//------------------------------// // Old Debts and New Concerns (Yellow Guardian 2, White Guardian 1) // Story: Guardians of Many Hues // by TadStone //------------------------------// Old Debts and New Concerns (Yellow Guardian 2, White Guardian 1) Like Apple Bloom before, Sweetie Belle was shocked, but at the same time happy for her friend. Scootaloo’s retelling had gone better than the last time, with Apple Bloom or Aegis continuing whenever she lost track in her own emotions or was missing a word. All in all it had left Sweetie Belle thinking about her own family situation, of her loving but busy big sister and her parents who cared more about their own problems than hers. At least that was how it seemed to her sometimes. In retrospective, they had always been there for her whenever it counted. She’d had a home. She’d had love. She’d had everything to wish for, anytime. And yet she had never failed to complain to the orange pegasus about her family. The very same filly who’d had nothing of her luxuries, who’d had to fight for her very life on her own. She felt very bad about so many things she had said and done now. If only she had known. She locked her eyes at the rippling sea before her, loosing herself in the distance of it, thinking, not noticing the time flowing beyond her. The world turned cold and warm again. Another body pressed against her, ambivalently exchanging heat. As far as she could remember she had always loved to cuddle. With her parents, Rarity, or even one of the many stuffed toys she hoarded in her bed. The first time she had met Scootaloo, she had found the pegasus roaming around the meadows of Ponyville in search for a midday snack, claiming that her parents were out for the night and she had locked herself out. Sweetie Belle had never dared to question her friend’s statement, although it had always seemed to be a little off. Now it seemed idiotic to have believed in it for even a second. Food had been easily prepared for her friend and a blanket for the night as well, resulting, unbeknownst by the host, in Scootaloo’s first sleepover. At the end of the day, they had both shared the same bed, falling asleep with air and fabric separating them as was normal. It hadn’t stayed that way. The next memory was one of Sweetie Belle favourites: waking up to Scootaloo wrapped around her, soft hooves and wings alike. Her friends touch had always felt special, like no other pony she knew. She couldn’t quite place what was different however. It just felt warm and nice, as if she belonged there. While Scootaloo had never failed to soothe her, most of the times with a simple hug, other times with words, she craved for the intimacy of that night. She had never been able to reproduce it. The pegasus would always stop her, claiming it was too tacky or girly, or that she needed to perform an important stunt. Never up until now. There was no mistaking the little frame sprawled against her. The very same she had failed so much during the past year. An orange hoof appeared in her vision, guiding her gaze back to reality. “You OK, Sweetie? Thanks for beeing such a good friend all this time.” Scootaloo ran her hoof down Sweetie Belle’s long curly mane, but she was shaken off as her crusading buddy turned around to face her. “But I failed you as a friend. I never cared for your needs.” Scootaloo recognised that face Sweetie Belle made, eyes wide and watery, mouth small and upside down. Normally she would prepare her umbrella right now. She needed to act swiftly if not to get wet. “Sweetie, you never did. I would have given up without your help and food. Same is true for you, Apple Bloom. Do you remember the summer vacations?” Apples. Why did it have to be Apples? Of all the places she could have ended in finding some kind of permanent shelter, why did it have to be located in the middle of a proverbial ocean of food she didn’t dare to eat. Applejack had a sixth sense when it came to her orchard. Not a single apple went missing without notice and investigation if the workload of the farm pony allowed for it. Most of the times animals could be accounted for the “crime” and a few words from Fluttershy sufficed to keep them off. One time Scootaloo had witnessed Applejack tracking down a blue earth pony colt, not much older than herself. It all resulted into him paying off the apples with his own allowance and a week detention after a few quick words with his parents. She had neither money nor parents. It was starvation or being caught and sent back to the orphanage. She preferred the first one despite her rumbling stomach and the empty hollow feeling. She felt as if she was just an orange shell. Missing school meals for the past 3 weeks of vacation had left her in a weak state, a mixture of lacking motivation and the inability to move anyway keeping her pressed to the ground of the clubhouse for the past three days except for the two times she had to use the green big bathroom around her shelter and one time to refill her water bottle. All her saved up food was gone. All the trees outside the orchard, free to access for anypony, had no apples left, either being already harvested or not yet ripe. Even her friends were not in Ponyville at the moment. Apple Bloom was visiting Babs and Sweetie Belle had joined in on a trip of her parents to explore the Chrystal Empire. She was left alone. Nothing to do but sitting and waiting with no energy left to do anything else, anyways. Thankfully there was a small gurgling stream near the clubhouse, serving as bath tub as well as drinking water reservoir with its clear, cold current. At least dehydration was not one of her many fears, but the hunger was literally slowly killing her. Not much longer and she would have to find some excuse to beg Rainbow or somepony else for food without raising any suspicions. She didn’t think this was possible, thought. The sounds of two sets of hooves walking up the ramp announced the arrival of two guests, but Scootaloo's body refused to react in any appropriate way, only allowing her to slightly lift up her head fast enough to see her two best, and only friends enter her home and their cloubhouse. “Hi there. How was your vacation?” the pegasus weakly called out from her low position on the floor. “Scootaloo!?” Both newcomers cried out in surprise at the same time, eyes moving to the dishevelled orange lump of a pony on the floor. “Are ya feeling OK, Scoots?” Apple Bloom had quickly moved over, poking her buddy to see if she still reacted to it. Scootaloo didn’t, but instead managed to speak up. “Stop that. I am not dead. I’m just feeling