I sighed, and started peeling myself out of my Wonderbolt uniform. I glanced at myself in the mirror, confirming that I looked as downtrodden as I felt.
I can hardly believe Laverna and Chaser were so much trouble for the Endicotts... I guess I should have seen it coming. Dang, I can be so naive. I mean, Laverna's a runaway and a dropout – it shouldn't be that big of a shock to hear that she wasn't exactly a model kid.
I got a leg caught in the uniform, and hopped around for a bit before stepping on the uniform I'd already gotten off, causing me to trip and crumple in front of the mirror.
Ugh... I can't get my head on straight. Hearing all of that really made me feel sick.
I was just finally managing to peel the last of the uniform off with my teeth when I heard slamming noises on my door that nearly made me jump out of my skin.
"Soarin?! Open up, Soarin! You've got some 'splainin' to do!"
That's Dash's voice. Great, just what I needed – first I spend two hours hearing about how my friend's a loser, and now I'm going to get chewed out for not showing up at the show.
I trod over to the door, though with my hooves and gut feeling like lead it was slow-going. Just as I raised a hoof to open the door, another round of slamming forced my ears back against my head. Once it had subsided, I slowly undid the chain lock and opened the door.
"Soarin, you—whoa. Dude, are you okay?"
Something about that phrase hit me tangibly, like the air around me suddenly became heavier. I realized I was staring down at her hooves, and I couldn't even remember breaking eye contact. I just shrugged and walked inside, and Dash hesitantly followed me in and shut the door. I sat down on the bed, and Dash smacked her rump down a few feet away. Somehow, I felt like looking at her face again would make me feel even worse, so I just kept staring at her hooves. Staring down and folding back my ears didn't stop her voice from reaching me, though.
"What happened? Don't just give me the silent treatment, dude. Not cool."
I heaved a sigh.
What do I say? 'I just found out I'm a naive idiot'? I'm sure she already knew that.
"I guess... well, I met this filly a few days ago..."
~
"... and so I spent the day talking to her last set of foster-parents – she and Chaser had bounced between eight different homes before then – and they filled me in on how bad the kids were. All this time, I just sorta, like, assumed that Laverna had it rough. I never thought, y'know, maybe she's... I dunno. A troublemaker?"
Dash frowned. There was something in her eyes that made me want to crawl under a rock.
"Soarin, you're just basing that off of what those two rich ponies said, right?"
"Huh? Uh... yeah?"
Something about the way she said it had made it sound almost venomous.
"Well, why should you believe them over Laverna, huh? Laverna's your friend. You don't really even know those other two ponies!"
"Y-yeah, but, like, they're foster parents. I mean, like, they've done this – dozens of foals have passed through that home to get adopted! It's not like they're new to this."
"Huh? Well, yeah, but—"
"Dash, I only knew Laverna for, like, four days! It's not like I had her in my house for months, like they did, and like... who am I, Dash? To judge this sorta stuff? I'm just a stuntpony. These people had to go through all kinds of certifications—they wanted to adopt, too, y'know! It was because of this stuff that they gave up on—"
"I don't care, Soarin! I'm not asking you to trust yourself over these 'experts' or whatever, I'm telling you to trust Laverna over them!"
I threw my hooves up rolling my eyes. They were stinging so badly, the gesture was actually painful.
"Laverna never even said anything about her time in the foster home. She wouldn't tell me anything about her past! For all I know, she'd back them up!"
Dash rolled her eyes.
"Oh, yeah, sure. The pony who hates the foster system so much they'd rather live on the street would surely tell you that they were the problem. Soarin, how many ponies do you think are willing to live like that? How bad does a home have to be for someone to prefer that sorta thing?"
"I don't know! Dash, I don't know anything about that sort of thing! I've never really had to deal with kids!"
"Well I have."
"... Huh?"
Dash had caught me up short, and all I could do was stare at her. I hadn't noticed, before, but there was a hardness to her expression, like iron. When Dash got upset, she usually looked uncertain; this time, she looked determined.
"I know a thing or two about kids, Soarin. Let me tell you something; everypony deserves to have somepony in their corner. Somepony who believes in them. This Laverna kid sounds like she's got nopony. I don't know what happened at that foster home, and neither do you, you're right about that – but no matter what, somepony ought to believe she's more than... than nothing."
