Rainbow Dash went looking around the area close by to the hospital, wondering if Scootaloo was okay. She looked around the area, but Scootaloo was nowhere in sight. Rainbow Dash was amazed of how fast and far Scootaloo had ran off to not be anyway in sight. She hoovered around in the air, thinking of where Scootaloo could have gone.

"Um... Fluttershy? Do you mind if I come along? I wanna visit my mom's grave while we have some time to spare."

Rainbow Dash's eyebrows rose slightly as she recalled Scootaloo's words earlier. She put a hoof under her chin thinking it over, until she nodded to herself, considering to act on a hunch.

The breeze gently blew, making the blades of grass, wild flowers, and the leaves on the few trees wave softly in the grounds of the local cemetery. Despite it being an eerie place to bury ponies, the cemetery was beautiful. The atmosphere was very quiet, peaceful, and serene with nobody around. Save but a certain little, orange colored pegasus filly, with a purple mane and tail. Scootaloo was sitting in front of a headstone with her head down crying. She had a bruise on the left side of her face, blood all on her nose that made trails down her face, and her front hooves had some blood from her wiping her face of the blood. Tears were shedding down her face, as the sound of hooves landing on the grass was heard from behind her, accompanied by a shadow of a familiar pony standing behind her.

Scootaloo did not turn around, instead just kept on crying. Rainbow Dash sat down next to her, and looked at the headstone in front of them. The headstone was painted a pinkish color, decorated with two purplish-blue lightning bolts carvings on top of the writing, and had the following written on it.

HERE LIES
Firefly
Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly.
Dearly loved and missed by her beloved family.

"I knew your mom from the weather control group," Rainbow Dash said. "She and your dad were the weather control managers before she died, and I took over when your dad quit."

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash, showing the bruise, and blood on her face, with her eyes red and wet from crying.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "Come on, little buddy. Let Dr Stallion back at the hospital check you out."

Scootaloo raised her voice, making Rainbow Dash jump slightly. "I said I'm fine!" She briefly began to run.

Scootaloo stopped at Rainbow Dash calling her, and turned to face her soon after. She sniffled. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. And I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth about me."

"I don't understand." Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to Scootaloo, and sat down in front of her. "You told me your dad said it was okay for you to go to Manehattan, and then you said you made it home. You not only lied to me, but you lied to everypony. Why would you do that?"

Scootaloo sniffled and sighed, for she knew there was no point in hiding it any longer. "Alright. On Wednesday when you told me about Apple Bloom giving the tickets to us, I asked my dad about it later on like you told me." She looked down sadly. "But he said no...and you wouldn't believe the reason for it."

Scootaloo came in through the front door of her home, with a joyful smile on her face. She walked down the hallway, and came into the living room where her father, Storm Dasher was sitting on the sofa.

"Rainbow Dash told me Apple Bloom has got sick with chickenpox, and she's unable to go to the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan this weekend. So Apple Bloom has offered the tickets to me and Rainbow Dash to go instead." Scootaloo smiled. "Can I go, Dad?"

Scootaloo continued smiling, waiting for her father to say the answer she expected to hear. There was a pause, and then Storm Dasher answered.

Scootaloo's smile faded at her father's answer. "Aw, please, Dad? The hotel and everything is free, and part of the prize. And the concert is going to be the best, and I'll get to meet Sapphire Shores in person backstage, and everything."

"But why?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm not going to the big city alone, I'd be going with Rainbow Dash and Rarity."

"No," Storm Dasher said. "You are not going to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash! And that is final!"

Scootaloo's eyes widened with shock. Then she turned around and walked out of the living room sadly.

That evening, Scootaloo entered the kitchen where her father, Storm Dasher was preparing dinner. She decided to take another shot at asking her father to go to the Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Scootaloo hoped that he might change his mind this time, for it was her final chance before Rainbow Dash and Rarity leave on the train the next morning.

Storm Dasher sighed with annoyance. "No, Scootaloo. I've already told you yesterday. No!"

Storm Dasher turned to face Scootaloo. "Because I don't want you anywhere near Rainbow Dash, Rarity, or any of their friends. That's why."

"She, and her friends are protecting that predator, Abacus. And are telling lies about him to do it. And I don't want you anywhere near that scum."

Scootaloo was very disappointed and angered at how her father was refusing for her to go to Manehattan with Rainbow Dash for that reason. But more so with what he was saying about them, and about Abacus. She could not stand for what her father was saying any longer, and decided to make a stand against her father.

Storm Dasher slowly turned around and looked at Scootaloo with a look of shock and anger. "What did you just say, young lady?"

