Fluttershy had a few books in the “Daring Do” series that Dash had been trying to get her to read. She left them with Scootaloo as she went out to feed the animals. Time passed quickly, and soon she was at the schoolhouse to excuse the filly from class for the day. Fluttershy hated to lie, it was unkind. At the same time, it would be kind of her to help Scootaloo get well. Her conscience eventually convinced her to cover for Scootaloo.
Walking into the school she quickly found Miss Cheerilee. “Good morning Cheerilee”
“Good Morning Fluttershy. What brings you to the school?”
“Well you see.” Fluttershy glanced around to make sure the room was empty, and then took a deep breath. “Scootaloo’s parents went out of town for work to deliver some weather clouds to Fillydelphia, and Scootaloo is staying with me and she got really sick with the filly flu.” Fluttershy smiled, and then fidgeted with her hooves.
“Oh Fluttershy there’s no need to be so nervous. I’m sure you’ll take excellent care of Scootaloo. She can come back to class on Monday, and I’ll reschedule the parent-teacher conference to next Thursday.”
“Thank you.” Everypony in town was so trusting, and Fluttershy was always so nice. Cheerilee had accepted her story without question. “Well I have some other errands to run.” She quickly shuffled out the door.
“Tell Scootaloo to get well soon.”
Fluttershy walked out of the school and breathed a sigh of relief. She headed back onto the road and ran into Applejack and Applebloom. “eep!”
“Well howdy, Fluttershy. What brings ya to the school?”
“Oh it’s nothing, really. I just wanted to say good morning to Miss Cheerilee. It’s such a lovely day. . .” Fluttershy began to use her familiar tells. Her voice trailed off to silence, she turned her head to hide partly behind her mane, and gently fidgeted with her hooves. Applejack had known her long enough to read her like a book.
“Why don’t ya go on ahead Sugarcube, have fun at school.”
“Bye sis, bye stare master!” Applebloom trotted off to put her bags down under her desk.
“Fluttershy, Scootaloo didn’t walk ta school with Applebloom like she usually does. Then ah find you at school as nervous as a fly in a spider’s web. You found out something ‘bout Scootaloo, didn’t ya?”
“Oh no.” Fluttershy began backing up slowly. She knew there was no lying to the element of honesty, so she came right out with it. “I made a pinkie promise not to say anything. Scootaloo is fine.”
“That’s a load of hooey, ah need to know who mah sis’ is spending so much time with.”
“I couldn’t possibly break a pinkie promise.” Fluttershy looked around, and realized how softly she had spoken. Remembering what Dash had taught her about cheering, she tried again. “I said I couldn’t possibly break a pinkie promise!” It wasn’t much louder, but it had the desired effect.
Pinkie Pie leapt out of a nearby bush. “What? Someone’s about to break a pinkie promise! You can’t, that’s the fastest way to lose a friend!”
“Gah! What in tarnation Pinkie, how are yah always doin’ that?”
“It’s easy, I have an underground network of tunnels I keep all over Ponyville in case of pinkie promise emergencies!”
“Ah ain’t got time for this, Ah’ve got to start apple bucking. Well played, Fluttershy. Ah just hope you’re not hidin’ something bad. Honesty is always the best way to help a pony out.”
Applejack trotted back to the farm, and Pinkie turned to the yellow mare. “Wow Fluttershy, what was that about?”
“I made a pinkie promise to Scootaloo. Applejack has been worried about her since she caught her stealin’ apples and hanging out around the Everfree.”
“Oh, I can’t possibly let her get such a sweet little filly in trouble. She always volunteers to be my taste tester! One day she ate over a dozen different cupcakes with me.”
“She is really sweet.” Fluttershy smiled, remembering the look of joy and innocence on Scootaloo’s face as she was sleeping on the couch. At the sleepover where she saved them from a cockatrice, Scootaloo had stayed distant from her and guarded her emotions. To see her last night, so vulnerable, yet at such great peace, had reminded her of her early childhood.
Dash flew down to the pair of ponies and interrupted their conversation. “Hey, have you two seen Scootaloo?”
“Why, what’s the matter?” Pinkie smiled, revealing a rainbow of sprinkles in her teeth. Dash often wondered how she had never gotten a single cavity.
“I was pushing some rogue weather clouds back into the Everfree, then I was going to take a nap. But I looked down and saw this on a trail near the edge of the Everfree.” Dash reached into her saddlebag and produced a blue helmet with two white racing stripes. There was an obvious claw mark that had gouged deeply into the helmet. “It was near an old barn and it looked like. . . like somepony had run into a timberwolf.”
Pinkie was first to gasp. “That looks just like Scootaloo’s helmet!”
It had been a great morning for Scootaloo. She had never felt so safe and secure since her parent’s passed away. Already she had gotten a warm breakfast, a nap, and an adventure book to read. The house was warm, sunlight poured through the windows, and a variety of animals ran around the house playing. Angel even played some pranks on a family of mice to entertain her. It turned out he could be a rather nice rabbit when he wasn’t pulling the pranks on the cutie mark crusaders.
Now she sat on the sofa talking to Angel. If she recalled Fluttershy correctly, almost all animals could understand the Equestrian language. The opposite was not true, as only Fluttershy could hope to have animals communicate to her.
“So then we tried being cutie mark crusaders snorkelers. We ran into this giant octopus living in the lake, I thought it was cool but then it started chasing us. It was still tons of fun.” Angel was giggling on the table. It had turned out he was a big fan of all of her mis-adventures.
