//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Convinced? 
// Story: Runaway 
// by RedScootaloo 
//------------------------------//

"You foolish little filly!" Sharon shouted, "do you even know what we've been through? Just running away from us!"

She raised her hoof, and with a loud BANG it crashed down onto Rainbow's face. The pegasus winced from pain, but didn't evade. She did deserve it, after all.

"Sharon..." she said, "look, I'm really sorry! I know it was foalish, and I know what I've done to you. I just... I had to run away. I couldn't take all of this."

"You couldn't take all of this? Did you ever even think about us, you egoistic mule?"

"Sharon, I..." Rainbow sighed. "You're right. What I did was wrong, there are no excuses. But now I have returned, and I built up my life, got a well-paid job. I came to ask you to... To plead you to come with me, to Ponyville."

Sharon stayed quiet for a second. Rainbow breathed in deeply. The Sharon she knew had forgiven fast, but this wasn't the same. Time to see if the old one still rested somewhere in her. She did something she hadn't done in a long time.

She started crying. In front of other people. She saw how Sharon's shell broke and her true self returned. Beyond all the years the alcohol and sadness had destroyed her, there still was the old Sharon.

"I will."

Rainbow's tears dried up. "You will?"

"Yes. -" Rainbow felt happiness streaming through her body. She had convinced Sharon. "But there is one thing I need to let you know. Whatever you did back then, I do forgive you. But listen, Rainbow Dash. You are the homeless filly Rusty and I took care of since you were barely alive. I will never, never forget what happened. And you should make sure that it never - and I mean never! - happens to the kids."

Rainbow hestitated.

Then, she raised her hooves and crossed them over her chest. "Cross my heart," she started, moving her front legs to her sides to let them represent wings, "hope to fly," she moved her right forehoof to the last position needed to complete the Pinkie Swear, "stick a cupcake-" she paused.

Scootaloo joined her. "In my eye."

"You're the filly who was here with Bash, huh?" Sharon asked. "I'm sorry, we might've started our friendship wrong. Listen, I'd like to start again. Maybe... as your grandmother?"

Scootaloo looked confused at Rainbow, who quickly threw in "Oh, she's no daughter of mine."

"But it is clear as hay, that she is a good friend of Bash, and as far as I can tell she was just as lonely as you were when you came here. So I bet she's an orphan, huh?"

Suddenly Rainbow remembered everything that had to be spoken about. She turned to the little filly. "Scoots, I - I know you're an orphan. And that you stole, and everything. But filly... That is no reason to run away. You should've just talked to me. I will always be there for you. Whatever you have on your heart, Scootaloo, I will listen to it. Now... I had a question for you, too. I thought about adopting you. You'd have a home, a mother, two lovely grandparents, and a sister about your age." 

She smiled. "Which you obviously made friends with already. More than I did." The last sentence washed her smile down, as she remembered how much they had to catch up to. But there would be time for that. Later.