusaders or to let me stay. You are right, Applebloom. But I have one request. Try to forgive me.” Sweetie’s tears had stopped during Scootaloos speech, and now she looked in Appleblooms face, hoping it might have changed her opinion. Appleblooms freezing eyes told her otherwise. “Ah will try, Scootaloo, but Ah cain’t promise anything. Ya really hurt me with all ya lies and it truly is breakin’ mah heart to say this, but: Ya are no cutie mark crusader anymore.” As they left the clubhouse, Scootaloo hung her cape over a fencepost. Then she looked deep in Sweetie Belles and Appleblooms eyes. It broke her heart knowing it might be the last time she saw them. It was sad that they had to separate like this. As Scootaloo turned around, a single tear dropped from the eye of each of the three young ponies. Scootaloo stopped for a moment. As she started walking, she felt the eyes of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom on her back. --- “The train to Manehatten is incoming! Please stand back!” Scootaloo boarded the train and looked for an empty seat. As she sat down, she looked out the window, as the train started moving. She looked back to the town, as it vanished in the distance, knowing she might never return. She knew she couldn't stay in Ponyville, but the filly wasn't sure what to do once she arrived in Manehatten. Now that she thought about it, she noticed that she had already started to miss Ponyville. Back there she had come closest to being happy. She had had friends there. She had had a place to live. Surely the old, abandoned garage and her cardboard box weren't the greatest place, but they kept her from freezing during the winter. And they were something for her to come back to. After she had talked to the crusaders, she had gone there one last time to pack up her things and say goodbye to the place. She picked up one of the two photos she had. It showed her, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom on the day of the talent show. They already wore their costumes in the picture. As she stared at the picture, memories flashed up in her mind. The day at Diamond Tiaras party, where Sweetie Belle and herself jumped out of their hide underneath the table to protect Applebloom from Diamond Tiaras and Silver Spoons bullying shouting “Do you have a problem with blank flanks?” Afterwards they had promised to never leave each other. What had happened to this promise? It was like it never existed. Still, Scootaloo could feel Sweetie Belle and Applebloom in her heart. Maybe that was the true part of the promise. That they’d always keep each other in their hearts. Scootaloo wondered whether Applebloom and Sweetie felt the same way as she did. The next memory flashed up. The day they had a sleepover at Fluttershy. She remembered how Sweetie had sabotaged Fluttershys song to keep all of them awake. Scootaloo loved Sweeties voice. When Sweetie started singing, it was like Scootaloos heart was suddenly reflecting it. Suddenly, Scootaloo would feel warm and just happy, deeply sunk in Sweeties voice. Now Scootaloo thought about the day, when Babs Seed had come to Ponyville and how Babs first was nice and suddenly, when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up, turned into a bully. It was so hard for all of them to understand, until Applejack told them that Babs was bullied in her school in Manehatten. At that time, Babs already was in a manipulated ride that was supposed to throw her into the mud. They barely reached Babs and pulled her out of the ride, even though they would land in the mud instead. All of that wouldn’t have happened if they’d just listened to Sweetie, who wanted to talk to Applejack about Babs from the beginning on. Then she remembered the day, when Sweetie had brought the capes to one of their meetings. When she gave one to Scootaloo, she suddenly felt like she finally got a place where she belonged. From that moment on, she had looked to the crusaders as her family, not just as her friends. All these memories made Scootaloos eyes tear, as she woke from the trance the memories had put her in. She carefully put the picture in one of her saddlebags, moving on to the other picture she had. It showed Rainbow Dash, relaxing on a cloud. Another memory entered her mind. She remembered the day, when the cutie mark crusaders, their sisters and Rainbow Dash had gone camping outside the town. She had been so stuck in trying to make Rainbow Dash proud, that she rather couldn’t sleep a few nights than to talk to the rainbow-maned mare about her fears. After some time she just couldn’t take it anymore and asked her, if she could take Scootaloo under her wing. The few moments it took her to response felt like forever for Scoots, but as Rainbow agreed, she nearly cried out of pure happiness. She thought that nothing could stop her now, with this mare on her side. Scootaloo shook her head to clear it. If only she had known how wrong she had been that day… She gave the picture a sad look, then picked it up and put it in the same saddlebag as the other one. She grabbed the nearly burnt down candle, which was her light in the dark for nearly 5 years now and the flint stones she used to light it. She filled the other saddlebag with them and slowly left the garage. Outside she turned around and looked at it for the last time. She remembered the day, when she first came here. It had been a rainy night, and Scootaloos mane was soaked with water and she was freezing. Suddenly she noticed the old garage, which was slightly open. She peeked into it and found it was empty. Inside she had found the candle she still was using, the flint stones, dry papers that seemed to be made for a campfire and the carton she slept in. Scootaloo sighed. “Goodbye… Thank you, for all these years you’ve kept me alive…” She whispered. Then she turned away. It was time for a new change. Author's Note Hey guys, it's me! Future me! I just rearranged this chapter, hope you like it more in this form! Chapter 2: Bash„Next stop: Manehatten! “ Scootaloo rose from her seat, slowly making her way to the door. By now, it was dark outside, but Manehatten shined like it was still day. Giant billboards and advertisements lit the city, loud music blasted out of some clubs. The first step for Scootaloo would be to find a place where she could sleep. She followed some small roads, leaving the lit parts of the city behind her. Only few lanterns kept her way barely lit, and the further she went, the more of them were broken. She kept walking, searching the town for abandoned places. About half an hour later she found a small shed that was barely standing, with an open door. Scootaloo peeked in, searching it for any signs of another pony that used this shed as a place to sleep. It seemed empty, so she entered and lay down. Exhausted from the long day on her journey and the events of the morning, she fell asleep almost immediately. “Money or life!” a harsh voice shouted, waking Scootaloo from her sleep. She stared at the knife right in front of her eyes, not understanding why it was there. “I’m not kidding, filly! Empty your saddlebags!” These words brought the face behind the knife to her attention. A grey unicorn with a scarred face stared at her, levitating the knife, ready to stab her. "I’ll count to three, then I’ll stab you. One.” “Bu-but I don’t have any money!” Scootaloo tried to explain. “Two.” The unicorn continued. “Please understand me!” “Three.” Scoots saw the knife coming closer, when suddenly she heard a loud “Clonk” and the unicorn broke down. Behind it was a cyan, rainbow-maned filly, about Scoots’ age, holding a fencepost in her mouth. A glimmer of hope appeared in Scootaloo’s heart. “Rainbow Dash?” She asked. “My name’s Lightening Runner, but you can just call me ‘Bash’.” “Thanks for your help, Bash. How can I ever thank you?” The cyan filly just laughed and said “You could start by telling me your name, sis. Besides, we all need to work together to survive, huh?” Sis? This filly was really strange. “So, uh… what now?” “Ya new in Manehatten, huh? What’cha doin’ here, anyways?” Scootaloo had to think for a moment. Somehow she felt she could trust this rainbow-maned pony. Maybe because she remembered her of Rainbow Dash, even though she seemed to have no wings. “I had a couple of problems back home in Ponyville, which forced me to leave the town.” Bash could feel Scootaloo didn’t really want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask any further. “I’m from Trottingham. Just like you, I had some problems. Couldn’t live there anymore, so I decided to run away. I don’t know why, but somehow I like you. I’ve been kinda lonely since I’m away from home, so I’d be really happy to have a companion. You agree?” Scootaloo thought about it for a moment. She was pretty lonely, too, and having a companion surely would be nice. “Sounds like a good idea. I agree. Thanks again, Bash!” Scoots answered. Now Bash laughed out loud. “Don’t mention it, filly, I’m glad to have helped you.” She paused for a moment. “Maybe someday you will save my life, too.” she said serious. That's when Scootaloo’s stomach spoke for itself, releasing a loud growl, that made them laugh again. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had any food in over a day now. You don’t have any money by chance, do you?” She asked. Bash shook her head. “Even better, I know a place where we might get something nice to eat. Just follow me.” She left the shed. Bash smiled. “Come on now, I’m hungry!” Scootaloo followed her out the shed, when she was overwhelmed by the view that she had. The sun rose from a building, throwing the light exactly at them. The whole sky was colored red. They couldn’t stop staring at it, until Scoots stomach complained again. She smiled. “Let’s go.” The place Bash talked about turned out to be an old pub. It had a sign that was about to fall off, which said ‘The final sprint’ above the stairs into the pub. “You’re sure this is the right place?” Scoots asked. “Of course I am.” Bash gave her an encouraging smile and followed the stairs down into the pub. “Rusty? Ya there?” They heard some grumbling, when a grey, old stallion with an eye patch came in. “Bash. You’re back?” He asked with a rough voice. “Who’s that friend of yours?” “That’s Scootaloo. I found her in a shed on the ‘Broken Boulevard’. I heard somepony talking about stabbing somepony in there and was not a single second too early. Some unicorn tried to mug her. Now tell me, do you have some food for two hungry fillies?” The old stallion laughed. “I always have some spare food for you and your friends. Just bring those to Sharon, while I prepare it.” He pointed at two bags. Bash picked up one of them and gave it to Scoots, then put the other one on her back. “She’ll never learn that this isn’t the right way, huh? We’ll be back in about half an hour then. See ya.” She left the pub, followed by the confused Scootaloo. “What’s that?” She asked. “Just a few drinks, some of Rusty’s best. Are you a good runner?” “Faster than you are, I bet!” Scoots laughed. Bash joined her laughter. “Well, we will see. Let’s race! Reeeaaady, set, GO!” She shouted and started running. Soon she left Scootaloo behind her, quickly gaining distance between them. She ran into a small alley to the left and vanished from the orange pony’s field of view. She followed her, when Bash suddenly jumped out of the shadows, right in front of Scoots and screamed “Boooh!” Scootaloo flinched, tripped and crushed into her. “Not fair!” She shouted as they rolled towards a wall. They lay on top of each other, laughing. Scootaloo hugged Bash, said “You nearly really scared me there, Bash” and continued her laughter. Bash pulled her closer and decided it was time for a little taunt. “Aww, you poor, poor thing, come to mommy.” Their laughter got louder, but after some time, Bash gave Scoots a strange, somehow happy look and stopped laughing. The filly couldn’t really explain this look, but her heart warmed up with it. She lost herself in Bash’s eyes. She hadn’t realized they were dark blue until now. Like an ocean. Her head moved closer to Bash’s. The feeling that grew in her stomach as she looked in her eyes amazed her. It was like butterflies were flying inside. She somehow felt so light, that she thought she’d fly away once Bash would let go of her. As much as she liked it, it irritated her, too. She never had had this kind of feeling, but she was told it would feel like this when she was in love. But in love with another filly? She had always thought that this wasn’t natural, but right now it felt so right. Before she could finish her thoughts, their lips touched. The feeling of her lips on Bash’s stopped all her thinking. In this moment, everything felt perfectly fine, and that was all that mattered. Before she closed her eyes, she could see in Bash’s eyes that she felt exactly the same way about this. She started to move her lips on Bash’s, just enjoying the warmth streaming in her. Bash opened her lips and pushed her tongue against Scoots lips, convincing her to open hers, too. Their tongues touched and released another wave of happiness into both of them. Their tongues became one, and Bash pulled Scootaloo closer towards her, less gentle now, wishing to never have to let go of her again. Bash separated their tongues. “Uhm… We should get going, I guess… Sharon must be waiting for us…” They had lost track of the time, but it was obvious that this wasn’t integrated in the half hour they had. Scoots rolled off of Bash, slowly standing up. She nodded and started to check the bags to see if any bottles were broken. She found them all intact, so she picked up the bag. Bash had done the same with hers and continued the walk. They walked the rest of the way in silence. Scoots caught herself looking at Bash, quickly turning away when she looked back. She would swear to feel Bash staring at her, too. After a while, they arrived at a small shabby house, greeted by a strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes. “We’re here. This is Sharon’s place.” Chapter 3: "Family"Bash didn’t bother to knock, instead she just walked in. “Who’s that? Get out!” A croaky, female voice shouted. It sounded broken somehow, like if the pony it belonged to had lost her hope long ago. “It’s me, Sharon. Bash!” She answered. “Oh, just you… Did you bring Rusty’s goods?” An old, bony Pegasus entered the room, a lit cigarette in her mouth. She took a deep drag and puffed the smoke out. Bash and Scoots lay the bags on the ground, letting her check them for the contents. She stared at them for a second or two, then moved on to a small table and picked up a small bag. As she threw it on the floor in front of Bash’s feet, a few coins jingled in it. Bash opened it, counting the coins inside. “That’s only 43 bits, Sharon. Ya know Rusty’d kill me if I only brought 43 bits back.” Sharon grumbled something about her being a vulture, took seven more coins out of another little sac and rolled them over to Bash. “There you go, filly. Leave now.” They didn’t need to be told twice, so they quickly put the money in the bag and left. The stench in the building had made them sick, and when they finally escaped, they gasped for the