Chapter 2
“Are you ok Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked
“Hmm?” Scootaloo said with a start. Sweetie Belle made a motion to her eyes with her hoof. Scootaloo just starred for a moment and realised with horror that the tears had followed her back from her memory. “Oh, um no. I mean yes! Yes I am ok, just something in my eye.” She lied, wincing at her feeble excuse. She didn’t want to see these moments of her past herself, let alone tell her friends about it. Sweetie looked as if she was going to interrogate her further, but they both jumped in surprise as Apple Bloom squealed with delight.
“I did it, I did it!” she cheered as she bounced in circles around the tree. “Oh I can’t wait to tell Applejack, She’ll be so proud!” The two fillies noticed the apples littering the ground and shouted congratulations to their friend. Thoughts about her former life were still ebbing away at the back of her mind, but Scootaloo pushed these thoughts away. Not only for her own sake but for Apple Bloom as well. She was truly proud of her friend. She knew this was a big moment for her and Scootaloo wanted to be there for her.
As they settled down to enjoy the fruits of her labour, they were startled to see the sun beginning to dip behind the hills. They’d been out on the farm all afternoon! The three fillies sat down and stared at the beautiful colours while enjoying the apples. Apple Bloom wasn’t lying about the apples. They were amazing. They had an excellent crunch and were sweetened perfectly. These could almost compete with Zap Apples.
As the little Pegasus sat on the hill eating with her friends and watching the setting sun paint the sky with reddish hues, she was hard pressed to remember a time she’d been happier. Each of them sat wordlessly, enjoying each other’s company and hoping this moment would never end.
Scootaloo looked over at Sweetie Belle, wondering if she remembered her crying. But the unicorn just sat with a little smile on her face and Scootaloo figured she was probably coming up with a new song. About what she could never be sure, maybe about sunsets or friends or maybe even something completely unrelated. She hoped she could hear her sing it someday. Occasionally Scootaloo found herself jealous of her friend, not for her killer voice, but for her ability to pull words from seemingly nowhere and create a masterpiece of them.
To Sweetie Belles left sat Apple Bloom wearing a similar smile. She could be thinking about anything. Probably still beaming at her successful first time bucking apples. She was a creative pony too and a lot smarter than her classmates gave her credit for. Her creativity was more physical, like building and engineering and stuff. Scootaloo got jealous of her sometimes too. But then she would remember her scooter. Nopony was as skilled as her when it came to being on wheels. She didn’t need creativity she had style.
Her gaze returned to the sky. A sky she couldn’t be a part of. She’d gotten used to that though. It was just one of those things life throws at you, to test you. And her friends didn’t need the sky so why should she? The sky was a dangerous place after all. Especially for those without wings.
Somehow it was even colder than before. The wind tore at the orange filly viciously and wherever she could find refuge against some wall, the wind would almost immediately change directions, and she would have to move on. No stores were open at this time of night, except bars or clubs but even if she was allowed in, only really sketchy ponies hung out at those places. Ponies like her father.
She had considered more than once returning, even just for the night, but then his words echoed in her ears and she knew there was no going back. Maybe Mrs.Potts wouldn’t mind taking her in for a night? No, she thought there’s a difference between giving a pony candy, and letting her into your home. Besides Scootaloo had long suspected the Mrs.Potts wasn’t exactly... all there.
So on she walked, with no destination in mind. She had returned to her empty street for a bit but a group of ponies had gathered in the shadows of an alley across from where she was sitting and they were hollering like animals, and she left there as well. So she began to cry again. She didn’t care anymore, she had nothing to prove. Her breath came shakily, and her face stung where the wind hit the tears but she didn't mind. It felt good, as if she was letting go of something she never knew she held onto.
Scootaloo knew the streets and layout of the city quite well since she didn’t like to go home much. I the early days, her dad would come looking for her sometimes and she had to get creative and explore the streets. She noticed that if you move fast enough and in the right direction, the city looked as if it were rebuilding itself or falling apart around her. In Cloudsdale it wasn’t very difficult to tell what district you where in whether it poor or rich. All you had to do was look around at the architecture and the streets.
In her case, she found the streets were getting even worse. Every building was closed down and crumbling, and the street lights were dim and flickering. The air had a stagnant smell of alcohol and drugs. The wind had died down a bit, thank Celestia, and the street appeared to be empty. Many storefront windows were broken. Maybe she could go inside and take shelter for the night.
But the street had a claustrophobic feel to it like it was looming over her, stalking her. And as she walked she caught herself looking behind her quite often. Somewhere far off, glass broke and the wind whistled through the broken windows. Maybe this wasn’t such a great place to be stopping.
