The Fears of Yesterday

by SolidFire

Never Again

Never Again

Scootaloo opened her eyes to see Celestia's sun setting on the horizon. She felt her coltfriend's wing around her back. It was large enough that, despite being a fully grown mare, he was able to cover all but her head. She lifted her head to look into his eyes.

"About time you woke up. I've been watching you sleep for at least three hours," Lightning said.

"You know you could've gotten me up too," Scootaloo countered. Lightning kissed her.

"Nah, you're adorable when you sleep." Scootaloo blushed at Lightning's comment and pushed her head into his chest. Lightning used his wing to pull her closer to him. Scootaloo was feeling emotional ecstasy beyond anything she knew existed. She was in love and she knew it. She wanted to say it to her coltfriend, but felt it was a little early. They hadn't even been together for a day. Besides, this was not a moment where words were required. Scootaloo noticed that her breathing had synced with Lightning's. She shifted her head and kissed her lover. And she cringed at the voice that broke the peaceful silence.

"Hold it right there Romeo. Step away from my daughter." Jade stepped forward and shoved Lightning away from Scootaloo. Lightning immediately shot up and stood in between his lover and her father.

"Stay away from her Jade." Lightning wasn't going to let the stallion in front of him anywhere near his marefriend.

"Don't you know it's rude to call an adult by his first name?" Jade asked with a mocking smirk. "Come along now Scootaloo. It's time for you to go home."

"My home isn't with you Jade. It's with my parents." Scootaloo stepped out from behind Lightning, her wings flared. She was ready for a fight. "And so help me, if you ever TOUCH Lightning again, I'll kill you myself." Jade laughed.

"Fair enough. I guess legally I can't take you back anyway. But I would like to give you a word of warning. Come on out Aerial!" Scootaloo's birth mother stepped out from the treeline. She had been badly beaten. Dried blood caked her obviously broken muzzle.

"MOM!" Scootaloo screamed and attemted to run to her mother's side. Jade stepped in her way and knocked her to the ground. Lightning immediately dove to Scootaloo's side.

"Scoot, are you alright?" Scootaloo shoved Lightning aside and charged after Jade. She tackled him and punched his muzzle very powerfully before Lightning pulled her away.

"Hooey, assault and battery! I wonder how long I can get you put away for that!" Jade laughed and wiped blood from his muzzle.

---

Rainbow and Spitfire were flying home from their weather duties when they flew over a beautiful sight; a lake just outside the Everfree Forest. They noticed a fight unfolding on the beach below them. They couldn't make out what was happening, but Spitfire had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't one she could explain, it was just there.

"Rainbow, think we should check it out?" Rainbow had the gut feeling as well.

"Yeah. Just to make sure nopony gets hurt." As the two mares made their descent, they began to make out who was involved in the altercation. And they immediately doubled their speed.

"If that mule lays one hoof on my daughter-" Spitfire began.

"I will rip his heart out with my hooves," Rainbow finished.

"You're forgetting he doesn't have one," Spitfire added. The two mares landed between their daughter and Jade.

"SCOOTALOO, WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT STAYING AWAY FROM HIM?!" Spitfire yelled.

"He came after us Mom! It wasn't me I swear!" This was the truth.

"Well, well, well, looks like the freaks are here to stop me from talking to my own daughter. How comical," Jade sneered. This was better than he had hoped.

"Scootaloo, Lightning, go back to our house. Now." Rainbow didn't want the young ponies around Jade for even a second longer than necessary.

"But what about my mother?" Scootaloo asked. Rainbow looked over at the badly beaten mare and fire filled her eyes.

"You honestly think we're going to let you get away with that?" Rainbow asked Jade.

"No, but she will. She'll say exactly what I tell her to say," Jade said with a grin that made everypony on the beach cringe.

"Scootaloo, we'll get her help as soon as we can, right now I want you and Lightning to go back to our house," Spitfire said. "We'll be along shortly."

"But Mom-"

"Now Scootaloo." Scootaloo looked at her birth mother, then at Lightning. Lightning nodded towards Spitfire, indicating they should obey her. Scootaloo looked at her birth mother and mouthed the words "I'm sorry." Aerial seemed to understand. Scootaloo and Lightning took off.

"Running off like always. She always was a coward," Jade said as he watched Scootaloo and Lightning fly off.

"What did I tell you about staying away from her?" Spitfire was PISSED that Jade had sought out Scootaloo.

"What? I can't say hi to my own daughter? That seems unfair." Jade feigned sadness.