fresh air. “Well, now ya know my “family”, I guess. Bet ya wonder what’s the deal with Sharon, huh?” Scootaloo could hear a little bitterness in Bash’s voice. “She hasn’t always been like ‘dis, ya know… She was a great lady when I first met her, full of generosity and happiness, always ready to put a smile on ya face. But the last years were hard for her. Her husband passed away, and after that she had nopony to talk to anymore. She couldn’t bring herself to talk to me or Rusty, and now she only wants to be left alone with her booze and her cigarettes, waiting for the end of her life.” A small tear ran down her face as she talked. She wouldn’t say anymore, and Scootaloo knew it was useless to try. Instead, she just hugged her, trying to comfort her above a level words could reach. They just stood there in silence, which only was interrupted by Bash’s sniffs every now and then. Scootaloo didn’t know how much time passed, but she felt like she had to say something. “You’re not alone, you know. I’ll always be there for you. You can count on me.” She felt Bash nodding on her back. “Thanks, Scoots… Ya don’t know how much this means to me.” She sniffed. “Hey, don’t mention it. I’m kinda your family now, too, right?” “Thanks… We should get going; Rusty must be waiting for us! Ya don’t wanna see him angry, believe me.” They began to move. “You know, I really missed having someone I could talk to… You know, since I ran away, I always only had Rusty and Sharon. Rusty isn’t the kind of pony for talking, especially not about problems, even though he truly wants to help. And Sharon… Well, you met her. Before her husband died, she was helpful, and she always listened to whatever I had on my mind. She tried to help me, and she often succeeded. But when the drinking started, she became more and more angry, didn’t listen to any reasoning.” Bash quit talking for a moment or two. “I really wish I could talk to her like that once more…” Scootaloo was helpless. She really wanted to help her friend, but she didn’t know, how. For a while, they just walked on in silence. “Maybe…” Scootaloo started. Bash shook her head, guessing her thoughts. “We can’t convince her to stop drinking. As I said, she doesn’t listen to reasoning anymore. I don’t know… I don’t really believe she’s gonna be happy, anyways. I’m pretty sure, that she won’t become who she used to be. It isn’t just the alcohol that changes her. It’s the death of her husband that still is preying on her mind.” Scootaloo thought about it for a moment. Bash really had a point. But they couldn’t just give her up, could they? “I will come up with something. I am not ready to give Sharon up.” Bash shook her head. “Do as you will. Thanks, Scoots…” They continued their walk in silence, both deep in their own thoughts, until they reached ‘The final sprint’. „Rusty? Ya there?“ Bash’s voice echoed through the pub. The lights were off, and since there were no windows, they couldn’t really see anything further away than their own hooves. The answer came in the form of a snore. Bash raised her left forehoof in front of her lips to symbolize Scoots to be quiet. She lit a small candle on the counter. In the flickering shine of the candle they could see Rusty, sleeping peacefully on a chair. Bash laid the bag with the money next to him, careful, trying not to wake him up. Then, Bash silently allocated Scoots to follow her. They sneaked through the room and Bash opened the door. It squeaked a little, and Bash looked back, worried, she might have woken Rusty up. As she saw he continued his sleep, she entered the room in front of her, the candle holder still in her mouth. Scoots followed her, trying not to make too much noise. Bash’s movements were so silent, that she felt incredibly loud. She must have spent years learning to move that quietly. She closed the door when both of them were in, careful not to let it squeak again. Then, she activated the light switch and they could finally see. Bash blew the candle out and pointed to a cooking pot. “That’s the soup he’d talked about. It doesn’t really taste good, but it’s very healthy. At least that's what Rusty says all the time.” As they made eye-contact, Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat. Suddenly her stomach was filled and she felt it tickling her. She found herself having a stupid ear-to-ear grin on her face, not being able to put it down. Blushing she turned away, trying to hide her stupid face expression from the filly in front of her. Doing so made the situation more than awkward for Bash. What was she supposed to do now? She decided to fill their soups in two small wooden bowls, which she transported one by one over to a small table that looked like it was from the past century and sat down. Scootaloo looked back up. She had been so deep in her thoughts – or rather blaming herself for the stupid grin – that she didn't notice Bash had moved. She sat down in front of Bash and took a sip of the soup. It did taste a little odd. Somehow like moss combined with salt and… Scootaloo couldn’t tell what it was. Something made it taste a little rotten. “It’s… uhm… something you need to get used to. What is this?” “I don’t really know. Rusty keeps the recipe hidden from me. When I asked he just laughed and walked away.” By the time they’d finished their soup, Rusty still didn’t wake up, so they decided they should head outside for a while. “Scootaloo, I did want to ask you something... You don't have a place to sleep at, right?” Scoots shook her head as response, encouraging Bash to continue talking. “I wanted to ask you wether you'd want to stay with us. Like, actually move in or something. What do ya think?” Scootaloo thought about it a little. Obviously, she hadn’t really a place to sleep at. And that way she'd be able to stay with Bash all day and all night. “I…” She paused for a second. She tried to read Bash’s face, but she hid her thoughts well. “I would love that!” She hugged Bash. “Thank you so much!” Author's Note Alright, here goes chapter 3, though it's still only half-edited due to missing time... Hope it's still bearable for you guys :) As you might have noticed, I changed the format a little, I hope it's easier to read now ;) EDIT: Final change, hopefully easier to read now Chapter 4: Taking a walkScootaloo yawned. When Bash had pointed at the old couch in the back room of the bar, she had been so happy. It was the first time in - how long had it actually been? - that she had something soft underneath her body when she went to sleep- Though the couch really was comfortable, compared with the floor in the garage at least, she hadn't been able to drift off. Her mind was filled with the events since she had left Ponyville. Did Bash really save her from that mugger yesterday? It felt like it was weeks ago. Bash had just brought her home, to Rusty. Now that she thought about it, it seemed odd to her. She was just bringing a pony she just met home, before they even really talked? Who would do that? She came up quickly with the answer. Good ponies. Bash had seen that she needed help, so she gave her food and a place to sleep. And not only that, she gave her somepony to love. It felt strange. Scoots had never been involved in anything romantic at all. She was completely knew to this whole thing. Yet what had happened between her and Bash was unmistakeable. She wondered wether she and Bash might marry someday. Was that legal? Were two fillies allowed to marry? It would be silly if it wasn't, that's for sure. But even if they would, they wouldn't be able to have foals, physically. She shook her head to get the thoughts out of it. Her sleepy brain seemed to give her the strangest ideas... She forced herself to think about something different. 'Something different, something different, something different...' she thought. It was getting on her nerves pretty quickly, but now she wasn't able to stop it anymore. 'Something different, something different, something different...' She wanted to scream, but thought better of it, afraid to wake Rusty or Bash, who were probably having a pretty restful sleep. Instead, she just hit her forehead multiple times. Frustrated that it didn't work, she hit harder and harder. After one or two minutes of this, she gave up and lay her hoof down. The pain was now pulsing in her head. It would swell 'til the morning. She'd probably have something of it the whole day. "Hnnngh", she groaned in the armrest of the couch. She felt so uncomfortable now on it. Deciding to go for a little walk, she raised from it, leaving the small blanket Rusty had given to her behind. She entered the front room, careful, not to make any noises now. She didn't know how thin the walls are, and she really didn't want to wake them up. She sneaked towards the door, not seeing the chair standing in her way. It made a dull noise and her knee suddenly hurt. She let out a swall of course words that she shouldn't have known at her age, always careful to keep the volume down. She continued her way to the door, but stopped after a few steps. Should she leave a note? No, she would most probably be back before they awoke anyways, since she hadn't really planned to stay out the whole night. So she left the pub and entered the dark roads of Manehatten. Once she stepped outside, she found wet darkness surrounding her. She found it to be pitch black, the stars and the moon hidden behind big, dark clouds which were slowly dripping. You couldn't even call it rain, really. So she decided that it wasn't too bad for a little walk. To her right was the only lightsource that was around for probably a mile. To her left the street was dark. She remembered the way she and Bash had come here first, after she had saved her at the shed. The pub had been on their right, so they had come from what was now left for her. She decided not to go that way, afraid to meet the unicorn she had her unpleasant encounter with again. As she walked, she tried to arrange her thoughts. Had she made the right decisions in the past two days? Wasn't it kinda stupid to run away from Ponyville? No, she decided. It had been the only thing she could do. The only thing she regretted about it was that she didn't have time to say goodbye to her adopted sister. Rainbow Dash. She wondered whether the mare was thinking about her. She hoped she wasn't worried. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt for leaving her without anypony telling her where she had gone. She might think something bad happened to her. Or was she just taking herself for way too important? Maybe she didn't even care about her. Maybe she was happy that she was gone. What was she thinking, that was impossible. Yet the thought about it hurt. But she knew Rainbow Dash, and she wasn't the mare to not care about somepony. She was the element of loyalty, after all. She would be the last to leave anyone behind, especially if it was the pony she had promised to take under her wing. Her thoughts wandered towards her friends, the crusaders. She missed them so badly. Did they miss her, too? Most probably not, since they were the ones who didn't want to have anything to do with her originally. Once again she remembered the beauty of Sweetie Belle's voice. How perfectly she pronounced every word when she sung, putting her listeners in a deep trance. Scoots never had had the chance to tell her how much she loved it. She always wanted to ask Sweetie whether she would sing for her. She had watched her once, just outside Ponyville, on a small clearance with a stump in the middle. Sweetie had sat there for a few hours, just singing for herself. Scoots had waited behind a tree, listening and dreaming to it. She felt so much less miserable when she heard Sweetie's voice. It had always filled her with warmth, even in the cold winter days they spent together in the clubhouse, barely keeping each other warm by sitting close to each other. On these days they had always told each other stories, sometimes ghost stories, sometimes funny ones, but when none of them could think of any they hadn't shared already, Sweetie would start singing, first silent and shy, later loud and confident. She always had the right volume for each song. Sometimes her songs told stories, too. But most of them told about the beauty of the fall sun, shining on red and yellow leaves, slowly falling down in the wind. A wall in front of her brought Scootaloo back to reality. She looked to her sides, noticing there weren't any walls, either. Now that she looked around, only behind her was a way. She turned around and walked back. She had been out here long enough, anyways. The rain had stopped by now, and the sun was rising behind the old buildings of Manehatten, letting the sky shine in a tender rose like a dahlia. Eventually she came to a crossroad. There was a way behind her - of which she knew it was a dead end - one to her left and one to her right. Her heart speeded up. She didn't remember this! Where did she come from? She rushed down the left alley, only to turn around after a few steps and run down the other street. She was panicking. She had to go somewhere, but where? She decided to just follow the road to her left. She sped up her movement and looked around, hoping to find anything familiar. Of course she didn't. How could she have been that careless? That was so foolish of her! She should've known better. But she could blame herself for her stupidity later. Now she had bigger problems. The road she followed had led to another crossing. Now there was one to the front and one to the right. She followed the one to her front, hoping it would get her right. But after a while, the road parted, again. This cleared the last shimmer of hope from her. She let herself sink on the floor and dug her head into her fore legs. She couldn't help but cry at her situation. She was in a big city with probably millions of people living in it and had walked down the streets without any care of where she was going. This wasn't Ponyville anymore, there was no easy way to get out of this labyrinth. A single thought tortured her mind: I am lost. Author's Note Yay, enough time for my editor to help me out :) So hopefully this chapter will involve less stupid grammatical mistakes than usual ;) Chapter 5: Rainbow Dash"You haven't seen her, either?" asked Rainbow Dash. Her voice sounded desperate. It hurt Twilight to see her friend like this. "I'm afraid no. Have you talked to the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" she suggested. "I could come with you, if you want me to." Rainbow thought about it for a second. "No, I need to do this alone." She knew how stupid it was. If Scootaloo was out there, all alone, she needed every help she could get. But her pride was stronger than her sanity. She sighed. "Are you sure?" "Yes, Twilight, I am sure. Thank you." That were the last words spoken between the two of them, and after she had let them out, the cyan mare flew away, towards Sweet Apple Acres. "No problem..." Twilight whispered for herself before she turned around and went back into the library. Rainbow knocked on the door. It wasn't such a long flight from the library to Sweet Apple Acres, but she had forgotten where between all those apple trees the clubhouse had been, so it had taken her half an hour to find it. She looked towards the sun, which she could barely see through the trees. 