And then, all at once the wind picked up, the streetlight above her went out, and she saw and old stallion staring at her from across the street. With a gasp she turned and fled. She couldn’t stay in this part of the town, especially if her dad came looking for her. Things here were scary and dangerous, no place for young fillies.
The pillars and columns of Cloudsdale blurred around her. She was literally in the ruins of the city now. Dozens of once famous arenas and coliseums had been left to crumble. Now most of them were just museums and tourist attractions. Scootaloo tried to get her bearings. If she’d run from the poor district, to the old district she must have been moving east. Wait east? The realisation came without a second to spare as she came to an immediate halt at the end of the city. Two steps in front of her, was open sky.
Scootaloo swore to herself. How could she have been so scared, so careless? She breathed heavily both from fear and from the near brush with death. Scootaloo used to wonder why there were no guard rails of anything. Anypony could easily fall off. Of course after a few years she realised if most pegasi fell off they could just fly back up. But not her. I hope you fall off the cloud layer you little disappointment. The words rang maliciously in her ears.
Her tears tried to take over again but she refused to let them. She couldn’t understand it. Why should she care what he thought? He was a jerk, he was a drunk, he was a complete ass! But he is my dad. She heard these words as if they’d been spoken behind her. “No,” she said through gritted teeth. “He was my dad.”
She took a brave sniff and steadied her breath. She carefully leaned over the edge. It was still dark out but the moonlight was just enough for her to make out the landscape below. There was so much down there. Colours were hard to make out but it was still beautiful. There was so much variety, the wide plains and the bumpy hills, and Canterlot, perched high on the mountainside. But even the top of the mountain was much shorter than the height of Cloudsdale. The floor of Equestria was a long way down. A very long way down.
Suddenly the wind battered her again and for a moment she lost her balance. Her head took a sudden dip over the clouds. The little Pegasus let out a shriek. She was going to fall. I hope you fall off the cloud layer you little disappointment.
No. She refused to give him his wish. She dug her hooves deep into the cloud shut her eye’s and prayed. Some primal instinct told her to extend her wings and she did. But no matter how hard she flapped she couldn’t stop from falling forward. Gravity sought to undo her and she felt herself in open air. She opened her eyes and saw the far away ground about to become all too close. What a sad way to go, she thought. A Pegasus falling to death. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her tail and she was no longer falling. She hung still for a moment and was transfixed as a little orange feather gently floated downward. And then she was pulled up.
She was laying flat on her stomach on the cloud. “Are you alright little one?” The voice of an old mare came from behind her. Scootaloo couldn’t draw enough strength to answer. It was all she could do to keep her lunch down and at the same time try to stop shaking uncontrollably. Why? Why did it have to be like this? Any other Pegasus would have just brushed it off and flown back up. But she almost... died. All because she couldn’t fly. Because she was a freak.
The Little filly began to sob and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a feathered wing cross her back. Her first thought was that her father found her and she wanted to scream. But as she swung her head to her left she met eyes with an old mare, presumably the one who asked her if she was ok. She had a coat as white as the clouds of the city around them and her mane was the same. Her face was deeply wrinkles but set inside it were two eyes of bright green. “I take that as a no.” She said softly. Scootaloo sniffed and thought back. Right somepony had asked her a question. “Yeah I’m okay,” she said wiping her eyes and trying to look less like a wreck.
Suddenly she remembered the pain in her tail as she lifted. “Wait, did you...” the old mare just nodded. “Oh um thank you.” It sounded feeble and awkward and it kind of was. Not that Scootaloo was ungrateful; the mare had saved her life after all. But how do you respond to that? What do you say? The white pony didn’t say anything though and her face didn’t show any anger. Her face didn’t reveal much at all really. She wasn’t smiling or sad she just looked out to the open sky in front of them.
The little filly remembered the wing draped over her back and a sudden uneasiness came over her. Physical contact with other ponies wasn’t something she was quite used to. Well, aside from her father’s hoof. She shuffled out from under the feathery blanket and stood up. She didn’t leave though. This pony had saved her; the least she could give her was some attention.
Scootaloo was surprised when a slow smile crept across the ponies face and she turned to look at her. “You should learn to let ponies in sometimes little one.” She said. Scootaloo was surprised by the suddenness of her remark. She wanted to give an answer though so she said the first thing that came to mind. “They don’t pay me a second thought so why should I give them one?” She wasn’t quite sure who she meant by “they”. Her neighbours, her classmates, everypony.
