//------------------------------// // Keep Faith // Story: Keep Faith // by marineproductions100 //------------------------------// Keep Faith Written By: Cameron Just another crucial day in school, Scootaloo thought to herself. She looked up at the clock. It read: three-eighteen PM. Just another twelve minutes until the day is over. She lifted her head off of the desk to pay attention to Miss Cherilee. "Okay class," Miss Cherilee said. "I'm going to pass out the math quiz that we have been preparing for this week." She picked up a stack of papers and started passing small piles of them to the students at the front of each row. Once she passed out all the papers, she went back to her desk to sit down. "Once you are finished, or, if the bell rings because you haven't finished, come up to the front of the class and lay them in a pile in front of my desk. Also, make sure to show your work." The student in front of Scootaloo passed her the piece of paper in her grasp. Scootaloo grabbed the piece of paper and laid it on top of her desk. She looked down at the first question: thirty-two plus fourteen equals question mark. If I take eight out of the fourteen, then, that would equal forty and leave out six. So the answer is forty-six. She wrote down the answer and moved onto the next question. Uh-oh. A division problem. Ponyfeathers, I'm not good at division. She scribbled down a random number for the answer; three. Maybe I'll get it right. Small chance, but just maybe. She thought to herself. She moved down to the next question. She quietly chuckled to herself. That's an easy one. All I gotta do is- "Psst," a sudden noise interrupted her train of thought. Scootaloo raised her head up and started to examine the room. Her eyes settled on a pink earth pony with a tiara on top of her head, and a white folded piece of paper in her mouth. What does she want? She thought to herself. "What do you want, Diamond Tiara?" Scootaloo asked in a whisper tone. "I have a piece of paper in my mouth and I'm trying to get your attention. Figure it out, genius." Diamond said coldly in a whisper tone. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at Diamond. She leaned over to grab the piece of paper out of Diamond's mouth. Once she took the note out of Diamond's mouth, she unfolded the note to reveal what was inside of it. Scootaloo gasped at the note: Maybe your underdeveloped wings are preventing you from getting your cutiemark, BLANK FLANK! Right next to the bold words, there was a drawing of Scootaloo with a broken wing, and arrows pointing to her flank. "Why?" was all Scootaloo could mumble out. *RING* Scootaloo brought her attention to the clock. It read: three-thirty PM. I gotta get outta here.....she thought. Fillies and colts immediately got out of their seats and made their way to Miss Cherilee's front desk. Scootaloo tried to turn in her paper, as fast as she could. All she wanted to do was get out of the school and hide. Tears were welled up in her eyes, but she refused to cry in school. As soon as she walked out the front door, she tripped down the little steps that were in front of the school. She went face first into the cement, but she quickly recovered from her fall to see what she tripped over. Instead of what tripped over Scootaloo, it was a who. At the doors, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were giggling to themselves. "Oops," was all she said. Scootaloo gave her a glare, tears still welling up in her eyes. "Worthless blank flank!" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon called out. And soon, every filly and colt was calling her that. "Worthless blank flank, worthless blank flank, worthless blank flank, worthless blank flank, worthless blank flank!" All the children called her. Scootaloo slowly backed up from the crowd. The children slowly moved in on her. She turned around and started to run from the school. "Scootaloo!" A voice called her. But she didn't hear it. Instead, she kept on running. Not daring to look back. She started to flap her wings to give her extra speed, which proved good use. She kept on running and running. And soon....she was out of sight. "Rainbow Dash!" A voice called out. Rainbow Dash woke up, dumbfounded to what was going on. She rolled over onto her stomach and stood up on all fours. She peeked her head over the cloud she was taking a nap on, to see who was calling her name. "Hey Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle. What's up?" Dash asked. "Have you seen Scootaloo? We can't find her anywhere," Sweetie Belle, replied with worry to her tone of voice. "Yeah," Apple Bloom added. "She was supposed to walk with us to the club house after school." Like Sweetie Belle's voice, Apple Bloom's tone of voice had worry to it. Rainbow placed her hoof up to her chin. That's not like Squirt to run off without telling anypony. Something's up. She thought to herself. She looked back down at the two worried crusaders. "Why don't you two head back to your clubhouse? I'll let you know if I see her, okay?" "Okay." The crusaders said in unison. "Come on, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said. As soon as the crusaders were out of sight, Rainbow Dash sat down on her haunches and started to think. Where would Scootaloo be? She asked