'Good thing they're in their fall holidays.' she thought. It was about 10 am, which would've made it impossible to talk to them during school time. "He-em" Applebloom cleared her throat to gain her attention. "What do ya want?" "Calm down, kid. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything important." "Ya aren't, really." "May I come in then?" Applebloom looked behind herself into the room that was hidden from Rainbow. She looked back and shook her head. "Ah don't think this would be a good idea." "Why not? Oh, whatever. Have you seen Scootaloo by chance? She seems to be missing." Applebloom winced at the name. "You might want to come inside now." --- "And that's the whole story?" Rainbow asked. Sweetie Belle was quietly crying in a corner of the room. "It is." "No wonder why she ran away. Have you ever thought about talking to me about it? You two know I've declared her my adopted sister, right?" Rainbow knew how wrong it was to wake guilt in them since it must've been tough for them, too, but in this moment, she just couldn't resist. Her little sister was somewhere out there, ran away because her friends told her that she was kicked out of their club because she stole. When Applebloom said that, something in her mind had become clear. The reason why Scootaloo stole. And the reason why Scootaloo had been looking for a big sister. And she stupid, useless fool had let her go... She knew she couldn't forgive herself if something happened to Scootaloo. It was all her fault. She should've known that Scootaloo was... 'Scootaloo is an orphan.' That thought burned itself on the back of her mind. 'She was all along and I was too inattentive to see the signs. How could she? She should've recognized them. She knew them so well, and as she looked back on it, they all became so clear. Scootaloo's cape, that was so much more outworn than Sweetie Belle's and Applebloom's. How she always resisted against anyone walking her home. How she never invited someone over without telling a reason. "Ah.. Ah dunno. We never really thought about it, I guess... Ah'm so sorry." Appleblooms voice brought her back. "You can tell that Scoots when we're back." Rainbow Dash somehow managed these words, even though she was still halfway in her thoughts. First she would search Scootaloo's ho... the place she had been staying in Ponyville. Maybe she left some kind of clue there. Without saying anything else, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew off towards the abandon part of Ponyville, where a few garages stood, filled with graffiti. She had gained new power now that she knew what happened. --- This must be it. She stood in an empty garage, which clearly showed that it was used for a shelter over multiple years. It was pretty clean, compared to the fact that it was supposed to be abandoned. A few droplets of wax were on the ground and a few stones marked the spot for a campfire right in front of the entrance. Scootaloo seemed to have been lucky to find a candle and something to light it with. And she had been smart enough to put the campfire near the door, where the smoke could escape so she wouldn't gas herself and the warmth could stay inside, at least for the bigger parts. This must've been the only reason she survived during the winter. This and the small box that lay in one corner of the room. The mare walked over to it. Maybe in there was something. She picked it up and turned it around. A small piece of paper slowly fell towards the floor. Rainbow dropped the box and looked at it. It seemed to be a note. Dear Rainbow Dash - if you're someone else please give it to her If you found this, than it means you know I'm an orphan. It is a long story I will tell you some other day, because this piece of paper is too small for everything. That was where it stopped. Rainbow turned it around. Scootaloo PS: I'm sorry I had to go, and I'm sorry that I stole. Please don't hate me. At least now she could be sure Scoots ran away. It didn't surprised her that she didn't give any clues to where she had gone. She probably didn't know herself as she wrote this, and of course didn't expect anyone to come after her. That silly, young brain. Rainbow Dash sighed, remembering the time when she was in her age. The sky was darker than everything the filly had seen before. It was a moonless night, but there were no stars, either. But she had no time to think about the endless darkness up there. She had to be gone before they came back! She sprinted through the alleys, using her wings to make her run even faster. But the bag she had in her mouth slowed her down. She just hoped it was worth it. She hated stealing. But the baby was hungry, and her friends relied on her. If she couldn't bring the food to them, all of them would probably starve. Orion... The colt was in a pretty bad state. He seemed to have a little fever, but she could think of no place she could easily get medicine at. She didn't dare to hope there was some in the bag. What would she do if Orion died? She loved him with all of her heart. He couldn't die... Not like... Aurora? Rainbow Dash shook her head to get the memory out of her mind. Aurora had died from the 'kissing disease'. A tear grew in the corner of her eye. Scootaloo would not have to deal with what she had to deal with. She would prevent that personally, if she had to. But first she needed to find a clue where she could've gone. The wind blew in the garage. Rainbow shivered. Something odd was in this wind. It blew a piece of paper up and let it land right on Rainbow's nose. Confused she picked it up. It was a ticket. A ticket to Manehatten. Now she realized what the odd thing in the wind was. When she was flying towards the garage, the wind came from the opposite direction. And even if it had turned, the alley in front of the garage was small and had a wall, that was about two meters high, directly in front of it. The wind couldn't get in like this. She shivered again, but this time it was not the cold. Author's Note Let's delve deeper into Rainbow's philosophy. Literally. Sorry for stealing that term, hope you don't mind. Who gets the Rainbow Factory reference? Chapter 6: LostBash stretched her legs and yawned. Her sleep had been peaceful and resting. She hadn't had any nightmares for the first time in what it seemed forever. In fact, tonight she didn't dream at all and woke up full of energy and ready for the new day. She hadn't woken a single time in the night. She erected from her lying position in the bed and sat up. Again yawning she wondered whether Scootaloo was up yet. She looked out of her window and decided to wait a little longer. The sun had barely risen and she was afraid to wake her or Rusty up and lay back down, daydreaming about what might or might not happen. Time passed and the sun slowly rose, until it was late enough to lower the chance to wake anypony up. Strangely enough she hadn't heard any movements in the house though. She usually could hear everything that was going on in here. Maybe they still were lying in their beds daydreaming, too. She rose again, this time she left her bed. She looked in the small mirror, one of the few decorations in her room, and a filly with a adventurous mane looked back. It stuck out in any possible or impossible direction. She sighed. Her mane never had been easy to handle, but it had never been this bad before. She dug her hooves in her mane and tried to fix it somehow. After a while she gave up and shuffled out of her room towards the living room, where Scoots had been sleeping on the couch. Surprisingly she found the blanket on the couch, but Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. 'Maybe she's having breakfast with Rusty already' she thought and continued on to the bar room. Empty. Bash felt a strange feeling rising up in her stomach. She tried to calm herself down. Maybe they had gone for a walk. She should check Rusty's room if he was there. So she did. Rusty lay in his bed, snoring quietly. She remembered how bad his snoring had been when she had been just a little foal. Had it gone quieter or was she just imagining it? She shook her head. This was not important right now. What really did matter was where Scootaloo had gone. She wouldn't just go for a walk alone and without leaving a message behind, would she? A terrible thought entered her mind. What if she had, and now was being mugged again? This time she wouldn't be around to save her. What if... What if somepony else saved Scootaloo this time and she fell in love with her or him? That wouldn't happen, would it? The chances that she was being mugged again were small, and what connected them was more then just her saving Scoots... right? She stared at the sleeping Rusty as if he could answer all of her questions. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't so sure about it anymore. She felt a warm feeling in her stomach, the 'butterflies' in it that had been described to her so often. But did Scoots? Maybe Scoots had just been tricked by the savior and was doing this out of pure thank and didn't even know that... She shook her head again. Anyways, they were at least friends. And as a friend she couldn't let her down. Scoots would do the same for her. In a spontaneous feeling of being some kind of superhero that could save Scoots from everything, Bash kicked the door open and went out. Only to come back a few seconds later to leave a note for Rusty. She wouldn't do the same mistake as Scoots. Now again outside the door, she stood in front of her first challenge. Which direction did Scootaloo choose? She could've gone everywhere. Most probably she hadn't gone to the direction she already knew, so she must've gone right. So she started walking. She hoped the quickly scribbled “Headed out with Scoots” would keep Rusty from being worried. After a while of walking, she came up to the second one: The road split. She had feared this would happen. Scootaloo could've gone left or right, but how should she know? She knew her way out here, but how should Scoots? She thought harder and harder. Scoots was probably deep in thoughts and didn't know where she was going. She was able to go left or right. Perhaps she hadn't crossed the street and stayed on the sidewalk. So if she left the bar to the right, she would have gone right here, too. Without thinking through her theory again she followed it and used it on the following streets, too. Until suddenly... The street ended. Oh buck. Buck, buck buck buck buckbuckbuck. I must have bucked this up somewhere... “Scootaloo?” she shouted as loud as she could. Somewhere, not too far away a little orange pegasusfilly looked up as a familiar voice shouted. Hope grew in her again and the tears stopped. She had been sitting here for a while now, but now she finally stood up. How could Bash have come so close? She wandered towards the voice and replied “Bash?”. After waiting a few seconds, her answer came: “Scootaloo! Where are you?" How should she answer that question? She didn't knew it herself. “Just name a street or something!” Bash must've had the same thought. Name a street, name a street. Where could the next street sign be? At the next crossroad, most probably. So she walked. And walked. Towards the voice, hoping for a sign. “Scootaloo?” came the sceptical voice from somewhere close to her. “I can't find any!” she replied. Bash started walking by herself now, towards Scootaloo. “We'll find a way, I'm sure.” After half an hour or so of walking, they had finally found each other. Scoots hugged Bash in relief. “I'm so glad to see you again! I was scared I'd be out here forever! How'd you find me?” Bash was kind of overwhelmed by her thanks. “Woah there. I just thought you'd be deep in thoughts and tried to find your steps. Wasn't that easy, but I'd do anything for ya.” She kissed her on the cheek, earning a nervous glare from Scoots. “Ya look strange, sis. What's up?” she remarked, now growing nervous herself. She couldn't tell what the glare meant, but it sure didn't mean anything good. “Nothing, I guess. I... I just don't know what's going on, really. I don't really wanna talk about it right now...” Bash sighed and started walking. This would get complicated pretty soon. Scoots followed her, deep in thoughts again. But thinking wasn't what happened in her brain now. Dreaming about a filly that was really special for her. Dreaming about... Sweetie Bell. Author's Note Sorry for being a little late, real life did have other plans for this weekend. Hope you forgive me Chapter 7: MemoriesRainbow Dash yawned. She hadn't slept in a while now, yet wasn't ready to rest for a second as long as she didn't find Scootaloo. After she had traveled to Manehatten three days ago, she had immediately started searching the filly. She had thought about asking the police to help, but since Scoots was an orphan they would put her into an orphanage, which was what Rainbow was trying to avoid. Though there was a way out of it... She could adopt her. But then again, she didn't know if that was fine with the pegasus filly. So she just tried it all by herself, flew across Manehatten, watched the people come and go, always sticking to the parts Scoots was most probably hiding in: The 'Central Park', the small alleys of the western town quarter, the garages of 'Harden's street' and the area around 'The Final Sprint'. She was afraid to go there and ask Rusty. It wasn't Rusty she was afraid to meet. Actually, she looked really forward to speaking with him again. No, it was something else. Orion coughed blood. Rainbow didn't know what to do. He looked so bad, but she couldn't come closer. The risk, that she could infect herself was too high. "R...Rainbow..." he whispered. His voice was scratchy like a rasp. It worried her. "Yes, Orion?" "There... There's something I need" he stopped and coughed again "to tell you..." Rainbow took a deep breath for her response. "Don't talk too much, dear. You can tell me later. You will be fine in a couple of days..." "No!" he shouted, raising his hooves to his throat in response to the pain zapping through him. "I need to tell you... now." Rainbow waited. What would be coming next? "Au- Aurora and I..." He stopped. Rainbow glanced at him, unsure what to think. "You and Aurora what?" "We... we've been..." He paused again, not knowing what to say. "We had s- sex." Rainbow Dash winced in mid-air, nearly causing her to crash in a building, if she wouldn't have pulled herself up in the last second. This memory was painful, too painful for her. She and Orion had been a pair for over a year back then. They had had sex... She turned around. A tear dropped from her left eye. She started walking. She walked past the others, only stopping to pick up the child that lay on the ground. Orions child... Her child. Orion had nothing to do with her now. He would die, like Aurora, and it would serve him right. Rainbow Dash had never been so furious before. She ignored everypony else and walked on, left the area. She couldn't fly with the baby yet, but she would try until her wings were strong enough. She