//------------------------------// // What Have I Done // Story: The Fears of Yesterday // by SolidFire //------------------------------// What Have I Done? Scootaloo flew through the halls of her school with her head down. Walking on hard floors hurt far too badly on her injured hoof. The injury reminded her of why she preferred soft, cloud flooring. Despite how wonderful her morning had been, as soon as she was away from her family and her coltfriend the image of Jade's broken body haunted her mind. Despite what she endured from Jade, she had never truly desired to kill him. Sometimes she would talk tough and say she wanted to, but everypony who really knew her knew that she would never be able to bring herself to do any serious harm to anypony if she wasn't forced to. As the final moments of Jade's life continued to flash through her mind, she didn't notice a pair of prissy (and irritating) mares as they walked right in front of her. "Hey there Scootaloo. How's your tool today?" Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara laughed. Ever since Lightning rejected them for the final time they had begun referring to him as Scootaloo's "tool." Scootaloo ignored them, opting to fly a little faster. It was the same routine as always. They played the "mean mares" role and Scootaloo didn't waste her time with them. Today that routine was going to be a tad more difficult. Being the better mare is tough when faced with airheads like them... "Hey punk! We're talking to you!" "Yeah, why don't you come down here and talk to us?" "Leave me alone. I had a rough day yesterday." Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara laughed again. "Aww, did somepony's coltfriend find out he was being used to hide that his mare is a fillyfooler?" The sound of their repeated laughter caused Scootaloo to snap. She turned around and flew right into their faces. It was then that the bullies noticed the damage Scootaloo had sustained the day before. "Yesterday I fought my birth father for the second time in my life. During the fight he cut half of my ear off, sunk a knife halfway into my hoof, and knocked out two of my teeth. Do you want to know how that fight ended?" The two mares shook their heads and desperately looked for a way out of the situation they had gotten themselves into. Scootaloo pushed further into their faces. "You have no idea how good of a choice you just made." Scootaloo flew off. Her anger was gone, spent on the dumbfounded mares down the hall. Now all she felt was sorrow. Guilt for taking the life of another pony. She flew outside and found a spot on the roof of the school where she could just curl up and cry. She pulled the bandages off her ear. Her ear was only being held together by some stitching and a very small amount of skin that had begun to grow back in around the stitching. After a moment of thought she placed her hooves just above the stitching on top of her ear and pulled. After thirty seconds and an agonized scream, she managed to pull the top of her ear free. If I can take his life, he can take my ear, thought Scootaloo. Blood dripped down the side of her face and began to mix with her tears. It wasn't punishment enough. The ear was still functional. She hadn't lost anything important from the fight. "You okay miss?" Scootaloo turned around to see an earth pony wearing a set of grease stained coveralls. "Who are you?" she asked. "Scruffy. The Janitor." "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." "You're not supposed to be up here." He gave her a blank stare. He then noticed that half of her ear was laying next to her. "Miss? You dropped something." Scootaloo kicked the piece of her ear off the roof and flew away. She wasn't going to be going back to class today. Lightning looked around him. He and Scootaloo shared this class. Where was she? The bell rang, and still she didn't show up. "Ms. Dash? Do we have a Ms. Dash today? I guess not." The teacher scribbled on his clipboard. Lightning stood and headed for the door. "Where are you going Mr. Spark?" "To make sure she's alright." The class giggled. "You can go see your marefriend after class Mr. Spark. For now-" "You have no idea how important this could be." "Mr. Spark, I don't care about your silly youth drama, sit back down or you will be suspended!" "Fine by me teach." With nothing left to say Lightning left the classroom. The old stallion standing in front of the room could only stare in awe. No student of his had ever shown him such direct defiance before. Lightning flew all around Ponyville looking for Scootaloo. After two hours, he accepted that she wasn't in town. He wracked his brain for any possible answer to the location of his marefriend. Then it hit him. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Thinking back it was so obvious he was disappointed in himself for not realizing where she would be. The lake. After a short flight, he found out he was wrong. As he landed on the beach of the small lake he double checked his surroundings. Scootaloo was nowhere to be found. Where could she be? Again Lightning wracked his brain for answers. He sat down. He decided the best course of action he could take was to go back to his pseudo-family's home and tell Rainbow and Spitfire about Scootaloo's disappearance. That is if she wasn't already back there. For some reason he didn't understand, he flew lower on this trip back to the Dash home. About halfway there he found his marefriend. She was sitting, looking up at the sky. Lightning flew down to her. "Scootaloo, what's going on? Why weren't you in class today?" Scootaloo didn't move. She didn't turn to look at Lightning. She just spoke. "Did I ever tell you about the day Jade first kicked me out?" "No. You've never wanted to relive that." Scootaloo smiled sadly. "This is where it all started Lightning. Right here. When Jade kicked me out, I landed right where I'm sitting now." Lightning contemplated her statement. A look of horror adorned his face. "You don't mean-" "When my birth family and I moved to Ponyville, we had a cloud home right here. When they left, I told Jade I wasn't going with him. He kicked me through the wall of my room and I landed right here. It was the kindest thing he ever did for me." A tear slid down her face. Lightning sat next to her and wrapped a wing around her. Lightning noticed half of her right ear was missing. "Scootaloo, I thought Nurse Redheart reattached that ear. What happened?" "I pulled it off." Lightning was too shocked to cringe. "Why would you do that?!" Scootaloo looked up at him. "I took his life. He can have my ear." Lightning pulled her close, expecting her to sob. But the sobs never came. He looked at his marefriend as she stared at where her home was long ago. She didn't look sad, she looked bitter. "Come on Scoot. Let's get that ear cleaned up. Any idea where the other half is? We could still-" "I don't want it. I pulled it off for a reason Lightning. It's going to stay where it is." "Where is it?" "Somewhere in front of the school. It'll get tossed out tonight. Fine by me." Lightning wasn't sure what else to say to her. At a loss for words, he pulled her in and kissed her. When he pulled away, Scootaloo gave him a strange look. "What was that for?" Scootaloo asked. "You looked like you needed it." Lightning gave a soft smile when he responded. Scootaloo rested her head on his shoulder. Lightning pulled away and spread his wings. "Come on, let's go home. You need to clean that ear up." Scootaloo reluctantly decided to follow suit. She did need to get cleaned up a little, but she was going to hate explaining her missing ear to her parents.