Living the Dream

“Scootaloo. Scootaloo! Scoootalooooo! Wake up! C’mon, Scoots, Miss Cherrilee is gonna notice!” Scootaloo woke up to the sound of Apple Bloom’s voice in her ear. She opened her eyes to see the yellow and red filly’s face just inches away from her own. “Aahh!” she yelled, jerking back in surprise.

“Girls” said Cherrilee “Is there a problem?” “Erm… no, Miss Cherrilee.” said Scootaloo sleepily. “Okay then. Class dismissed!” “Hey Scoots!” said Applebloom. “You wanna come hang out with me and Sweetie Belle today? We’re gonna try and get our cutie marks in tree chopping!” “Sure!” replied Scootaloo. “I’ll just come with you now!”

When they got to Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle was already there with Rarity and Applejack. “Sugarcube, I’m afraid you can’t do any crusadin’ today.” said Applejack. “You, me, Sweetie and Rarity are havin’ a sisters dinner together.” “Oh yeah, I forgot about that!” said Applebloom. “Oh, can Scootaloo come with us?” “Well, ah guess so.” “Ummmm” said Scootaloo. “Sisters?” “Yup!” answered Applebloom. “You can be our temporary sister!” “Err... no thanks… I’ll just go home, I think.” Scootaloo walked away quickly, trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

After a bit of walking, she got to her home, a cardboard box on the edge of the Everfree Forest. She curled up inside, and as her quiet tears gave way to full blown sobbing, it started to rain. Overcome by a flood of depression, she made a fateful decision in her head. She immediately set to work gathering wood and vines. When she had a big enough pile, she searched until she found a flat, rusty piece of metal and sat on the ground sharpening it for an hour, her determination never wavering.

When she had finished, it was nearly dawn. She stood there, proudly admiring her creation. It was a makeshift, but fully functioning guillotine. “It’s actually kinda beautiful, in a scary sort of way.” she thought. “Hmmm. Pity I won’t be around much longer to admire it. Oh well.” She slowly walked to the death machine and put her head in the hole. “At least I’ll go out with style.” she thought. She grabbed her scissors and positioned them at the rope staked in the ground. She slowly closed the blades, wincing when she heard them start to break the ropes fibers. Now she was down to only a few strands of rope. Finally, it broke, and she heard the blade start its deadly fall.

Then, suddenly, she heard another noise, a loud crash. She looked up in time to see a rainbow streak hit the blade horizontally, ripping it from its tracks. She recognized the cyan fur of her idol, Rainbow Dash, just another pony who didn’t care. “Scootaloo!” yelled Rainbow Dash, running up and extracting Scootaloo’s head from the now ruined guillotine. “What in the world are you doing!?”

“I’m ending this.” replied Scootaloo. “I’m ending this misery that is my life!” “Why is your life misery?” asked Rainbow. “And what are you doing out here, so far from home?” “I’m not far from home!” exclaimed Scootaloo. “I live there!” she pointed at her sodden cardboard box. Rainbow Dash was taken aback. “i-I had no idea, Scoots! Why didn’t you tell me about this!?” ”Because I’m fine by myself.” said Scootaloo. “You’re not fine.” Rainbow Dash lowered her voice. “You just tried to cut your own head off.” “Well, that’s because nopony loves me.” Scootaloo suddenly got very defensive. “Scootaloo! Plenty of ponies love you.” “Why would they?!” asked the orange furred filly. “My parents didn’t! They left me here to die! So how are you any different from them!?”

“I can already think of a difference.” said Rainbow Dash. “I love you, Scoots.” “Huh? Do- do you mean that? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?” “I mean it, Scootaloo.” Her voice expressed a tenderness that Scootaloo didn’t know was possible. “Then why do I live out here?” asked Scootaloo. It was a good comeback, and Rainbow was speechless for a while. Finally, she said “Hang on. I’ll be right back.” She took off in, and had disappeared within seconds. A few minutes later she returned. “Alright, squirt, get on my back.” Scootaloo climbed up without arguing. “Where are we going?” she asked. “My house.” answered Rainbow Dash. “I want to show you something.”

It didn’t take long for them to get there. When Rainbow Dash landed, Scootaloo asked “What do you want to show me?” “Your new room.” “Wh- what? You mean… you’re gonna’ let me live with you?!” “Yup.” Scootaloo was ecstatic. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! Wait… why?” “Because I couldn’t think of another pony I would rather have live with me.” said Rainbow Dash. “But… I can’t fly.” She looked of the edge of the giant cloud. “How will I get up and down if I can’t fly?” “I’m going to teach you.” said Rainbow Dash. “I’ve got a ton of different techniques to help you learn, and I’m positive I can get you flying by the end of the day!”