had an idea of where to go. There had to be a pony who could help her. The pony who she had lived with for a couple of days, until Orion pushed her to come with him and his group. She only left because of him. Now she had a lot of explanation to do for Rusty and Sharon. The tears in her eyes had stopped, and the anger of that day had returned. She tried to let it out by speeding up, but it didn't work. She landed. She couldn't fly on if the thoughts were just coming back. This wasn't the first time this happened, and whenever she had tried to fly and think, she had hurt herself pretty badly. She couldn't allow that to happen now. Rusty looked at her, skeptical, unsure what to think of her now. He had missed Rainbow Dash all these years. Yet he couldn't just accept her coming back and giving him a baby. Her baby. She was only fifteen years old and already had a baby. But that was what happened on the street, when you fall in love with another pony. But the warmth in his heart when he saw the rainbow-maned fillies took his decision. "I can see why you don't want to be reminded of Orion all the time. But if I am supposed to take her, I must take a promise from you. You come back someday, explain everything to her and take her with you, if you got a place to live in by then." Rainbow nodded. This was the best deal that she could do right now. She knew she couldn't be a street pony anymore. She had a child, and would have to take it back some day. But first she would have to make something out of herself. The sound echoed over a few kilometers. Rainbow Dash had bucked a wall near her to release the anger and broke it down. Now she had to leave, before anypony would blame it on her - which wasn't really wrong. But she had no time sitting in jail or doing social work for it. She had to visit her child. Author's Note Sorry again for missing my self-set deadline. I've got way too much stuff to do, but I kinda love writing this fic, so I won't cancel/pause it. Chapter 8: ClarityKnock. Knock. Knock. The weather changed. It was raining. Her knocking on the door in front of her seemed endless. She was scared and unsure if she was doing the right thing. But she had to make sure Bash was alright. She had to explain everything. The knocking had come without thinking. She almost regretted it. It was like the day she came back to the ponies that raised her. To Rusty and Sharon. She hadn't heard of them for a long time. She hadn't tried to. But she knew that if one of them had died, she would've known. Lightning Runner. The name she gave her foal. Orion's foal. Orion was dead. He had to be. He and Aurora had infected each other with a disease they couldn't survive without medical help. "Rainbow Dash!" an orange filly jumped on her, putting her hooves behind the mare's neck. Completely surprised the mare froze. "S-scootaloo?" She had hoped to find her here, but didn't dear to believe it. "How did you get here?" "Uh.. It's a pretty... long story. Come inside, I'm sure Rusty won't mind!" She moved to let her pass. Rainbow Dash smiled unsure and entered the house she had left all those years ago. So this is how it ends... she thought. I'm gonna meet the daughter I left when she was just a little filly. I'm like my parents... Except they never returned to see me. That thought was somewhat depressing. But she couldn't go back now. She stopped and closed the door behind herself. "R-rusty?" she called. She was scared how he might react. He possibly thought she would've shown up sooner. The stallion eating his soup froze. Even after all those years he still recognized her voice as she called him. And he knew what it meant. He knew what would happen next. He had to admit that after a few weeks he had really started to love Bash like his own child. Deep inside he had hoped for her to never come back, though he had always missed her. As if she was her daughter, too. He never blamed her for running away. A filly in love does stupid things, but she truly regretted it when she came back. He had seen it in her eyes. But he had waited long enough. They would have to do a lot of talking. "Rainbow Dash." He said. "It's been a while." His rusty voice he had earned his nickname by brought back all the memories of Rainbow's childhood. "Yes. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm sorry." He could see how nervous she was. Her hooves where scratching on the ground, her voice quivered. "You don't need to be. You should talk to her, I suppose." he said as friendly as he could. It didn't sound like that, though. Hopefully Rainbow would understand it was only the nervousness. "I- I really should." She didn't make any attempt to move. Then she raised a hoof. And put it down closer towards the table in the next room. She moved on like that, and it seemed to her like it was taking forever. Until she finally was there. Face to face with... Orion's foal? No. She didn't look like him at all. She had her mane, her fur, her tail, her face. Except... Her eyes were darker than Rainbow's. They were a mixture of rose and red. It looked... beautiful. "Lightning Runner." she whispered. Bash was shocked by the mare that looked so similar to herself. "How- How'd ya know my name?" "I- Look, you never had parents, right? Like, real parents." What was she saying? That was the worst way to tell her. "Alright, let's start over, sorry. I-" "What the buck are ya talking 'bout?" she asked. Rusty's face came up behind the mare. "Now don't ya talk to yer mom like 'dis." he said. Suddenly it was quiet. Not only the room. It seemed like the rain outside had stopped exactly in the moment Rusty said 'mom'. Perfect. Just perfect. How will she not hate me now? "Rusty?" Bash asked. "Who is this mare?" "It's true, Lightning Runner. I am your biological mother. My name is Rainbow Dash. I came..." Rainbow paused for a second. "She came to take you with her." Rusty finished. "Only if you want to, of course!" Rainbow quickly added. "I'm living near Ponyville, a while from here, in a cloudhouse. If you decide to come with me, we can change whatever you want about it." Bash was stunned. But that was not even comparable to Scootaloo's reaction. She stood behind Rusty, quietly watching the whole situation. If this was Rainbow Dash's daughter... She was her adopted sister? The first pony she kissed was her stepsister? "You mean she is, like, my stepsister?" she asked. Now Bash was completely confused. "What'cha talking about, filly? I- wha- I-" "Yes, Scootaloo. She kind of is." Rainbow answered. The whole situation was just confusing and getting pretty out of her hand. Bash understood nothing at all, though. Rusty had never talked to her about her parents, and the similarity to Rainbow Dash was undeniable, but she still couldn't quite believe it. She had never even thought that one of her parents might come to take her with her. "The offer to come with me is not for Bash only, but for you and Sharon, too. Where is she, anyways?" Rainbow Dash said, putting all her confidence in it. Silence. Suddenly, everypony inside the room focused their thoughts on Sharon. Sharon, who was living out there, somewhere, in her old, run-down house drinking all day long. "She-" Rusty tried. "Look, don't take this as blame for it, but you leaving us kind of... broke her. She never came over it and... She started to drink." Bash stayed quiet though she was disappointed Rusty had lied to her all this time. But that wasn't important now. "Well, a drink every now and then is-" she started when Rusty interrupted her. "Very often." he said. "But now that you've returned we might be able to get her away from it. I would prepare for her blaming you, though. You know, the alcohol." "It's not like I didn't deserve it, right?" the sad voice responded. Chapter 9: Convinced?"You foolish little filly!" Sharon shouted, "do you even know what we've been through? Just running away from us!" She raised her hoof, and with a loud BANG it crashed down onto Rainbow's face. The pegasus winced from pain, but didn't evade. She did deserve it, after all. "Sharon..." she said, "look, I'm really sorry! I know it was foalish, and I know what I've done to you. I just... I had to run away. I couldn't take all of this." "You couldn't take all of this? Did you ever even think about us, you egoistic mule?" "Sharon, I..." Rainbow sighed. "You're right. What I did was wrong, there are no excuses. But now I have returned, and I built up my life, got a well-paid job. I came to ask you to... To plead you to come with me, to Ponyville." Sharon stayed quiet for a second. Rainbow breathed in deeply. The Sharon she knew had forgiven fast, but this wasn't the same. Time to see if the old one still rested somewhere in her. She did something she hadn't done in a long time. She started crying. In front of other people. She saw how Sharon's shell broke and her true self returned. Beyond all the years the alcohol and sadness had destroyed her, there still was the old Sharon. "I will." Rainbow's tears dried up. "You will?" "Yes. -" Rainbow felt happiness streaming through her body. She had convinced Sharon. "But there is one thing I need to let you know. Whatever you did back then, I do forgive you. But listen, Rainbow Dash. You are the homeless filly Rusty and I took care of since you were barely alive. I will never, never forget what happened. And you should make sure that it never - and I mean never! - happens to the kids." Rainbow hestitated. Then, she raised her hooves and crossed them over her chest. "Cross my heart," she started, moving her front legs to her sides to let them represent wings, "hope to fly," she moved her right forehoof to the last position needed to complete the Pinkie Swear, "stick a cupcake-" she paused. Scootaloo joined her. "In my eye." "You're the filly who was here with Bash, huh?" Sharon asked. "I'm sorry, we might've started our friendship wrong. Listen, I'd like to start again. Maybe... as your grandmother?" Scootaloo looked confused at Rainbow, who quickly threw in "Oh, she's no daughter of mine." "But it is clear as hay, that she is a good friend of Bash, and as far as I can tell she was just as lonely as you were when you came here. So I bet she's an orphan, huh?" Suddenly Rainbow remembered everything that had to be spoken about. She turned to the little filly. "Scoots, I - I know you're an orphan. And that you stole, and everything. But filly... That is no reason to run away. You should've just talked to me. I will always be there for you. Whatever you have on your heart, Scootaloo, I will listen to it. Now... I had a question for you, too. I thought about adopting you. You'd have a home, a mother, two lovely grandparents, and a sister about your age." She smiled. "Which you obviously made friends with already. More than I did." The last sentence washed her smile down, as she remembered how much they had to catch up to. But there would be time for that. Later. Author's Note Took me long enough, huh? Sorry, I've been pretty busy lately, school etc., but I think I'll be back from now on, maybe not as regularly as in the first time (weekly, you know). But I still got a few stories (and other projects, too) planned, so I hope I might actually take a bit of your boredom EpilogueScootaloo blushed. But she did not pull back. She didn't mind. Somepony else, though, did. "Wha- What do you think you're doing?" Bash's voice shocked her like icy water. She felt her head being pulled away from the lips she - what she now realized - had wanted all along. The lips of the pony she had thought about all along. Sweetie Belle's. Now that she looked back, it didn't surprise her as much as before, that the first thing she did when she returned to Ponyville and saw Sweetie Belle waiting there was to kiss her. Her voice, her singing had accompanied her on every stage of her runaway. She had always been in the back of her head. All she would need for the future was her- "She's my fillyfriend, filly! Keep your dirty lips off of her!" "B-but..." Sweetie Belle was stunned. She didn't kiss Scoots! Scoots had kissed her!.. Though she did kiss back... The situation was just about to escalate, when Rainbow Dash stepped between the three. "Whoa there. I'm sure there will be a way to clarify everything without any kind of violence." "But that stupid c-" "Insults are a kind of violence, too," interrupted Dash. "You should all settle down, after all, we just arrived here. Maybe Scoots and Bash should have a little talk." The three ponies started moving. "Alone." Dash said, putting her hoof on Sweetie's chest. --- "What the buck was that? Could you please explain me what you're doing? You just kissed another filly with your fillyfriend standing right behind you!" The wave of blame seemed neverending, so Scoots decided she would have to interrupt her. "I'm sorry, sis!" Those seemed to be the magic words. Bash instantly closed her mouth, opened it as if she wanted to say something and closed it again. Collecting all her courage, she opened her mouth again. "Sis? Is that all I am for you? A sister? I saved your bucking life! And this is what I get? I thought our kisses actually meant something to you! But no, as soon as you're back in your hometown, you instantly start... start making out with the next possible filly! Slut!" "I- Listen, I'm sorry-" Scoots tried, just to be interrupted instantly. "Oh, you're sorry? No. I'm sorry, Scoots. I thought that you actually were old enough to handle a relationship like this. You obviously aren't. I'm breaking up." "I- Wha- uh..." was all that Scoots was able to respond. What was she supposed to say? "And listen. You can forget the whole "sis"-thing, too! I hate you, Scootaloo. I don't want to see you, ever again. When you're attacked by a mugger the next time, maybe miss prissy back there will save you with her oh-so-beautiful voice. Un-sis." With those words, Bash turned around and went back to the group. Scootaloo sank to the ground. Great. Just great. And I'm supposed to live together with her? I'm bucked. She raised her head as she heard steps coming closer. It was Rainbow Dash, her head turned to where she came from. When she turned to Scoots, she shook her head. "Don't worry. She'll settle down, eventually. At least, that's what I hope. And, listen. We got a lot of sister-stuff to catch up with. How about I'll teach you to fly? I think you're ready, and, to be honest, I think you could use the distraction. And be careful with Sweetie Belle, you should give Bash some time to calm down. Don't give her any reasons to be even more pissed..." "Dash?" "Yeah, squirt?" "I'm sorry." To be continued... Author's Note Don't say you're surprised... I left enough hints for this one Thought I should maybe finally bring this to an end (took me long enough, I know...). But I think I might continue this story onto another self-finding-adventure... Not sure yet, what exactly I'm gonna do, maybe you guys out there got any ideas/wishes? My (spontaneous) idea was to maybe do it from another point of view, but I'm not sure about this... Anyways, farewell for now, might see you in the next story. Thanks for reading this one, thanks for supporting me, thanks for... oh, whatever there's left to thank you guys for.
