//------------------------------//
// Scootaloo 
// Story: Free to Fly 
// by I am not a Dalek 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 12- Scootaloo

Soarin' sleeps somewhat peacefully as we lay on the sofa together. I just wish I could help in some way; maybe this is how he feels whenever the screaming haunts me. I feel guilty that I've made him feel this bad or maybe even worse.

I close my eyes in attempt to have a rest but whenever I try I just see Soarin' falling to the ground and me being unable to catch him. My eyes shoot open and wave of nausea runs over me as the first image switches to one of Soarin' getting crushed by a boulder, even when I open my eyes it keeps running through my mind as if it's on repeat. It won't go away, it's getting worse again.

It's obvious that the spell which Twilight cast on me is beginning to wear off since the screams are gradually returning. I suppose three days without this torture is a gift, in a way, but now I have to wait before the spell can be recast. I'm not too sure if I can even handle this wait.

Soarin' stirs from his slumber and I glance at him for a moment. The sun is beginning to set behind Canterlot and I want to go and see Scoots today, so I decide that it's time for me to proceed with the dangerous task of waking him up. Although, it probably won't be as bad as waking up Spitfire, that was probably one of the scariest missions I've ever had to do and this is the fearless Rainbow Dash speaking.

Gently, I nudge the sleeping Wonderbolt in hope to wake him up but when there's no answer I sigh and walk into the kitchen. I could use my feather on him again but that would mean having to pull out another feather which I don't really want to do. I don't really care about how I look but I do care about how my wings look and if they're missing feathers they don't look good and they also don't work as well.

I find a glass and fill it up with ice cold water before returning to the side of the sofa. Thankfully he didn't have a nightmare this time around but that was probably because he was so worn out. He looks so comfortable lying there, I almost feel bad for having to wake him up. Almost.

Standing on my hind legs I take the water in my hooves and tip it over him. Soarin' yelps in shock and his wings shoot up at their sides as he instinctively flies up and away from whatever disturbed him.

Soarin' stares at me in shock for a few moments as I try and fail to hold back my laughter. He runs into the kitchen and I watch him go in confusion. What is that goofball planning on doing now? When he returns with a basin full of water and an evil smirk across his face, my eyes widen in shock and I realise that we're now at war so I fly out of the window as fast as I can.

"It's on, Dash!" Soarin' calls after me and I glance back to find him following me with the basin balancing on his back.

I freeze as I analyse his form and how well poised he is. He truly is a remarkable flyer; the fact that he isn't spilling a drop of water proves that. Suddenly, I realise that he's getting closer to me so I shoot off without any more hesitation. It was a bad idea declaring war upon a Wonderbolt.

Behind me I can hear Soarin's wings flapping as strong as ever as he draws closer and closer to me. I take a sharp left then a sharp right in attempt to confuse him but he still keeps up with me without a problem.

I see a cluster of clouds off to the left of me and I get the perfect idea. Quickly, I fly over to them and search for the ones which are heavy with rain. I fly around them all to make them into a large grey ball.

As I fly back to analyse my work, a pair of hooves wrap around me and I feel Soarin's breath against my ear. My heart pounds in my chest from the adrenaline and I know that there's no way to escape this.

"Gotcha," he whispers softly.

"Horseapples," I mutter under my breath as I feel him pull away. "Fine, I surrender."

I turn to face him and he sends his goofy grin to me before he grabs the basin off of his back and pours all of the water out towards the ground below us. I watch as it falls down over the grassy area underneath us before I gaze up at him in confusion but find that he's disappeared from his spot in front of me and is now flying towards the cloud which I created.

"Aw, no fair, Soar!" I yell and fly after him.

Soarin' turns his head and winks at me and I use this opportunity to catch up with him. I push myself as hard as I can to get closer to him. My hooves are stretched out in front of me as I prepare to push him down onto a cloud before he has a chance to escape. I'm behind him in no time at all and I tackle him down onto a nearby cloud. Soarin' is trapped on the cloud below me. He could push me off of him but he doesn't, we just gaze at each other as we breathe heavily in sync with each other.

"You were gonna use my weapon..." I say in between breaths. "That's a real dirty move, Mr Wonderbolt, real dirty."

