• Published 15th Sep 2013
  • 11,281 Views, 412 Comments

Hoof Covers Bruise - Arwhale



When you take the blame, you'll take the pain. Scootaloo took the blame.

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Epilogue

The girl's chest rose and fell in the softest rhythm.

Rainbow Dash sat to the side, propped against the wall nearest to Scootaloo's bed. While her little sister slept, Rainbow's eyes were wide open.

An hour had passed. Spent beyond her limits, Scootaloo had finally fallen unconscious, dead to the world if only for a short while. And now, Rainbow Dash had nothing left to do but sit, watch, and think. Given everything she had done, she should have been exhausted, too. But she wasn't.

She was angry.

Not angry at Scootaloo, no. Not even angry at herself. But taking in the sight of her sister lying there, battered and feverish, she could feel a fire stirring in her chest that made the veins in her head and neck throb. It was the kind of anger that made her want to crush a boulder in her own bare hooves. The unfairness of it all...

But for the first time since she'd seen Scootaloo that night, there was something else she noticed. Something that kept all of the rage at bay.

Peace. It was tentative, and it was fearful. But if only for a moment, Scootaloo was at peace.

With a careful step, Rainbow inched forward. Scootaloo remained oblivious. The breath wheezed out of her, but she slept nonetheless.

Minutes later, Rainbow Dash lay on the floor beside the bed.

Asleep.

Author's Note:

I hope it's good.

While Hoof Covers Bruise ends here, the storyline in general does not. There will be a separate, one chapter epilogue released as its own story sometime in the future. Everything will be tied together in said epilogue.

I hope this ending was not disappointing. But even if it was, you can tell me. I won't get mad, I promise!

Thank you all so much for reading, and for bearing with me throughout the writing of this story. It means a lot to me.

Comments ( 31 )

This was a great story, I really hope that the series doesn't end with the next one-shot. I have to say, that these two stories. This one and the one before, were well written, and feel provoking. My only complaint would be if it ends with the next chapter coming out.

It was a fantastic read, though with a bit of a crash ending.

Still worth it. The imagery and conveyance of emotions is matched by very few in this site.

yeah thisis going in my top five.

Do my eyes deceive me? Is this story actually finished?

Hnnnng!

Awesome story. You really should continue the story line past just one more one shot, though. If Ihave any complaints at all it's that things were kinda left hangin' with Spike (which may be the what you have in mind for the next stand alone chapter). Personally I think you should do another of these for Apple Bloom, and maybe a full Spike story covering the aftermath of this story (because Spike did just kill some pony, even if he did deserve it and it was self defense, that's gotta have some major effects on the little guy). But, it's you're story dude. I just read 'em. :pinkiehappy:

Now I don't need to find you in the dark and cut you! ^_^

Glad to see this story has been closed. Great job once again; looking forward to the separate epilogue. :twilightsmile:

jxj

My only complaint is that the epilogue is to short to be a proper epilogue. It feels like that's good the last chapter should have ended. Good story though.

Aw... How sweet! :twilightsmile:

It really was a beatiful story. This end was just perfect, it's true there a lot of things that aren't solved, but that's for what the separate epilogue shouls be, instead, this ending just cover the importante. It doesn't give all the answer, but it goes to the core of the emotiones in stake, and it solves that. In a very, very, beatiful final chapter. I would be waiting for any other fic you would write.

There is so much to say, having hung with this story since the first chapter came out so long ago. But I will make my judgement short:

Hooves down, your best story so far.

Wont lie man, it is a weak ending. A few of the story line (like Spike's) just sorta got left hanging ditto for the other CMC ect. Better luck on your next work.

Apart from the ending being,..Well it really had little closure on many things
As well as it felt rushed VERY rushed
The story was great
The chapter before this was great
But really...This wasnt

I've been interested in this for years. Why did I never add it to favorites?

All right. What's gonna happen to Apple Bloom? :derpytongue2:

I liked this ending. Sure, there are still some bits that need to be tied up, but that's what the epilogue is for.

Is there one of applebloom? I wish to read it if it's one.

