//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19 - Protector 
// Story: Tale of a Lost Scoots 
// by RDfan27 
//------------------------------//

Blazing Fire was seething with rage. His normally well-contained anger was boiling up to the surface, and it was showing. His teeth were bared, his eyes were narrowed, and his eyebrows were angled furiously, showing the intensity of his anger. Tidal Wave could have sworn she could even see a vein throbbing in his forehead.

She wasn’t really focusing on details though, she was stunned, and she had no idea what to do. She melted under her father’s scorn, brought about by some unknown trigger. It probably had something to do with why her mother was now laying on the floor unconscious. You know what, yeah, it definitely has something to do with that.

“D-dad?” she questioned cautiously, slinking back into herself as she felt her father’s eyes boring into her soul.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” he yelled with similar intensity and volume to the Royal Canterlot voice of the two princesses, startling Tidal Wave into jumping so high she could almost touch the ceiling, which she was convinced was shaking from the rumble of her father’s voice.

Her father took a very slow, threatening step towards his slowly retreating daughter. “I don’t know how you managed to find out about that,” he seethed through his teeth, taking a step closer as he did. “BUT,” he said, bringing his other hoof forward and slamming it down in one quick motion as he bellowed, “IT IS NOT FUNNY!” his hoof impacted the ground at the same time he spat the last word from his mouth, punctuating his statement with fury.

When her father had finished speaking, it took a moment for her to register the tears cascading down her cheeks that had been flowing freely from her eyes. She recognized the sound of sobs but did not register that she was the one making the noises, nor did she notice the fact that she had fallen was now curled up on the floor, shaking and cowering behind her hooves hiding her face in fear of the pony in front of her… her own dad.

Although Tidal Wave didn’t notice her own reactions, her father did. Tears welling up in his own eyes and threatening to spill over, a battle of conflicting emotions raged on in his mind. A war of feelings, torn between one pony and another. It wasn’t as simple as which one mattered more to him. No, it was much more complicated than that. A father’s love cannot be quantified. It is immeasurable, and cannot be judged.

Eventually, after way too long of a pause, he came up with a compromise. He still needed to pursue the issue that had started this argument in the first place, but he could do it without scaring his daughter to death. For all he knew, she really had no idea. He couldn’t be sure if he didn’t ask.

Tidal Wave’s cries had slowed down in the duration of this pause, and there was now only the occasional sniffle. The tears still came, but they came at a much slower rate, now only a calm trickle. Her mind had once again begun working, and she had lowered her hooves to lay her head on them, crying softly as thoughts raced through her mind. Above all else was one question though, that stood out from the rest: ”Why?”. Granted, it was very vague, but it covered all of the thoughts jumbled up her head. ”Why did Mom pass out? Why did Dad get so mad? Why? Why…” her thoughts trailed off, replaced by a sort of static fuzz as her father lay down next to her, draping a wing over her back.

Childhood memories came flooding back to her, and, almost as if on instinct, she turned her head, and buried her head into his chest, openly crying once more. ”Why am I crying!? I’m not sad… or at least, I don’t think so? What is wrong with me?!”

“Shh,” he cooed, running a hoof through her mane and attempting to calm her down. “It’s okay, It’s okay.” He continued running his hoof through her mane, all the while whispering into her ear in an attempt to calm her shaking. Eventually, she managed to calm down once again, and just as she did, she felt a hoof placed on her back from the other side.

She gasped softly, turning to be met with the loving, but tear-stained and red-eyed face of her mother. She then leaned in, softly nuzzling her daughter’s head, surrounding her in a furry and feathery embrace of parental love. For a moment, it was like Tidal Wave was back in her childhood home, once again a little filly wrapped up in her parent’s embrace. In that moment, she was no longer a grown mare. She was a helpless little filly, relishing in the protective embrace of her loving parents.

All good things have to come to an end though, and to her dismay, so did this moment. Ending far too soon, although it had really lasted for at least twenty minutes, her mother and father slowly retreated from the tight embrace as the feelings from before came rushing back to quickly replace the fleeting childhood memories, and feelings, once again leaving a full-grown mare, lying on the floor on the verge of tears, flanked on both sides by her parents.

“We have to talk,” her father said softly as soon as he had retreated from the embrace.

“There’s… something we need to tell you. Something we should’ve told you a long time ago,” her mother finished with a shaky voice, clearly approaching a tough subject for her.

Tidal Wave raised an eyebrow. “Mom? Dad?”


