SOTP (Seat of the Pants) Collection

by Gylden Glor


Tides (SOTP Story 4)

This is a spinoff of 'Scootatrap'. I decided, why not make my own version of it, but in which it's a bit heart-wrenching, y'know?

Dash looked down at the sandcastle. She almost spat in disgust. It must have been some kind of joke. Her half of the castle was three upturned plastic pails worth of sand. She hadn’t even bothered the pack the sand in before dumping it out, so the thing was already falling apart. Scootaloo’s half of the castle, on the other hoof, was by most pony standards a work of art. There were parapets and crenelations; conical towers with little seaweed flags; it had a sand dollar royal insignia over the drawbridge; and there was a cockle King and his razor clam Queen, with long flowing seaweed hair.
When the tide rose and the surf came up, Dash’s half quickly collapsed. Scootaloo’s portion was spared for a while, as she had carefully dug a moat and drainage channels.
“Really, kid? Really?” Dash spat. “You had me drive you all the way out to the beach and waste six hours of my life for this?”
“What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, suddenly worried that Dash was starting to have one of her episodes again.
“'What’s wrong?' Are you stupid? Look at your sandcastle. You spent all that time on it, and I had to help you, and now it’s getting washed away.”
“But that’s what sandcastles do,” Scootaloo explained. “That always happens. It’s a sign of impermanence.”
“Imperpetence?” Dash tried to say. “I’ll show you imperpetence.” Dash got up and started to trod all over Scootaloo’s still standing castle. The King and Queen of the Ocean were smashed to little pieces.
“Heyyyy!” Scootaloo shouted. “What did you do that for?”
“Because the beach sucks. That’s why,” Dash insisted.
“Why did you even come out here if you’re going to be like that?” Scootaloo asked. “You said you wanted to come.”
“No,” lied Dash. “I never wanted to come. Your mother thought it would be a good idea if I brought you, the ungrateful bitch.”
“Don’t talk bad about my mom. She struggles.”
“Yeah, with you. And why the hell are you wearing a swimsuit? You walk around naked all the time anyway.”
“Because it’s the beach,” explained Scootaloo. “You have to wear bathing suits at the beach. Me and Sweetie Belle tried on all the different bathing suits at her sister’s store and this one was the cutest. We had lots of fun.”
“You didn’t even go swimming!”
“The water was too cold!”
Dash boxed her behind the ears. “Ow!” Scootaloo screamed, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m telling!” Dash clobbered her again, this time knocking her over into the sand. She sat back up, now completely sobbing. “I’m gonna tell my mom and then you’re not going to be her girlfriend anymore!”
Dash kicked her in the gut, making her double over. “Why do you think she’s going to believe you after all the lies you told, huh? After those fires you’ve been setting? After she found you cutting yourself? You think she can see those bruises under your coat? Why would she believe you when she could believe a responsible adult such as myself?”
Now it becomes my material.
Scootaloo simply accepted it. Accepted the pain, accepted the truth that the Rainbow Dash she had once known...was dead.
"Go on, run! I'll just catch you anyway!"
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, simply lying in the sand, letting her grief and pain wash over her.
"Come on, you little shit! It's no fun when I can't chase you! And you want to have fun, right?"
Scootaloo stood, and stared into Rainbow Dash's hateful eyes.
Dead.
"I'm not going to run...I can't. I can't run from the inevitable."
Rainbow Dash chuckled lightly.
"Damn straight you can't! We finally see eye to eye about this! But, run anyway! It's fun to see you squirm when I catch you!"
Scootaloo shook her head.
"I don't mean you. And I don't mean being beaten.
"Rainbow Dash, I'm going to ask you to do something, not as a friend, and not as an enemy. It's simply a request."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"What is it, you little bitch?"
"I want you to kill me."
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes wide. For a second, Scootaloo hoped that the old, caring Rainbow Dash had returned...
