“Goodbye, kids! Have a great summer!”
Filly after filly ran out of the front of the school, cheering various things that they’d do over the summer. Once the stampede, rainbow colored from the various ponies, had ceased, a trio of ponies walked out calmly. Their calm walk betrayed the excitement beaming in their eyes, however.
“Oh boy! It’s summer! I can’t wait for all the fun stuff I’ll do over it!” Apple Bloom said, her voice nearly a yell.
“I know! There’s so much stuff planned for me!” Sweetie bell replied.
“So guys,” Scootaloo chimed in, running ahead of the other two and facing the, “I’ve been going around Ponyville to check out new areas, and I found all sorts of cool places we can go to find our special talents!” Without waiting for a reply, she pulled a rolled piece of paper out of her backpack and layed it down. She unrolled it, revealing a map of Ponyville which showed some buildings far more distinctly than others.
“It turns out that up north of Twilight’s house there’s an ice cream shop, and further than that a skate—“
“Uhm, Scootaloo…” Sweetie Bell had cut her off. Sweetie Bell’s eyes were down, and she was shuffling the dirt with her hoof. “I… kinda… am going away for a lot of the summer. My sister’s taking me with her to tour part of Equestria on her big fashion show thing. I won’t be back until almost the summer’s end.”
“Oh… well, when you get back, Apple Bloom and I will—“
“Actually, I’m gonna be leaving for the summer too. My sister and Big MacIntosh are taking me with them to visit the rest of the Apple family, and we’re all way over Equestria.”
“So you’re both leaving? Then who’ll I have to hang out with?”
“Well, isn’t your sister gonna take you with her somewhere?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Yeah, you were talking about how she had a surprise for you the other day!” Apple Blossom added.
“Oh… yeah, my sister…” Scootaloo’s voice dropped in volume momentarily. “I uh, I totally forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me!” She then said, a happy tone.
“No problem! That’s what friends are for! And besides, at the end of the summer, we can go to all those places!” Sweetie Bell said. She was about to continue, but from the distance, she heard her sister calling.
“Sweetie Bell, oh Sweetie Bell, where are you? Come now, it is time for us to get home and get packing!” Rarity called.
“Coming!” Sweetie Bell called back, and she quickly ran off to join her sister.
“Bye, Sweetie Bell!” Apple Bloom called.
It was only a moment later when her sister called as well, from the opposite direction.
“Apple Bloom, c’mon! You silly filly, we better hurry up!”
“Bye, Scootaloo! See you after summer! Have fun!”
“Yeah, bye…”
Scootaloo watched as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell both left for their sisters. She sighed to herself, staring down at the ground. She noticed a blue feather on the ground. As memories she’d rather repress began to surface in her mind, she slowly moved her gaze from the feather to her tail, and to somewhere just behind her.
“I’ll be hanging out with my sister, alright…” She thought to herself.
She stood and began her way towards the local bakery. She walked in solitude and in silence, her head hanging low and her feet almost dragging. To her left and her right, as she walked, various ponies engaged in merry conversation over various topics. She found this only further depressing, enforcing the fact that she hadn’t her friends with her to converse with. She walked onwards, until the bakery was just barely visible in view, and she then took a left, heading west.
The silence and solitude continued for a while, and eventually she reached her destination. The soft dirt that had been under her hooves turned from brown to a more grey color, and she looked up to the place in front of her. It was a vast area with stone jutting from the ground here and there. The ground was covered in a mixture of the grayish dirt and grass as well. A tear formed in her eye, but she fought the others back. She then looked further up at the sign.
It read, “Ponyville Memorial Park.”
Scootaloo, still silent, walked into the cemetery and slowly made her way through the eerie place. She passed stone by stone on the ground, each holding a respective plaque for different ponies that had died either for noble cause, or unjustly in some form or way. She walked, first heading straight in, and then taking a slight right. It wasn’t long before she came to a fairly secluded part of the graveyard, and she looked over the scattered stones on the ground. In the center of the twelve sparse and spaced stones sat a fair-sized boulder with a large plaque on it. She walked to the center rock, and read over the plaque, although she had already memorized its words.
