//------------------------------// // Chapter 72; Missed Chances // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// After the three Pegasi finished their breakfast they set about preparing to take care of the day’s business. All that really needed to be done for preparation was for Scootaloo to put the brace on. It felt a little unusual to have it back on. She hadn’t worn it for over a day and it took a minute or so to get used to the feeling of having it on again. She gave her wings a few tentative flaps and giggled as the wind whipped around her hooves. “Almost there Scoots, keep those wings moving.” Star Shine commented with a smile as Scootaloo hopped up onto Rainbow Dash’s back. Scootaloo gave a salute and spread and stretched her wings. Rainbow Dash spread her own wings and they set off into the sky. “So where are we headed?” Star Shine asked, speaking up to be heard over the wind. Scootaloo pointed a hoof in the general direction of the ground. “Don’t worry, I know where he lives too. Just keep up with me.” Rainbow Dash called back. “If you can that is!” she added, smirking as she picked up her speed. Scootaloo squealed with exhilaration and hunkered down on Rainbow Dash’s back, furling her wings back into her body. She didn’t want to accidentally be sent off of Rainbow Dash’s back by an errant gust of wind. Star Shine picked up his speed to keep up with her. Rainbow Dash was aware she had Scootaloo on her back and knew she couldn’t go top speed. It didn’t take long for Star Shine to catch up to her. When he would catch up to her, Rainbow Dash would move errantly and pick up her speed a little. She was taking a rather long and scenic route. “Hey, what’s going on?” Star Shine called out to her from behind. He expected they’d be there by then with how fast they had been going. Rainbow Dash had twisted and turned so much that they were only about half way. Every time they got close she would just move around. “I thought it’d be good to have a little fun.” Rainbow Dash called back. She turned in the actual direction of Featherweight’s house and made her way towards it. Star Shine caught up to her pretty quickly now that she wasn’t trying to get away from him. He looked at Scootaloo and when he saw her smile and thought Rainbow Dash was right. “I don’t think we’re gonna have much fun today. Even after this we gotta go see Twilight and see why she sent Diamond Tiara up to our house.” Rainbow Dash added dejectedly. “Yeah, but I’m sure she had her reasons.” Star Shine said. Rainbow Dash nodded in reply. She expected Twilight did have her reasons, and probably just fell for Diamond Tiara’s lies just like everypony had. If that was the case, she could probably forgive her pretty quickly as long as she accepted Scootaloo’s version. Twilight probably had no idea that Diamond Tiara had even lied to her. For now they had to take care of Feather Quill and hope to stem the tide of lies. Rainbow Dash flew towards the ground, followed by Star Shine. She landed outside a fairly unassuming house. Nearly every house in Ponyville was brightly coloured and this one was no exception. Star Shine couldn’t even notice anything particularly remarkable about it that set it apart from the other houses. He looked around and saw that they weren’t alone in the town. There were some ponies stood around town, going about their business. When they looked at the small group of Pegasi they would start talking amongst themselves. It wasn’t hard to realise they were being talked about, and probably being scrutinized too. Rainbow Dash was right; the entire town had read about what had happened. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Star Shine asked as Rainbow Dash prepared to knock on the door. She and Scootaloo looked around and saw all the ponies staring at them and whispering. Scootaloo started shifting uncomfortably. Rainbow Dash just snorted and knocked on the door. “Let them talk, we know the truth.” she commented as she heard a call from inside the house. Star Shine snickered at her. “What’s so funny?” Rainbow Dash asked him, a tone of slight annoyance in her voice. “You’re just being awesome.” Star Shine replied. He found it great that she had reacted like that and wasn’t caring so much about what people thought about her. She had responded pretty badly to the first Gabby Gums article and most of that was due to people making assumptions about her and her relationship with him. “Oh…” she replied, blushing slightly as the door opened. It was opened by a fairly older looking colt Unicorn. He panicked a little when he saw who was standing at his door. He went to shut up but Rainbow Dash stuck a hoof in the doorway to stop it closing completely. “You can attack me if you want but you’ll just be proving me right, I’m not afraid to speak the truth.” the pony inside the door said. “That’s what you’re here for right? To attack me for what I said?” he added, still trying to shut the door. “Not at all sir. We’re here because what you’re saying isn’t the truth and we want Scootaloo to be able to tell her side of the story.” Star Shine replied calmly. Feather Quill relaxed his attempts to close the door, for which Rainbow Dash was thankful. It was starting to hurt her hoof to have a door pressed against them like that. “You really think I’m not telling the truth?” Feather Quill asked. He still hadn’t opened the door properly but they had his attention now. “That’s right sir. I assure you that none of us are a threat. Scootaloo is just tired of Diamond Tiara spreading lies about her and wants to tell her side of the story.” Star Shine replied. Scootaloo hopped down off Rainbow Dash’s back and put her face in the gap in the doorway. “It’s true. Please just let me talk to you.” Scootaloo pleaded. “You said no one who could speak for her could be reached for a comment so we thought we would just come down and give you our comments personally. There’s