//------------------------------// // 6. Rule Six: There is no Six // Story: Scootaloo the Fugitive // by Kaidan //------------------------------// Scootaloo awoke, groggy and dazed. She was slowly coming to, and felt something tugging at her injured left shoulder. She willed herself to wake up faster, but to no avail. She remembered a timberwolf, and a bear, but it was all very hazy. Was this what having a limb pulled off felt like? As the hooves continued to manipulate her shoulder, the pain helped her wake up more quickly. Wait, bears don't have hooves. Scootaloo had regained some control of her muscles and tensed her shoulder up. Something jerked the shoulder and Scootaloo felt a sharp pain, and heard a loud pop. Finally recovering from her stupor, Scootaloo looked up to see Fluttershy, the mare who only a couple nights ago had let the Cutie Mark Crusaders have a sleepover. Scootaloo noticed she could move her shoulder again and most of the pain was gone. "Fluttershy! There was a timberwolf, and a bear! We have to get inside!" Scootaloo tried to scramble to her feet, but Fluttershy pinned her down with a hoof. "Easy Scootaloo, that was my friend Baloo. He helps me keep dangerous animals from leaving the Everfree and bothering ponies in Ponyville." "What?" Scootaloo looked off the porch to see a bear grinning sheepishly and waving to him. "You dislocated your shoulder. . . I'm sorry if I hurt you when I relocated it. Now let's get you inside and out of the rain." Fluttershy scooped her up and flew inside. "Oh this is horrible, your parents are going to be so worried!" "Oh uh. . . they had to work overtime, they won't even know." "So. . . how did you get attacked by a timberwolf? If you don't mind." Scootaloo kept getting lost in her smile, slowly being disarmed by her kindness. She relaxed onto the sofa and felt her stress melting away as her limp legs dangled off the edge. "I was riding my scooter back home, and it jumped out of the Everfree and chased me here!" Scootaloo sighed, this was going well. "What about your helmet? And the bruises? And the cuts. . . I'm sorry, I should slow down. You are not in trouble, but this alcohol is going to sting while I disinfect your wound." Scootaloo thought over how to reply, and was interrupted by a stinging sensation over her flank. There were some scratches similar to what Opalescence had once given her. These scratches were larger, and deeper. She clenched her jaw tightly and tensed her sore leg muscles to keep them still. Every millimeter of exposed flesh from the cuts felt like a fiery inferno. The stinging didn't last long before the nerves began blocking out some of the pain signals. She started relaxing her jaw as the worst of it was behind her. "You took that well Scootaloo, you're a very brave pony. Now, please, Baloo saw you come out of the Everfree. He sent his cousin Gryll into the forest to check for more timberwolves. Why would you go out there at night? I thought after the cockatrice. . . I don't know what I'd do if you had gotten killed." Fluttershy was crying gently now, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Scootaloo was speechless, and she couldn't think of a lie. How could this pony she had only spent one night with care for her so much? All the adults she had ever known treated her like a child, who needed to be told what to do and how to act. Well, to be fair, Dash has never told me what to do. "Why? Why are you being so nice to me? Why aren't you yelling or taking me to my parents?" "Scootaloo, everypony deserves kindness. Especially when they are hurt." Fluttershy smiled again, wiping away any trace of the tears she had shed. Scootaloo looked down to see her flank had been wrapped with a bandage, and Fluttershy took a towel and began to dry her hair. "I'm going to have to tell your parents what happened, you know. I. . . I don't want to get you in trouble, but you can't be doing stunts in the Everfree. And if you don't want to tell me why, then I'll tell your parents what you told me. However, you have to pinkie promise never to go in the Everfree again." Scootaloo's last wall around her emotions broke and she began to cry. Is this what my mother would have been like if she hadn't died? Is this the life their death denied to me? "You take pinkie promises very seriously around here? Sweetie Belle was telling me about them." "Yes Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie has a sixth sense that allows her to tell when someone is about to break a pinkie promise. She can be. . . very persuasive." Fluttershy took out a brush and began to brush Scootaloo's mane. "When I look at you Scootaloo, I see myself as a filly. So lonely, and afraid to get close to ponies. If you pinkie promise to stay out of the Everfree and not repeat it, I'll tell you my story." Scootaloo was too sore and tired to even consider resisting Fluttershy. If this was it, if this was the night she got sent back to the orphanage, there was no stopping it now. "Ok, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She tried to make the gestures but her sore muscles didn't comply. "I still don't get why you're doing all this. You already know I was lying." Fluttershy smiled. "It's okay, just listen for now. When I was a filly in flight school, I wasn't a very good flier. One day, a bunch of bullies were picking on me and Rainbow Dash came to my defense. She challenged them to a race, and when they started, I was knocked off my cloud at the starting line. I was falling through the air and I couldn’t use my wings to slow me down because I was just too scared. I thought I was going to hit the ground, but a gentle cloud of butterflies caught me and slowly set me down on the ground. It was my very first time on the ground, and I was still very scared from the fall. But, when I looked around, I saw a bunch of my animal friends gathered around to see if I was okay. The ground was so wonderful, and all the cute little animals were so nice, I never wanted to leave. I knew that day that I wanted to spend my life on the ground, caring for them. Just then, I felt a tingling on my flanks, and when I turned around, my cutie mark had appeared! When the instructors found me, I didn't want to go back. “Once they got me back to Cloudsdale, I told my parents I was dropping out of flight school. I was going to study to