Mourning
I walked up to the rooms door, I could hear girlish screaming and giggling just on the opposite side of it.
This is going to be difficult I thought to myself as I raised my right foreleg up to it.
I gently tapped on the door and almost instantly the laughter stopped and tiny hoofsteps could be heard on the wooden planks coming towards me. The door swung open revealing the butter colored filly with her red bow slightly crooked from their rough housing. She was panting some, still trying to catch her breath from what I could only assume was from jumping on her bed.
"Hi Rainbow Dash!" She said with such pep in her voice. I was about to take that away from her...
"Uh, hey." I fidgeted as I looked at her. Over her shoulder I could see Sweetie who was on Applebloom's bed staring back at us. "Can, can I come in?" I asked hesitantly.
"Well sure." Applebloom stepped to the side, letting me in before closing the door behind me. I walked to the opposite edge of where Sweetie was sitting and took a deep breath."So what's up?" Applebloom said as she plopped herself on her haunches in front of me.
"I-I... I was just wondering how the CMC attempts went over today is all." I lied... Pathetic.
The two fillies cheeks went red as they both stared at their blank flanks. Frowns evident on their faces.
"It went... Well, I guess." Sweetie said bashfully.
"Cool, Cool..." I said trying to buy me some more time. "Didn't get them this time huh?"
"Well no... But we'll have them for sure next time though!" Applebloom announced.
We three sat there in silence. A comfortable one for the two fillies but a terribly uneasy one for me. I shifted on the covers that were becoming increasingly itchy against my coat. The silence was broken when Sweetie took a breath to speak.
"Hey Rainbow Dash, why is my sister over here? She usually never comes over to Applejacks place." Sweetie asked with her head tilted to the her side. I could feel my heart crush as I sighed.
I have to tell them for their sake.
I got down from the bed and sat on the floor to get on their level. Both of pairs of eyes on me, waiting quietly for my response.
"Rarity is over here because..." For a brief moment I contemplated not telling them, making a lie instead to save some of their innocence in this matter. But that wouldn't be fair to Scootaloo if I had. I built up my courage again as I cleared my throat before I went on. "Because there's been an accident." I could barely bring myself to say those words. Both of the foals hung on my words as they left my mouth. "Scoo-Scootaloo's..." I-I couldn't say it to them... I just couldn't tell them that their friend was dead. It just wasn't in me. Instead I started to tear up, the torture of not being able to tell them wrenching my heart.
Those words however needed not be said as both of them became emotional. I looked at both of their faces as the tears that had been building up ran like a waterfall down my cheeks and onto the hardwood floor beneath. I think they could tell by tone in my voice that they knew what I was going to say. It wasn't hard to figure out I guess, with Scootaloo missing CMC cutie mark attempts today. Sweetie was the first, then Applebloom followed soon after, crying slowly at first but quickly escalating to uncontrollable sobs of pain. I extended both my hooves, wrapping them around the both of them, bringing them into my chest. They both extended their hooves right back at me and gripped me as tightly as they could, burying their faces into my chest, crying their hearts out. I leaned my head down into their manes and joined them with a quiet sob of my own. We must have sat there for hours on end, not moving an inch. Not saying a word. Just sharing the same feeling, sadness.
~~~~
Sweetie Belle sat on her haunches with her head hung low. She had taken her side next to the podium to allow Applebloom to speak on both of their behalf's. The murmurs from the back had settled down as Applebloom made her way up the stand and brought of some of her flash cards from her saddlebags. She cleared her throat as she straightened her flashcards before beginning to speak. The rain had started to pick up again drowning out most of the sound around them.