Chapter 1: Unexpected Change„Why? “ Scootaloo asked. Her voice sounded like she was going to cry. “Oh why, Applebloom?” Applebloom avoided Scootaloos eyes. “Ah’m sorry, Scoots, but we just cain’t trust ya anymore. Ya’ve abused our trust for way too long.” She turned to Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie, it’s her - or me. Decide now.” Tears ran down as Sweetie tried to find an answer. She couldn’t believe what Applebloom just had said. But still, it seemed like the only possible way. “Scootaloo…” She started. Scootaloos eyes were slowly dropping tears now. She felt them on her cheek, but she didn’t make an attempt to wipe them. “I’m so sorry, Scoots, but Applebloom’s right…” She released a small whimper. “I can’t believe that you really did that. And you don’t even try to explain it! I still like you, Scootaloo, but I just can’t trust you anymore.” “Please, Sweetie!” “Just go! Leave, and never come back. I don’t want to see you anymore. How could you steal? All these years I thought I knew you, but you just lied to me all the time! I can’t trust you anymore, and I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. Maybe someday I can forgive what you’ve done, but I wouldn’t wait for it, if I was you.” Scootaloo was panicking. “But… We are the cutie mark crusaders! That does mean something, doesn’t it?” She wanted to explain everything so bad, but she couldn’t. But that would mean that she would lose the crusaders! They were the only thing that gave her hope. The only ones, who had awoken the will to live in her miserable life in the gutter. She knew she didn’t deserve their friendship. Who was she, after all? An orphan, a homeless filly, a thief. She knew it wasn’t right, but she had to eat something! She never took more than she needed to live! Sure, it was bad, but how was she supposed to live without food? She just wanted to live her life in peace. But the thing she wished most... was a big sister. Somepony that would care about her, somepony that would love her. But now it seemed like she was about to lose the last thing she had. Her friends, the ones that always had been there for her, when she needed moral support. She loved them, and she wished that they would never leave her. Still, she could understand them. She did abuse their trust, and she had lied to them. In this moment she got an idea. She knew what she would do. “Look, gals… You’re right. I did abuse your trust and I have stolen. I know it isn’t right, and I truly am sorry for it. But even though I wish that I could stay with you two forever, I will accept your choice, whether it is to kick me out of the crusaders or to let me stay. You are right, Applebloom. But I have one request. Try to forgive me.” Sweetie’s tears had stopped during Scootaloos speech, and now she looked in Appleblooms face, hoping it might have changed her opinion. Appleblooms freezing eyes told her otherwise. “Ah will try, Scootaloo, but Ah cain’t promise anything. Ya really hurt me with all ya lies and it truly is breakin’ mah heart to say this, but: Ya are no cutie mark crusader anymore.” As they left the clubhouse, Scootaloo hung her cape over a fencepost. Then she looked deep in Sweetie Belles and Appleblooms eyes. It broke her heart knowing it might be the last time she saw them. It was sad that they had to separate like this. As Scootaloo turned around, a single tear dropped from the eye of each of the three young ponies. Scootaloo stopped for a moment. As she started walking, she felt the eyes of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom on her back. --- “The train to Manehatten is incoming! Please stand back!” Scootaloo boarded the train and looked for an empty seat. As she sat down, she looked out the window, as the train started moving. She looked back to the town, as it vanished in the distance, knowing she might never return. She knew she couldn't stay in Ponyville, but the filly wasn't sure what to do once she arrived in Manehatten. Now that she thought about it, she noticed that she had already started to miss Ponyville. Back there she had come closest to being happy. She had had friends there. She had had a place to live. Surely the old, abandoned garage and her cardboard box weren't the greatest place, but they kept her from freezing during the winter. And they were something for her to come back to. After she had talked to the crusaders, she had gone there one last time to pack up her things and say goodbye to the place. She picked up one of the two photos she had. It showed her, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom on the day of the talent show. They already wore their costumes in the picture. As she stared at the picture, memories flashed up in her mind. The day at Diamond Tiaras party, where Sweetie Belle and herself jumped out of their hide underneath the table to protect Applebloom from Diamond Tiaras and Silver Spoons bullying shouting “Do you have a problem with blank flanks?” Afterwards they had promised to never leave each other. What had happened to this promise? It was like it never existed. Still, Scootaloo could feel Sweetie Belle and Applebloom in her heart. Maybe that was the true part of the promise. That they’d always keep each other in their hearts. Scootaloo wondered whether Applebloom and Sweetie felt the same way as she did. The next memory flashed up. The day they had a sleepover at Fluttershy. She remembered how Sweetie had sabotaged Fluttershys song to keep all of them awake. Scootaloo loved Sweeties voice. When Sweetie started singing, it was like Scootaloos heart was suddenly reflecting it. Suddenly, Scootaloo would feel warm and just happy, deeply sunk in Sweeties voice. Now Scootaloo thought about the day, when Babs Seed had come to Ponyville and how Babs first was nice and suddenly, when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up, turned into a bully. It was so hard for all of them to understand, until Applejack told them that Babs was bullied in her school in Manehatten. At that time, Babs already was in a manipulated ride that was supposed to throw her into the mud. They barely reached Babs and pulled her out of the ride, even though they would land in the mud instead. All of that wouldn’t have happened if they’d just listened to Sweetie, who wanted to talk to Applejack about Babs from the beginning on. Then she remembered the day, when Sweetie had brought the capes to one of their meetings. When she gave one to Scootaloo, she suddenly felt like she finally got a place where she belonged. From that moment on, she had looked to the crusaders as her family, not just as her friends. All these memories made Scootaloos eyes tear, as she woke from the trance the memories had put her in. She carefully put the picture in one of her saddlebags, moving on to the other picture she had. It showed Rainbow Dash, relaxing on a cloud. Another memory entered her mind. She remembered the day, when the cutie mark crusaders, their sisters and Rainbow Dash had gone camping outside the town. She had been so stuck in trying to make Rainbow Dash proud, that she rather couldn’t sleep a few nights than to talk to the rainbow-maned mare about her fears. After some time she just couldn’t take it anymore and asked her, if she could take Scootaloo under her wing. The few moments it took her to response felt like forever for Scoots, but as Rainbow agreed, she nearly cried out of pure happiness. She thought that nothing could stop her now, with this mare on her side. Scootaloo shook her head to clear it. If only she had known how wrong she had been that day… She gave the picture a sad look, then picked it up and put it in the same saddlebag as the other one. She grabbed the nearly burnt down candle, which was her light in the dark for nearly 5 years now and the flint stones she used to light it. She filled the other saddlebag with them and slowly left the garage. Outside she turned around and looked at it for the last time. She remembered the day, when she first came here. It had been a rainy night, and Scootaloos mane was soaked with water and she was freezing. Suddenly she noticed the old garage, which was slightly open. She peeked into it and found it was empty. Inside she had found the candle she still was using, the flint stones, dry papers that seemed to be made for a campfire and the carton she slept in. Scootaloo sighed. “Goodbye… Thank you, for all these years you’ve kept me alive…” She whispered. Then she turned away. It was time for a new change. Author's Note Hey guys, it's me! Future me! I just rearranged this chapter, hope you like it more in this form!
Chapter 2: Bash„Next stop: Manehatten! “ Scootaloo rose from her seat, slowly making her way to the door. By now, it was dark outside, but Manehatten shined like it was still day. Giant billboards and advertisements lit the city, loud music blasted out of some clubs. The first step for Scootaloo would be to find a place where she could sleep. She followed some small roads, leaving the lit parts of the city behind her. Only few lanterns kept her way barely lit, and the further she went, the more of them were broken. She kept walking, searching the town for abandoned places. About half an hour later she found a small shed that was barely standing, with an open door. Scootaloo peeked in, searching it for any signs of another pony that used this shed as a place to sleep. It seemed empty, so she entered and lay down. Exhausted from the long day on her journey and the events of the morning, she fell asleep almost immediately. “Money or life!” a harsh voice shouted, waking Scootaloo from her sleep. She stared at the knife right in front of her eyes, not understanding why it was there. “I’m not kidding, filly! Empty your saddlebags!” These words brought the face behind the knife to her attention. A grey unicorn with a scarred face stared at her, levitating the knife, ready to stab her. "I’ll count to three, then I’ll stab you. One.” “Bu-but I don’t have any money!” Scootaloo tried to explain. “Two.” The unicorn continued. “Please understand me!” “Three.” Scoots saw the knife coming closer, when suddenly she heard a loud “Clonk” and the unicorn broke down. Behind it was a cyan, rainbow-maned filly, about Scoots’ age, holding a fencepost in her mouth. A glimmer of hope appeared in Scootaloo’s heart. “Rainbow Dash?” She asked. “My name’s Lightening Runner, but you can just call me ‘Bash’.” “Thanks for your help, Bash. How can I ever thank you?” The cyan filly just laughed and said “You could start by telling me your name, sis. Besides, we all need to work together to survive, huh?” Sis? This filly was really strange. “So, uh… what now?” “Ya new in Manehatten, huh? What’cha doin’ here, anyways?” Scootaloo had to think for a moment. Somehow she felt she could trust this rainbow-maned pony. Maybe because she remembered her of Rainbow Dash, even though she seemed to have no wings. “I had a couple of problems back home in Ponyville, which forced me to leave the town.” Bash could feel Scootaloo didn’t really want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask any further. “I’m from Trottingham. Just like you, I had some problems. Couldn’t live there anymore, so I decided to run away. I don’t know why, but somehow I like you. I’ve been kinda lonely since I’m away from home, so I’d be really happy to have a companion. You agree?” Scootaloo thought about it for a moment. She was pretty lonely, too, and having a companion surely would be nice. “Sounds like a good idea. I agree. Thanks again, Bash!” Scoots answered. Now Bash laughed out loud. “Don’t mention it, filly, I’m glad to have helped you.” She paused for a moment. “Maybe someday you will save my life, too.” she said serious. That's when Scootaloo’s stomach spoke for itself, releasing a loud growl, that made them laugh again. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had any food in over a day now. You don’t have any money by chance, do you?” She asked. Bash shook her head. “Even better, I know a place where we might get something nice to eat. Just follow me.” She left the shed. Bash smiled. “Come on now, I’m hungry!” Scootaloo followed her out the shed, when she was overwhelmed by the view that she had. The sun rose from a building, throwing the light exactly at them. The whole sky was colored red. They couldn’t stop staring at it, until Scoots stomach complained again. She smiled. “Let’s go.” The place Bash talked about turned out to be an old pub. It had a sign that was about to fall off, which said ‘The final sprint’ above the stairs into the pub. “You’re sure this is the right place?” Scoots asked. “Of course I am.” Bash gave her an encouraging smile and followed the stairs down into the pub. “Rusty? Ya there?” They heard some grumbling, when a grey, old stallion with an eye patch came in. “Bash. You’re back?” He asked with a rough voice. “Who’s that friend of yours?” “That’s Scootaloo. I found her in a shed on the ‘Broken Boulevard’. I heard somepony talking about stabbing somepony in there and was not a single second too early. Some unicorn tried to mug her. Now tell me, do you have some food for two hungry fillies?” The old stallion laughed. “I always have some spare food for you and your friends. Just bring those to Sharon, while I prepare it.” He pointed at two bags. Bash picked up one of them and gave it to Scoots, then put the other one on her back. “She’ll never learn that this isn’t the right way, huh? We’ll be back in about half an hour then. See ya.” She left the pub, followed by the confused Scootaloo. “What’s that?” She asked. “Just a few drinks, some of Rusty’s best. Are you a good runner?” “Faster than you are, I bet!” Scoots laughed. Bash joined her laughter. “Well, we will see. Let’s race! Reeeaaady, set, GO!” She shouted and started running. Soon she left Scootaloo behind her, quickly gaining distance between them. She ran into a small alley to the left and vanished from the orange pony’s field of view. She followed her, when Bash suddenly jumped out of the shadows, right in front of Scoots and screamed “Boooh!” Scootaloo flinched, tripped and crushed into her. “Not fair!” She shouted as they rolled towards a wall. They lay on top of each other, laughing. Scootaloo hugged Bash, said “You nearly really scared me there, Bash” and continued her laughter. Bash pulled her closer and decided it was time for a little taunt. “Aww, you poor, poor thing, come to mommy.” Their laughter got louder, but after some time, Bash gave Scoots a strange, somehow happy look and stopped laughing. The filly couldn’t really explain this look, but her heart warmed up with it. She lost herself in Bash’s eyes. She hadn’t realized they were dark blue until now. Like an ocean. Her head moved closer to Bash’s. The feeling that grew in her stomach as she looked in her eyes amazed her. It was like butterflies were flying inside. She somehow felt so light, that she thought she’d fly away once Bash would let go of her. As much as she liked it, it irritated her, too. She never had had this kind of feeling, but she was told it would feel like this when she was in love. But in love with another filly? She had always thought that this wasn’t natural, but right now it felt so right. Before she could finish her thoughts, their lips touched. The feeling of her lips on Bash’s stopped all her thinking. In this moment, everything felt perfectly fine, and that was all that mattered. Before she closed her eyes, she could see in Bash’s eyes that she felt exactly the same way about this. She started to move her lips on Bash’s, just enjoying the warmth streaming in her. Bash opened her lips and pushed her tongue against Scoots lips, convincing her to open hers, too. Their tongues touched and released another wave of happiness into both of them. Their tongues became one, and Bash pulled Scootaloo closer towards her, less gentle now, wishing to never have to let go of her again. Bash separated their tongues. “Uhm… We should get going, I guess… Sharon must be waiting for us…” They had lost track of the time, but it was obvious that this wasn’t integrated in the half hour they had. Scoots rolled off of Bash, slowly standing up. She nodded and started to check the bags to see if any bottles were broken. She found them all intact, so she picked up the bag. Bash had done the same with hers and continued the walk. They walked the rest of the way in silence. Scoots caught herself looking at Bash, quickly turning away when she looked back. She would swear to feel Bash staring at her, too. After a while, they arrived at a small shabby house, greeted by a strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes. “We’re here. This is Sharon’s place.”
