I started trotting to the door to the house, expecting to just say we were gonna hang out. My plans were changed as suddenly as the tug that pulled me towards the barn. I knew who it was, but that didn't help hold in the scream.
I was silenced by a kiss. Though unexpected, it wasn't unwelcomed. She pulled me into the barn and we collapsed into the hay. "Thought I'd never make it through. Almost got caught, I was so giddy."
"I did." was all I could reply. I promised my self, and her, when I said I'd go out with her, I would always be honest, no matter with who.
"What?!" She exclaimed. It was as though she knew this would be coming, but, despite that, there was nothing she could do to prepare. I gave her a sheepish smile. She just frowned at me.
"Pinkie knew something was up and she and Twilight caught me off guard."
"Wait. Twilight?"
"Yeah, apparently they're going out now. I heard, got a bit jealous they could be open and slipped."
"Well at least we know Pinkie will keep the secret and keep Twilight honest."
"I'm sorry anyways."
"It's okay sugarcube. I ain't mad at ya. I'd have probably done the same thing if I were you." She leaned over and gave me a kiss, which I happily returned.
Just then I heard a rattling against the side of the barn. "You hear that?" AJ nodded. "Let's go check it out." We got up, a bit reluctantly, and went outside to investigate the scene. What was out there caught us by surprise. Curled up against the barn was a little orange filly with a messy magenta mane. Upon further inspection, they found that they recognized her as the little pegasus Crusader, Scootaloo. "Hey, Scoots! What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside?
Scootaloo's teeth chattered as she responded. "I-I wo-would if I-I cou-could." She started crying.
I rushed over, Applejack by my side, and wrapped my wing around Scootaloo, bringing her closer to me to warm her up. "Scootaloo, what do you mean? Where are your parents?"
"They're not alive..."
It was Applejack's turn to ask the question on both our minds. "What do ya mean? Y'all were playing with them a couple of days ago."
"There was a fire last night." It prompted more tears out of her eyes. "I was the only one to get out. My parents and sister are dead." She broke down, crying into my shoulder. I don't know how to explain it, but I could feel the pain in those tears. Each one, as they touched my skin and rolled off my fur, bore the weight of a full sized stallion. It's how I could tell she’d held it in.
I nuzzled her, trying to get her to look back up to me. My attempts proved futile, as the young mare just kept crying. I did all I knew: embraced her and stroked her mane, softly cooing, “It'll be OK.” What I said next came out of almost nowhere, but I was prepared for it. "You wanna stay with me, Squirt?" That got her attention, and Applejack's. Scootaloo looked up, eyes almost as wide as Applejack's.
"Are you serious?" Both of them asked simultaneously
"Sure. What kind of Element of Loyalty would I be if I left you out here?"
"How would I get to your house?"
The question caught me off guard, but I was able to gather my self quickly. "I'll be there to carry you up. In fact, I'll teach you how to fly."
"Wow, you're the best Rainbow" she hugged me tight.
I looked back to Applejack. "You okay if we cut it a bit short tonight AJ?"
"Sure thing." She sounded sad when she said it though.
"Sorry AJ. I'll be here longer next time, ok?" She just nodded.
Just as I was about to take off, she came up to me and whispered in my ear, "Are you sure your ready for this? Raising a filly can be a big job." I nodded and she leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "You can always ask me for help." With that, she backed off, allowing me to take off towards my could house.
-----
"You must be starving, Scoots!" It hit me as soon as we walked into my house. I found it ironic because I had nothing in my house; I planned to go shopping tomorrow.
"Don't worry Dash. I'm fine. I've eaten at friends' houses." She told me
"Don't lie to me Scoots. I can tell you haven't eaten."
"Wha-... How can you tell?!" She sounded surprised, as though she hadn't just shown it.
"Your face gives it away. Even then I can tell by your body." I just heard how creepy that last sentence had sounded. "What I meant to say was that..."
"I get it" she inturrupted.
"Yeah. Come, jump on. Let's grab something to eat."
She climbed onto my back and hugged my neck as I jumped off the cloud to glide towards Ponyville. As always, the wind beneath my wings felt amazing. I noticed it so much this time because I could feel her open her own wings, as if to feel as though she were the one flying. I'll make sure you get there Scoots.
-----
Everything seemed to go pretty well. When we got to the restaraunt, Scoots ordered two whole meals and devoured them both in ten minutes flat. And I thought I ate a lot. Finally content we flew back to my house. By time I landed on the entryway to my house, I realized the little filly had dozed off on my back. I brought her back to my room and laid her down on my bed.
For all she'd gone through in the last day, she looked really peaceful. I wish I could make her life this easy all the time. I knew it was impossible, from the bottom of my heart. Even so it killed me, being helpless, but having to look strong. I knew how she felt; I'd been through it before myself, but it didn't take away from the fact I couldn't help. She'd have to learn to cope on her own. The least I could do was give her a shoulder to cry on. I figured someone would have to help her out anyways, so I let her stay as well.
I bent down and gave the little trooper a kiss on the forehead and headed down stairs. I grabbed The Maze Trotter book on my coffee table and began to read. Before I knew it, I had fallen into a similar peaceful slumber.
