//------------------------------// // Broken // Story: Three Gems and a Scooter // by RaylanKrios //------------------------------// Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked back to town until their respective paths diverged, Scootaloo needing to make a right to return to the Carousel Boutique and Sweetie Belle needing to keep going down the cobblestone road to get to her parents house. The two friends stood at the fork in the road, dimly lit by a rising moon, neither of them sure what to say. Scootaloo started to open her mouth, preparing to utter a perfunctory farewell but instead found herself wrapped up in a tight hug. Sweetie broke away and Scootaloo stared at her, waiting for some explanation but Sweetie only smiled at her, the same hopeful smile she offered back in the clubhouse. Scootaloo tried to return the gesture but her emotions were too conflicted for it to be genuine. Sweetie nodded, perhaps in understanding, or perhaps just acknowledgment, and trotted off down her path leaving Scootaloo to finish the last leg of her journey by herself.   Scootaloo walked slower than normal, desperately hoping for an epiphany that would guide her. But the gentle breeze and cool night air only offered silence. By the time she reached her destination the only thing she was sure about was that she wasn’t ready to make this decision quite yet, regardless of Sweetie’s heartfelt plea. She stood  outside of Carousel Boutique, her resolve fresh in her mind and pushed open the door only to find the Boutique empty.   “Rarity?” Scootaloo called out to the empty room.   Seconds after hearing her name, Rarity came bounding down from upstairs.  “Scootaloo?” she called back before laying eyes on the orange filly at the base of the stairs. “Thank goodness you're alright - I was so worried. Where have you been?”   Scootaloo ignored the question, instead choosing to focus on the topic she wanted to talk about. “Autumn came to talk to me today at school.”   “Oh... did he?” Rarity cleared her throat. “And, um, is everything alright? “I'm not sure,” Scootaloo replied, looking around the room; though Rarity couldn’t be sure what she was looking for.     Instantly, Rarity began to conjure up a number of worrisome scenarios that stemmed from her impromptu visit with Lilly this afternoon. Maybe Autumn had determined that Scootaloo really would be better off in a two parent home. Maybe Lilly had issued some sort of ultimatum? Regardless, Scootaloo was unmistakably troubled and that was disconcerting all by itself. “What happened? Is something the matter?”   “He told me that Lilly and Treble wanted to adopt me…” Scootaloo was just thinking out loud at this point, she still couldn’t really wrap her head around what was going on, the idea that she might actually be wanted being too foreign to her. For as long as she could remember she had been shuttled from house to house, moving on when her new family grew tired of her, her opinion never really mattered.  “But, he also told me that you wanted to adopt me too,” Scootaloo continued. A glimmer of hope flickered in Rarity’s eyes. She couldn’t help it as the smile on her face grew wider. “It's true! I've wanted to tell you, but-well I guess there’s a process to this.”   Rarity sat expectantly, waiting for Scootaloo to give some indication that she was even a fraction as excited as Rarity was, but Scootaloo’s expression remained frustratingly blank. Neither pony said anything for a few minutes; Rarity doing her best to stay still and Scootaloo becoming increasingly fidgety as the air grew denser.  Rarity froze, just watching Scootaloo. She had been hoping Scootaloo’s reaction would be a big smile and possibly a hug, but since Scootaloo didn’t seem to be offering either, Rarity began preparing herself for rejection. It stung more than she thought it would.   Eventually, Rarity couldn’t bear it anymore. “Scootaloo?” she asked, hoping her voice was calm, even though her heart was pounding.   “I don't know,”  Scootaloo said, eyes rooted to her hooves as she pawed at the ground in front of her. “I... see.” For a moment Rarity began to see this as just a garden variety dilemma, like whether to wear a stylish large brim hat or a chic fedora. “Perhaps we could back up. What about Lilly and Treble? What do you think of them?” “They seem nice,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. But before Rarity could ask another question Scootaloo spoke again. This time her voice cracked and tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes.  “They always seem nice, until they realize that I’m broken and then they don’t want me anymore, it always happens, always!” “You’re not broken, Scootaloo,” Rarity said, repeating the lesson she had tried to impress on Scootaloo ever since the first night Scootaloo stayed at the Boutique. Scootaloo’s brow furrowed and she shook her head violently. “Yes I am. You just don’t realize it yet either,” Scootaloo cried, the tears now falling down her cheeks. Rarity paused, her previous illusion that she could talk her way through this shattered. In a way, Scootaloo wasn’t entirely wrong. The reason she didn’t have a home was partly her fault, but not in the way Scootaloo thought it was. She wasn’t broken, but her insistence that she was had become a self fulfilling prophecy. Rarity  started to take a step forward, intent on offering some form of physical comfort, but Scootaloo flinched and Rarity opted to stay where she was. “What about Sweetie Belle? She’s been your friend for a while, do you think she thinks you’re broken?”   “Sweetie’s special,” Scootaloo said, and meant it. “She says that you want me as a member of the family.”   “She's right! It would make me so happy to make it official!” Rarity said hoping to capitalize on Scootaloo’s goodwill toward her sister. But Scootaloo just sighed, furiously trying to wipe the tears off her face.. “You've been living here for a month already, and it's been absolutely splendid-”   “No it hasn’t!” Scootaloo said stomping her right leg. A fresh wave of tears began to well up in her eyes.  “Just stop it, okay. I’ve heard this all before, it’s never true and I’m sick of being lied to.”   “What do you mean, dear?” “That ponies want me as a member of their family. That they want to adopt me, and that we'll have a wonderful time, and this time it’s different! All of it!”   “I'm sorry, Scootaloo. I didn't mean to upset you.”   Scootaloo sniffled loudly, wiping at her eyes. “I've heard that too.” There was another long pause, only this time it was because Rarity was waiting on Scootaloo to lead the conversation. “Why do you want to adopt me?” Scootaloo asked. Her tone was momentarily free of anguish and instead almost honest. “I know this hasn’t been easy for you. Why wouldn’t you just pass me off?”   “I won’t lie to you, Scootaloo. I meant it when I said that having you here this last month has been splendid. But you’re right, it hasn't been easy.”   Scootaloo's head jerked up from it’s previous downcast position but Rarity continued before Scootaloo could interpret her statement as another rejection.“But nothing worth doing ever is. I want to adopt you because I care about what happens to you. Not as ‘your friend's sister,’ or a ‘generous spirit…’ But as somepony who genuinely wants you to be cared for, kept safe, and to feel what everypony deserves - a sense of belonging, a family.”   Scootaloo badly wanted to believe that Rarity was lying, but her tone and the conviction with which she uttered her words made that impossible. She also wanted very badly to believe Rarity was telling the truth, but her experiences had taught her that wasn’t likely either. “I need some time to think,” Scootaloo mumbled.   Forced to concede that Scootaloo needed to be able to work through her own process, Rarity simply nodded. “Alright. Is there anything I can do to help?”   “You've done enough,”  Despite the callousness of the words, Rarity didn’t detect any anger in Scootaloo’s tone. Rather, she said it with the same weary resignation Scootaloo seemingly always returned to. The only response she could offer was a soft, “Very well then,” before Scootaloo trudged upstairs.