“As soon as I get well Angel, I’m going to start crusading again! We’ll find our cutie marks, just wait and see.” Angel nodded his head up and down in agreement.
“Want to play twenty questions?” Angel tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “It’s simple, you think of an animal, vegetable, or mineral. I ask you twenty yes or no questions, and if I guess it right I win. But there’s no cheating!” Angel looked around the room, and finally nodded his head. “You’re ready?” He nodded his head again.
“Hmm. . . is it Rainbow Dash!” Angel sighed and shook his head no. “You’re right, I guess that would have been too easy.
“Is it an animal?” Angel shook his head yes. “OOOH, does it live here at the cottage?” He shook his head in agreement. “Aha, is it you?” Angel put a paw to his forehead and sighed, then shook his head no.
“You are a worthy foe. Hmm.” Scootaloo looked around at some of the various birdhouses, burrows, and other animal homes built into the walls of the house. “Can it fly?” Angel shook his head no.
The door opened up slowly as Fluttershy and Dash walked in. “Really Dash, see she is fine?” Pinkie followed them in and closed the door.
Scootaloo glanced around nervously, biting her lip. She scooted back in the couch, and Fluttershy quickly added “its ok Scootaloo. I told them about the timberwolf that attacked you on the way to meet Applebloom for school. Dash found your helmet during her weather patrol.”
Scootaloo sighed and melted back into the comfortable cushions. “Hmph. Well I don’t see why you had to go and make up a story about flu, Fluttershy. You could have just told Cheerilee and me the truth, we’ve known each other since we were fillies!” Dash looked at Scootaloo carefully. The bandage on her flank could have hidden any number of horrible wounds. Other than that, a few bruises had darkened overnight on the filly.
“Well, that’s where the pinkie promise comes in. But she’ll be better soon, and you two can visit as much as you want. You just have to keep your pinkie promises that nopony gets to know about the timberwolf. It would scare all the fillies and colts.”
“I guess you’re right, I wouldn’t want to scare the kids. I’m still going to warn the weather patrols to keep an eye out. The last thing we need is another timberwolf getting hungry and trying to eat another pony.” Dash and Pinkie walked over to Scootaloo’s side.
“Hey squirt, Fluttershy told me about some of those rad moves you used to escape the timberwolf. I’m impressed; I bet you’ll be almost as fast as me one day.” Dash patted her on the mane.
“Th. . . Thanks Dash!” Scootaloo was radiating joy at getting to be this close to her idol. She had always wanted to approach her and hang out more, but she was still afraid that Dash would think she wasn’t cool enough.
“You take care, and if you need anything you know where to find me, napping on the clouds.” Dash yawned and headed for the door. “Oh, and here. I got you something.” Dash pulled out a new helmet and set it down. Fluttershy thought she saw her blush, but she flew off before she was sure.
“Now’s the best part!” Pinkie jumped up and down, showering the filly with confetti. “Fluttershy still has lots of animals to feed and errands to run, so I get to throw you an ‘I Got Attacked by a Timberwolf and Lived!’ party!”
Scootaloo started laughing at the absurd party name, and felt the bruises on her sides from the barn door aching. “I think I’d like that, but I’m pretty sore so maybe it should also be an ‘I Don’t Feel Like Getting Off the Couch’ party too.”
“Woo Hoo! This is going to be the most ultra-super-funerific party ever!” Pinkie bounced into the kitchen.
“I need to ask her how she bounces so much sometime. It’s like she has rubber hooves.” Scootaloo looked at Fluttershy who was being the ever quiet wallflower.
“I told her not to get you too excited. You still need your rest.” Angel started tapping his foot on the table. “Oh, and I think Angel wants you to finish your game.” Fluttershy jerked her head towards the wall twice. Scootaloo followed the direction she had nodded to see a squirrel perched above the window, watching them. She saw Fluttershy wink and leave to do her morning chores.
“Ok Angel, is it a squirrel!” Angel’s jaw dropped and his foot stopped tapping. He shot an accusing glance at the door. “yeah! I got it!” Angel headed off into the kitchen, probably to get his fix of sugar from Pinkie Pie.
Scootaloo sat on the couch, thinking about the day. Fluttershy had found out she was an orphan, and didn’t care. She still wanted to be Scootaloo’s friend. Now Dash and Pinkie had seen her, and they didn’t seem angry either. Maybe if she let everypony know she was an orphan, they would accept her after all. The only pony still worrying her was Applejack. It was like she could see through every lie the filly had told.
She knew what she had to do next. She would work up the courage and prove to Dash she was cool enough, and then ask Dash to teach her how to fly. She could tell the ponies slowly about her true past, and maybe one day she could be happy all the time and not just around the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Fluttershy went around the outskirts of the cottage feeding the animals. “Oh dear, first I had to lie to Cheerilee, then Applejack, then Pinkie and Dash. This is horrible, what am I supposed to do? I was only trying to get her out of class.” The blue jay in front of her chirped a few times.
“But I made a pinkie promise, I can’t break it, but I can’t tell the truth either. . . oh dear.” The blue jay chirped a few more times. “Oh I don’t know about that. Maybe I can convince her to tell Dash the truth, but I don’t think Scootaloo trusts the other ponies yet.”
The blue jay flew to her nest on the next branch, landing near her chicks. They began chirping for their mother, and the blue jay chirped a final comment at Fluttershy.
“Oh, I wish I could give her a family too, blue jay.”