I'll Miss You

Chapter 3

“Hey, are you okay?”

Scootaloo pushed a bit harder than she meant to. Morning Rain fell on his back with a heavy thud. Slowly his shocked silence became a pained cry.

The door to the bedroom swung open. Scootaloo pulled the sheets tighter over her head, wishing that everything would just disappear.

Gari soothed the colt and put him back on his bunk before turning her attention to Scootaloo. The filly resisted every attempt to pull away the blanket; after a few tries Gari gave up and instead took a seat at the edge of the bed.

“Scootaloo,” she said gently. “What’s wrong?”

A part of her wanted to speak, but every time she lifted her face a new sob rose in her chest. Her blanket was soaked through with tears. Gari rested a hoof on her neck.

“Do you miss your daddy?”

There was a sharp bang. The top bunk squeaked as Morning Rain sat bolt upright. Scootaloo let out a small squeak and buried herself deeper under the cover.

“Be quiet, Rain!” Gari said sharply.

“I’m just trying to…” Rain’s voice faded to a whimper.

“I… I want to go home,” Scootaloo sobbed. She was out of tears, feeling lightheaded and tired. Her knees were bruised from a game of kickball, and they were starting to hurt again. “I want to go home!”

Before she could tuck herself back into a ball Gari grabbed Scootaloo by the shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug. Her cloak, warm and smelling of sweet cinnamon, swirled around them both and settled over Scootaloo’s back.

“I understand,” she said. “You miss your dad. You don’t have to hide it. But your dad still has work to do.”

“I… I should have went with him,” Scootaloo mumbled glumly. Gari’s hug was making her feel better, but she could not silence the voice in her head telling her that here was a strange mare who did not really care about her.

“Please don’t say that, dear,” Gari said, stroking her mane gently. “Your dad didn’t want that. He was trying to keep you safe, Scootaloo. When he finishes his work, he will come back for you.”

Scootaloo lingered in Gari’s embrace for a long time. It was comfortable. She tried to get back to sleep, but the same terrible thought always drifted back into her mind.

“You’re it!”

“I’M NOT PLAYING!”

The unicorn colt was already too far away to hear. Scootaloo rubbed her side gingerly. Getting gored by a unicorn left a welt in the best cases.

“Don’t chase him,” Dawn said. “I’ll tell Gari about this. Sparkler has been doing that a lot lately.”

Scootaloo walked the scooter awkwardly. Its heavy iron frame was thickly painted in an ugly shade of green, and the wooden floorboard was warped and splintering from countless decades of use. The handlebars were wrapped in fresh duct tape. She was a little disappointed that she didn’t get a shiny red scooter like the older couriers, but the “junkyard special” was functional. Its four wheels were balanced and well-greased, and its bulky metal parts felt every bit as sturdy as they looked.

After nearly three weeks the idleness of life at the Orphanage was getting to her. Gari had found a tutor for Scootaloo to get her ready for the coming school year, but the long summer days were all hers. She played tag and raced and wrestled until she had her fill, and each day she grew a little more restless.

Luckily there were plenty of jobs around the city to keep her busy. The Canterlot Orphanage had a special relationship with the various businesses in the capital. Fashion designers often hired children to be models. Pegasi could clean eavestroughs and windows. Berry pickers were in high demand in the farms near the city and even in the royal gardens, although all but the most disciplined were kicked out with juice smeared on their faces after the first hour.

Scootaloo had been watching the couriers ever since she came to Canterlot. She was mesmerized by the way they zipped around the streets, turning impossible corners and making the most spectacular jumps. She rarely saw them clearly, they moved so fast. One seasoned courier, a unicorn mare, once claimed that she could get from one end of Canterlot to the other in five minutes.

Her search started and ended at the delivery depot, where she was given the scooter and two weeks to learn how to ride it; a tall order, as she was beginning to realize.

“You should dismount here,” Dawn said when they reached one of the side doors. “We’ve had accidents with scooters inside the house before.”

There was a small crowd in the front hall; there were even a few kids were on the staircase. Caretakers were coming through the front door, trying to break up the ring of gawkers that had formed.

“Daddy! Don’t go!”

Scootaloo dragged her new scooter noisily up the stairs, pretending to leave. Dawn was by her side, glancing around every few steps to see what was playing out on the doormat.