“Here rests ponies who had given their lives in attempt to save those they valued more so than themselves, in acts of heroism and compassion. May their souls rest in peace and be proud of the deeds they had done.”
Another tear escaped Scootaloo’s eye, but again, she fought to hold them in. She shook her head, and looked to the right of the stone. There, seven feet from her, was her destination. She took the final steps to it, and sat, and lay next to it. She rested her head on the flat stone, the sun-warmed plaque comforting her. She closed her eyes. It was then she couldn’t hold the tears anymore.
It started out slow, like a leaking faucet; one tear after another slowly dripped down her face. Without transition, however, it quickly turned to a steady stream. Her body shook lightly, and she began to silently sob. Her ears lay limp and her tail was lifeless.
It stayed like this for many long, drawn-out minutes. The minutes piled into ten, and then fifteen. For a long time, Scootaloo didn’t speak; there was no one to speak to. But eventually, once the water flow had slowed and Scootaloo could functionally think, words formed from her lips.
“I miss you…” She started in a whisper. “I really do.” She continued. “And I miss Mom, and Dad…” Her voice slowly grew in volume until she regained a normal speaking voice. “But most of all, I miss you… I wish that you were here, still. I’m so lonely at times… My friends keep me company when I see them, but most of the time, I can’t see them. Especially this summer.”
She paused, thinking, and then continued.
“You, though… You were always there for me, no matter what, no matter where. I really miss you.”
She opened her tear-filled eyes and blinked a few times to clear her vision. In front of her, she saw a dead flower boquet.
“I’m sorry, I forgot to bring you new flowers…” She mumbled to herself. She pushed herself upright into a sitting position, and wiped the tears from her face with her arm. “I’ll bring some tomorrow, I promise.”
She paused again, as if being responded to. A light breeze blew over the cemetery, causing a single leaf from a nearby tree to fall.
“I can’t bring them today. I was gonna go an—“
“Yeeeaaahaha!”
Scootaloo looked up in the air to where the voice came from. She saw Rainbow Dash in the distance flying towards the cemetery.
“I can’t let anyone see me here!” Scootaloo thought to herself. “Especially not Rainbow Dash!”
Scootaloo quickly made a dart for the large rock and hid behind it, opposite of the way Rainbow Dash was coming from.
Rainbow Dash was flying quickly overhead, and just as she came into view of Scootaloo, she stopped. Scootaloo held her breath. Rainbow Dash turned around, not seeming to notice Scootaloo.
“Come on, Tank! Let’s go, we’re gonna be late! ...whoa, wait! We haven’t tried that setting yet!”
Scootaloo could only see Rainbow Dash’s actions, and she seemed shocked. Suddenly, out from nowhere, Rainbow Dash’s pet turtle, Tank, whizzed by in the air at unbelievable speeds. The local tinker shop had created an attachable rotating blade for his shell, and with it came several speed settings, including the untested “Mach.” It seemed like Tank had decided to try it out.
“If it’s a race you want, it’s a race you got!” Rainbow Dash yelled, She flapped her wings twice and then zipped off, at a speed equal to her pet’s. She zoomed off and noticeably grew in speed until she left sight.
“..good, she didn’t notice me.” Scootaloo sighed relief. “I don’t want her to see me here… She’ll think I’m uncool.” Scootaloo added in her head.
In reality, it wasn’t so much that Scootaloo was afraid to be thought of as uncool. It was more so that she didn’t want Rainbow Dash to dislike her. Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash like a sister… Like she did her own sister once before. In many ways, Rainbow Dash reminded Scootaloo of her sister and thus felt attatched to her.
“I better get out of here before some pony sees me…” She added in her head. The previous sadness she had showed seemed to have disappeared; at least, she showed no signs of it outwardly.
“Bye!” She said to her sister’s plaque. “Like I said, I’ll bring the flowers tomorrow!”
She ran back to the front of the cemetery and left, quickly taking a right once she’d gone out. She ran through the town, towards the Apple Ranch owned by the Apple family. There was housed the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse. Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom didn’t know, but secretly, she’d taken up residency in it; it was far better than how she’d managed before their friendship and club was made.