be a veterinarian and return to the ground. They. . . weren't pleased. Up until the day I was old enough to move out, they kept telling me it was a mistake. They tried to get me into college, and into other flight camps. My whole family had a proud legacy of Wonderbolts, weather team leaders, and managers at weather factories across Equestria. “When I finally got old enough and left, they told me if I walked out that door. . . that I was dead to them. They considered me a failure for not living up to their legacy. It was so cruel, but I knew what my cutie mark meant. I was meant to spread kindness, to help those who can't help themselves. That was nearly ten years ago, and it still hurts. I've been alone since then, the only friends I’ve had had been Rarity and Rainbow Dash until Twilight came to town. And when I look at you Scootaloo, I see that same loneliness." Scootaloo sat in silence as she absorbed her story. She couldn't imagine anyone else was as lonely as she had been. "Why did you give up your family? I'd do anything to have my parents back." "I left because I knew it was my job to be kind to animals, and ponies like you Scootaloo. Now, I pinkie promise not to tell anypony about your parents. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. How did they die Scootaloo?" "How. . . how long have you known?" "I've been suspicious. . . not that I was spying, oh I would never do that. My animal friends saw you going into the Everfree several times and um. . . no one in town has seen your parents even once." "Ugh, alright, you got me. I doubt I could get up and leave even if I wanted to. I'll tell you how I became an orphan, and why I will never let anypony send me back.” Scootaloo was asleep when her aunt woke her up. "Scootaloo, I need you to come with me to the hospital." "It's late, why do I have to go?" The tiny filly yawned and tried to disappear back beneath the sheets." "There has been an accident. . . Please come with me." "What?" Scootaloo rolled over to face her. "Who got hurt? Was it mommy and daddy?" "Please Scootaloo. . . Just come to the hospital and I'll explain there." "What happened to mommy and daddy! Tell me!" Her aunt was crying, and scooped Scootaloo up in her arms and flew towards the hospital in silence. Scootaloo kept asking what was going on, but her aunt would not answer. Finally, they got to the hospital and went inside. The doctors and nurses parted before them as they approached a room no different from any other. Entering the room she saw a few other distant relatives were gathered around. "Where's mommy and daddy! What happened!" Scootaloo squirmed out of her aunt's grip, falling to the floor and running over to the bed. She could see the familiar orange coat of her father under the bed sheet. Everypony in the room looked away and began crying as Scootaloo approached the bed. Scootaloo had to hop up to reach the sheet and uncover her father. "Daddy, wake up daddy." Her father didn't answer. He lay there with a tube down his throat, several wires and machines had been hooked up to him but were all turned off now. He was bruised and cut, and so cold. "Daddy?" Scootaloo hugged his neck, and saw her mother's beautiful pink mane on the bed next to her. Leaping to the bed, she uncovered her mother to a similar sight. She was badly hurt, cold and unmoving. The iv needles and tubing still taped to her arm, tubes in her mouth. . . Scootaloo couldn't believe what she was seeing. "No! NO! WAKE UP! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!!" "Scootaloo. . . they're gone now." Her aunt approached her, and Scootaloo realized the others were murmuring in the background. "I need to take you home now." "NO! YOU'RE NOT--MY MOMMY! I--WANT MY--MOMMY!" Scootaloo was hysterical, and as soon as her aunt touched her, she jumped off the bed and bolted out of the room. She ran from the pain and the anger. She ran until her legs could not carry her any further. She ran until she was so exhausted that the only thing she could do was collapse in the embrace of sleep. Curled up in a cardboard box in an alleyway, she cursed Celestia for taking her parents from her. Now Fluttershy was crying again. "Scootaloo. . . I had no idea. I'm so sorry." Scootaloo wasn't faring much better having just relived her worst memories. Sobbing, she replied. "Why are you sorry? You--didn't take them from me! You--weren't stuck--in the orphanage." Scootaloo curled up and burst into tears. "The worst—part is—nopony—ever came—looking—for me—they just—left me—all alone—" Fluttershy slowly patted her mane and began to sing a lullaby, until Scootaloo was gently snoring. Scootaloo awoke in the morning to the smell of cinnamon mixed with hay and the odor of a dozen different animals. She was still on the sofa, but she had a pillow and a warm bed sheet. The sun was shining through the windows, and no sooner had she woken up, Fluttershy came in carrying some breakfast. "Scootaloo. . . I want you to stay here with me. . . um if you don't mind. I won't let any pony take you back to the orphanage but. . . I don't know if I can ever replace your parents." Scootaloo smiled, and began to move her stiff muscles. "Thank you, but what's the point? I can't go to school like this, Cheerilee will worry about me. Then my parent's won't show up to parent-teacher night because I don't have any. . . and I'll have to go back." Scootaloo was on the verge of tears again, but Fluttershy lifted up her chin. "You let me worry about Cheerilee. You are going to stay here and rest, and if you need anything Angel will get it for you. And Angel," she turned to stare at the bunny. "You won't give any attitude to our guest." Angel nodded submissively. He had a penchant for mischief, of which both ponies were well aware. "Thank you. You've been so kind. . . I accept. I'll stay here until we can figure something out" Scootaloo smiled and Fluttershy returned a warm smile of her own. Scootaloo had never opened up to any pony, and now that she had, she felt so good. A huge weight had been lifted off of her. She felt the same blissful feelings she felt when hanging out with Applebloom and Sweetie, only a hundredfold stronger. Despite not knowing what the future would bring, she had this wonderful moment with Fluttershy. For that whole day the thoughts of her parent's death and Gerda did not haunt her.