Scootaloo opened her eyes when she heard the sound of feet against the floor outside her room. There was a soft knock at the door and she sat up in her bed.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"Its Sunset, can I come in?" The voice of Sunset Shimmer asked from the other side of the door.
Scootaloo smiled a little, of all the kids that lived in the home, Sunset was the one that she had become closest to since she had arrived. The older girl had helped her a lot after her parents had died, Sunset was like the big sister she had never had before.
"Come in."
"Hey Scootaloo," Sunset said as she came into the room and took a seat on the bed next to the younger girl. "How are you doing?"
"Okay I guess, I just really don't want to have to go to school today," Scootaloo said with a shrug, Sunset was starting school at Canterlot High School and it would be the first year they didn't go to the same school.
"Scootaloo, its going to be okay," Sunset said as she gave the younger girl a hug. "I know its not going to be easy but you're going to make lots of friends at your new school. And I'll be here when you get home."
"Promise?" Scootaloo asked as she looked up at the older girl.
"I promise, I wouldn't leave my little sister hanging," Sunset said with a smile. "You're going to be just fine, I promise!"
Scootaloo smiled at that and hugged her back, she was happy she had met Sunset, the older girl always seemed to know just how to help her. She just wished that things weren't going to be so hard.
"Do you really think I'll be able to make friends there?" She asked.
"Hey, you're a good kid, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends," Sunset said and then reached into her pocket. "Here, I have something for you."
"Oh, what is it?" Scootaloo asked curiously as Sunset took out a necklace and gave it to her, it was gold with an inscription on it that Scootaloo read out loud. "SS and S, Sisters forever. You got this made for me?"
"Yep, I have one just like it," Sunset said as she showed Scootaloo her own identical pendant. "Don't worry Scootaloo, you'll be just fine. As long as you have that with you, I'll always be with you."
Scootaloo smiled and hugged the older girl again. They held the embrace for awhile before breaking it, it was time to get ready to go to school.
Little did either of them know it was the last time they'd see each other.
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"Welcome new students, I'm Mrs. Chalk and I'll be your homeroom teacher for this year," the teacher said as she wrote her name on the board. "Now since its just the first day, I thought it would be good for us to take the time to get to know one another."
Scootaloo yawned a little, she never found these get to know you activities very exciting. She was sitting towards the back of the class and was more interested in looking out the window than paying attention to what the teacher was talking about.
The door to the classroom opened up and a girl's voice was heard. "Sorry ma'am, I got lost."
"Its okay, just don't make a habit of it," the teacher said as she scanned the room. "There's a seat right next to Scootaloo, if you don't mind sitting there for now we can always re-seat you later."
"Okay," the girl said before walking back to the desk and taking a seat.
Scootaloo glanced over out of curiosity and was surprised to see a girl about her age with pale white skin and a mix of pink and purple hair held back by a hairband sitting there. She gave Scootaloo a smile as she took out some paper and a pencil.
Scootaloo just blushed a little and looked back out the window, trying not to think about the cute girl that had sat down next to her.
"Alright then, lets start by introducing ourselves and telling the class something about ourselves," Mrs. Chalk said and pointed at a girl at the front of the first row. "Lets start with you."
Scootaloo didn't pay much attention to the names, she was off in her own world thinking about what she'd do once school was over for the day. She had planned to head to the skate part before heading home and she was focused more on what kind of tricks she'd practice that afternoon when she heard the girl next to her talk.
"Well, I'm Sweetie Belle, and I love to sing," the girl said with a cheerful smile as Scootaloo looked over at her again. "I've been practicing my singing since I was just a little girl."
She seemed nice at least, maybe they could become friends, but Scootaloo wasn't sure if Sweetie would want to be friends with her if she knew the truth. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
When Scootaloo's turn finally came around she tried to say she liked scooters and tricks, but she got all tongue tied and couldn't form a coherent sentence. Most of the class laughed at her, but Sweetie Belle just gave her a reassuring smile.
"Its okay, you're doing fine," she said and reached over and put her hand on Scootaloo's reassuringly. That gave Scootaloo the surge of confidence she needed.
"My name is Scootaloo and I like skating and doing tricks on my scooter," she said with a smile and gave Sweetie a nod.
"That's wonderful, we have such a variety of talents and interests in this class," Mrs. Chalk said as she gave Scootaloo a nod.
When the last student had finished Mrs. Chalk let the class have the rest of the period free. Scootaloo sighed a little, she hadn't exactly made a good first impression on the other students, the school year wasn't off to a great start.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sweetie Belle asked, Scootaloo looked over to the pale skinned girl and smiled a little.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just not very good at talking in front of crowds," she said sheepishly as she brushed a strand of purple hair out of her eyes. "Thank you for that."
"You're welcome, my big sister always says you should never be afraid to help someone out when she needs it," Sweetie said with a smile.
"You have a big sister too?"
"Yeah, her name is Rarity, we just moved to Canterlot over the summer with our parents," Sweetie said. "What about you?"