sick. Didn’t have any food all day.” Of course this was only part of the truth, but as it was late afternoon it should be enough to coax something to eat out of her fellow crusaders. “Ya really look sick, Scoots. Ya should stay in bed.” Apple Bloom couldn’t hide her concern as she spoke. “Are yer parents out of town again?” Scootaloo all but wanted to cry out that her parents weren’t even in this world anymore and she already was in her bed, but as always she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Fear perpetrated all her actions, so she just resorted to a simple nod. Applebloom knew better than to ask any more questions and kept silent, pondering about the next step. Sweetie Belle was faster in her thoughts. “You can have my sandwich,” she offered from the background, waving with the bread she had gotten out of her plain white saddle bags. It wasn’t anything special. Simple wheat toast with rocket salad and tomato, but for somepony as hungry as Scootaloo it was a more than welcoming sight. The pegasus filly even mustered the strength to get up and awkwardly snatch the food with limp muscles, hiding her apparent weakness as best as possible. Past experience had taught her to eat slowly, chewing long on every piece, lest she want to throw it up again. She didn’t want that. She couldn’t afford that. Two apples that had come from Apple Bloom were next on her dining plan. She could even ignore her friends whispering to each other over the sweet crunchiness in her mouth. “This was the first time I had eaten in a week. I guess I owe both of you my life.” While the story served its purpose of holding back the water pretty well, the dam hadn’t remained intact, not after the last sentence of the little pegasus. Scootaloo could feel tears running down her cheek, but they weren’t her own. They belonged to the white unicorn pressed tightly against her, squeezing her as if she wanted to incorporate them both into one new pony. “Ya owe nothing to us, Scootaloo.” Apple Bloom had left her own blanket to join in on the hug, stretching the fabric encasing her friends to its limits as she slid in. Normally, the orange pegasus didn’t like group hugs, trying to flee them or standing impassive in the middle. Normally, she tried to avoid physically intimate contact at all when she was conscious. Whenever she had woken up tangled up with one of her bed mates at a sleepover, she’d felt embarrassed and instantly fled the room. Today was different, though. Today she belonged right in between her friends. She didn’t know how long they laid there, simply enjoying each other’s presence. But she did know she didn’t want it to end. But all good things had to end, sometimes to be replaced by something even better. A rainbow streak appeared at the horizon, zooming in as fast as ponily possible. “Rainbow!” Scootaloo’s high pitched scream tormented the auditory canals of everypony surrounding her. She jumped up, freeing herself of the blanket and exposing her friends to the cold. None of them minded, however. They all enjoyed seeing the filly bouncing up and down, little wings buzzing so hard she almost hovered above the grass. She began to run, aiming to meet Rainbow midway. Without her scooter she stood no chance at all to reach that goal, stumbling through the high standing vegetation, trampling down rows of grass on her way. Neither of them slowed down until moments before the impact. The image of Rainbow’s overjoyed face only inches away from her own one burned into the filly’s retina before the world became a mess of green and blue flittering around her. A tight ball of pegasi rolled around the meadow, tufts of grass cushioning their movement. “Hi there, Rainbow,” the black stallion smiled down at the cyan mare who had just landed in front of his hooves, lying on her back, limbs spread out to into directions and a giggling orange passenger sitting on her stomach. “Guess who just became the legal guardian of the awesomest filly in the world!” Rainbow said, only partly addressing Aegis, stemming up Scootaloo on all for legs to look into her eyes. “Guess who agreed to move to Aegis’ with you?” her protégé answered. “Then who is up for a medical check-up?” Scootaloo tried to raise a hoof into to air, but balance failed her on the uneven and moving hooves she currently called her ground, resulting in her falling to the side like a ripe apple from a tree. Luckily the grass was soft, as they had already tested. “No need to be actually hurt to enter a hospital Squirt,” Dash mused, drawing laughter from everypony else, including the crashed filly although she was occupied with sending the dust off her coat using a few trained flaps of her wings. Rainbow took the opportunity and got up, but went down on her knees again to lower herself to the same eye-level as Scootaloo. There was still important news waiting to be relayed: “Squirt, I must tell you that I am only temporary your legal guardian. Tomorrow we will both visit a psychologist. He will ask you for your wishes on that matter. The permanent decision will be based upon what you say tomorrow, so I want you to think carefully about what you want for your future. Don’t answer based upon what I want, and I would really love to have you around, but on what you want.” What a silly question, Scootaloo thought. Rainbow was ready to give up her house. She had gone through an amount of trouble Scootaloo could only guess just to help her. Since one year the filly’s greatest dream had been to have a family, to have a cool big sister, a mother. Rainbow was both, and more. She had been the target of her ambitions for so long. “The answer will always be you, Rainbow.” Scootaloo nuzzled the mare lying in front of her. “You sure? Don’t want to sleep on it? It’s not too rushed for you?” Rainbow took a long look at the filly’s expression, searching for any kind of doubt, but not finding any. She was looking at the most sincere eyes she had ever seen, including Applejack’s. “Then I guess it’s safe to move tomorrow as planned. Aegis?” Rainbow got up and moved over to him. “Is it OK if you handle everything alone tomorrow? I’ll put the key under the doormat I will create just for this purpose.” She leaned up to whisper in his ear. “And I promise to remove everything embarrassing beforehoof.” “Sure thing,” he chuckled, producing a row of gurgling noises after Dash’s last statement. “You pay the extra relocation assistant.” “I will even tip you for your services.” Rainbow winked at the stallion. “Hop on Scoots. We got a schedule to meet.” The little filly followed put, waving to her friends as they went off.