Soarin' laughs softly and wraps his wings around me. I sigh and shake my head at him as I gently brush my lips over his.

"You know, you make it very hard for me to be angry at you." I smile.

"Well, that's the whole point, isn't it?" he murmurs as he pulls me closer to him.

I chuckle as I gaze into his emerald eyes which are glistening in the setting sun. I wish I could stay like this forever, in this moment where we aren't bothered by the screams or the nightmares. Where we aren't haunted by the Gorge. It's just us lying together contentedly. But I know that we have to get on with life. One day, we won't be haunted by the accident anymore but we have to go through the pain before we achieve our happiness.

"Thanks, Dashie," Soar whispers as he gently brushes his lips over mine.

"What for?" I say, raising my eyebrow in question.

Soarin' gently touches my cheek with his hoof as he gazes into my eyes. "Even when I'm feeling down you can always make me laugh. That was the most fun I've had in a while," he admits.

I shake my head in amusement. "I just did it to get your lazy flank up!"

"Well, where do you want to go?" he asks gently, knowing instantly that there was a reason to all of this.

"I want to go check on Scoots," I whisper and I rest my forehead on his.

Soarin' nods slightly. "Me too, do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah, I do. I think it's time I go and have a word with them to find out what's been going on," I mumble and climb to my hooves miserably.

I stretch out my wings and Soarin' stands beside me, doing the same. "Do you mind if I come along?"

"Sure, I think it'd be better if you were there with me," I look out into the distance and take a deep breath before flying towards Ponyville's town centre.

Even though the screaming is haunting me, I continue to fly. I'm Rainbow Dash, for crying out loud, I can get through anything. I need to be brave and confident for Scoots. I look over at Soarin' who is flying beside me. I wonder how much he really is affected by the cave. He only seems to be bothered in his dreams but maybe he's as good at hiding his suffering as I am. Well, I admit, I've been seen as pretty weak lately and I need to fix that.

The town is beginning to fall asleep, most of the shops have closed down and the daily market has been packed up and the owners have returned home.

Scootaloo's home is in an enclosed area just behind the town hall, the house is silent and the only sign of life is the warm light coming from the landing. I land on the front lawn and walk down the pathway. Once I reach the front door I glance at Soarin' before taking a breath and knocking on the door loudly.

When nopony answers, Soarin' turns to me and says, "It looks like nopony is here, maybe we should head back?"

"No, there's somepony in there, they left the landing light on," I mumble and hammer on the door even louder.

Finally, the door swings open to reveal Scootaloo's father, Thunder Blaze.

"What do you want, Miss Dash? I've already given you the weather plans for the next month." Thunder Blaze says sharply.

Thunder Blaze is Ponyville's Weather Planner, he works with the ponies in Cloudsdale and helps them plan what weather we should have and then he passes the information on to me. I then create the rota. As the Weather Patrol Manager I can give him suggestions on what would be best for Ponyville at the current time. For example, Sweet Apple Acre's needs more rainstorms since their crops are getting dry so that's been put into this month's rota. Still, since Thunder Blaze works with the Cloudsdale team more so than I do- the only time I ever see the Cloudsdale team is when we have to transport the clouds over to Ponyville-he thinks he has more power over me.

"I'm not here about the work business, Mr Blaze," I tell him bitterly. "I'm here to talk to your daughter."

Thunder Blaze looks at me then at Soarin' and his eyes betray a bit of fear. "H-Hello, Officer," he stutters and salutes Soarin'.

It takes me a few moments to remember that the Wonderbolts are also a Military Force and Soarin' is second in command, I wonder what his reaction would be if Spitfire turned up at his door.

"What has the brat done now?" Thunder Blaze mutters.

Soarin' growls softly under his breath, "Scootaloo hasn't done anything, Sir," he says, the last word dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, Scootaloo isn't here right now, so can you leave my property," Thunder goes to close the door but I put a hoof out and stop him.

"With all due respect, Sir, I know for a fact that Scootaloo is in because she's standing at the top of the stairs so can you please step aside and let us talk to her," I say, my voice growing darker with anger.

Scootaloo stares down at Soarin' and I in shock. Her eyes are slightly red as if she had been crying for a while now which makes me more determined to get in and talk to her.

