Scootaloo's Choice

by Always 777

Chapter 3: Scootaloo's Choice

Part Three
Scootaloo’s Choice

Scootaloo knew that things could never be the same, not only because the cutie mark crusaders would no longer adventure together, but also her secret was out. And she spilled it to the pony she looked up to the most, how humiliating. Too humiliating. She took a moment to realize just how humiliating this was. She could never show her face in Ponyville again. But she had nowhere to go. No friends, left, no family, no home. Anywhere. She realized that she had no options. She was completely blind as to what to do next. She began to pace back and forth, and came up with a terrible idea, but it was the only idea she had. She was going to finish the work of that horrible pony from her early childhood; she was going to kill herself.

A mental bond broke in her mind when she said those words out loud. Kill myself. A bond that restricts certain thoughts, thoughts that most ponies would fear to think, a method in which to take her own life. Scootaloo had always had a mild fear of blades after what happened to her wings, and ropes were difficult to come by around here, nopony has a use for them. She decided that poison, while not being the easiest method to prepare for, would be the easiest for her to inflict upon herself. She didn’t readily know how to make such a poison, but she knew of one zebra that probably did.

If she were lucky, Zecora would still be in town, although night was falling, so she would have to be quick. She made her way to Zecora’s home. As Scootaloo stepped through the branches, leaves, and other debris on the forest floor, her mind began to wander. Is there no other way? Is this really how it was going to end? She halted; this thought stopped her in her tracks. She picked her head up, holding back tears, and decided that it was. The miscellaneous things on the ground, being crushed under her filly hooves, reminded her of how that one evil pony destroyed her life, in an act so easy as to rival stepping on a twig, or a leaf.

Scootaloo put all thoughts away, as she was nearing her destination. She lightened her step, in case Zecora was home. Through some shrubs, she saw that there was light coming from within, most likely meaning that Zecora was inside. Scootaloo did not hesitate; she sneaked up to her window and peered inside. She saw Zecora mixing up some kind of alchemical wonder, as usual, with her back to the aperture. She walked away from the brew for a moment to fetch something from another room, and Scootaloo climbed inside looking for a recipe book. She quietly rummaged through Zecora’s collection until she saw a thin book bound in thick string with a pony skull on the cover. Bingo.

Scootaloo heard the homeowner returning to the main chamber, and in a panic, scurried into a cabinet. She heard Zecora come back in, humming to herself, and adding more ingredients. Scootaloo held her breath. She heard Zecora bottle the mixture and then leave, so she emerged from the cabinet and flipped open the volume. She found a poison labeled “Being’s Conclusion”. It sounded deadly enough. She followed the instructions on the pages; they were simple, given the inventory she was working with. Three hemlock berries, two nightshade buds, and a single bloodroot flower, all mixed in the intensifying waters from the Everfree forest streams.

With the mixture in hoof, Scootaloo had to decide where and when to drink the fruit of her brief labors. After pondering this for a moment, she decided that she wanted to say goodbye to Sweetie Bell, she had always been so kind to her. She would go to her home, say her farewell, and then she would drink the blend. She grabbed a small sack to carry the poison. Scootaloo realized as she was leaving Zecora’s home that she really wasn’t going to be missed, and if she were, that pony would get over it. As the sun set on her last day of existence, she rushed to where Sweetie Bell was staying, and snuck inside. Silently stepping up the stairs to her friend’s room, in fear of waking Rarity who was surely asleep, she opened the door. It was dark. She took a few steps in, closed it behind her, and began to speak.

“Sweetie Bell…” Scootaloo began to cry. “You have always been so nice to me, or at least most of the time.” She began to sob heavily. “I just wanted to say goodbye. I had a lot of fun being your classmate, your friend…” She paused, “Your fellow cutie mark crusader.” She smiled and continued to sob, making her already weak shoulders shudder even harder. She removed the mixture from the sack, and then noticed the silence. It was too silent. Even when ponies are asleep, they still make a little bit of noise. Scootaloo turned to the door and flicked the light switch, she looked back to see that nopony was in the bed.