Scootaloo glared at her father. "I don't believe what you're saying about Rainbow Dash! I can't believe what you're saying about Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Twilight, and Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Apple Bloom, and Detective Lawful Eye! And I especially, especially can't believe what you're saying about Abacus! It makes me feel sick!"

"They didn't tell me to say anything! I'm telling this myself! It's the truth! Get it into your brainless skull!"

"Rainbow Dash and her friends have had a bad influence on you! You're beginning to sound just like them!"

"I hope so." Scootaloo glared with tears forming in her eyes. "Because they proved to me that Abacus is a poor innocent guy who wouldn't hurt a fly! And watching, and hearing you and everypony in town rip Abacus to shreds is like looking in the mirror!! I don't ever want to go back there! You're the bad influence, you jerk!!"

Storm Dasher growled and yelled at Scootaloo louder. "Alright, that's it! Get to your room! And you're going straight to bed without dinner tonight!!"

"FINE!" Scootaloo shouted. "I lost my appetite anyway...just by the sight of you!"

"And just for that, you're grounded! I don't want you hanging around with Rainbow Dash, or any of her friends again!" Storm Dasher pointed angrily out of the kitchen. "Now get to your room!! And don't come out until you've learnt how to behave!!"

Scootaloo angrily ran out of the kitchen, into the hallway, up the stairs, and ran into her bedroom. With great emphasis, she slammed the bedroom door hard behind her with all her anger that echoed throughout the whole house.

Scootaloo sniffled and cried as she finished recalling the argument she had with her father on the Wednesday, and Thursday night to Rainbow Dash.

"After my dad went to sleep that night, I took a sleeping bag from my wardrobe, packed for the trip as well as other things, and I ran away from home by climbing out the window quietly. I spent the rest of the night at the Crusaders' clubhouse." Scootaloo took a deep breath. "And the next morning, I lied and told you my dad said yes when I met you and Rarity at the station. And after me and Rarity went our separate ways back home when we got back to Ponyville, I detoured back to the clubhouse, and stayed their again. I did not want to go home to my dad, knowing my dad was going to be so mad at me."

"You don't know half of it!" Scootaloo sobbed, and sniffled before calming down. "When Mom was alive, she use to say something to me to always keep my spirits up when I was down. She said: "Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly." It was engraved on the board of my scooter. And whenever I ride it, it's like she's riding with me. It's so precious to me."

Rainbow Dash blinked. She remembered the time Scootaloo ran off in the middle of the night when they went camping to the Winsome Falls because she thought the Headless Horse was chasing her. She and her scooter ended up falling into a flowing river. Rainbow Dash remembered how Scootaloo really wanted to get it back, despite the idea of simply getting a new one. She and Scootaloo luckily managed to find it amazingly still in one piece after looking down the riverbank little past the same waterfall at the bottom.

"So that's why you begged for me to try and help get your scooter back when you lost it," Rainbow Dash said. "I didn't realize it was that important to you, kiddo."

Scootaloo sniffled and nodded. "Mm-hmm. It was the last birthday gift she gave me before she died. We had my family over to celebrate my birthday that day."

Scootaloo sat at the table, as her mother, Firefly and her father, Storm Dasher brought out a long box wrapped in blue wrapping paper, and tied with a light purplish-blue ribbon. Firefly was a hot pink pegasus, with a purplish-blue colored mane and tail, her cutie mark was of two purplish-blue lightning bolts, and she resembled Rainbow Dash in looks. She and Storm Dasher placed the wrapped gift on the table in front of Scootaloo.

Scootaloo began to open the gift. She tore the wrapping paper off until it revealed a box. She opened the box from the top and looked inside. Scootaloo's face instantly lit up like a little sun, for the box contained a blue colored scooter, with red wheels and handlebars. "Wow! Is this..."

Firefly smiled. "And look on the board part. There's something special written on it."

"Really?" Scootaloo took out the scooter, and looked at the board part, where there was the phrase "Find the fire to warm your heart, and like a bird, spread your wings and fly." engraved on it. She looked up at her parents with a big smile, and gave them a heartfelt hug. "Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Dad! I love it! You're the best mom and dad in the world!"

"Now whenever you ride on that scooter, you'll always have that special phrase to motivate you, and remind you on how truly special you really are." Firefly said.

"Sure, honey." Storm Dasher followed his wife into the kitchen. "Let's bring the cake out."

Firefly and Storm Dasher went into the kitchen to get the birthday cake. Scootaloo sat there waiting at the table in the living room with the rest of her relatives. Moments later, Firefly and Storm Dasher came walking out of the kitchen and into the living room towards the table. Holding up with one of their hooves on each side in between them was the birthday cake. A white-and-pink vanilla cake with a decorated picture of Scootaloo on the scooter drawn on the top of it.

