It was night time in the hospital, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were sound asleep, but Scootaloo was still wide awake. Not so much because of her injuries (though they certainly didn't help), but she just couldn't stop thinking about all her past failures attempting to fly.
"What the buck am I gonna do?" she muttered to herself. "How can I call myself a pegasus if I can't fly?"
The little orange pegasus filly looked over at the stack of books left to her by Bookworm. Some days she couldn't stand that pony, other days she was grateful for how nice he was to her, and had to admit that Rainbow Dash was more responsible since being with him. Not to mention how much they were both doing for her since her parents left.
She'll never forget the morning she woke up to find her parents gone. She felt stupid for thinking it was nothing, that they both were just working. But she didn't want to believe that parents would just ditch their own kid. It was about a week before she finally told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle about it at the clubhouse.
"WHAT!?" her friends shouted together.
"When!?" asked Apple Bloom.
"Why!?" asked Sweetie Belle
"A week ago," replied Scootaloo. "Because they're horrible parents who didn't care about me."
"Did they leave a note or anything?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"No way," scoffed Scootaloo. "Even if they did, wouldn't take away from the fact that they up and left."
"We gotta tell somepony what happened!" said Apple Bloom.
"No way!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "You tell anypony and they'll take me away! My parents were the only family I had in Ponyville, and as far as I know my only family. There aren't any orphanages here, so I'll be taken somewhere else. I'd never see you two again...I can't let that happen."
"But, what are ya gonna do?" asked Apple Bloom. "Ya can't live on yer own. Yer still just a filly. Why not live with me at Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Or with me and my family?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Your families aren't gonna wanna deal with me," said Scootaloo. "I do one thing wrong and they'll just kick me out. They have no obligation for me."
"Ya can't think that, Scoots," said Apple Bloom. "We care about you, and they'll care about you."
"Look, I don't need a place to stay," said Scootaloo. "I can just stay at my place."
"We'll at least bring ya food," insisted Apple Bloom. "We certainly aint gonna let ya starve."
"Agreed," said Sweetie Belle. "You're our best friend in the whole world. We won't let anything happen to you.
The three friends embraced. Time went on, Scootaloo figured things would be fine. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle continued to provide food for her, making sure their families didn't find out. But then Scootaloo began learning to fly with Rainbow Dash. It didn't take long for the cerulean mare to start to wonder about Scoot's parents. She kept insisting that her parents were just busy, having to work long hours. Finally, Rainbow Dash couldn't just do nothing and followed Scootaloo home one day. Looking through the window, she was shocked with the state of her house. She angrily beat on the door, Scootaloo tried to act like she wasn't there.
"I know you're in there, Scoots!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "Open this door now, or I'll bust it down!"
The door opened slowly and Scootaloo peeked her little head out slighty.
"Oh...hey, Rainbow Dash," she said pitifully. "How's it going?"
"What the hay do you think you're doing?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"What are you talking about?" Scootaloo lied.
"Don't lie to me!" barked Rainbow Dash. "I saw inside there! What happened to your house!? Where are your parents!?"
"They...they're..." Scootaloo fumbled to say, before finally breaking down. "I don't know! They left me! They just up and left me! I don't want to be sent away from here!"
The orange pegasus burst into tears and grabbed Rainbow Dash hard. Rainbow Dash embraced Scootaloo and began stroking her mane.
"It's going to be ok, Scootaloo," said Rainbow Dash. "Bookie and I will take good care of you. I won't let anypony take you away from me..."
Rainbow Dash and Bookworm's house was still under contstructian, they were still staying in a hotel. But Bookworm didn't hesitate to let Scootaloo stay with them.
Scootaloo knew how lucky she was to have them. She wished she had said something sooner, but was scared. She felt bad for putting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle through all the lies, but they of course didn't hold anything against her.
She was tired of thinking of the whole ordeal. She decided to finally read something in her stack of books. One title stuck out to her, THE OLD WAYS OF PONIES: A HISTORY OF THE THREE CLASSES. Scootaloo figured it would be something different from the usual "HOW TO FLY" books and gave it a look. There was a Table of Contents for each pony class, so it was easy to find the section on pegasus ponies. One passage in particular really caught her attention, causing her to go wide eyed.
"That's it," she muttered to herself. "That's how I'm going to do it."