Chapter 3: "Family"Bash didn’t bother to knock, instead she just walked in. “Who’s that? Get out!” A croaky, female voice shouted. It sounded broken somehow, like if the pony it belonged to had lost her hope long ago. “It’s me, Sharon. Bash!” She answered. “Oh, just you… Did you bring Rusty’s goods?” An old, bony Pegasus entered the room, a lit cigarette in her mouth. She took a deep drag and puffed the smoke out. Bash and Scoots lay the bags on the ground, letting her check them for the contents. She stared at them for a second or two, then moved on to a small table and picked up a small bag. As she threw it on the floor in front of Bash’s feet, a few coins jingled in it. Bash opened it, counting the coins inside. “That’s only 43 bits, Sharon. Ya know Rusty’d kill me if I only brought 43 bits back.” Sharon grumbled something about her being a vulture, took seven more coins out of another little sac and rolled them over to Bash. “There you go, filly. Leave now.” They didn’t need to be told twice, so they quickly put the money in the bag and left. The stench in the building had made them sick, and when they finally escaped, they gasped for the fresh air. “Well, now ya know my “family”, I guess. Bet ya wonder what’s the deal with Sharon, huh?” Scootaloo could hear a little bitterness in Bash’s voice. “She hasn’t always been like ‘dis, ya know… She was a great lady when I first met her, full of generosity and happiness, always ready to put a smile on ya face. But the last years were hard for her. Her husband passed away, and after that she had nopony to talk to anymore. She couldn’t bring herself to talk to me or Rusty, and now she only wants to be left alone with her booze and her cigarettes, waiting for the end of her life.” A small tear ran down her face as she talked. She wouldn’t say anymore, and Scootaloo knew it was useless to try. Instead, she just hugged her, trying to comfort her above a level words could reach. They just stood there in silence, which only was interrupted by Bash’s sniffs every now and then. Scootaloo didn’t know how much time passed, but she felt like she had to say something. “You’re not alone, you know. I’ll always be there for you. You can count on me.” She felt Bash nodding on her back. “Thanks, Scoots… Ya don’t know how much this means to me.” She sniffed. “Hey, don’t mention it. I’m kinda your family now, too, right?” “Thanks… We should get going; Rusty must be waiting for us! Ya don’t wanna see him angry, believe me.” They began to move. “You know, I really missed having someone I could talk to… You know, since I ran away, I always only had Rusty and Sharon. Rusty isn’t the kind of pony for talking, especially not about problems, even though he truly wants to help. And Sharon… Well, you met her. Before her husband died, she was helpful, and she always listened to whatever I had on my mind. She tried to help me, and she often succeeded. But when the drinking started, she became more and more angry, didn’t listen to any reasoning.” Bash quit talking for a moment or two. “I really wish I could talk to her like that once more…” Scootaloo was helpless. She really wanted to help her friend, but she didn’t know, how. For a while, they just walked on in silence. “Maybe…” Scootaloo started. Bash shook her head, guessing her thoughts. “We can’t convince her to stop drinking. As I said, she doesn’t listen to reasoning anymore. I don’t know… I don’t really believe she’s gonna be happy, anyways. I’m pretty sure, that she won’t become who she used to be. It isn’t just the alcohol that changes her. It’s the death of her husband that still is preying on her mind.” Scootaloo thought about it for a moment. Bash really had a point. But they couldn’t just give her up, could they? “I will come up with something. I am not ready to give Sharon up.” Bash shook her head. “Do as you will. Thanks, Scoots…” They continued their walk in silence, both deep in their own thoughts, until they reached ‘The final sprint’. „Rusty? Ya there?“ Bash’s voice echoed through the pub. The lights were off, and since there were no windows, they couldn’t really see anything further away than their own hooves. The answer came in the form of a snore. Bash raised her left forehoof in front of her lips to symbolize Scoots to be quiet. She lit a small candle on the counter. In the flickering shine of the candle they could see Rusty, sleeping peacefully on a chair. Bash laid the bag with the money next to him, careful, trying not to wake him up. Then, Bash silently allocated Scoots to follow her. They sneaked through the room and Bash opened the door. It squeaked a little, and Bash looked back, worried, she might have woken Rusty up. As she saw he continued his sleep, she entered the room in front of her, the candle holder still in her mouth. Scoots followed her, trying not to make too much noise. Bash’s movements were so silent, that she felt incredibly loud. She must have spent years learning to move that quietly. She closed the door when both of them were in, careful not to let it squeak again. Then, she activated the light switch and they could finally see. Bash blew the candle out and pointed to a cooking pot. “That’s the soup he’d talked about. It doesn’t really taste good, but it’s very healthy. At least that's what Rusty says all the time.” As they made eye-contact, Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat. Suddenly her stomach was filled and she felt it tickling her. She found herself having a stupid ear-to-ear grin on her face, not being able to put it down. Blushing she turned away, trying to hide her stupid face expression from the filly in front of her. Doing so made the situation more than awkward for Bash. What was she supposed to do now? She decided to fill their soups in two small wooden bowls, which she transported one by one over to a small table that looked like it was from the past century and sat down. Scootaloo looked back up. She had been so deep in her thoughts – or rather blaming herself for the stupid grin – that she didn't notice Bash had moved. She sat down in front of Bash and took a sip of the soup. It did taste a little odd. Somehow like moss combined with salt and… Scootaloo couldn’t tell what it was. Something made it taste a little rotten. “It’s… uhm… something you need to get used to. What is this?” “I don’t really know. Rusty keeps the recipe hidden from me. When I asked he just laughed and walked away.” By the time they’d finished their soup, Rusty still didn’t wake up, so they decided they should head outside for a while. “Scootaloo, I did want to ask you something... You don't have a place to sleep at, right?” Scoots shook her head as response, encouraging Bash to continue talking. “I wanted to ask you wether you'd want to stay with us. Like, actually move in or something. What do ya think?” Scootaloo thought about it a little. Obviously, she hadn’t really a place to sleep at. And that way she'd be able to stay with Bash all day and all night. “I…” She paused for a second. She tried to read Bash’s face, but she hid her thoughts well. “I would love that!” She hugged Bash. “Thank you so much!” Author's Note Alright, here goes chapter 3, though it's still only half-edited due to missing time... Hope it's still bearable for you guys :) As you might have noticed, I changed the format a little, I hope it's easier to read now ;) EDIT: Final change, hopefully easier to read now
Chapter 4: Taking a walkScootaloo yawned. When Bash had pointed at the old couch in the back room of the bar, she had been so happy. It was the first time in - how long had it actually been? - that she had something soft underneath her body when she went to sleep- Though the couch really was comfortable, compared with the floor in the garage at least, she hadn't been able to drift off. Her mind was filled with the events since she had left Ponyville. Did Bash really save her from that mugger yesterday? It felt like it was weeks ago. Bash had just brought her home, to Rusty. Now that she thought about it, it seemed odd to her. She was just bringing a pony she just met home, before they even really talked? Who would do that? She came up quickly with the answer. Good ponies. Bash had seen that she needed help, so she gave her food and a place to sleep. And not only that, she gave her somepony to love. It felt strange. Scoots had never been involved in anything romantic at all. She was completely knew to this whole thing. Yet what had happened between her and Bash was unmistakeable. She wondered wether she and Bash might marry someday. Was that legal? Were two fillies allowed to marry? It would be silly if it wasn't, that's for sure. But even if they would, they wouldn't be able to have foals, physically. She shook her head to get the thoughts out of it. Her sleepy brain seemed to give her the strangest ideas... She forced herself to think about something different. 'Something different, something different, something different...' she thought. It was getting on her nerves pretty quickly, but now she wasn't able to stop it anymore. 'Something different, something different, something different...' She wanted to scream, but thought better of it, afraid to wake Rusty or Bash, who were probably having a pretty restful sleep. Instead, she just hit her forehead multiple times. Frustrated that it didn't work, she hit harder and harder. After one or two minutes of this, she gave up and lay her hoof down. The pain was now pulsing in her head. It would swell 'til the morning. She'd probably have something of it the whole day. "Hnnngh", she groaned in the armrest of the couch. She felt so uncomfortable now on it. Deciding to go for a little walk, she raised from it, leaving the small blanket Rusty had given to her behind. She entered the front room, careful, not to make any noises now. She didn't know how thin the walls are, and she really didn't want to wake them up. She sneaked towards the door, not seeing the chair standing in her way. It made a dull noise and her knee suddenly hurt. She let out a swall of course words that she shouldn't have known at her age, always careful to keep the volume down. She continued her way to the door, but stopped after a few steps. Should she leave a note? No, she would most probably be back before they awoke anyways, since she hadn't really planned to stay out the whole night. So she left the pub and entered the dark roads of Manehatten. Once she stepped outside, she found wet darkness surrounding her. She found it to be pitch black, the stars and the moon hidden behind big, dark clouds which were slowly dripping. You couldn't even call it rain, really. So she decided that it wasn't too bad for a little walk. To her right was the only lightsource that was around for probably a mile. To her left the street was dark. She remembered the way she and Bash had come here first, after she had saved her at the shed. The pub had been on their right, so they had come from what was now left for her. She decided not to go that way, afraid to meet the unicorn she had her unpleasant encounter with again. As she walked, she tried to arrange her thoughts. Had she made the right decisions in the past two days? Wasn't it kinda stupid to run away from Ponyville? No, she decided. It had been the only thing she could do. The only thing she regretted about it was that she didn't have time to say goodbye to her adopted sister. Rainbow Dash. She wondered whether the mare was thinking about her. She hoped she wasn't worried. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt for leaving her without anypony telling her where she had gone. She might think something bad happened to her. Or was she just taking herself for way too important? Maybe she didn't even care about her. Maybe she was happy that she was gone. What was she thinking, that was impossible. Yet the thought about it hurt. But she knew Rainbow Dash, and she wasn't the mare to not care about somepony. She was the element of loyalty, after all. She would be the last to leave anyone behind, especially if it was the pony she had promised to take under her wing. Her thoughts wandered towards her friends, the crusaders. She missed them so badly. Did they miss her, too? Most probably not, since they were the ones who didn't want to have anything to do with her originally. Once again she remembered the beauty of Sweetie Belle's voice. How perfectly she pronounced every word when she sung, putting her listeners in a deep trance. Scoots never had had the chance to tell her how much she loved it. She always wanted to ask Sweetie whether she would sing for her. She had watched her once, just outside Ponyville, on a small clearance with a stump in the middle. Sweetie had sat there for a few hours, just singing for herself. Scoots had waited behind a tree, listening and dreaming to it. She felt so much less miserable when she heard Sweetie's voice. It had always filled her with warmth, even in the cold winter days they spent together in the clubhouse, barely keeping each other warm by sitting close to each other. On these days they had always told each other stories, sometimes ghost stories, sometimes funny ones, but when none of them could think of any they hadn't shared already, Sweetie would start singing, first silent and shy, later loud and confident. She always had the right volume for each song. Sometimes her songs told stories, too. But most of them told about the beauty of the fall sun, shining on red and yellow leaves, slowly falling down in the wind. A wall in front of her brought Scootaloo back to reality. She looked to her sides, noticing there weren't any walls, either. Now that she looked around, only behind her was a way. She turned around and walked back. She had been out here long enough, anyways. The rain had stopped by now, and the sun was rising behind the old buildings of Manehatten, letting the sky shine in a tender rose like a dahlia. Eventually she came to a crossroad. There was a way behind her - of which she knew it was a dead end - one to her left and one to her right. Her heart speeded up. She didn't remember this! Where did she come from? She rushed down the left alley, only to turn around after a few steps and run down the other street. She was panicking. She had to go somewhere, but where? She decided to just follow the road to her left. She sped up her movement and looked around, hoping to find anything familiar. Of course she didn't. How could she have been that careless? That was so foolish of her! She should've known better. But she could blame herself for her stupidity later. Now she had bigger problems. The road she followed had led to another crossing. Now there was one to the front and one to the right. She followed the one to her front, hoping it would get her right. But after a while, the road parted, again. This cleared the last shimmer of hope from her. She let herself sink on the floor and dug her head into her fore legs. She couldn't help but cry at her situation. She was in a big city with probably millions of people living in it and had walked down the streets without any care of where she was going. This wasn't Ponyville anymore, there was no easy way to get out of this labyrinth. A single thought tortured her mind: I am lost. Author's Note Yay, enough time for my editor to help me out :) So hopefully this chapter will involve less stupid grammatical mistakes than usual ;)