"Ready, everypony? One, two, three!" Firefly counted to give the signal to the other family members at the party to start singing.

🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵
🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵
🎵Happy Birthday dear Scootaloo🎵
🎵Happy Birthday to you🎵

The relatives clapped and cheered as Firefly and Storm Dasher placed the cake on the table in front of Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled with joy. "This is the best birthday ever!"

Scootaloo took a deep breath, and blew out every one of the burning candles. Her whole family clapped and cheered as the smoke from the candles rose into the air.

Storm Dasher picked up the cake knife, and turned to Firefly. "You want to cut the cake, honey?"

Storm Dasher tilted his head with a worried look. He noticed that Firefly suddenly put a hoof on her forehead. She also began groaning faintly, as if she looked like she had a bad headache.

Firefly suddenly fainted. The whole family watched as Firefly fell unconscious on the living room floor. It was like time slowed down as she continued to fall, until her body landed on the living room floor with a thud that echoed around the whole room. There was a very brief silence, then everyone gasped with horror. Storm Dasher quickly kneeled down and shook Firefly.

"Mom!" Scootaloo got out of her seat, and rushed to Firefly. She began to frantically shake her mother in a vain effort to wake her. "Mommy, wake up! Please wake up! Mommy! MOMMY!!"

That very late night, Storm Dasher and Scootaloo, as well as the rest of the family members sat in the ward's waiting room of Ponyville hospital waiting on news on Firefly's condition. Just then, Dr Stallion came out into the waiting room, and approached Storm Dasher and Scootaloo. They got up from the seats as the solid black unicorn stopped in front of them.

Dr Stallion sighed, and then looked at them with a sad look. "Well...her CT scan showed she had a ruptured intracranial aneurysm."

Storm Dasher's eyes widened. "What? An aneurysm? How could she have got it? She was so fit and healthy when she had her check up with you two weeks ago. How could you have missed it?"

"Well, that's the problem, mate," Dr Stallion said. "Aneurysms are very tricky. They cause no symptoms, and go unnoticed or undetected most of the time. Nopony knows if they even have one until it's...well... too late."

Dr Stallion turned to Scootaloo. "Well, it's a bulging, weak area in the wall of an artery that supplies blood to the brain."

Dr Stallion nodded. "Yes. You know how the water goes in your house in the pipes and comes out of your taps? Well, arteries are like the plumbing inside your body that flows your blood. And aneurysms are like a broken water pipe. They can rupture, releasing blood inside a pony's head, and they can cause something called a stroke. That's why your mum fainted and fell down."

"But she will get better, won't she?" Scootaloo asked. "Can you save her, Dr Stallion?"

A look of sad sympathy found a place on Dr Stallion’s face as he leaned down to be on Scootaloo's level, putting a gentle, caring hoof under her chin. "I'm so sorry, possum. I really wish I could, but there's nothing I can do." He looked at Storm Dasher. "We just did some tests on her for any brain activity. ...there's no trace of any. The machines are the only things keeping her heart beating."

Dr Stallion sighed and nodded. He then focus on both Scootaloo and Storm Dasher. "We're about to turn her life support off. You can see her to say your final goodbyes if you wish."

Scootaloo rushed passed Dr Stallion, and ran towards the doors that entered into the hospital.

Scootaloo did not stop, or even look back as she went through the doors, and entered the hospital. With tears in her eyes, she rushed passed hospital staff down the corridors, until she found the room where her mother, Firefly was in, skidding to a halt, wide eyed at the sight before her. Her mother was hooked up to many machines to keep her brain-dead heart beating.

Scootaloo rushed towards the side of her mother's bed as the nurses turned to her. Dr Stallion and Storm Dasher entered into the room, and walked over to Scootaloo's side. Storm Dasher patted Firefly's head, crying as he leaned down, and kissed her head. "Good bye, my darling wife. I love you."

Storm Dasher gently pulled Scootaloo away from Firefly, and stopped, standing right next to Dr Stallion. He looked at Dr Stallion with tears in his eyes, and slowly nodded. Dr Stallion nodded back, as it indicated that the father gave permission to shut off his wife's life support. He came to Firefly's side, and with his magic began to disconnect the machines keeping her brain-dead body functioning. When Dr Stallion disconnected the ventilator making Firefly breathe, Scootaloo began to cry at what was going on in front of her. There was a few beeps of the heart monitor for a few moments, slowing until the heart monitor beeping turned into a monotonous droning, as it indicated her heartbeat was gone.

"No! Mom!" Scootaloo escaped from her father's grasp, and rushed to the lifeless body of her mother. She began shaking Firefly as she cried. "Mommy, you can't die! It's my birthday! Please come back, mommy! Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!!!"