"Don't pretend to care about her," Rainbow said sternly. "You kicked her out of your home when she was eleven."

"And then she began living with you two freaks." Jade was hoping to instigate an attack from the two mares in front of him. He thought of how comical it would be to see these two go to jail, even for just a short period of time. Spitfire and Rainbow kept their composure. Rainbow was the first to respond. Spitfire resisted a face hoof when her word choice was to retaliate.

"At least we have the ability to keep our daughter." It wasn't much, but Rainbow knew it wouldn't take much to get Jade to lose his head. Jade flew towards Rainbow and attempted to hit her. But it was then that a beaten and broken white coated mare flew between them and took the hit.

"AERIAL! WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOING!?" Aerial slowly and shakily got to her hooves.

"For once in my life, I'm doing what's right. I'm standing up to you Jade." Jade was stunned. He had just lost control of his wife. His daughter was an acceptable loss, but he had always maintained a firm grip on Aerial. He now had to cut his losses. He stepped back and lifted into the air.

"Very well Aerial. I'll be back home. I will see you there when you realize your mistake." She'll be back, he thought. With that, he flew back to his home. His son would be waiting for him.

The three mares on the beach watched as Jade flew away. Rainbow and Spitfire turned to Aerial.

"Are you alright?" Rainbow asked. "Can you fly?"

"Yeah, I think so." Aerial smiled. She had finally done the one thing she had wanted to do for years. She stood up to her husband. It had required a conversation with her now grown daughter to convince her to do so, but she had done it.

"Come on. You can stay with us for the time being." Spitfire motioned for Aerial to follow her. "But first we should pay you a visit to Nurse Redheart. You have some injuries that need treating." Aerial was overwhelmed by the compassion of the mares that stood in front of her. Not only did they adopt her daughter, they were offering her a place to stay and give her medical attention on a whim.

"That sounds lovely," Aerial said before blacking out.

---

Aerial woke at what appeared to be a small medical clinic. She looked around to see Scootaloo and her coltfriend sleeping next to each other on a couch. Scootaloo was resting her head on his shoulder. He in turn was resting his head on top of her own head. Aerial smiled. Her daughter was all grown up. She looked over to see the two mares that had adopted her daughter. The golden one was asleep, her head resting on the cyan mare's shoulder. The cyan mare with the rainbow colored mane was gently stroking her wife's fiery red mane. Aerial looked back at her daughter.

"She's all grown up, isn't she?" she said weakly. Rainbow looked up.

"Look who's awake," she said with a smile. "And yeah, she is. It's been a wild ride ever since Spitfire and I took her in." It wasn't until then that Aerial noticed her daughter's cutie mark.

"So, she plays guitar?"

"Yeah. And she's really good at it. Probably the best I've ever seen."

"That's wonderful." Aerial couldn't have been happier than she was at the moment. Despite the fact that it hurt her to speak, she wanted to know everything the mare that was talking to her had to tell her about her daughter. She had missed so much of Scootaloo's life. It pained Aerial greatly that she had been forced to leave her daughter behind, but she knew these mares were better parents for her than Jade and herself.

"You know, you really shouldn't be talking right now. The nurse said that Jade almost pulverized your muzzle. The less you move it the better." Rainbow couldn't imagine what had to be going through Aerial's mind right now. It had been seven years since she had seen her own daughter. Rainbow couldn't imagine leaving Scootaloo somewhere and not seeing or hearing from her at all for seven years. The thought alone broke her heart. Especially because in this case it wasn't Aerial's choice not to see her daughter.

"But I need to know everything that I've missed. I need to-"

"There will be plenty of time for that after you get better," Rainbow interrupted. "Right now what you need is some sleep. You lost a lot of blood today." Aerial noticed then that she still felt a bit dizzy.

"You know, sleep sounds good right now," she said. Before she drifted off, Rainbow had to ask her something. It had been bugging her since she and Spitfire had taken Aerial to Nurse Redheart.

"Aerial?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you take that hit for me? I can take a hit just fine. But you had already been beaten badly enough. There was no need for that." Aerial laughed and then immediately winced in pain. She had been ready to answer that question since she made the choice to take the hit for the young mare.

"Because you would have done it for my daughter."

Author's Note:

Disclaimer again, I don't take credit for this story, as it is an approved repost from the original author, coupled with the permission of the site's staff.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Damn....

[LordOfBangtan]

DUN DUN DDUUUUNNN!!