The mare gave a light and warm chuckle. “You make a decent point filly, but nopony can go through life happy without friends.” Oh great Scootaloo thought. Friends were a topic she avoided as a general rule. “Look I really appreciate what you did for me and what you’re trying to do for me now but I made it this far by myself and I’m doing fine.” It was a lie and they both knew it. Scootaloo would be far away by now if it weren’t for the pony beside her.
“Hmm, yes I see you are doing quite well for yourself as is.” she said with obvious sarcasm. And then paused. “Would you care to share why you were you crying little one.” No she thought, so she decided another lie was the way to go. “Well I almost died back there,” She said with irritation. The mare was beginning to make her uncomfortable.
“I don’t think that’s the whole reason.” The white mare said. Scootaloo sighed. Her voice had a certain power to it, a wisdom. Besides this was the one of two ponies that paid her more than a simple nod the whole week so she might as well say it as it was. “He said he wanted this to happen,” she said, voice barely above a whisper.
“He said he hoped I would fall off and I did.” Her words became choked. “I thought I could be normal. I thought if I just kept trying somepony would see that I wasn’t just a... freak. But he was right all along. I am a freak. And he’s in a warm house probably sleeping and forgetting about me and I’m out in the freezing wind crying like a little foal, and IT’S NOT FAIR” she said raising her voice to a shout near the end. But then she quieted down “and it’s just not fair.” She could feel the lines her tears had traced across her face.
The the white mare just sat and listened calmly, and after Scootaloo was done talking she walked over and put a wing over her again. It was a comforting and warm gesture. It helped keep the wind off her back to. “Hmm,” the mare hummed “It’s true life is unfair sometimes. But it is from this inequality that we grow stronger, we push ourselves past what other ponies tell us we can or can’t do,” Scootaloo noticed for a moment during her speech her voice wasn’t that of an old mare but one of soft tone and wisdom. “And who better to help us conquer these obstacles than friends?”
“Yeah, well friends aren’t something I’ve got a whole lot of.” She mumbled disheartened
“Hmm.” She hummed again. “My little filly, only you can change that. I cannot tell you what exactly you’re future holds, but I can tell you it will be a sad future indeed if you must face it alone.” The mare looked out again into the open air to the hills. The furthest edges of the sky were beginning to change colour signifying the coming sunrise. Already Scootaloo could feel the wind beginning to die away. “Would you care to watch the sunrise with an old pony like me?”
Scootaloo could only nod and take a seat. The mare kept her wing around her, and between that and the cloud she was seated on, she was the most comfortable she’d been all day. Sometimes Scootaloo would wake up early just to watch the sunrise. They were always so colourful and they always made her feel better about her... home life. The rising sun that morning gave the sky a pinkish red hue. Her favorite kind of sunrise.
“I’m afraid I have to leave soon Scootaloo,” she said after a while. “But I will leave you something to think about, to point a hoof in the right direction.” The mare’s voice seemed to consume everything. Everything was silent. Everything was still. Only her voice occupied her mind. Her voice, and the sunrise. They both stared ahead as she spoke. “Your destiny lies not yet in the sky little one, for the sky is no place for a pony without wings.”
The little filly’s pride bristle at the remark for a moment, but she realized by her tone that she wasn’t trying to be rude or hurtful. And she knew she was right. She could feel it was right. Her destiny wasn’t up here in the sky. But she was confused. She wasn’t wingless, she just couldn’t fly. And another thought flew into her mind. Wait a minute, did she just say my name?
She was about to ask if she’d heard correctly when the sun rose above the crest of the hill and filled Equestria with sunlight. Celestia sure knew how to put on a show. Scootaloo swallow and found that her voice had come back to her. “Where should I go then?” she asked. “Equestria’s such a big place and i don’t-” she looked to her left and saw there was no mare beside her. With a gasp she stood and spun around but there was no sign of her. She was gone and Scootaloo found herself alone again. Her gaze turned back to the rising sun and she wondered for a moment... no it was impossible. But then who was that pony? Where’d she go? How did she know her name? Scootaloo never found a true answer.
But she couldn’t dwell on that because the white mare was right. She had a decision to make. Would she leave Cloudsdale, the only place she’d ever known where she’d lived all her life. She looked around her at all the white columns and buildings and streets. She looked up to see the early morning pegasi flying off to work or to the market. Then she turned to look at the ground. The sun bathed the land below in blazing light. All the mountains and forests and cities could be seen in glorious colour.And she knew in those cities were other ponies. Ponies like her, who couldn’t fly. Could she leave her home for that?
She smiled. In a heartbeat. The wind had calmed down from its original fury and was now just a light breeze. Scootaloo was alone. But that was ok. She had no idea where she would end up or how her destiny would unfold, but she knew where to start. She put the sunlight to her back and made her way to the carriage depot. She was going down to the ground.