“Come on Scoots, it’s time to go!” Rainbow Dash shouted up the stairs. It was the next day, otherwise known as Monday, and the day Scootaloo had to return to school. She had been relatively well behaved, having a shower and breakfast like normal, but had since disappeared to her room and hadn’t come back down. At first Rainbow Dash thought that she was just getting ready for school. Now, however, that opinion had changed slightly. “I’ll come and get you!” Rainbow called. After a few seconds passed with no response, not even the sound of moving hooves, Rainbow Dash climbed up the stairs to make good on her threat. She couldn’t have Scootaloo, or anypony for that matter, thinking that she wouldn’t follow through.
“I’m coming in Scootaloo.” Rainbow called softly as she gently pushed open the door to Scootaloo's room. She looked around the room for Scootaloo but found her right she expected her to be; on the bed. Next to the bed was an open saddlebag with various odds and ends crammed into it. Scootaloo had clearly tried, and ultimately failed, to get ready for school. Rainbow Dash sighed and walked over to the bed. She could hear Scootaloo gently crying in to the mattress. Rainbow patted Scootaloo’s mane to calm her down. Scootaloo tensed up as she felt Rainbow’s hoof touch her but eased up again when she realised who it must be. She hadn’t heard Rainbow come in, having been so caught up in her own little world.
“I-I-I-I’m sorry...I’m just so s-s-scared...” Scootaloo managed to say in-between sobs. Rainbow Dash nodded as she continued to stroke Scootaloo’s mane and also extended a wing, wrapping it around the little filly to hold her close. Scootaloo continued to cry quietly for a few more minutes but eventually the tears subsided.
“Are you feeling better now?” Rainbow Dash asked, wiping away the last few tears that clung to Scootaloo’s face. Scootaloo nodded but cuddled up closer to Rainbow, an action that betrayed the fear she was still feeling. “I know you’re scared, and you think something bad might happen but it won’t. I promise you that it won’t.”
“How do you know it won’t?” Scootaloo asked, so quietly Rainbow Dash almost missed her question.
“I won’t let it happen. The second I hear anything bad has happened, I’ll be right there.” Rainbow replied.
“How will you know if something bad happens?”
“I’m just that awesome. Don’t you trust me?” Rainbow replied, feigning hurt. Scootaloo shook her head quickly, not realising that Rainbow Dash wasn’t being entirely serious.
“It’s not that at all. I trust you. I’m just-” Scootaloo said quickly before Rainbow put a hoof to her mouth to shush her.
“I know Squirt, but I won’t let anypony hurt you. You’ll be fine and you really need to go back to school. Now would you like any help getting ready?” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo nodded softly and together the two began correcting the disaster zone that Scootaloo’s saddlebags had become, as well as putting a few extra things in there. With the two of them working at it it didn’t take very long at all and before Scootaloo would have liked, she was all packed and ready to go. She followed Rainbow Dash down the stairs but Rainbow stopped her when they reached the kitchen door. Rainbow Dash quickly scurried inside the kitchen, much to the confusion of Scootaloo. She emerged a few seconds later with a small paper bag. She placed it inside one of Scootaloo’s saddlebags after deftly flicking it open with one of her wings.
“What was that?” Scootaloo asked, bemused.
“Lunch. In case you need it.” Rainbow Dash replied, flashing the filly a smile and a wink. “I thought you might forget so I made one up for you.” Scootaloo looked like she was ready to tear up at any second over the thoughtfulness of the gesture. Rainbow quickly scooped her up and placed her on her back, keen to avoid another crying session. She thought that making a lunch for the filly was such a small and simple gesture it wouldn’t have affected her that much. Suddenly a realisation came to Rainbow Dash.
“Don’t tell me...” Rainbow Dash said, wondering aloud.
“...It’s probably what you’re thinking...Nopony’s ever made me lunch before...” Scootaloo said quietly from Rainbow’s back. She buried her face in Rainbow’s prismatic mane for comfort.
“What did you do?” Rainbow asked. She would have turned around to face Scootaloo but she could feel her buried in her mane and didn’t want to upset the little filly further.
“At lunch? Usually nothing...I’d tell the girls that I’d eaten a big breakfast. Sometimes they gave me some of their food, and sometimes I just had to go without.”
“What about when you were at home?” Rainbow asked, growing shocked at the revelations. Home was hardly a fitting word for where Scootaloo had been living before, but it was the only word Rainbow Dash could think of.
“Sometimes I’d swipe apples from the farm, or I’d find something else to eat. I didn’t want to turn up to school with stolen apples though in case Apple Bloom knew some apples had been taken and she put two and two together.” Scootaloo confessed. Rainbow Dash shook her head.
“Don’t worry about anything like that now. I’ve got you and I’ll take care of you.” Rainbow Dash said.
“I know...thanks.” Scootaloo replied.
“For what?”
“For taking care of me so much. I’m sorry to be such a useless burden...”
“Hay don’t talk about yourself like that.” Rainbow Dash said, shaking Scootaloo off her back and staring her straight in the eyes. Her expression was one of seriousness and belief. Scootaloo knew just by looking at her eyes she would believe everything Rainbow Dash said. Rainbow knew this too, and was keen to use it to her advantage to stop the filly from being lost in a depression after she had done so well over the week.
“I never thought of you as a burden. My house has never looked so clean for a start.”
“I still can’t fly...” Scootaloo said dejectedly. It was hard to break out of a depressive cycle, even after having some good days. As long as the problem of her flightlessness existed, Scootaloo felt she could never be happy.
“You don’t have to fly to be useful. You don’t even have to be useful to not be a burden. I told you too that I was going to make sure you could fly. I’m going to send a letter to my friend today, and he’ll be here by the end of the week.” Rainbow said reassuringly.
“What if even he can’t teach me to fly?” Scootaloo asked. It was a simple question, and a genuine concern.
“I’ve never known him to fail. He’s a smart guy so I’m sure he’ll be able to think of something.”
“But what if he can’t?” Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof into her face. Scootaloo was being very difficult. She quickly regretted this action as she heard Scootaloo sigh loudly. She thought that Rainbow Dash was beginning to consider that she, Scootaloo, really couldn’t fly after all.
“In the really, really, really, really, REALLY unlikely event that no matter what you can’t fly...then we’ll go from there. But I promise you Scoots there is no way in Tartarus I would ever think of you as useless or a burden. Okay?” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo sighed again, dejected, but she still nodded her agreement. The thought that she would never be able to fly had occupied her mind for as long as she could remember. It wasn’t about to be banished so quickly and so easily. “That’s better.” Rainbow Dash said, smiling. She nuzzled Scootaloo again and brought a smile to the filly’s face once more. “Now, how about we get you to school at last?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh...right...that....” Scootaloo said, her face falling again.
“Yes, that.” Rainbow Dash said, scooping the filly on to her back and flying out the door before she had a chance to protest the prospect of going to school again. Thanks to the conversation they just had they were bordering on late as it was.
Luckily for Rainbow Dash, and perhaps unluckily for the small Pegasus on her back, Rainbow Dash’s reputation as the fastest flier in all of Equestria was well deserved. It wasn’t quite ten seconds flat, but she still arrived at the school in record time.