Scootaloo began to cry and sob uncontrollably, as Dr Stallion and the nurses dropped their heads sadly, with tears in their eyes. Storm Dasher looked away, sobbing and crying, but struggling to not break down like his daughter. One of the nurses gently pulled Scootaloo away, while a second nurse pulled up the hospital bed sheets over Firefly's lifeless body.

Scootaloo nearly broke down into tears as she finished recalling the death of her mother to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash's heart sank, for she knew that losing a mother, or any loved one on their birthday was the most horrible thing to happen for any child. She outstretched her wing, and wrapped it around the crying filly into a hug to comfit her.

Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, and tried to pull herself together to continue talking. "It's not fair! Why did Mom have to die? And why on my birthday? Of all the days, why did she choose that day?"

"I don't know, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said. "Life can be really uncool and unfair sometimes. She didn't choose to die on your birthday specifically, it was just pure, bad, dumb luck that it happened on that day. In fact, no pony chooses when they die, it just happens, and nopony knows when they are going to. That's just the way it is."

Scootaloo sniffled. "You want to know what I wished when I blew out the candles on my birthday cake? I wished for every other birthday would be as awesome as that one, with Mom and Dad together with me in everyone of them. But it didn't come true. My birthday two months ago was only good because of you and the others. In fact, I never told you this, but one of the reasons why I wanted you to take me under your wing, teach me everything you know, and become like my big sister...is because...because you look exactly like my mom."

Rainbow Dash was very touched at what Scootaloo said. She remembered how many of the other pegasi on the weather patrol always commented on how she and Firefly looked so alike. They even thought a couple of times that they were both related. On a few occasions, they joked that if either of them dyed their coat, mane and tail the same colors as the other, they could be twins, despite there was over a decade age gap between them.

"My dad and I were so close, he was so nice, and spent time with me. I use to tell him that he was the best dad in the whole world." Scootaloo sniffled. "But after Mom died, Dad changed. He felt unable to work, and we only survived because of some paying benefit thing ponies get every week when they're jobless. He became unsocial, distant, and sometimes short-tempered, especially when he took up drinking. Many ponies told him to get counselling, but he refuses, and denies it to everypony who mentioned it. I even spend the days away from home either with you and the others, or with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to give him space. When he found out about me and Apple Bloom's first encounter with Abacus, he became so much worse. I even told him the truth that Abacus didn't hit me, but he never listened to me." She winced sadly and angrily. "This is the first time he has ever hit me. Sometimes I wish it was Dad that died instead of Mom."

Scootaloo sobbed. "No! When I said I hated him, I really meant it. He's turned into this jerk of a stallion I live with that I can't even relate to anymore. I hate him!"

Rainbow Dash patted Scootaloo's head. "Look, little buddy. I know your dad has become a real jerk lately, and I don't like him for that too. But you know something? I kinda feel sorry for him. Loosing your mom probably hit him real hard, maybe even more so than you, and he takes his sadness and frustration out on others as a result. And those boozes he drinks wouldn't make him any better. It's pretty lousy that your dad changed from being such an awesome guy, to a complete jerk. But I think he really loves you. Plus, I could see from his reaction after hitting you, that he didn't mean it. Maybe when he spends time in jail for assaulting Abacus with Coco-Nut, he might learn from his mistakes, and it might end up being a wake-up call for him."

"But what about Abacus?" Scootaloo asked. "Those pig friends of my uncle Flare Shaker are going to put that poor guy back to jail."

"Don't worry. There's no way Detective Lawful Eye is ever going to let that happen." Rainbow Dash smiled at Scootaloo. "Now how about we go back to the hospital, and let Dr Stallion take a look at you, and perhaps get you cleaned up?"

"Sure, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said. "I don't blame you for not wanting to see him right now. And you can stay with me at my place for a couple of days till things cool off."

Scootaloo sniffled, and smiled, before hugging Rainbow Dash tightly. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash."

As Scootaloo snuggled on Rainbow Dash, she had accidentally smeared some of the blood from her nose on the front of her. Rainbow Dash noticed the smeared blood from the little filly on the front of her. She was about to scold at Scootaloo for it, but stopped since she had been through enough already. It was fine. She knew she could just wash it off easily. No harm done, except to her pride. Right now, this filly needed support from her idol and friend, instead of a scolding for unintentionally staining her. That was the last thing she needed.

Rainbow Dash gently released the hug, and put a caring hoof around Scootaloo's shoulders. "Come on, squirt. Let's go."

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo began to walk through the cemetery to head to the hospital. They reached the exit of the cemetery moments later, when Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash.

A Pop Star, a Princess, and a Prisoner

by Raptormon132

Chapter 15: "I Hate My Dad!"