Scootaloo stepped up to the podium, her gaze firmly on the zap apple tree that was blossoming early. It was just beyond the gathered crowd, and made it easy to not see them. Her sons and daughters were seated in the front row, and Scoots knew that if she started crying, they would too. Had to save that until she didn't have to talk anymore, couldn't get choked up mid sentence.
She took her folded wonderbolt uniform off her back and placed it on the podium's surface. The crowd quieted, and Scoots took a deep breath.
"I am here today, not to mourn the passing of the only family I had until I found my love, but to celebrate her. My name is Scootaloo. Most of you know me as the mother of Fleet Breeze, one of the finest musicians of our age, but Rainbow knew me as a filly with a passion for flying and a wing deformity that made it nearly impossible for me to get off the ground. Rainbow Dash was the only sister I ever had. In a world of foster homes, full of love and light, she stood out for her sheer tenacity and refusal to give up on me or anypony else."
Scootaloo took another deep breath and tried to still the shaking and tightness in her throat.
"In all the time I knew her, she never gave up on my dream of becoming the leader of the Wonderbolts..."
She looked to the ranks of suited pegusi in the back with her trademark smirk.
"At ease, by the way."
She then looked back to the tree as her eyes became misty.
"She never gave up on Equestria, or her friends, or any of my kids. It didn't matter what our dreams were, they mattered to her. That is what Loyalty is. That is what Rainbow Dash stood for, and those of us that loved her never gave up on her either."
Scootaloo's smile twisted into a frown, and she looked down at the small cluster of reporters who were segregated to a small seating area off to the side.
"The papers have said she killed herself. The news has painted her passing as some depression fueled escape, as something sad. How did you want her to go? Sick and stuck in a bed unable to fly? Feathers falling out and fed through a tube? One hundred and fourteen years for an earth pony might be normal, but for Rainbow Dash it was her way of saying 'I'll turn out the lights for you Twilight. I'll remind your family that you loved them, AJ.' Rainbow Dash left us because she was done, because she was content with her life, and didn't want to live it anymore. I can only hope that, by the light of Celestia's sun, I'm as brave as she was when I go."
She looked down at the crowd. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Lightning Dust's son, Gilda, the Lotus twins, Spike, half the apple family, and so many more. She couldn't stop the tears at seeing all these ponies that Rainbow had loved, half of them crying already.
"I spent the last week practicing my speech, trying to nail down what exactly to say, how to put so many years of friendship into words. I couldn't find them, because I'm not Twilight or one of her egghead kids," she said with a loving tone, smiling at the small group of purple ponies that smiled back.
"But I did decide on what to say. Loyalty is not the most important aspect of a relationship, or of this nation, but it is the most enduring one. Loyalty is what holds us together and helps us bridge our differences when we've lost everything else, and loyalty is what is left over when you feel broken and defeated. Today, we feel low. We feel a great loss and there's nothing wrong with that, but if there is one thing Rainbow Dash should be remembered for, it is being the most loyal pony I've ever known."