***


Scootaloo opened her eyes in bed. She was still stuck in the hospital, and probably was going to be for a while. She had been told to get some sleep all day, and had been trying, but had been unable, until late that night, when she had eventually just passed out from being so tired. That did not at all explain why she had suddenly awoken, her heart racing, and an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The clock on the wall read 1:37, which was confirmed by a quick glance to the pitch black darkness just outside. ”knock”. Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin. “H-hello? Is anypony there?” she asked shaking in fear. That had to have been what had awoken her. There was no way her mind was playing tricks on her, that sounded too real. Unless she was dreaming. “Princess Luna?” she called. Nothing.

No reply, no sound… nothing. Looking around the wall of her room, she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, she couldn’t see much of anything. There was only darkness. Darkness, and silence. That’s when it hit her. There shouldn’t be darkness or silence. She remembered the annoying light and beeping sound of the heart monitor as she had tried to go to sleep. She had been allowed to turn off the other lights, which helped, but the incessant beeping in her ears almost drove her crazy!

Now, in the dead of the night, the thing that she had wished so badly would shut off, finally had, and she wanted it on again. It wasn't even attached to her anymore. In fact, Scootaloo couldn't even see it in the room. She had no idea where it had gone, or what that knocking sound was, but she didn't care. She did not want to be there anymore.

She attempted to gather the courage to get up and go to the door, but before she could, she turned her head to the sound of the door opening, and the blinding light pouring in from the hall, causing her to have to squint her eyes. The door shut once more, revealing a familiar pegasus. “Tidal Wave!” Scootaloo called, forgetting all about her irrational fear from before.

“Hey there Scootaloo, how are you doing?” Tidal Wave asked, calmly making her way forward and wrapping a hoof around Scootaloo, pulling her into a caring hug, while still taking care not to hurt the injured filly any further. There was hardly any light coming in from the bottom of the door, and even less coming from the moon outside the window, but there was just barely enough to see by, making Scootaloo realize that the room had not been quite as dark as it had seemed before.

“I’m okay,” Scootaloo lied, completely keeping her fears to herself.

Tidal Wave reluctantly pulled away from the hug. That’s when Scootaloo noticed how red and puffy her eyes were. Even in the dark hospital room, she could see that she had been crying, and quite a lot at that. Sadly, the look had become all too familiar for Scootaloo, especially in her own reflection. “Have you been crying?” Scootaloo asked, concerned for her new friend.

Tidal Wave reached a hoof up to her eye, wiping away fresh tears that had formed, looking down at the little filly with a look of deep emotion in her eyes. Scootaloo couldn’t quite place what emotion she was seeing in the mare’s eyes. Could it be longing? Hoping? Caring? She really didn’t know, but it made Scootaloo want to reach out and hug her, so she did. She didn’t know why, but she did.

“Don’t worry about it sweetie,” she said after a minute. “Come on, we’ve got to go,” she said, pulling away and offering a wing for her to climb up onto her back.

Scootaloo clambered onto her back without hesitation. “Where are we going?” she asked, wondering why she needed to go anywhere, when just the day before, she had been told she wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while.

“I’ll explain later,” she said as she walked over to the window. “Can you hold on okay?”
She asked, turning her head. The filly nodded her head. “Alright, let’s go,” she said, taking off out of the room with one deft flap of her wings, not even bothering to close the window behind her.

Scootaloo would’ve wondered why they were going out the window. She would’ve wondered why they were even leaving the hospital in the first place, and for a minute, she was questioning these things. That is until Tidal Wave jumped out of the window, and spread her wings to catch them from the fall. Instantly, Tidal Wave’s wings rocketed out, jolting them upwards as they caught on the air around them, instantly slowing their fall.

Tidal Wave flapped her wings, going faster and faster as she cut through the cold and crisp late night sky. Without even realizing she was doing it, Scootaloo began cheering and shouting in joy, encouraging her to go faster. There was something familiar about the way this pegasus flew, and for a minute, there was no Tidal Wave in Scootaloo’s mind. In her mind, Scootaloo was back home, on her mom’s back, the wind flowing through her mane and tail as she sped along through the sky. She was invincible again. Untouchable by anything that couldn’t keep up with her, and safe from anything that could. Her fearless and perfect protector was back by her side.

And then it all ended. Scootaloo felt her mom slowing down, before snapping back to reality as they came to a landing, shaking her head to clear the mental images still clouding her mind. She would be lying if she said she didn’t want to cry after that. She would be lying if she said she was fine. She would be lying if she said that at that moment, she didn’t want to be with her mom more than anything else. “Scootaloo, are you okay?” Tidal Wave asked, interrupting Scootaloo’s train of thought as she showed just how good she was at telling when something was wrong.