Chapter 5: Rainbow Dash"You haven't seen her, either?" asked Rainbow Dash. Her voice sounded desperate. It hurt Twilight to see her friend like this. "I'm afraid no. Have you talked to the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" she suggested. "I could come with you, if you want me to." Rainbow thought about it for a second. "No, I need to do this alone." She knew how stupid it was. If Scootaloo was out there, all alone, she needed every help she could get. But her pride was stronger than her sanity. She sighed. "Are you sure?" "Yes, Twilight, I am sure. Thank you." That were the last words spoken between the two of them, and after she had let them out, the cyan mare flew away, towards Sweet Apple Acres. "No problem..." Twilight whispered for herself before she turned around and went back into the library. Rainbow knocked on the door. It wasn't such a long flight from the library to Sweet Apple Acres, but she had forgotten where between all those apple trees the clubhouse had been, so it had taken her half an hour to find it. She looked towards the sun, which she could barely see through the trees. 'Good thing they're in their fall holidays.' she thought. It was about 10 am, which would've made it impossible to talk to them during school time. "He-em" Applebloom cleared her throat to gain her attention. "What do ya want?" "Calm down, kid. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything important." "Ya aren't, really." "May I come in then?" Applebloom looked behind herself into the room that was hidden from Rainbow. She looked back and shook her head. "Ah don't think this would be a good idea." "Why not? Oh, whatever. Have you seen Scootaloo by chance? She seems to be missing." Applebloom winced at the name. "You might want to come inside now." --- "And that's the whole story?" Rainbow asked. Sweetie Belle was quietly crying in a corner of the room. "It is." "No wonder why she ran away. Have you ever thought about talking to me about it? You two know I've declared her my adopted sister, right?" Rainbow knew how wrong it was to wake guilt in them since it must've been tough for them, too, but in this moment, she just couldn't resist. Her little sister was somewhere out there, ran away because her friends told her that she was kicked out of their club because she stole. When Applebloom said that, something in her mind had become clear. The reason why Scootaloo stole. And the reason why Scootaloo had been looking for a big sister. And she stupid, useless fool had let her go... She knew she couldn't forgive herself if something happened to Scootaloo. It was all her fault. She should've known that Scootaloo was... 'Scootaloo is an orphan.' That thought burned itself on the back of her mind. 'She was all along and I was too inattentive to see the signs. How could she? She should've recognized them. She knew them so well, and as she looked back on it, they all became so clear. Scootaloo's cape, that was so much more outworn than Sweetie Belle's and Applebloom's. How she always resisted against anyone walking her home. How she never invited someone over without telling a reason. "Ah.. Ah dunno. We never really thought about it, I guess... Ah'm so sorry." Appleblooms voice brought her back. "You can tell that Scoots when we're back." Rainbow Dash somehow managed these words, even though she was still halfway in her thoughts. First she would search Scootaloo's ho... the place she had been staying in Ponyville. Maybe she left some kind of clue there. Without saying anything else, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew off towards the abandon part of Ponyville, where a few garages stood, filled with graffiti. She had gained new power now that she knew what happened. --- This must be it. She stood in an empty garage, which clearly showed that it was used for a shelter over multiple years. It was pretty clean, compared to the fact that it was supposed to be abandoned. A few droplets of wax were on the ground and a few stones marked the spot for a campfire right in front of the entrance. Scootaloo seemed to have been lucky to find a candle and something to light it with. And she had been smart enough to put the campfire near the door, where the smoke could escape so she wouldn't gas herself and the warmth could stay inside, at least for the bigger parts. This must've been the only reason she survived during the winter. This and the small box that lay in one corner of the room. The mare walked over to it. Maybe in there was something. She picked it up and turned it around. A small piece of paper slowly fell towards the floor. Rainbow dropped the box and looked at it. It seemed to be a note. Dear Rainbow Dash - if you're someone else please give it to her If you found this, than it means you know I'm an orphan. It is a long story I will tell you some other day, because this piece of paper is too small for everything. That was where it stopped. Rainbow turned it around. Scootaloo PS: I'm sorry I had to go, and I'm sorry that I stole. Please don't hate me. At least now she could be sure Scoots ran away. It didn't surprised her that she didn't give any clues to where she had gone. She probably didn't know herself as she wrote this, and of course didn't expect anyone to come after her. That silly, young brain. Rainbow Dash sighed, remembering the time when she was in her age. The sky was darker than everything the filly had seen before. It was a moonless night, but there were no stars, either. But she had no time to think about the endless darkness up there. She had to be gone before they came back! She sprinted through the alleys, using her wings to make her run even faster. But the bag she had in her mouth slowed her down. She just hoped it was worth it. She hated stealing. But the baby was hungry, and her friends relied on her. If she couldn't bring the food to them, all of them would probably starve. Orion... The colt was in a pretty bad state. He seemed to have a little fever, but she could think of no place she could easily get medicine at. She didn't dare to hope there was some in the bag. What would she do if Orion died? She loved him with all of her heart. He couldn't die... Not like... Aurora? Rainbow Dash shook her head to get the memory out of her mind. Aurora had died from the 'kissing disease'. A tear grew in the corner of her eye. Scootaloo would not have to deal with what she had to deal with. She would prevent that personally, if she had to. But first she needed to find a clue where she could've gone. The wind blew in the garage. Rainbow shivered. Something odd was in this wind. It blew a piece of paper up and let it land right on Rainbow's nose. Confused she picked it up. It was a ticket. A ticket to Manehatten. Now she realized what the odd thing in the wind was. When she was flying towards the garage, the wind came from the opposite direction. And even if it had turned, the alley in front of the garage was small and had a wall, that was about two meters high, directly in front of it. The wind couldn't get in like this. She shivered again, but this time it was not the cold. Author's Note Let's delve deeper into Rainbow's philosophy. Literally. Sorry for stealing that term, hope you don't mind. Who gets the Rainbow Factory reference?
Chapter 6: LostBash stretched her legs and yawned. Her sleep had been peaceful and resting. She hadn't had any nightmares for the first time in what it seemed forever. In fact, tonight she didn't dream at all and woke up full of energy and ready for the new day. She hadn't woken a single time in the night. She erected from her lying position in the bed and sat up. Again yawning she wondered whether Scootaloo was up yet. She looked out of her window and decided to wait a little longer. The sun had barely risen and she was afraid to wake her or Rusty up and lay back down, daydreaming about what might or might not happen. Time passed and the sun slowly rose, until it was late enough to lower the chance to wake anypony up. Strangely enough she hadn't heard any movements in the house though. She usually could hear everything that was going on in here. Maybe they still were lying in their beds daydreaming, too. She rose again, this time she left her bed. She looked in the small mirror, one of the few decorations in her room, and a filly with a adventurous mane looked back. It stuck out in any possible or impossible direction. She sighed. Her mane never had been easy to handle, but it had never been this bad before. She dug her hooves in her mane and tried to fix it somehow. After a while she gave up and shuffled out of her room towards the living room, where Scoots had been sleeping on the couch. Surprisingly she found the blanket on the couch, but Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. 'Maybe she's having breakfast with Rusty already' she thought and continued on to the bar room. Empty. Bash felt a strange feeling rising up in her stomach. She tried to calm herself down. Maybe they had gone for a walk. She should check Rusty's room if he was there. So she did. Rusty lay in his bed, snoring quietly. She remembered how bad his snoring had been when she had been just a little foal. Had it gone quieter or was she just imagining it? She shook her head. This was not important right now. What really did matter was where Scootaloo had gone. She wouldn't just go for a walk alone and without leaving a message behind, would she? A terrible thought entered her mind. What if she had, and now was being mugged again? This time she wouldn't be around to save her. What if... What if somepony else saved Scootaloo this time and she fell in love with her or him? That wouldn't happen, would it? The chances that she was being mugged again were small, and what connected them was more then just her saving Scoots... right? She stared at the sleeping Rusty as if he could answer all of her questions. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't so sure about it anymore. She felt a warm feeling in her stomach, the 'butterflies' in it that had been described to her so often. But did Scoots? Maybe Scoots had just been tricked by the savior and was doing this out of pure thank and didn't even know that... She shook her head again. Anyways, they were at least friends. And as a friend she couldn't let her down. Scoots would do the same for her. In a spontaneous feeling of being some kind of superhero that could save Scoots from everything, Bash kicked the door open and went out. Only to come back a few seconds later to leave a note for Rusty. She wouldn't do the same mistake as Scoots. Now again outside the door, she stood in front of her first challenge. Which direction did Scootaloo choose? She could've gone everywhere. Most probably she hadn't gone to the direction she already knew, so she must've gone right. So she started walking. She hoped the quickly scribbled “Headed out with Scoots” would keep Rusty from being worried. After a while of walking, she came up to the second one: The road split. She had feared this would happen. Scootaloo could've gone left or right, but how should she know? She knew her way out here, but how should Scoots? She thought harder and harder. Scoots was probably deep in thoughts and didn't know where she was going. She was able to go left or right. Perhaps she hadn't crossed the street and stayed on the sidewalk. So if she left the bar to the right, she would have gone right here, too. Without thinking through her theory again she followed it and used it on the following streets, too. Until suddenly... The street ended. Oh buck. Buck, buck buck buck buckbuckbuck. I must have bucked this up somewhere... “Scootaloo?” she shouted as loud as she could. Somewhere, not too far away a little orange pegasusfilly looked up as a familiar voice shouted. Hope grew in her again and the tears stopped. She had been sitting here for a while now, but now she finally stood up. How could Bash have come so close? She wandered towards the voice and replied “Bash?”. After waiting a few seconds, her answer came: “Scootaloo! Where are you?" How should she answer that question? She didn't knew it herself. “Just name a street or something!” Bash must've had the same thought. Name a street, name a street. Where could the next street sign be? At the next crossroad, most probably. So she walked. And walked. Towards the voice, hoping for a sign. “Scootaloo?” came the sceptical voice from somewhere close to her. “I can't find any!” she replied. Bash started walking by herself now, towards Scootaloo. “We'll find a way, I'm sure.” After half an hour or so of walking, they had finally found each other. Scoots hugged Bash in relief. “I'm so glad to see you again! I was scared I'd be out here forever! How'd you find me?” Bash was kind of overwhelmed by her thanks. “Woah there. I just thought you'd be deep in thoughts and tried to find your steps. Wasn't that easy, but I'd do anything for ya.” She kissed her on the cheek, earning a nervous glare from Scoots. “Ya look strange, sis. What's up?” she remarked, now growing nervous herself. She couldn't tell what the glare meant, but it sure didn't mean anything good. “Nothing, I guess. I... I just don't know what's going on, really. I don't really wanna talk about it right now...” Bash sighed and started walking. This would get complicated pretty soon. Scoots followed her, deep in thoughts again. But thinking wasn't what happened in her brain now. Dreaming about a filly that was really special for her. Dreaming about... Sweetie Bell. Author's Note Sorry for being a little late, real life did have other plans for this weekend. Hope you forgive me
Chapter 7: MemoriesRainbow Dash yawned. She hadn't slept in a while now, yet wasn't ready to rest for a second as long as she didn't find Scootaloo. After she had traveled to Manehatten three days ago, she had immediately started searching the filly. She had thought about asking the police to help, but since Scoots was an orphan they would put her into an orphanage, which was what Rainbow was trying to avoid. Though there was a way out of it... She could adopt her. But then again, she didn't know if that was fine with the pegasus filly. So she just tried it all by herself, flew across Manehatten, watched the people come and go, always sticking to the parts Scoots was most probably hiding in: The 'Central Park', the small alleys of the western town quarter, the garages of 'Harden's street' and the area around 'The Final Sprint'. She was afraid to go there and ask Rusty. It wasn't Rusty she was afraid to meet. Actually, she looked really forward to speaking with him again. No, it was something else. Orion coughed blood. Rainbow didn't know what to do. He looked so bad, but she couldn't come closer. The risk, that she could infect herself was too high. "R...Rainbow..." he whispered. His voice was scratchy like a rasp. It worried her. "Yes, Orion?" "There... There's something I need" he stopped and coughed again "to tell you..." Rainbow took a deep breath for her response. "Don't talk too much, dear. You can tell me later. You will be fine in a couple of days..." "No!" he shouted, raising his hooves to his throat in response to the pain zapping through him. "I need to tell you... now." Rainbow waited. What would be coming next? "Au- Aurora and I..." He stopped. Rainbow glanced at him, unsure what to think. "You and Aurora what?" "We... we've been..." He paused again, not knowing what to say. "We had s- sex." Rainbow Dash winced in mid-air, nearly causing her to crash in a building, if she wouldn't have pulled herself up in the last second. This memory was painful, too painful for her. She and Orion had been a pair for over a year back then. They had had sex... She turned around. A tear dropped from her left eye. She started walking. She walked past the others, only stopping to pick up the child that lay on the ground. Orions child... Her child. Orion had nothing to do with her now. He would die, like Aurora, and it would serve him right. Rainbow Dash had never been so furious before. She ignored everypony else and walked on, left the area. She couldn't fly with the baby yet, but she would try until her wings were strong enough. She had an idea of where to go. There had to be a pony who could help her. The pony who she had lived with for a couple of days, until Orion pushed her to come with him and his group. She only left because of him. Now she had a lot of explanation to do for Rusty and Sharon. The tears in her eyes had stopped, and the anger of that day had returned. She tried to let it out by speeding up, but it didn't work. She landed. She couldn't fly on if the thoughts were just coming back. This wasn't the first time this happened, and whenever she had tried to fly and think, she had hurt herself pretty badly. She couldn't allow that to happen now. Rusty looked at her, skeptical, unsure what to think of her now. He had missed Rainbow Dash all these years. Yet he couldn't just accept her coming back and giving him a baby. Her baby. She was only fifteen years old and already had a baby. But that was what happened on the street, when you fall in love with another pony. But the warmth in his heart when he saw the rainbow-maned fillies took his decision. "I can see why you don't want to be reminded of Orion all the time. But if I am supposed to take her, I must take a promise from you. You come back someday, explain everything to her and take her with you, if you got a place to live in by then." Rainbow nodded. This was the best deal that she could do right now. She knew she couldn't be a street pony anymore. She had a child, and would have to take it back some day. But first she would have to make something out of herself. The sound echoed over a few kilometers. Rainbow Dash had bucked a wall near her to release the anger and broke it down. Now she had to leave, before anypony would blame it on her - which wasn't really wrong. But she had no time sitting in jail or doing social work for it. She had to visit her child. Author's Note Sorry again for missing my self-set deadline. I've got way too much stuff to do, but I kinda love writing this fic, so I won't cancel/pause it.