Will there be an epilogue for Spike and Twilight, it seems like he may still have some issues to work through. Love this story and the previous one.

Awesome story well done! The emotions invoked and the attention to detail as well as keeping the characters in character as much as possible through the situation were brilliant. Scoots and Dash's relationship has always been a favorite of mine, and i love to see when someone creates such an emotional bonding experience between the two! i have nothing more to say, i'd normally post criticisms or things to work on but this was very well written! Great story, keep up the great work, can't wait for your next one in the series! :derpytongue2:

I saw it finished and had to reread it from the start to refresh myself. That being said, you did an awesome job, thanks for the great story. Looking forward to whatever horrible thing happens to Spike/Babs/Diamond/Silver/etc in this universe that they have to fix/cope with.

in our next story, Apple Bloom gets brutally beaten by her parents, with a rattlesnake.

Seriously, this story was alright. I liked when Scootaloo was saying "Don't leave." It was a little shaky on delivery; the fact that she felt like she deserved the abuse wasn't so clear until the end. Having a gimp Sweetie in the background sort of pushed the tragedy a bit too far, but it wasn't hugely emphasized. None of their interactions was too artificial or forced, that I could tell at least.

Are you gonna make a sequel? What'll happen to Applebloom? We need answers! pls

Look. I'm a newbie. I haven't favorited anything yet. YET. Note that I said yet. And maybe, just maybe, I'll add this to------
OH WHO AM I KIDDING I GOT MAH FIRST FAVORITE EVERYBODY!!!! :yay: YEAHHH!!!!
By the way I STILL have tears dripping down my cheek. Still. STILL ! AAAAAAHHHH! You are amazing. I am going to follow you, Arwhale. I will. I WILL. Oh Yeah, and you just earned the "Yay! Your story was the first story to be favorited by MistsofDawn!" award. :pinkiehappy: I'm recommending this story on my user page. Yeah! Go ARWHALE!!!

Thanks for this story. I enjoyed it.

Is there going to be a sequel to this someday?

I first started reading this story 3 years ago. Back then you were pretty much responsible for getting me into MLP fan fiction. Even though I've read many other things since then, certain scenes in this story have always stayed with me vividly. In particular that scene at Scoots house.

When you finally got round to finishing it, I knew I'd have to find the time to re-read the thing from the start to fully enjoy it, but I've not really had a suitable time to do that, until now. A few quiet days in a hotel for a work training course. Perfect.

All I can say is wow. You really are a phenomenal writer. The chapters you wrote later on fit seamlessly with the previous chapters. And there were multiple moments where my eyes got quite misty. I wouldn't call it "easy reading", but I so glad I finally got to experience it.

I really hope you might manage to write more in the future.

Huk

Damn... both this and 'Like Shattered Glass' was just great... you made me cry :applecry:

I hope, you will write that promised epilog someday - I think I speak for everyone when I say that we would like to find out how Scoot gonna react to the news about his dad, and what he gonna say to Spike.

At any rate - thanks for the great stories :twilightsmile:

Amazing set of stories, but where is the standalone story that resolves everything?

3207365
Hey, I know this reply is über late, but something about your comment made me want to respond. You are right even now that we've been introduced to Scootaloo's parents and nearing the end of Season nine and FiM as a whole, I still come across Scootabuse stories (true, a lot of them are several years old by now, but still). Anyways, I think a majority of these stories are written not because we want to hurt Scootaloo (although I would be naive to believe there weren't a few sick people who do). I think the majority are written or were written because at the time we had no idea about her parents, but we wanted to find love for her, and most of the Scootabuse stories end with her getting a new family, even the ones where she was on the very edge of ending it all. So that tells me that the bad stuff is usually a means to justify the happy ending. After all, it would be a little more difficult to justify Rainbow Dash adopting Scootaloo from a kind and loving family or rescuing her from a suicide attempt that was brought on by nothing (in terms of the usual causes).
I hope that you see this comment.

Where's the wrap-up story?

Damn shame we never got a follow up on this beauty of a story that concludes everything.

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