“I’m fine,” Scootaloo said. There was no hint of sadness in her voice, as there often was when she was lying. In fact, there was no emotion in her voice at all. It was very monotone and sounded more like somepony who was giving up than it did a pony who was sad. Tidal Wave didn’t know which one hurt her worse to hear. On the one hoof, she hated seeing her sad, but it was better than not showing any emotions at all. She wouldn’t let Scootaloo give up. She couldn’t let her give up.

Carefully letting Scootaloo down onto the ground with a wing, she turned around, facing the small filly with tears in her eyes. Scootaloo was confused. ”Why is she crying? Did I do something wrong? I probably did. What’s wrong with me? I mess everything up. I can’t do anything right.” Scootaloo’s head dropped in shame. She had just become friends with Tidal Wave, and she really liked her. She was so nice! She didn’t want to lose this new friend already. “Scootaloo,” she said, snapping her out of her reverie. “It’s okay to be sad.” Scootaloo was shocked. ”What? Where did that come from? What does she mean?” “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to need a hug sometimes, but please... never give up. I could hear it in your voice. There’s always a reason to keep going.” the nurse was silently crying now as she sat before Scootaloo.

“B-but how do I? Why would I? Every time I think about her, I get all s-sad a-and I w-wanna cry. I’m t-tough, I c-can’t b-be cry-ing all the t-time.”

“Scootaloo, it’s okay to cry. We all have to cry every now and then. If we don’t then we’re just holding those emotions inside, and it’s not good for you to do that. We all need to let our emotions loose at times.”

“B-but I’m c-cry-ing all the t-time n-now. Mom-ma n-never cr-ies.”

“It’s okay. I guarantee you that even your Mom is crying a lot without you there. I promise you Scootaloo, she would not care that you are crying. She loves you and misses you. All she wants is to see you again.”

There was a silent pause from Scootaloo, as she attempted to hold back the tears that she knew were coming. “What if… w-what if she isn’t?”

“What was that sweetie, I can’t hear you, you need to speak up.”

“I said, what if she isn’t crying… What if, I’m just a burden to her too, just like to my last parents! They didn’t want me, so why would she!” Scootaloo screamed, wanting to stomp her hoof on the ground, but unable to from her injuries. Then, as she was standing there, seething in anger, neither of them saying a word, she stopped, right before it all hit her, it came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks, and she collapsed. Collapsed right into Tidal Wave’s waiting arms and she began sobbing. All of the emotions that she had been holding back up to this point came flooding out of her in one massive wave of emotion.

Tidal Wave had been expecting this to happen, and gladly reached out with her hooves to comfort the saddened filly. She pulled her close to her chest, stroking her hoof down her back as she cradled the poor, defenseless filly that she knew was underneath the hard shell exterior that she put up. This was no, brave, fearless filly. This was what was underneath. Insecurities, doubt, sadness, pain... and most of all, vulnerability. She hated being vulnerable because it made her feel like she needed others. Her past has not let her trust very many others, so she put up a front to make even herself think that she didn’t need others.

But in that moment, that barrier was gone. The vulnerable little filly that was hidden from view at most times was in plain view, and was being cradled in her arms. She sat there for a significant amount of time, holding her, comforting her, and protecting her. Making her feel safe.

Eventually, Scootaloo calmed down some, and she was able to finish their conversation. “I know she is. She’s very sad and misses you a ton because she loves you. I don’t even have to meet her, and I can already tell that you’re her whole world. There is nothing that matters more to her than you.”

This seemed to help Scootaloo a bit, and she was able to sit up. A little bit embarrassed by her own outburst, she had a light tinge of red on her cheeks, matching the red and puffiness of her eyes. In all actuality, she was a wreck, but in Tidal Wave’s eyes, she could see what her mother must see. An absolutely adorable little filly, who deserved all the love in the world. “And let’s be honest, how could she not love such an adorable little filly,” she said with a smirk, already knowing what reaction to expect.

“H-hey! I’m not adorable!” Scootaloo shouted, her cheeks exploding into a fiery red blush. “I’m tough!” she shouted as she stood up and puffed her chest out. The effect was lessened by the fact that she still had to keep weight off of one hoof, but she tried nonetheless. Tidal Wave just laughed softly.

“Okay, if you say so. Now come on, we’re almost there,” she said, reaching her wing back down for Scootaloo to climb on once again. Scootaloo climbed back on without further argument, and she began to walk forward.

Quickly looking up to see where they were going, Scootaloo noticed the house they were walking up to. “Is this your house?” Scootaloo asked.

“Close, it’s my parent’s place.” She reached up a hoof and knocked on the door three times. “I’m going to introduce you to my folks.”

“Cool!” Scootaloo said, clearly excited to meet some new friends. Especially the parents of Tidal Wave! If Tidal Wave was this nice, they had to be too!