Furious, she angrily tried to work the cork out of the glass bottle, and when she did, she stopped. She thought of how she had always been cheated like this, always been robbed of what she wanted. First the wings, then her friends, then the flight with Rainbow Dash, now her final wish. Anger changed back into depression as she sat down, and let one last tear run down her cheek. It fell to the floor slower than she expected. She raised the flask up to her mouth, licked her lips, and prepared, for the second time today, for her life to end. Only this time, she wasn’t going to say anything.

Bam! The door flew open, Scootaloo turned to face the door and backed into the wall, poison still in hand.

“Don’t do it Scootaloo!” Applebloom said, rushing in before Applejack, who had bucked the door open.

“How did you know what I was doing here?"

"Rainbow Dash saw you walkin' in here and quickly rallied us all up."

"But why should I not do it, Applebloom! I have no reason to be alive anymore!”

“Of course you do.” Said Sweetie bell, entering the room with Rainbow Dash. “Dash told us about what happened.” Rainbow Dash looked at the floor in a guilty manner.

“Like what! I can’t fly, I have no home, no family, and now I don’t have friends!” She yelled.

“What in Equestria are you talkin’ about?” Applebloom said.

“”You guys have your cutie marks, I don’t! The crusader’s are over and done with!” Scootaloo replied.

“Scootaloo, just because we found our talents, doesn’t mean we don’t still want to be your friends. And besides, now the three of us can focus on one cutie mark, instead of three!” Sweetie Bell said.

“Well what about my family, or my home!”

Scootaloo… Said Applejack, taking a step closer, “These little fillies are your family. And we have plenty of room in the ranch house, what with the family visits, we got to be prepared for company.”

“Don’t come any closer.” She raised the vial again, stopping Applejack dead in motion. “I still can’t fly, and I’m a Pegasus! That’s supposed to be a freebie!”

“But we can fix it!” Chimed in Dash. Zecora entered. “I made a brew to fix your wings, it will repair those two broken things.” She raised a potion, the very same one she was making when she snuck inside. “One sip, little pony, and you will discern, one sip, little pony, and flight will return!”

Scootaloo looked at this crowd of ponies willing to do so much for her, when all she did was cause them trouble. She looked at the potion, and remembered all of the terrible things she had endured. All of the pain, all of the disappointment, all of the tragedy. This was it. This was Scootaloo’s choice. She looked at the vial, then back to the ponies. Back to the vial, and back to the ponies. Slowly, her hoof came away from her face, and she dropped the bottle on the floor. She sniffed and in choked words, she said-

“Why didn’t Anypony ask about my family?” A sigh of relief echoed throughout the room and Scootaloo was crowded with the loving ponies, being hugged. Applebloom looked up,

“You never spoke of them, we didn’t know. We are so sorry. Why didn’t you just tell us?”

“I was afraid of what you would think, I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Oh Scootaloo,” Sweetie Bell chimed in, “We would have accepted you for anything, and we do! ”

Tears of sadness slowly turned to tears of joy. Scootaloo opened her arms and hugged her friends back. With a tear running down her face, the first one since her “last” one, she whispered,

“I love you guys.”

“We love you too, Scootaloo.”
Epilogue

So while the journey of the cutie mark crusaders was over, many more journeys were on their way. “Dear Princess Celestia, I have learned something very important about friendship. I learned to always be honest with your friends about yourself, because true friends will accept you for anything. I’m living with Applebloom and the Apple Family, and Zecora’s potion worked perfectly, I got to fly with Rainbow Dash! It was a dream comes true. Some ponies say that all a family is is some ponies that you grow up with, some ponies that love you, and ponies that are always there for you. I believe that to be true, so I am with my family now. I am glad that I made the right choice. Your faithful subject, Scootaloo.”
The End

Comments

[Sarkastik Menace]

twas pretty good story, i like. Albeit i was never one for last second rescues, and everything about one's past being explained at one single point in the story, it was still good story. This story has alot of great ideas, and if it were paced a bit more and a tad longer it would be perfect, but it still was a great read.

Your residential Scootaloo idolist and/or crazy fanatic

-Spiffy Mcsquee