Thunder Blaze shoots a look back at Scootaloo before shouting, "Get back into your room, you stupid filly."

"Excuse me, don't you dare talk to her like that," I shout and step forward so I can look at him in the eye. "Now, Mr Blaze, you better step aside or, Celestia help me, you'll be sorry," I growl as the rage bubbles up inside of me.

The screams are growing louder inside my mind, but this time they are angry screams. They're making me angrier at Thunder Blaze by the second. It's as if I could snap any moment and I don't care, if this is the way he's always treated Scootaloo then I can see why she never learnt how to fly. He's a spiteful stallion with no heart and hates his sweet and loving daughter. He deserves to be hurt, he deserves to suffer.

Soarin' reaches out and gently puts a hoof on my shoulder and I can barely hear him telling me to calm down. Thunder Blaze laughs which makes the anger bubble up more inside.

"Now, Miss Dash, if you so much as touch me I can get you fired from your job so you better back off," he sneers.

I laugh, "You don't get it, do you? I don't care about my job. I care about that little filly which I took under my wing."

Soarin' steps forward and speaks, "Sir, please step aside or this will have to be an issue which I will need to pass on to 

Captain Spitfire, our first in command. We can take you to the courts because you have abused Scootaloo by not teaching her how to fly. If you know what's best for you, you better move."

Thunder Blaze frowns but nods and moves over, letting us both in. He knows what will happen if he's brought to the courts and he knows it wouldn't go in his favour, especially if he had the Wonderbolts against him.

I walk upstairs and go towards the room that has a Wonderbolts poster on the door and I decipher that it's obviously Scootaloo's. I knock gently before opening it to find Scootaloo sitting on her bed with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, Scoots," I say gently and sit in front of her.

Scootaloo throws her arms around me and she clings on tight. "I'm sorry, Dash. I'm sorry," she sobs quietly.

"It's okay, I understand," I whisper and stroke her mane gently. "Now, do you want to tell me what's been going on?"

Scoots nods slightly before pulling away and looking down at her hooves. "Well, mum has been sick since I've been very little, she has to stay in bed most of the time, that's one of the reasons he never taught me when I was younger. We were both too busy looking after her, we were both very worried and we both still are. I suppose he blames me for mum getting sick, he says that I stressed her out too much... Mum says that when she gets better she'll teach me to fly but I know that she's never gonna get better; I don't think she's going to be here that much longer..." She whispers, "That's why I never learnt how to fly, technically I was telling the truth, dad is very busy looking after mum and mum always gets too tired when she tries to teach me..."

I look up at Scootaloo with a few tears in my eyes; I wish I heard of this sooner. "Okay, Scoots, well I will teach you to fly, for your mum... Then you can show her how much you've learnt; tell her everything you've done, alright?"

Scootaloo nods slightly. "Thank you, Dash."

"You know," Soarin' says gently as he walks over to sit on the bed beside her. "It's not your fault your mum is sick..."
Scoots looks up at Soarin' with tears in her eyes. "I know, but I don't want her to go, I want her to watch me find my cutie mark..."

Soarin' gently puts a wing around her back. "You want her to be there to watch you grow up, I know, she'll always be watching over you though and you'll make her proud."

"How do you know?" Scootaloo sniffles.

I listen intently as Soarin' begins to tell his story to the filly. "My father suddenly passed away when I was sixteen, I had just been accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy and he had promised to watch me perform in my first show and my last show and every show in between... But he couldn't and I was upset. I pretended everything was okay and hid away all my feelings and all my pain. At some point I broke and push everypony who loved me far away... I thought I couldn't go on; I wanted to quit the Academy... Then I remembered that I had to make him proud, he wouldn't want me to give up just because he was gone..." He looks down at Scootaloo and gently brushes her mane out of her face. "So remember that, Scoots, and make her proud... Also, talk to somepony when you're hurting, you've got your friends and you've got Dashie and me, too. You're going to be an amazing filly, Scoots. Don't listen to your dad."

I stare at Soarin' for a few moments in shock; I never knew that had happened to him. Scootaloo smiles and hugs him.