A moment later, the door was opened to reveal two ponies, both with eyes matching their daughter’s, and, Scootaloo recognized, Rainbow Dash. The stallion had a yellow coat and a wild orange mane. The mare made Scootaloo stop in her tracks, and almost made her faint instantly. The cyan blue fur of the mare’s coat was a perfect match to Rainbow’s, and except for the neat and well-kept style of her mane and tail, they were to exact same as well. That mix of rainbow colors, cyan fur, and magenta eyes stared back at Scootaloo, being almost like a weird dream.

“You might want to close your mouth sweetie, you’ll catch flies,” the mare said with a laugh. The voice that came from the Rainbow Dash lookalike was the one major difference apart from the way the mane was styled that Scootaloo could tell, being the only reason she didn’t really think that this was the real Rainbow Dash in front of her. Well, that wasn’t completely true. This pony looked much older than Rainbow Dash as well. Like, a lot older. Almost old enough to be her mom, if Scootaloo had to guess.

Scootaloo shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her hooves, thinking that she was seeing things. Nope, she wasn’t. It was real.

All the ponies around her laughed at the display. “Scootaloo, this is my dad, Blazing Fire, and my mom, Honeydew.”

“Hello Scootaloo, it’s good to meet you,” Honeydew said, although Scootaloo still remained silent. Scootaloo looked at Tidal Wave, who had turned to look at her.

“It’s okay Scootaloo,” she whispered. “I know she looks a lot like your mom. Pretty cool coincidence, huh?” she said, not wanting to lie to her, but not really seeing any other choice.

“YEAH!” Scootaloo said, jumping down from her back instantly in excitement. Although, when she hit the ground, she fell, overcome by the pain in her injured leg that she had momentarily forgotten about.

“Scootaloo!” Tidal Wave yelled, rushing up next to the filly who was now on the ground in pain. “Are you okay! I thought you knew to keep your weight off of that!” she scolded. She placed a hoof on the back of Scootaloo’s head, softly rubbing her head with a hoof to comfort her as she waited for the pain to lessen.

“I’m good,” Scootaloo said after a moment as the waves of pain receded. “Sorry, I guess I just got excited,” she said with a sheepish smile.

“It’s okay,” she replied, returning the smile. “Here, let me help you,” she said, scooping the filly up in her hooves and lifting to her wings. “Mom, dad?”

“Oh, right in here honey,” her mom said, walking back inside after a moment, clearly taken aback by her daughter’s skill with the filly.

She hovered inside, following her parents over to a couch in the front room of the house, she carefully set the embarrassed Scootaloo down on the couch, keeping her off of her injured hoof. “Thanks,” Scootaloo said with a sheepish smile and a small blush.

“You’re welcome Scootaloo. Now, dad,” she said, turning to face her father standing beside her. “Would you like to take her and have me wait here, or would you rather wait here while I go and take her? I have some vacation time saved up anyway.”

Her father seemed to think about this for a minute. “You know, I was going to say that it would be better if I take her since I know the ponies there so well, but after seeing how much she has taken to you, I think you should take her,” he said with a confident smile and a nod.

“Okay, thanks,” she said, only blushing slightly at the compliment.

“No problem honey. You two better get going. When you get there, go to the bakery. Tell the pony behind the counter that Brown Fox sent you, and you would like five rainbow pies.”

Even Tidal Wave seemed confused by this. “Uhh…”

“Just do it,” he said, before handing her a note. “Also, give them this. They will provide somewhere for her to stay. Just stay there with her until I arrive.”

Turning to face a thoroughly confused Scootaloo, Tidal Wave reached out with a wing, ready for Scootaloo to climb on before her mother picked up the filly and placed her on her back, not wanting her to get hurt anymore. “Thanks,” Scootaloo said, nervously, still thrown off by the mare’s looks.

“Where are we going?” Scootaloo asked as they began walking for the door.

“I’ll explain more on the way, okay?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo resigned. They stopped at the door and turned to say goodbye.

“Bye, mom. Bye dad,” Tidal Wave called.

“Bye!” Scootaloo also called.

“Bye, you two! Be safe!” Honeydew called.

“I’ll be there soon!” Blazing Fire called.

With that, they turned and left, shutting the door behind them as they once again took off into the night sky, Scootaloo settling in for a long flight.


***


Blazing fire sat outside of the hospital, sitting on a bench inconspicuously, secretly staring off into the sky in the direction of the coastal city of Zatoka. He had gotten out there early that morning and had been waiting ever since.

It was a little while later when a rainbow flash caught his attention. Turning his head towards it, he saw a rainbow trail streaking defiantly through the air.

“She’s here…”