Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream. -Khalil Gibran-
* * * * *
Shortly after leaving the boutique the three fillies started to make their way to their clubhouse. They were the only ones in their class that had not yet acquired their cutie marks, which was starting to get quite annoying. The wind seemed to be picking up and there were fewer ponies on the streets than before the three went into the boutique.
"That's strange... there should be lots of ponies out..." Scootaloo said, more to herself than to her other two companions.
"Yeah... it's like they just up and disappeared." Sweetie said, confusion evident in her voice.
"Ah'm sure it's nothin'..." Applebloom assured her two friends. Why should they trouble themselves over something so simple as not many ponies out in the middle of the afternoon?
"Well... maybe it has something to do with that." Scootaloo said and pointed at a large group of ominous-looking clouds. It looked like a storm was brewing. Sweetie and Applebloom looked to where Scootaloo was pointing and formed 'o' shapes with their mouths. They shrugged it off and decided to continue onwards to their clubhouse. Wherever they looked, the streets were all but deserted save for a few ponies. And most of those few ponies were scrambling to get inside. Something was most definitely going on. Scootaloo happened to look up and spot a strange color spectrum anomaly apporaching them at alarming speeds.
"What is tha-" Scootaloo begin but was cut off when this anomaly ran landed right in front of them. The orange filly couldn't help but grin with glee. There standing before the filliles was her idol and mentor, Rainbow Dash.
"How's it hangin' with my favorite fillies?" Rainbow Dash half teased and half asked the three fillies. Sweetie Belle blushed profusely but it wasn't that much of a suprise. She blushed at everything, which was a telltale sign of her becoming even more like her dirt-fearing sister, Rarity.
"Nothin' much..." Scootaloo said, trying to act cool. She went on to ask, "What's with all of the ponies getting inside? Is it because of those storm clouds?"
"Yep, that'd be the reason. And I think you three should go inside too... it's pretty dangerous out right now, even for me, the greatest flyer in Equestria." Rainbow Dash warned the three fillies while boasting.
Just then, Scootaloo had the best idea ever. She said with excitement, "Hey Rainbow Dash... can i stay over at your place?" Scootaloo wore the most adorable eyes and the biggest smile she could muster but Rainbow Dash just laughed nervously.
"Uhhh... I don't think that's a good idea..." Rainbow Dash said, uncomfortability showing in every facial expression and body posture. Scootaloo was a little angry and pretty confused as to why her idol had turned her down.
"W-why not...?" Scootaloo asked. Rainbow Dash looked down, closed her eyes and sighed. She looked up with something else in her eyes. Was it anger?
"Because I said so okay? Now stop asking." Rainbow Dash said rather meanly. Scootaloo couldn't help but feel hurt by what the blue pegasus had said to her. They had always been so close... why was she giving her that glare and saying mean things.
'I just asked... no need to get upset." Scootaloo said, trying to hide the anger that was reaching the boiling point. Her other two friends were exchanging looks of uncertainty and uncomfortability.
"Upset? Who said I'm upset!? I just would like you to stop talking about this but here you go. Talking about it." Rainbow Dash said with anger now completely obvious. Scootaloo was taken aback by the unexpected venom in her metaphorical big sister's voice.
"Fine. I didn't want to learn how to fly with you anyways!" Scootaloo yelled, no longer able to keep it at bay.
"It's been years! A pegasus of your age should have learned how to fly by now! You should just accept that fact that you'll never learn! Can't you see I don't want you?!" Rainbow Dash yelled at her, causing the other two crusaders to gasp and glare at the blue pegasus. Scootaloo felt the tears at her eyes as she took in what her mentor had just said to her. Rainbow Dash then whispered, "Just go away..." It all started with a whisper. That one whisper that changed your perspective on life forever.
"Y-you... don't want m-me?" Scootaloo said in a depressed and broken whisper. Rainbow Dashes's face softened and guilt showed on her face. Scootaloo then whsipered rather weakly as the tears ran freely down her cheeks, "I hate you..."
"Scootaloo... I didn't mean it...I-" Rainbow Dash began but was broken off when Scootaloo jumped up and ran away, crying. Scootaloo didn't hold anything back as she remembered how this situation was strikingly familiar to the one with her older brother... or was her older brother....
* * * * *
Scootaloo's older brother, Cloud Runner was putting on a tuxedo and admiring himself in the mirror. Scootaloo was about five year old at the time and was about as naive as any other little filly her age.
"Hey big brother! I had a question." Scootaloo said, making sure here eyes were big and pleading. Her brother looked at her like he had just tasted something revolting and horrid.
"What is it THIS time?" Cloud Runner sighed and turned his attention to her. Scootaloo shuffled her hooves, not sure how to ask this.
"Ummm... since you're going to the prom... can I go?" Scootaloo asked with excited and hopeful eyes. Cloud Runner jst scoffed and shook his head, suprising the orange filly.
"No. I don't want my friends to see me around a foal like you." Cloud Runner said with venom in his voice. Scootaloo's eyes were widened and she was suprised. Normally her brother was nice but he was being so mean right now....
"But...-" Scootaloo began but was cut off by her older brother.
"Can't you see i don't want you here?! They never should have picked you up from that orphanage!" Cloud Runner yelled and went on to say, in what Scootaloo presumed was a whisper, "Just go away..."
Scootaloo was shocked. She didn't know how to respond at what her brother had just said, "O-orphanage?" Cloud Runner's face softened as he just realized what he had said. They had kept this secret from Scootaloo and were going to tell her when she was older but... the heat of the moment.
"Scootaloo I...-" Cloud Runner began but was cut off by the orange filly.
"NO! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT YOU! " Scootaloo yelled at her so-called brother, who was trying to calm his sister down. Scootaloo then whispered weakly, "I hate you..." Scootaloo ran off, crying, out the door and around the the backyard where she hid herself in the bushes so she could be alone. She heard the door close and her brother's carriage take off and go to the prom. She didn't care... she just wanted to be alone...
-THIRTY MINUTES LATER-
Scootaloo was still in the bushes, crying her eyes out but was stopped when she hear the familiar angelic voice of her mother.
"Pumpkin... What's wrong...?" Her mother asked, motherly love showing in everything that she was and did. Scootaloo then realized in that brief moment of looking in her adoptive mother's eyes that it didn't matter if this was her biological mother. It mattered where the heart lay. Where the love was. That was where your home was. In your heart.
"Nothing..." Scootaloo whispered, still sad that her brother had said those mean things to her.
"It isn't nothing. But... we'll talk about that later. Because something came up... about Cloud Runner." Her mother said with a weak voice and eyes brimming with tears Scootaloo had not noticed at first because of her distraught state of mind.
"What is it?" Scootaloo asked with the most innocent-looking eyes that just melted her mother's heart. Her mother, who was called Serene Winds looked off to the side and sighed, letting a tear drop onto the freshly mown grass.
"Your brother... there was an accident. Your brother passed away." Serene Winds whispered sadly as she let the tears run out.
"What...?" Scootaloo whispered more to the cruelty of life than to her mother. Serene Winds quickly wrapped Scootaloo up in a tight embrace and they cried together. She had just seen her brother and now he's... dead...? Apparently, a bridge that Cloud Runner and his friends were crossing had collapsed and they were trapped inside and drowned. They had no chance. All Scootaloo could think about was the last words she had said to her brother before running off... I hate you. She didn't mean it. But a whisper was all that was needed to bring her world crumbling down around her. For once, she truly knew what it felt to be alone. She would know this feeling even better two years later when her mother died of cancer. It always started with a whisper... always.