"I don't think she's nothing! I never said that!"
"But you're sitting here crying because that's what you're feeling! You're giving up on her!"
"... I guess. I guess I was, sorta, yeah."
"And why? Because a pair of hoity-toity – er, not the actual hoity... whatever! A pair of snobby ponies told you to? That's all it took? Jeez, dude, did Laverna make that bad of an impression?"
"No! She was awesome! And even the orphanage director said that she was a super hard worker around the orphanage, and helped take care of the kids, and..."
I trailed off, thinking about it.
Why did I believe those two so strongly?
"Soarin, no matter what else is true, here's something that's a fact. A pony died because those two weren't paying enough attention."
"H-hey! That's low, Dash! They thought he just had the flu!"
"It doesn't matter. The fact is that a pony died, and the other one ran away. Whatever excuses they want to make, Soarin, they failed as parents. There's probably some, uh..."
Dash stopped for a second, looking around the ceiling. It was like she was trying to grasp a word out of the air.
"... culpability on their part. Like, it was probably at least a bit their fault. A lot, maybe. Like you said, you have no way to know; if you're going to just believe that Laverna was a bad pony based on their say-so, you might as well turn that thinking around on them!"
I spent a few seconds staring at Dash before I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, held it for a second, and let it out. It cleared my head, and gave me time to think of what I wanted to say.
"... You know, I think that's the first adult thing I've heard anyone say about this mess."
"Huh? Whaddaya mean?"
"Throughout this whole thing, I haven't really known what to do. No one else has, either. It's just been... one screwup after another. Laverna's whole life has just been one adult after another who didn't know what the heck to do with her, and after something bad happened, they just held up their hooves and said 'well, we did what we thought was best'. Even her teachers, according to the Endicotts. She had weird problems in school, and they kept trying to... y'know, just force her to do better. Her foster parents found out after she left home that she'd stopped going to school completely for a full week before she left the house – she'd forged a letter telling the school she was getting a transfer."
"Oh... wow. That's serious."
"Yeah, and the way they said it, it was 'just another bad thing Laverna did'. But why would she want to? School's supposed to be fun, and it's not like Laverna doesn't want to learn. So maybe she wasn't learning there. Y'know, maybe something was wrong."
Dash shifted uncomfortably, glancing away from me. It was the first time I'd seen her look uncertain today.
"I dunno. I mean, some kids really don't like school... I remember that I really wanted to get away from school, sometimes."
"But why? Did they make you feel stupid – or maybe there were bullies? Or something else like that?"
Dash stiffened, and then slowly bit her lip. She chewed on it for a few seconds before looking over at me.
"Yeah. There was stuff like that. And y'know what? You're right; Twilight taught me that I wasn't stupid. It wasn't my fault that I had so much trouble in class, all that time. They never bothered to find out how to teach me right."
"But Twilight did?"
I didn't know much about Twilight, truth be told, so it was a shock to hear that she had taken the time to deal with Dash's private life like that. Really, all I knew about her was that she was a princess, and – according to Dash – a lovable bookworm.
"Yeah. She refused to let me give up on the Wonderbolt entrance exam, even when I told her that her study methods were stupid. Even when I'd given up. She kept trying, until she found out that I could learn easily while flying; I just naturally memorize everything that happens when I'm in the air."
"Whoa."
Wow. That's amazing... no wonder Dash picks up new tricks so easily. And if her learning style could be that weird... who knows what might be up with Laverna.
"Yeah, she's pretty amazing, huh?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Really solid of her to work with you like that. I guess that's why she's a princess."
"Nah, that's because she accidentally nearly drove all of her best friends off the deep end by swapping our cutie marks for stuff we're terrible at."
"... Huh?!"
"Long story. We should stay focused."
"Uh, right. Well, I guess I really should hear Laverna's side of all of this... but she's gone, now."
Dash tapped her chin, thinking.
"I dunno. By the sounds of it, she might not blame you for what happened. She might still show up."
"But I don't even know what city she's in, Dash! Even if she wanted to, how could she find me?"
"Well, she still wants to join the 'bolts, right?"
"Uh... probably?"
"Well, then. Let's put out a carrot."
The way Dash smiled at that while rubbing her hooves together made me feel deeply uneasy.