"Thank you, Soarin', that really helped. I'm gonna spend some time with mum, now, so I'll see you both later?" she jumps off the bed and wraps her forelegs around me too.

I smile and hug her back. "I'll see you later, squirt. I'll come find you after school one day for a flight lesson, alright?"
Scoots grins and bounces out of the room. "Sure thing, Dash! See you later!"

I laugh softly as I climb to my hooves. "Come on, Soar, let's go home and get something to eat."

Soarin' nods and walks over to me. We leave the house together, only muttering a 'Goodbye' to Thunder Blaze but I don't feel as angry at him anymore. I can understand their situation a whole lot better now, but still, he didn't need to treat Scoots like that.

The screaming is still there but I push them to the back of my mind as I stretch out my wings and begin to fly alongside Soarin'.

"I never knew, Soar... I'm sorry." I say gently after a few moments of flying in silence.

Soarin' looks over at me and smiles. "I'm sure there are a few things like that which I don't know about you either, Dashie, so it's alright."

"I guess, but we can save those stories for another night..." I say softly, "So, were you one of the last sixteen year olds to get into the 'Bolts?"

"Yeah, I was in the last round, that's why I didn't expect to get in... Spitfire was in the 'Bolts a year before me, so she was in the second last round," he smiles nostalgically. "Wave Chill was so upset that he had to wait another five years to apply."
I nod slightly. "I was only fourteen when they announced it, I was so distraught. I was hoping that I could get into the 'Bolts and prove that I wasn't Rainbow Crash..." I sigh sadly.

"But you didn't even apply when you turned eighteen, did you?" Soarin' asks in confusion.

I shake my head. "I ended up not applying when I turned eighteen because I had just moved to Ponyville and I had no money, plus I wouldn't have been able to get a job if I was put into the Academy, I would've been broke. Then when I had finally settled in, the whole Nightmare Moon thing happened so I had to wait another year to apply. I was lucky enough to get accepted into last year's round, which only happened because I entered the Best Young Fliers competition and saved your flank."

Soarin' laughs slightly. "Celestia, that competition was two years ago now... We've been watching you ever since that day, you know?"

"I know. I've occasionally spotted a few of your team watching me from afar. You're not very stealthy. Plus, I know what you all look like without your suits on because I met you all after the competition." I chuckle. "I pretended not to notice though."

"Spitfire was going to send you an invitation to join the Academy if you never applied yourself. You're definitely going to be on the team next year, Dashie, and I can promise you that." Soarin' says gently, I know this must be information which I'm not supposed to know.

"Thanks Soar. I'll be back, don't you worry about that. I just hope it happens before I turn twenty-two; we have about eleven months until my birthday though... I just don't want to hit my peak," I smile sadly as I prepare to land on the soft cloud by my front door.

Soarin' lands beside me before wrapping his forelegs around my neck. "I'm gonna miss you when I go back, Dashie."

I nod in agreement, I'm going to miss him a lot too, and I just hope that the screaming improves a significant amount by the time he has to go. I can vaguely tell that there has been an improvement, the screams are less sharp and are quieter. Still, I want them to be gone for good.

"You should see somepony about your nightmares, Soar. Maybe Twilight can give you a potion for it or something?" I say gently.

Soarin' sighs sadly and pulls me closer to him. "I know, I'll ask next week when you go back for the spell, okay? How's it been going, by the way?"

"They're starting to come back again, but I can see an improvement... Anyway, let's go and get some food before it's too late to eat. Plus, I fancy a cup of tea." I nudge him towards the door.

Soarin' glances back at me. "Celestia, Dash, are you from Trottingham or something?" he sniggers before going on to talk in a Trottingham accent, "Would you care for a cup of tea?"

I roll my eyes and punch him in the shoulder to which he mutters a sarcastic "ow," in return.

Soarin' walks in through the threshold, still chuckling under his breath from his stupid joke. I would tell him that tea is brilliant and there is nothing wrong with drinking it but he wouldn't listen. After a while, I begin to laugh at his joke and I follow him into my home, closing the door behind me.

I hope we both get better soon and I hope that the two weeks we have left together aren't ruined by the Gorge.

I can't help but fear the day that Soarin' has to return home, though.