"Ten. Stinkin. Years. Skeeter."
"Calm down Rainbow Dash, isn't this supposed to be a 'Welcome' party? Not a 'Hater' party?' asked Skeeter with a smirk, leaving Rainbow Dash seething.
"I found her!" yelled Pinkie Pie, referring to Scootaloo who was standing beside her.
"Hey Squirt," greeted Skeeter.
Scootaloo, seeing Dash's upset face just kind of stared at the stallion in front of her.
"Scootaloo, we need to leave. Now," said Rainbow Dash, trying not to yell for the sake of the ponies around them. "I made a mistake in coming here. I thought that Skeeter here would actually talk, not mess around."
"Hey, hey, hey, I did come here to talk. Just not in a party setting," explained Skeeter.
"Then you can tell me whatever you want to tell me later. I currently am here trying to enjoy a party, and you're in the way of me enjoying it," said Rainbow Dash through clenched teeth.
Whether he was oblivious of Dash's anger or just ignoring it, Skeeter just shrugged and said, "Fine, I'll meet you somewhere tomorrow. Do you have any suggestions? I don't really know my way around town."
Rainbow Dash, who was trying to calm down, looked at Skeeter for a good long while. "We can meet at the library. It's the big crystal palace; pretty hard to miss if you plan on flying."
"Deal," said Skeeter. "Now tell me Scootaloo, what do you enjoy doing in this tiny town of yours?"
Glancing at Rainbow Dash and seeing that she had finally relaxed, Scootaloo answered, "Well, my friend's and I, we call ourselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, go around town helping people get there cutie mark or helping them understand their cutie mark. If it's just me, I normally spend most of my time on my scooter. I've mastered a lot of neat tricks at the skate park too."
"That sounds like a lot of fun,'' Skeeter said. "Well, it was nice meeting you, I must go mingle."
As he began to walk off, Rainbow Dash called him, and, with a slight blush, asked, "Why is your mane grey? I mean, the last time I saw you, it was dark purple."
With a smirk, Skeeter walked back to where Rainbow Dash stood. (Scootaloo had gone off to find the rest of the CMC.) "Well," he began, with the look of one far off in space, "it was a pretty average day, about a year after we parted. I had just moved to Canterlot to start a skate park and I was getting ready to paint my new skateboard the same color grey as my cutie mark. When I was ready to begin painting, I realized that I had forgotten a paintbrush so I turned around to go get one. What happened next was not as anticipated. I slipped on the tarp I had laid down, slid about a foot, and landed face down in my tray of paint, getting all over my face, mane, and the tarp."
Here Dash couldn't help but snicker at the mental image she just conjured.
"Anyway," continued Skeeter, "I went to go clean up but I wasn't able to get all the paint out of my mane so I had to go to the store to get paint remover. I ended up asking a sales pony where it was but before he told me he said that he thought my hair was really cool looking. So, being the totally humble stallion I am, I thanked him before running off to the nearest restroom to check out my main. Turns out that the gray spiky look worked really. So I quickly found and bought the paint remover and flew home. Once I got back, I cleaned up the mess that I had left and got the rest of the paint out of my mane. After that I went to a mane place and had them magically change the color of my mane. Now it will always be grey instead of purple. As for the spikes, mousse is my friend."
"That sounds pretty cool," admitted Rainbow Dash. "Where di-"
"Cake time!!!" yelled Pinkie Pie, cutting off Rainbow Dash.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," and with his final statement, Skeeter went off in quest of cake, leaving Rainbow Dash feeling confused and flustered.
How is it that I still like him after what he did. I'm supposed to hate him! Ugh, why does life have to be so complicated? pondered Rainbow Dash as she ate a piece of cake that somepony had shoved into her hooves. After I wrote to him informing him of Scootaloo, I thought that he would be there for me, but he left me. What's changed? Looking around for Skeeter, Rainbow Dash realized that she had been in her own little world for a while and the party was over and everypony was leaving. After making sure that the CMS were, for sure going to their clubhouse, Rainbow Dash started flying home while trying to figure out when she should tell her friends about Scootaloo.
To her surprise, she saw all of them heading towards Twilight's castle. So being Miss Sneaky/Nosy, she hid behind a cloud and eavesdropped.
"Ah'm just not sure why she would be hiding anything," Dash heard Applejack say.
"You're positively right. It makes absolutely zero sense for her to hide something from her friends. Don't you think so Fluttershy?" asked Rarity.
"Well, um-"
Before Fluttershy could continue, Rainbow Dash quickly flew down to where her friends were. "Hey guys," she said nonchalantly, "what're you all up to."
"We were all just talking about how everypony thinks you're hiding something," said Pinkie Pie, unaware of the uncomfortable glances the rest of her friends gave her for her bluntness.
"Oh, that. I've been meaning to tell you guys for a while," sighed Rainbow Dash, finally ready to stop hiding her past from her friends. "Well, you guys all met Skeeter at the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, right?" After a unanimous head nod from her friends, she continued. "He and I go way back, back to when I was a freshman and he was a senior. We were actually dating at the time. One day he was asked to a party by one of his buddies and since I was his marefriend his buddy asked me too. We went that night and his friend had cider as one of the beverages. Both Skeeter and I got quite a bit tipsy before the night was over. I ended up moving to Ponyville soon after and found out that I was going to have a little foal."
The shocked expressions on all of her friends faces only caused her to talk faster, wanting to be finished with her confession.
"Skeeter and I had been corresponding by mail. I wrote him and told him about the soon to be foal. He was super excited...at first; he even came to visit once or twice a month. Well, one month he didn't come and I wrote him asking why. He was very blunt. He wanted nothing to do with me anymore, he had a new marefriend. At first I was devastated, but with the up and coming foal to keep me busy, I let it go. A few months later I had the little foal and Skeeter came to see me for the first time in four months. Turns out, all he wanted was to keep the foal. After a long argument, we came to an agreement. I would keep the foal, which was a filly, if I let him name her."
Pausing for a breath, Rainbow Dash saw confusion and sympathy in her friends eyes, but before she could continue, Pinkie impatiently asked, "So what did he name her?!"
"He named her Scootaloo."