-----
I woke up, splayed out across my couch, book open, laying across my chest. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and trotted up stairs to grab Scootaloo for breakfast and school. Again we went out for the meal, my house barren of food.
After we finished, I dropped Scoots off at school. “What time do you get out?”
“2:30”
“Ok, I'll be around then to pick you up.” She started to trot over to her friends. “Wait, Scoots!” I called and motioned her back. I whispered in her ear, “You can always tell your friends what's going on, ok? You don't have to though. It's just a suggestion.” She nodded and ran off to meet her friends in the school yard.
I flew off to grab some stuff and clean the house, mostly so it was more ready for Scootaloo than it was yesterday. I took the day off work to get it done, but it was well worth the time. With everything the little filly had gone through in the last couple days, she deserved only the best. Maybe I should get her a toy or something. All her stuff just got burned. I decided I'd let her decide when I picked her up.
That's when I realized that I was late. I took off like a bullet and flew as fast as I could to the school yard. When I got there, it was noticeably desolate. I walked up to the doors down knocked, hoping someone might be inside.
“Come in!” A voice called. Upon walking in, I saw it was Cheerilee, working on some paper work. She looked up and smiled. “Hello Rainbow Dash. How can I help you?”
“Do you know where Scootaloo is?”
“No, I don't. If I had to guess, I'd say she's with her friends at the farm. They have a little tree house set up out there.”
“Thanks Cheerilee!” I called over my shoulder, already running off toward the orchards.
----
Priority one, of course, was making sure Scoots was okay. Just as Cheerilee had said, I found them in their CMC treehouse. I went to knock on the door when I realized I had given her the choice wether or not to tell her friends about her family. So, I decided to go hang out with AJ while I waited. AB will probably come check in… On second thought, maybe not.
The whole secrecy part of our relationship made it really hard for us to actually go out. I'll go ask ask her about next time.” I found her out in the west fields. I laid in one of the tree she was going to buck next. As planned, I tumbled into the same position I had met her in last time. This time, instead of yelling, she leaned down and kissed me. “Being open about it now?”
“No! I just know nopony’s around.”
“Well, I just came to see when might work for another date.”
“I think Friday works again.”
“Okay, see ya then.” I waved good bye to her.
----
I sat on the bench floating beneath my house and waited Scoots to come home. Again I was reading, but this time I felt more like Twilight, sitting and reading rather than enjoying the rest of the beautiful day.
Even so, my mind was elsewhere, stuck on a certain mare. I wondered how she managed it, especially under her element. If somepony asked about her relationship status, she'd be in a tough spot. Scoots finally walked up. “Hi, Scoots! Have fun with your friends?” I realized in seconds that it might come across as sarcastic. “Honestly.”
“Yeah, I had lots of fun. Sorry I didn't wait for you at the school.”
“It's cool. You're young. You should be hanging out with your friends. Did you end up telling them?”
“No. I had meant to, but other stuff to talk about was always there.”
“Hey you wanna go grab a toy or something?”
“Dash, you don't have to-”
“No, I want to. You deserve it after all you've been through. That and it happened to your stuff as well.”
“Ok. I guess I could pick something out.”
We walked over to the toy store and I told her she could pick out anything she wanted. She ran around the store for an hour or so and came back with a small box. “What’s this?” I said, trying desperately trying to get something from the packaging.
“It's Magic: the Friendship. It's a card game I used to play with my family. Every week, we'd go down to a card shop and play in the tournament. I figured I should start rebuilding my collection.”
I could tell she truly loved the game. “Maybe I should grab a deck too. That way you could have somepony to play with.” She went and grabbed me one, and we went to pay for them.
I tried to learn quickly, but the game was not as easy as I first thought. I had expected some kind of childrens’ card game, but was rudely awoken when I saw all the strategy that went into the game. I also found, from talking to my friends, that the game was certainly not limited to just kids.
----
Finally, Friday came around, but this time I was prepared and went into the barn instead of trying to knock. I found her in there, and she motioned for me to lay the hay next to her. After talking for a bit, she kissed me at what seemed to be the worst possible time. Big Mac walked in just as her lips touched mine, but it didn’t stop her from kissing me. He cleared his throat, causing the other Apple in the room to jump.
Unluckily for me, her mouth was on mine, so when she jumped, her head was slammed against mine. I staggered away, hoof to my muzzle. “What do you think you're doing, AJ?” Big Mac asked. It was the first time I'd heard him actually talk and it was in hatred thrown towards me.
“I-”
“Don't bother sister. I know. We all know.” Just then, the rest of the residents walked in, Granny with a scowl on her face, but Apple Bloom had something totally different displayed on her’s. It was something between confusion and pure fear. “Get out” Big Mac grunted. “Get out, and don't come back.”
As I walked to the door, I felt as though I had to protect her from her own family. No pony ever deserves to feel this, especially because of me. It was almost like some kind of procession, each Apple lined up, ready to shun her. Last in line was little Apple Bloom. AJ tried to whisper something into her ear, but the others pulled her away. “Don't give her any of you messed up ideals.”
She stood there in a stunned daze, silent. Then she ran. As though nothing else mattered, her life was wasted and her family torn. I flew after her, knowing only kindness, trying to think in her family’s mind, helping her to understand their views, but there was no reason whatsoever for her to be punished like this