herself. DING After a couple moments of being lost in thought, a place came to Dash's mind: "The park!" She said aloud. "That's her favorite place to be." Without a moment to spare, she immediately took off to the air, leaving her cloud to evaporate into thin air. The wind blew through her mane, rapidly. Her mind set on one thing: Scootaloo. Dash had to find her and figure out what was going on with her. She had to know why Scoots took off without telling her friends where she was going. She had to. Scootaloo sat in front of the park lake. Her head down low and tears were streaming down her cheeks as she remembered the harsh words that were thrown at her at school. Every now and then, there was a sniffle that went along with a quiet sob. She kept her eyes on the reflection of herself in the pond. Every tear that fell from her cheek landed right in the water, making a drip noise to it. Doubt was being thrown left and right in her mind. Will I ever get my cutiemark? She thought to herself. She looked behind her to see her wings pulled to her sides. "Damn wings," she said aloud. "Why couldn't I just be an earth pony? Why give me something that I can't even use?" She turned her head back to the water. Another tear hit the water, with a quiet drip. "Scoots?" A sudden voice startled the little filly. She quickly wiped her eyes and snout, to try and hide any sign of crying. She turned around to see her favorite idol looking at her with a worried expression on her face. "Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow's facial expression didn't change. "What's wrong?" She asked like a mother would. "N-Nothings wrong," She lied. "Scoots, I can see the stains on your cheeks. Now, tell me what's wrong." Scootaloo drooped her head down and turned it to the side. She closed her eyes, not daring to look up into her favorite idol's eyes. A gentle hoof grasped itself onto her shoulder. She opened her eyes and turned her head to see that it was Dash's. She looked up to see worry and concern on Dash's face. Tears were still welled up in her eyes. "Please, tell me what's wrong." Dash pleaded. Scootaloo couldn't take it anymore. She quickly grasped her hooves around Rainbow Dash and started to sob into her shoulder. To her surprise, Dash wrapped her hooves around the little filly and started to rub her back. "It's okay, Scoots. Let it out." Dash said. She kept on rubbing the filly's back. Mainly because she wanted the filly to feel comfortable before she had to explain herself. "It's okay." After several moments of comforting, Scootaloo's crying finally ceased. But Rainbow Dash kept on rubbing her back and making sure that she felt safe with her. Silence was dawned upon the two. So she decided to break the silence and get straight to the answers. "Better?" Dash asked. "Better." Scootaloo replied. She slowly pushed herself away from Dash's grasp. She looked up into her eyes. "Thanks.....I needed that." "No problem, Scoots." Dash acknowledged. "What got you so upset?" "It's....It's n-nothing." "Scootaloo, nopony gets upset over nothing." Dash pointed out. "I know." Scootaloo said. She sighed and decided to tell Rainbow Dash what got her so upset. "Can I ask you something, Rainbow Dash?" "Of course you can." "Do you think I'm....worthless?" The question struck Dash like a dagger. Why would she ask such a question? She asked herself. "Of course not, Scoots. Why would you think that?" "I......I.....I feel....worthless. I think that the Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are right. Maybe I am worthless." She glanced back at her wings. "These damn wings won't even allow me to fly." She looked back up at Rainbow Dash. "Other pegasi in my class can fly and some of them are younger than me. But I'm still...." She looked down at the ground. "Grounded to the ground." She said coldly. "Scootaloo, you are not worthless." Dash said firmly. "You are a strong, independent, and good pony. Don't let anypony tell you otherwise." "But what if-" Scootaloo was interrupted. "No buts. It's the truth. Other ponies will say mean things. But that doesn't mean that you have to listen to them, and I'm not saying to ignore them. I'm saying: keep your mind focused on what you want out of life. If you just keep focus on one thing and stick with it, you can get anywhere in life." A small grin formed on the fillies face. Seeing that smile made Rainbow smile herself. "Really?" Scootaloo asked. "Of course." Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash and gave her the tightest squeeze. "Thank you." "For what?" Dash asked. "For listening and cheering me up." She released her favorite idol from her bear hug. "You're the best." "No." Dash ruffled up Scootaloo's mane with her hoof. "You are, Scoots. Don't ever let them get you down." "I'll try my best." Scootaloo said with an encouraging smile. "Do me another favor, would ya?" Dash wrapped her wing around Scootaloo. "What's that?" Rainbow Dash looked up into the horizon and noticed that the sun was going down. She looked back at the filly who was waiting for her answer. "Keep faith in yourself." "I will." When someone pushes you down, it's up to you to get back up. Others can call you what they want, but that doesn't mean that you are what they say -Cameron. THE END Written By:Cameron