not a problem with that is there?” Star Shine asked, closing in on a victory. Feather Quill couldn’t deny he had said that, and that it was a good point Star Shine had. “If that’s all you want, and if you’re sure Diamond Tiara wasn’t totally honest, then I don’t really have a choice. I offered Scootaloo the chance to say her piece and I won’t go back on that. I also don’t like the idea I printed lies.” Feather Quill sighed. He had a lot of integrity and pride in his work. He opened the door and let the three Pegasi in. He showed Star Shine, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo into his living room and they all sat down. Feather Quill sat down and pulled a writing pad and quill out using his magic, and suspended it in the air. “Okay Scootaloo, why don’t you tell me what really happened?” he said to Scootaloo. Scootaloo fidgeted and Rainbow Dash wrapped a wing around her, holding her close. The two smiled at eachother and Scootaloo sighed contentedly, ready to tell her side of the story. “It is true I hit her, I can’t even try and deny that, but she was provoking me and teasing me about a lot of things and she ended up pushing me over the edge. I lost control, and I hit her, but she’s not innocent herself. She lied to everypony and pretended to be nice but she really wasn’t. She was just as mean as ever. I didn’t mean to do anything, I really didn’t.” Scootaloo explained, slowly bursting into tears as she remembered everything Diamond Tiara had said to her. “Well there were ponies who said that some things were said between you, but she alleges you were just bragging about something. You say she was provoking you, but what could she have said to push you so far over the edge?” Feather Quill asked. It was important he get every tiny detail. Scootaloo started shaking. “I...I can’t.” she said slowly, sighing again. “You can’t what?” Feather Quill asked. “I..can’t tell you.” Scootaloo replied. Rainbow Dash and Star Shine leaned against her. “Scootaloo...maybe you should take this chance and tell the whole world everything.” Rainbow Dash offered. Star Shine nodded his agreement. In front of Scootaloo was the chance to finally face all of her fears and let everypony know the truth. It was a way to confront and deal with everything at once. “I...I can’t do it.” Scootaloo said quickly. She jumped off the couch and dashed for the door, running out of the house even. “Scootaloo wait!” Rainbow Dash called, chasing after her, worried about what had caused her to react like that. “I’m sorry about that. I really thought she might be able to tell you.” Star Shine said to Feather Quill. He trusted Rainbow Dash to catch up to and find Scootaloo and wasn’t in as big a hurry as her. Feather Quill was a little dumbfounded at the whole display. “Sir do you have any idea how Scootaloo is seen around here?” he asked Star Shine. Star Shine shook his head. “We’ve always wondered about her. We’ve never really known what to think about her. Yet in these past few weeks an awful lot as come out about her. She stole Diamond Tiara’s tiara and only returned it thanks to the timely intervention of my young boy. She never trusted Diamond Tiara after she tried so hard to be nice and then, when Scootaloo is nice back, she attacks her violently on the same day. I don’t know what she’s like to you, but right now Ponyville sees her as some kind of pathological liar. I can’t print what Scootaloo told me because she has no evidence. Diamond Tiara had witnesses who back up what she said and I’m inclined to believe her story. No matter what might have been said, Scootaloo had no right to attack her. Now I’ve just seen her run out of my house crying after wanting to say something, but then being unable to. I really don’t know about you, but I just witnessed a clearly disturbed little fill-” Feather Quill began before he realised he was being growled at. Star Shine had been a little dejected when Feather Quill had first been talking but as he started to insult Scootaloo, Star Shine had gotten angry. “I understand she had no right to attack Diamond Tiara, and trust me, that’s the only reason I’m not attacking you right now.” Star Shine said quietly, glaring at Feather Quill who had backed up into a corner. “If you don’t want to print Scootaloo’s side, then that’s fine. The truth will always out in the end. Good day to you.” Star Shine concluded, turning and heading out the house, not trusting himself to stay there much longer. He was not a violent pony in any sense of the word, but he hated when ponies talked bad about the ones he loved. When he left the house Star Shine spread his wings and took off into the air to look for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. After he left Diamond Tiara came down the stairs of Feather Quill’s house. Firefly was stood behind her, as he usually was. Diamond Tiara had expected Scootaloo might try and do something like this and she wanted to hear what had been said. “Did...did you hear that?” Feather Quill asked nervously, his heart still racing. “I did.” Diamond Tiara replied sadly, running up to Feather Quill and giving him a hug. “I’m sorry they were so mean to you. I didn’t know they’d act like that. If I did I wouldn’t have asked you to print that story.” she said, tearing up a little. Feather Quill smiled down at her and patted the top of her head. “Don’t you worry about it. If they’d act like that then I’m glad I did. I can’t believe the way that colt looked at me…” Feather Quill assured her. Diamond Tiara had already tuned him out. Her mind was on other things. Having read the note Scootaloo left, she had a fairly good idea what Rainbow Dash and Star Shine were trying to get her to open up about. That Scootaloo hadn’t done it would prove to be a monumental mistake on her part. She had the chance to rob Diamond Tiara of her final victory and hadn’t taken it. She was going to regret that.