"Thank you, thank you all for coming out today to remember Sctooaloo. I'm not much for these kinds of things so ah'll be quick." Applebloom's voice was rough and scratchy, almost like mine. "I don't know how she went... Nor do I ever want to. I don't want to remember Scootaloo in any way, shape or form other than what I already remembered her as. A determined filly with a heart so caring that it would make Rarity herself fail in comparison." A small chuckle could be heard from Applebloom's joke. She looked down at the closed casket below her and shed a tear. "I found out about her death the same day that she had passed away from Rainbow Dash. And the first thing that ran across my mind... I admit, was selfish. For a brief moment, and only one moment, I cursed her name." Another tear rolled down her cheek.
"I felt betrayed. Hurt that she had left both me and Sweetie's lives forever..." She took a heavy, shaky breath before starting up again. "I thought, how could she just leave us? Did she even care for us... For all of us, not just me and Sweetie. How could she...I mean I know it wasn't her choice to leave us, but I still couldn't help but feel betrayed and hurt over it." Sweetie began to cry aloud once more causing a sympathetic moan from Rarity as she watched her sister so hurt.
I looked over to Applebloom, seeing that she was getting as choked up as Sweetie Belle.
"It pains me."She started up again. "It pains me that we will never grow up together... All the memories that will be lost, never to happen now..." A loud sniffle escaped Applebloom as she smeared her tears across her cheek. She tried to regain herself before speaking again but she lost herself. Her composure swept away in an instant as Applebloom's head fell down to the base of the podium. She started banging on it, slamming her hoof down onto it repeatedly screaming Scootaloo's name in pain. It was a heart wrenching display to watch. You could feel everyone around giving silent sympathy for the two filly's.
Applejack finally had to stand up and make her way over to pull Applebloom off of the podium. No one blamed her for her display of emotions, in fact everypony understood where she was coming from. But if not for Applejack intervening, Applebloom would had been up there all day, sobbing her heart out before everypony. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom went back to their seats and the preacher went back up to the podium. He asked if anypony else had something to say, and if so to come on up and speak. I looked around and saw nopony was going to get up.
She deserved better than this...
The preacher was about to give the okay to lower the casket into the ground when I rose up to take my place in front of everypony. I slowly walked around the ditch, never taking my eye's off of the casket. It's wooden gloss completely covered in rain droplets. I stood up at the podium and tapped on the mic a few times to make sure it was indeed on.
"I'm not very good at expressing my emotions, so this is going to be difficult for me."I hadn't originally planned on going up here so I didn't have much prepared or much to say for that matter. I cleared my throat some as I made quick glances with all my friends."Scootaloo... There wasn't many that knew her as well as I did. She was not only a friend to me, or a pupil that I taught all my flying tricks to but, she was also my sister. On any given day, no matter how I was feeling no matter how bad a day she was having, we were always there for one another. Always making each other laugh, smile and brighten each others day with the littlest of efforts." A whimper escaped me as I reflected on past event we had shared together. "What pains me the most, is that I won't be able to see her take her first flight... Nor compete with her in the next sisterhooves social that was scheduled for next month..."
I looked down at the casket, then up to the sky. "She... she showed promise... I had hoped one day to see her in a wonderbolt's uniform. A dream we both shared. Heh, she would even joke sometimes, saying that she was gonna replace me when my career was over with the bolts... I never had said what I thought about that to her, but I always thought she was right. And I would have been damn proud to see her take my place... But something that's lost now, only to become a distant memory in the back of my mind..." I could feel my eye's water and legs shake beneath me, I felt weak. M heart swelled in my throat. "I-I got nothing more to say..." I walked down from the podium before I too began to make a scene. I headed back to my seat slowly, looking at all the expressionless faces that had gathered here to mourn her. As I sat back down I leaned back and felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder and looked back to see Rarity giving me a smile of approval. I gave her a slight nod and turned back to the preacher who had already asked for others to come up and speak. When nopony else went up to speak he gave the go ahead to lower her into the hole. Once fully lowered some funeral workers started burying her with the mound of dirt that laid besides the hole. I looked up to the sky and closed my eyes, the rain still pouring down on me.
Goodbye Squirt...
Sorry, I just had to add this... :D