Unfortunately, that Rainbow Dash was dead. And the new, cruel Rainbow Dash spit upon her grave by laughing boisterously at Scootaloo.
"Wow! That's just sad! I'm not gonna kill you, by the way, because then I'd have to leave your bitch of a mother. And go to jail."
Scootaloo sniffed. She had made up her mind.
"Fine! Then I'll do it myself! I'll go into the surf, and I'll drown myself!"
Rainbow Dash shrugged, smiling as the orange Pegasus cried harder and harder.
"See if I care! I'll say that, when I went to get some ice cream for you, you just jumped in and drowned. A total accident."
Scootaloo nodded.
"Thank you, Rainbow Dash. But, before I go, I have one last thing that I want to say to you..."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Make it quick. I want to watch you drown."
Scootaloo closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"You used to be my role model, Rainbow Dash. I used to look up to you. I used to admire you, I used to think that you were the best Pegasus on the planet..."
"Which I am!"
"But now, when you beat me, and you make fun of me, and you laugh at me...I see the truth. I see, that you're a horrible pony, and that I never want to be anything like you."
Rainbow Dash smiled, gaining never-ending enjoyment from the last words.
"Yeah, whatever."
"I used to be your number one fan. We used to be friends. And now, I'm nothing but your punching bag..."
Rainbow Dash's smile faltered, if only a little bit.
My number one fan...
Scootaloo gulped, and turned.
"But now, the old Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash I used to look up to, is dead.
"But I want you to know..."
Scootaloo began to walk, sobbing heavily as her tears fell onto the sand of the beach, joining the salt of the sea.
"That I'm still your number one fan."
Rainbow Dash's smile died then. As she watched the magenta-maned, orange Pegasus walk away, away from her, and away from life; moving closer to the surf, and closer to death, things started to click.
My number one fan...
I'm beating her up for fun...
Dear Celestia, what have I become...
She reflected on everything in a split second. All of the times she had laughed, played, and hung out with Scootaloo...
And then all the times that she had laughed at, toyed with, and beaten Scootaloo.
A solitary tear rolled down her cyan face.
A solitary, life-changing tear.
"Scootaloo! Wait!"
Scootaloo turned, and saw Rainbow Dash running towards her, pain clear on her face.
"No! Leave me alone! Let me die!"
"No! I won't let you die!"
More tears flowed from Scootaloo's eyes as she ran. The beach was so close, yet so far away...
Please...let me end it...
However, a tackle from a cyan Pegasus ended her trek.
"No! Let me go!"
She struggled against the cyan Pegasus holding her down, trying desperately to escape from the cyan Pegasus' grip...
But then, she felt new tears on her face. New, unfamiliar tears. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash, lower lip quivering as she cried, sobbing.
"Scootaloo...please...don't kill yourself. I've been...I've been such a bitch to you, and I'm sorry...Oh, Scootaloo, I'm so sorry..."
Scootaloo stopped struggling, and smiled a sad smile.
"Do you...do you really mean that?"
Rainbow Dash picked up the orange Pegasus, and drew her into a hug.
"Yes, Scootaloo, I do. I mean every word of it. You're my number one fan."
Scootaloo smiled, and hugged her back. The old Rainbow Dash wasn't dead...she was just buried.
"Rainbow Dash...thank you..."
The two Pegasi stayed in a hugging position, simply crying onto each others' shoulders, crying away all the torment that Rainbow Dash had inflicted on the young filly...
Finally, after about a half hour, Rainbow Dash pulled Scootaloo off of herself, and smiled.
"So, squirt, what do ya' say to some ice cream?"
Scootaloo smiled back, and hugged her once more.
"I say that's a wonderful idea, Rainbow Dash."
After a few moments, they walked off, side by side, headed for where they knew the best ice cream in all of Equestria was served.
And, as they walked, high tide rolled in, washing away tears, hoofprints, and a sand castle, leaving behind nothing but a fresh, new beginning.


The End.