//------------------------------// // Ch. 7 Confessions and Concerts // Story: Scootaloo's Years // by Broneyofnoel //------------------------------// Two small spotlights lit up the area around Red and one other pony, the other one was a much older, matured stallion. The crowd grew silent as the two motioned, as the area went silent, the two started to preform a song. I listened to Red's guitar more than the vocals of the stallion beside him, although Red seemed to be focusing on quite the opposite. the stage lit up, revealing the other stallions on stage, yet the lights shown most around Red and the stage. Many ponies in the audience waved lighters or lit up their horns, including Peachy. "Wow Scoots....he plays really well." She said in amazement. "I didn't know he could play that well either." I said, I was still wrapping my head around the whole situation. As the song pressed on, the words of the lead pony flowed through my ears, he was singing of love and loss and of sadness and frustration. When i listened to him I felt an inner crunch, almost as if I felt a connection with him through our mentalities. The song kept going and going, soon enough ponies were cheering and whistling for the band, once the music STOPped, the stage went dark and Red was gone. Peachy and I found ourselves between a couple hundred ponies and the exit, so we simply shrank down and followed the back of the crowd as we looked around even further. Peachy and I were some of the last ponies to leave the underground area, once we were away from the basement, we headed for the exit with most of the other ponies around. Peachy and i trotted into the open alley, she jumped on my back and we shot into the sky and landed on a cloud a few hundred feet above the ground. "Do you think we'll find Red out here?" Peachy looked over to me as we saw the few hundred ponies leave the area. "I don't think we will, but it never hurts to try." I said, continuing to scan the crowds. "So, since neither of us are really tired, what'cha wanna do next?" Peachy questioned, also looking through the crowd of ponies. Now that she mentioned it, I was't tired at all, I still felt as if I could fly to Canterlot and back. I guess the concert revamped my energy, or maybe I was never tired, I couldn't remember. "I don't know,want to just talk up here for a while?" I offered. "Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Peachy asked, stopping her search to look at me. "Why don't you tell me about when you were supposedly 'fat" I suggested. "Oh yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Peachy sat on her haunches and we faced each other. Peachy looked towards the sky for a moment as she thought about her story, I wondered what she was going to say, or if she would be sad at all recalling on her younger years. Just as I was about to say something,Peachy turned to me and took a deep breath. "Okay, about two years ago, I weighed about 50 pounds more than I do right now...you wouldn't have been able to fly me up here back then." Peachy chuckled and sighed. "I was constantly made fun of for my weight, and even though I tried to hide it, it really tore me up, literally." Peachy showed me her clean foreleg, I was puzzled at first, but then she wiped back some of her fur, exposing several scars along the length of the area. She sat back and covered her scars again, she looked up at me after a second or two and continued; "Ponies were so mean to me back then that I honestly wanted to die, but a couple of my friends encouraged me to put the bullies aside and try to show them i had power. I lost most of my weight within two months, and I started acting not long after that..now look where I am." Peachy flung her forelegs out to the sides, gesturing to all of Fillydelphia. "Wow, I think that's amazing, I admire that you came over all of that." I said,she really did have guts. "What about you, what is your story?" Peachy asked. I hadn't really been prepared to tell my story, but I guess now was a better time than ever. I thought about what I was going to say for a moment, and then I started, "I was born to no parents, or at least i never knew them, I was raised in an orphanage until I was six, then my friend and I escaped. The two of us jumped off a six story building, a two story building, and a moving train." Peachy's mouth was in an"o" shape, I continued, "I arrived in Ponyville a few weeks later, I thought Star had been killed in the train jump, so I started a new life." "I'm sorry Scootaloo!" Peachy had a tear in her eye. "I lived in that town alone for a couple years before I lived in a tree house. A mare, now my mother, discovered that and took me back to the orphanage to adopt me, I saw Star, he hadn't died but had only lost a leg in the jump."Peachy regained some spirit, "Eventually a friend of mine from Ponyville adopted him and he and my friends all get along great. My mom married her wife a few months after they adopted me, actually it was the night that I was accepted here." I ended my story with a smile. "Your moms wife?" Peachy questioned. "Yeah, I was raised by a fillyfooler, I don't see anything wrong, do you have a problem with that?" I suddenly became very defensive of my parents. "No, I mean just, you're okay with that kind of stuff?" Peachy questioned. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I was unsure of how this would be playing out. "Well, I mean, from where i grew up not many ponies liked that, they all hated coltcuddlers and fillyfoolers." Peachy said, she looked a little red. "That really stinks." I said. "Yeah, especially when you are one." Peachy said so nonchalantly, it almost went right over my head. "What?" I looked at her, the blush in her cheeks was huge, she just spilled her deepest secret to me. "Uh well, I'm a..uh...Fillyfooler?" She looked sad and scared. "Really?" I asked, I don't know why i questioned her. "Yeah, you're mad at me, aren't you?" Peachy put her head down. I couldn't think of any words so I grabbed her in a hug and I said; "Just because I'm not a fillyfooler doesn't mean I can't support and care about one." I felt a few tears land on my coat as Peachy sobbed into my neck.