Sixteen hours and forty seven minutes later, they had tried over twenty three techniques, and Scootaloo still couldn’t fly. “Ugghh! I’m never gonna be able to fly!” Scootaloo was becoming very frustrated. “Not so fast, Scoots.” said Rainbow. “I’ve got one more technique to use. I didn’t want to resort to this, but it hasn’t failed yet!” And with that, she stuck out her hoof and shoved Scootaloo off the edge of the cloud. “EEEYAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Scootaloo’s cries got farther and farther away until finally, they stopped. Rainbow Dash listened carefully. Was she going to have to rescue Scootaloo? Even worse, had she just killed her favorite filly? Suddenly, Scootaloo rose up above the cloud, her wings flapping at a slightly different angle than earlier. She was overjoyed. “I’m doing it!” she yelled. “I’m actually flying! Oh, Rainbow Dash, you’re the most awesome sist- um, I mean friend that I could ever ask for!” She suddenly seemed a bit less happy. “I’m tired.” she said. “I- I think I’m gonna go to bed now. It’s getting kind of dark.” “Um.. okay, I guess.” Rainbow was a bit confused, but she said “I guess I’ll turn in for the night too. This has been a tiring day.” Scootaloo walked into Rainbow Dash’s house and up to her new room. She let out a trill of joy. “I can’t believe I’m actually living with Rainbow Dash! This is awesome!” She snuggled into her soft bed, the first bed she had ever had in her life. She had never realized how uncomfortable the ground was. She quickly fell asleep.

Morning came, and Scootaloo awoke to the sound of knocking on the door. “I’ll get it!” yelled Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo ran downstairs to see who it was. Standing at the door was an official-looking pegasus in a uniform. “Miss Dash” he said formally. “I have been sent to inform you that Equestria law states plainly that an unrelated adult and minor may not under any circumstances live together.” “But I’ve got nowher-“ Rainbow Dash stuffed her hoof in Scootaloo’s mouth. She knew that if this official found out Scootaloo was an orphan, the filly would be put into the foster system. “Yessir.” she said. “She will move out right away!” “See that she does.” He turned around and flew away.

Scootaloo sighed. “I guess it was too good to be true. It was nice hanging with you, Rainbow Dash. Thanks for teaching me to fly. I’ll go back to my box now.” She walked to the edge of the cloud, hopped off, and fluttered slowly to the ground, her head and tail drooping. Rainbow Dash looked over the edge and watched Scootaloo walked away towards her box. She wished there were something that she could do to help. Then she suddenly had an idea. She chuckled to herself. “Ohh this is gonna be awesome!”

Weeks passed. Scootaloo became more and more depressed by the day. She never hung out with her friends; she just sat around and cried. At first, Rainbow Dash had visited her frequently. Then the visits became less and less often until finally, they stopped. Scootaloo hadn’t even seen Rainbow Dash since last week. “She’s probably forgotten all about me by now.” she thought. Every day was hell for Scootaloo, but she didn’t have the guts to try and commit suicide again. She just had to live through it and hope it would change.

It was the morning of May the third. Scootaloo woke up, prepared for just another day of depression. Then she saw her calendar, scrawled on the side of her. When she realized the date, tears started leaking out of her deep purple eyes. It was her birthday. Before this, she had always spent her birthday with her friends. Now, she had nopony. She stood up and got ready to go find something to eat, when she heard wing flapping overhead. She looked up and saw the familiar rainbow and cyan colors of Rainbow Dash, who landed quickly and ran up to Scootaloo. “Wow. Hi, Rainbow Dash.” Long time no see she thought. “Where have you been?” “I’ve been out trying to get this.” answered Rainbow. She held out a box covered in bright paper. “What’s this?” asked Scootaloo. “Your birthday present.”

Scootaloo began to tear up. “Y-you got me a p-present? I’ve never had a birthday present before!” Her wet eyes turned to full blown tears of joy. “Ohmygosh, Rainbow Dash! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou so much!” “Wow!” said the cyan Pegasus. “If this is what you’re like just getting a present, then I can’t wait to see your face when you open it!” Scootaloo ripped off the paper and tore open the box. “It’s a… stack of papers?” “Just read them.” said Rainbow Dash. “Okaaayyy. Hmm. Extensive background check… yada yada yada… family history search… blah blah blah… this certificate is to confirm that Miss Rainbow Dash is now the legal guardian and elder sibling of Scootaloo. Huh?” It took a second for this Scootaloo to absorb this information. “You mean… we’re sisters!?” “Yup!” answered Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo’s screams of joy could be heard on the other side of Ponyville.

Scootaloo moved in with Rainbow Dash immediately, and the two of them flew through the sky together for the rest of the day. The next day, for the first time in nearly a month, Scootaloo went to school. “SCOOTS!” She was instantly trampled by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. “Where have you been!? We were worried sick!” “I was sick.” she lied. “But I’m better now.” “Well, you better be, ‘cuz you’re coming crusading with us right after school!” said Sweetie Belle. “Alright!” replied Scootaloo. “I’ll be there!”

After school let out, she cantered over to the Carousel Boutique, in the best mood she had been in for a long time. When she got there, Applebloom was standing in the doorway sheepishly. “Um, Scootaloo, er, see, me, Applejack, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle are having a sisters game night… and… um… Rainbow Dash is joining us…” she watched Scootaloo apprehensively, waiting for her reaction. Scootaloo realized that her fellow crusaders didn’t yet know about her and Rainbow Dash. And yet Applejack and Rarity must have known, because they had invited Rainbow Dash. She smiled to herself. “Do you guys mind if I just hang out with you?” she asked. This was going to be fun.