Chapter 8: ClarityKnock. Knock. Knock. The weather changed. It was raining. Her knocking on the door in front of her seemed endless. She was scared and unsure if she was doing the right thing. But she had to make sure Bash was alright. She had to explain everything. The knocking had come without thinking. She almost regretted it. It was like the day she came back to the ponies that raised her. To Rusty and Sharon. She hadn't heard of them for a long time. She hadn't tried to. But she knew that if one of them had died, she would've known. Lightning Runner. The name she gave her foal. Orion's foal. Orion was dead. He had to be. He and Aurora had infected each other with a disease they couldn't survive without medical help. "Rainbow Dash!" an orange filly jumped on her, putting her hooves behind the mare's neck. Completely surprised the mare froze. "S-scootaloo?" She had hoped to find her here, but didn't dear to believe it. "How did you get here?" "Uh.. It's a pretty... long story. Come inside, I'm sure Rusty won't mind!" She moved to let her pass. Rainbow Dash smiled unsure and entered the house she had left all those years ago. So this is how it ends... she thought. I'm gonna meet the daughter I left when she was just a little filly. I'm like my parents... Except they never returned to see me. That thought was somewhat depressing. But she couldn't go back now. She stopped and closed the door behind herself. "R-rusty?" she called. She was scared how he might react. He possibly thought she would've shown up sooner. The stallion eating his soup froze. Even after all those years he still recognized her voice as she called him. And he knew what it meant. He knew what would happen next. He had to admit that after a few weeks he had really started to love Bash like his own child. Deep inside he had hoped for her to never come back, though he had always missed her. As if she was her daughter, too. He never blamed her for running away. A filly in love does stupid things, but she truly regretted it when she came back. He had seen it in her eyes. But he had waited long enough. They would have to do a lot of talking. "Rainbow Dash." He said. "It's been a while." His rusty voice he had earned his nickname by brought back all the memories of Rainbow's childhood. "Yes. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm sorry." He could see how nervous she was. Her hooves where scratching on the ground, her voice quivered. "You don't need to be. You should talk to her, I suppose." he said as friendly as he could. It didn't sound like that, though. Hopefully Rainbow would understand it was only the nervousness. "I- I really should." She didn't make any attempt to move. Then she raised a hoof. And put it down closer towards the table in the next room. She moved on like that, and it seemed to her like it was taking forever. Until she finally was there. Face to face with... Orion's foal? No. She didn't look like him at all. She had her mane, her fur, her tail, her face. Except... Her eyes were darker than Rainbow's. They were a mixture of rose and red. It looked... beautiful. "Lightning Runner." she whispered. Bash was shocked by the mare that looked so similar to herself. "How- How'd ya know my name?" "I- Look, you never had parents, right? Like, real parents." What was she saying? That was the worst way to tell her. "Alright, let's start over, sorry. I-" "What the buck are ya talking 'bout?" she asked. Rusty's face came up behind the mare. "Now don't ya talk to yer mom like 'dis." he said. Suddenly it was quiet. Not only the room. It seemed like the rain outside had stopped exactly in the moment Rusty said 'mom'. Perfect. Just perfect. How will she not hate me now? "Rusty?" Bash asked. "Who is this mare?" "It's true, Lightning Runner. I am your biological mother. My name is Rainbow Dash. I came..." Rainbow paused for a second. "She came to take you with her." Rusty finished. "Only if you want to, of course!" Rainbow quickly added. "I'm living near Ponyville, a while from here, in a cloudhouse. If you decide to come with me, we can change whatever you want about it." Bash was stunned. But that was not even comparable to Scootaloo's reaction. She stood behind Rusty, quietly watching the whole situation. If this was Rainbow Dash's daughter... She was her adopted sister? The first pony she kissed was her stepsister? "You mean she is, like, my stepsister?" she asked. Now Bash was completely confused. "What'cha talking about, filly? I- wha- I-" "Yes, Scootaloo. She kind of is." Rainbow answered. The whole situation was just confusing and getting pretty out of her hand. Bash understood nothing at all, though. Rusty had never talked to her about her parents, and the similarity to Rainbow Dash was undeniable, but she still couldn't quite believe it. She had never even thought that one of her parents might come to take her with her. "The offer to come with me is not for Bash only, but for you and Sharon, too. Where is she, anyways?" Rainbow Dash said, putting all her confidence in it. Silence. Suddenly, everypony inside the room focused their thoughts on Sharon. Sharon, who was living out there, somewhere, in her old, run-down house drinking all day long. "She-" Rusty tried. "Look, don't take this as blame for it, but you leaving us kind of... broke her. She never came over it and... She started to drink." Bash stayed quiet though she was disappointed Rusty had lied to her all this time. But that wasn't important now. "Well, a drink every now and then is-" she started when Rusty interrupted her. "Very often." he said. "But now that you've returned we might be able to get her away from it. I would prepare for her blaming you, though. You know, the alcohol." "It's not like I didn't deserve it, right?" the sad voice responded.
Chapter 9: Convinced?"You foolish little filly!" Sharon shouted, "do you even know what we've been through? Just running away from us!" She raised her hoof, and with a loud BANG it crashed down onto Rainbow's face. The pegasus winced from pain, but didn't evade. She did deserve it, after all. "Sharon..." she said, "look, I'm really sorry! I know it was foalish, and I know what I've done to you. I just... I had to run away. I couldn't take all of this." "You couldn't take all of this? Did you ever even think about us, you egoistic mule?" "Sharon, I..." Rainbow sighed. "You're right. What I did was wrong, there are no excuses. But now I have returned, and I built up my life, got a well-paid job. I came to ask you to... To plead you to come with me, to Ponyville." Sharon stayed quiet for a second. Rainbow breathed in deeply. The Sharon she knew had forgiven fast, but this wasn't the same. Time to see if the old one still rested somewhere in her. She did something she hadn't done in a long time. She started crying. In front of other people. She saw how Sharon's shell broke and her true self returned. Beyond all the years the alcohol and sadness had destroyed her, there still was the old Sharon. "I will." Rainbow's tears dried up. "You will?" "Yes. -" Rainbow felt happiness streaming through her body. She had convinced Sharon. "But there is one thing I need to let you know. Whatever you did back then, I do forgive you. But listen, Rainbow Dash. You are the homeless filly Rusty and I took care of since you were barely alive. I will never, never forget what happened. And you should make sure that it never - and I mean never! - happens to the kids." Rainbow hestitated. Then, she raised her hooves and crossed them over her chest. "Cross my heart," she started, moving her front legs to her sides to let them represent wings, "hope to fly," she moved her right forehoof to the last position needed to complete the Pinkie Swear, "stick a cupcake-" she paused. Scootaloo joined her. "In my eye." "You're the filly who was here with Bash, huh?" Sharon asked. "I'm sorry, we might've started our friendship wrong. Listen, I'd like to start again. Maybe... as your grandmother?" Scootaloo looked confused at Rainbow, who quickly threw in "Oh, she's no daughter of mine." "But it is clear as hay, that she is a good friend of Bash, and as far as I can tell she was just as lonely as you were when you came here. So I bet she's an orphan, huh?" Suddenly Rainbow remembered everything that had to be spoken about. She turned to the little filly. "Scoots, I - I know you're an orphan. And that you stole, and everything. But filly... That is no reason to run away. You should've just talked to me. I will always be there for you. Whatever you have on your heart, Scootaloo, I will listen to it. Now... I had a question for you, too. I thought about adopting you. You'd have a home, a mother, two lovely grandparents, and a sister about your age." She smiled. "Which you obviously made friends with already. More than I did." The last sentence washed her smile down, as she remembered how much they had to catch up to. But there would be time for that. Later. Author's Note Took me long enough, huh? Sorry, I've been pretty busy lately, school etc., but I think I'll be back from now on, maybe not as regularly as in the first time (weekly, you know). But I still got a few stories (and other projects, too) planned, so I hope I might actually take a bit of your boredom
EpilogueScootaloo blushed. But she did not pull back. She didn't mind. Somepony else, though, did. "Wha- What do you think you're doing?" Bash's voice shocked her like icy water. She felt her head being pulled away from the lips she - what she now realized - had wanted all along. The lips of the pony she had thought about all along. Sweetie Belle's. Now that she looked back, it didn't surprise her as much as before, that the first thing she did when she returned to Ponyville and saw Sweetie Belle waiting there was to kiss her. Her voice, her singing had accompanied her on every stage of her runaway. She had always been in the back of her head. All she would need for the future was her- "She's my fillyfriend, filly! Keep your dirty lips off of her!" "B-but..." Sweetie Belle was stunned. She didn't kiss Scoots! Scoots had kissed her!.. Though she did kiss back... The situation was just about to escalate, when Rainbow Dash stepped between the three. "Whoa there. I'm sure there will be a way to clarify everything without any kind of violence." "But that stupid c-" "Insults are a kind of violence, too," interrupted Dash. "You should all settle down, after all, we just arrived here. Maybe Scoots and Bash should have a little talk." The three ponies started moving. "Alone." Dash said, putting her hoof on Sweetie's chest. --- "What the buck was that? Could you please explain me what you're doing? You just kissed another filly with your fillyfriend standing right behind you!" The wave of blame seemed neverending, so Scoots decided she would have to interrupt her. "I'm sorry, sis!" Those seemed to be the magic words. Bash instantly closed her mouth, opened it as if she wanted to say something and closed it again. Collecting all her courage, she opened her mouth again. "Sis? Is that all I am for you? A sister? I saved your bucking life! And this is what I get? I thought our kisses actually meant something to you! But no, as soon as you're back in your hometown, you instantly start... start making out with the next possible filly! Slut!" "I- Listen, I'm sorry-" Scoots tried, just to be interrupted instantly. "Oh, you're sorry? No. I'm sorry, Scoots. I thought that you actually were old enough to handle a relationship like this. You obviously aren't. I'm breaking up." "I- Wha- uh..." was all that Scoots was able to respond. What was she supposed to say? "And listen. You can forget the whole "sis"-thing, too! I hate you, Scootaloo. I don't want to see you, ever again. When you're attacked by a mugger the next time, maybe miss prissy back there will save you with her oh-so-beautiful voice. Un-sis." With those words, Bash turned around and went back to the group. Scootaloo sank to the ground. Great. Just great. And I'm supposed to live together with her? I'm bucked. She raised her head as she heard steps coming closer. It was Rainbow Dash, her head turned to where she came from. When she turned to Scoots, she shook her head. "Don't worry. She'll settle down, eventually. At least, that's what I hope. And, listen. We got a lot of sister-stuff to catch up with. How about I'll teach you to fly? I think you're ready, and, to be honest, I think you could use the distraction. And be careful with Sweetie Belle, you should give Bash some time to calm down. Don't give her any reasons to be even more pissed..." "Dash?" "Yeah, squirt?" "I'm sorry." To be continued... Author's Note Don't say you're surprised... I left enough hints for this one Thought I should maybe finally bring this to an end (took me long enough, I know...). But I think I might continue this story onto another self-finding-adventure... Not sure yet, what exactly I'm gonna do, maybe you guys out there got any ideas/wishes? My (spontaneous) idea was to maybe do it from another point of view, but I'm not sure about this... Anyways, farewell for now, might see you in the next story. Thanks for reading this one, thanks for supporting me, thanks for... oh, whatever there's left to thank you guys for.