"Well, I kinda have a big sister, I mean we're not really related but we're close enough that we're kind of sisters," Scootaloo said playing with her hair a little. "She goes to the High School so, I'm still kind of getting used to not having her around."
"Hey its fine, I get that," Sweetie said. "Not everything is going to be easy but you'll do just fine, I'm sure."
Scootaloo smiled, Sweetie Belle seemed like a nice girl, did this mean she might have a friend? It was weird but she had never thought about it before, what was she supposed to do, just ask her? Well, it wouldn't hurt.
"Hey Sweetie, I was wondering, do you want to be friends?" Scootaloo asked, which surprised the other girl a little. "I mean, if its okay."
"Are you kidding? I'd love to be friends!" Sweetie said with a smile that brightened up the room so much Scootaloo couldn't help but smile back.
As the two girls continued to talk the conversation inevitably went back to their families. Scootaloo still felt a little nervous about telling her new friend about her home life so Sweetie went first.
"Yeah, we moved here from Fillydelphia a few months back, my Dad got a job as the head of IT at Rich Industries," Sweetie said with a nod. "We're still kind of getting settled in and I haven't met any other kids my age, well except for the CEO's daughter and she's kind of annoying."
"Oh, geez, well I'm still trying to meet people really," Scootaloo admitted with a sigh. "I actually used to go to a different school across town but I had to be transferred here last year when I moved."
"Oh, why did you have to move?" Sweetie asked with a slight tilt of her head.
This was the moment of truth, should she tell Sweetie Belle the truth? What would the girl say? She had never really been sure about telling other people the truth about where she came from because they usually treated her either as a charity case or a pariah.
Though Sweetie seemed different, she didn't really know why, but she got that feeling from the other girl. Like she could confide in her whatever she needed to.
"I'm, an orphan," Scootaloo finally admitted to Sweetie which got a surprised look from her. "When I was little my parents were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. I was home sick at the time with the babysitter and after that I was kind of sent to different Foster Homes."
"Oh... I see..." Sweetie said and placed her hand on Scootaloo's gently.
"Yeah, my sister that I mentioned, Sunset Shimmer? She lived at the last Foster Home with me and we started to become close," Scootaloo continued. "But the family we lived with couldn't take care of us anymore so we were moved again and thankfully wound up in the same home together."
"That can't be easy for you," Sweetie said. "I can't imagine losing my parents like that..."
"Its not really, but I've managed to cope with it, Sunset's been a great help but sometimes, sometimes its hard to go on every day," Scootaloo said sadly. "My foster mom's okay I guess, she's not mean to us or anything and is pretty nice but its not really the same."
Sweetie didn't say anything for a moment, instead she leaned over and gave Scootaloo a hug which surprised the purple haired girl. She smiled softly and hugged her back, that's what she really needed right now.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome Scootaloo, that's what friends are for after all," Sweetie said with a smile as the bell rang. "Darn it, class is over, see you at lunch?"
"See you then!" Scootaloo said with a smile as she and Sweetie left the room together and parted ways to go to their next classes.
00000
The two met up again at lunch and met another girl around their age named Apple Bloom, Scootaloo couldn't be happier that she had made not one but two friends on her first day and she couldn't want to get back home to tell Sunset.
She waved good-bye to her new friends before climbing on her scooter and heading back towards the foster home. She could always go to the skate park later, right now she just wanted to get home.
When she got home she found the woman running the Foster Home Dizzy Twister waiting for her looking worried.
"Oh thank goodness you're here," Dizzy Twister said as she wiped her forehead.
"What's going on, what's wrong?" Scootaloo asked as she looked around, this was the second time in her life people had acted like this. "Where's Sunset?"
"Scootaloo... Sunset vanished from school today," Dizzy Twister said nervously. "I heard from Principal Celestia, she went to go eat her lunch outside and she never showed up for her other classes."
Scootaloo was devastated, Sunset Shimmer was missing? Where could she have gone? Why did she leave? If she had run away then why wouldn't she have said anything to her?
She couldn't think about it any more, she just ran up to her room crying.
00000
A few days passed, Scootaloo still went to school but she barely talked to anyone. When Sweetie and Apple Bloom tried to see what was wrong she just ignored them, it felt like she had lost her family all over again and that hurt her more than anything.
The police had been called of course but they couldn't find any leads, it was almost like Sunset had vanished into thin air. So Scootaloo had no real answers, just lots of questions as to what was going on.
Finally four days after Sunset vanished Scootaloo was leaving the foster home when she saw a familiar face walking up the street. She froze when she realized it was Sunset, though she was dressed differently, wearing a leather jacket over her usual outfit, she didn't care, she dropped what she was doing and ran over to the older girl and hugged her.
"Oh thank goodness you're okay!" Scootaloo said through her tears as she held the surprised girl for a long moment.
"Uh, who are you?" Sunset asked as she looked down at the strange girl.
"What are you talking about? You've known me since I came to the home..." Scootaloo said confused. "Right? Sisters forever?"
"Look, I don't know who you are kid, but I've never seen you before in my life so leave me alone," Sunset said as she pushed Scootaloo away and kept walking down the street, leaving Scootaloo confused and heartbroken.