Lying face down in the middle of the hall was a small filly, no more than four years old. Her short blond mane was covered in twigs, and she was clinging stubbornly to the front hooves of a broad-shouldered stallion in a blue jumpsuit.

“Sweetie, please don’t do this,” he said over his daughter’s noisy sobs. “It’s only for a few months. Gari will take care of you here.”

“I want to go with you!” She screamed, her hold getting tighter as her father lifted one hoof clumsily in an attempt to get away.

“Oh, grow up already!” Rain growled.

Scootaloo jumped. How a pony with hooves as big as his could move so quietly still eluded her. Rain’s torso was covered in bandages; his back was skinned from the fight with Harvey, and there were still some ugly bruises on his neck and legs.

“I didn’t whine like that when my daddy dropped me off,” he continued. “What’s her problem?”

“Rain,” Dawn said angrily, “I swear if you don’t shut up I will knock all of your teeth out.”

“Do it,” Rain said, turning to Dawn with cold eyes. “She’s still be a total disgrace to ponies everywhere.”

“No! No! No!”

The crowd was thinning out as half a dozen adults pushed the kids into the playroom. The new filly was surrounded in a pale yellow aura. Her father struggled to free his hooves from her vice-like grip.

Something about his attire stood out to Scootaloo. The jumpsuit looked a lot like what her own father had worn, only this one had two yellow stripes down the forelegs. The stallion’s tail was braided also, and his mane was twisted into a topknot.

“She should be proud!” Rain said, his voice growing steadily in volume. “Not everypony gets to join the EUP! She shouldn’t be this weak! This is just disg…”

Dawn’s magic surrounded him, forcing his legs straight and his mouth shut. Rain let out a pained moan as his hooves lifted off the stairs without any help form his wings.

Dawn charged onto the second floor landing before releasing Rain. The pegasus stumbled and fell on his side, gasping silently in pain.

“Rain,” Dawn said in a menacing whisper, lowering his head so Rain could hear every word. “I won’t tell Gari this time, because I don’t think it’ll do you any good. Look, I know you have problems, but you can never, ever say stuff like that. You’re real lucky it’s just me and Scootaloo who heard you.”

Rain did not answer. When he finally regained control of his breathing he turned his face towards the nearest wall and curled up with his wings covering most of his body. His shoulders trembled; Scootaloo felt bad almost immediately, though she had not done anything.

Back downstairs Gari had finally pried the filly off her father. The child kicked and screamed in midair as the adults exchanged their goodbyes. Then the stallion turned around.

The bottom half of his right rear leg was gone, replaced with a truss and a metal hoof. He walked with only the slightest limp, yet Scootaloo could not take her eyes off the fake limb until he pass completely out of sight. A shudder ran down her back, and for a while she could not bring herself to move.

“Come on,” Dawn said, putting a hoof on Scootaloo’s back. “Let’s get something to eat, and then I’ll see if I can track down a courier to teach you. Maybe you can stop falling over by dinnertime.”

Gari was certainly patient. Scootaloo felt bad for keeping her up. She tried to breathe slowly, and allowed her limbs to relax, but there was no fooling her.

You can go now, Gari. I’ll be okay.

Finally she could stand it no longer. Scootaloo opened her eyes and sat up. The long candle on the bedside table was half gone. Gari’s kind green eyes were just as comforting as her embrace. The words came to Scootaloo easier than she expected, but left her shaken nevertheless.

“What if he doesn’t come back?”

Gari sighed, and a look of deep pain flashed across her face. Perhaps it was the flicker of the candlelight, but for a moment she seemed to have the face of an ancient pony.

“Scootaloo,” she said seriously. “I want you to know that in this matter I am always honest, without exception.

“If anything happens to your dad that stops him from coming back, you will continue to live here at the Canterlot Orphanage. I will not cast you out, and I will not pass you off to a strange family. Life will go on for you. You will go to school just like every other filly in Equestria, you will still have food and a bed, and I will still love you. I love you, Scootaloo. I want you to remember that. Even after your dad comes back and you’ve moved away, you can always come back here when you need to. I’ll be here, and I’ll do anything within my power to help.”

Scootaloo stared blankly at Gari. Then she pounced and hugged her around her neck.

“Thanks,” she whispered with fresh tears in her eyes.

Gari held her until she was sleeping soundly once again.

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