Will You Keep My Secret?

by xCobaltRainx

The Secret

Will You Keep My Secret?

Chapter One
The Secret

The serene midday weather that enveloped the town called Ponyville could lift anyone's spirits. It usually did. But on this particular day, a lonely orange pegasus filly wheeled down the side paths on the outskirts of town.

This peculiar filly does something no other pony ever does: She uses her wings to propel herself forward on a scooter. But on this day, she kept her wings snapped shut at her sides, not even wanting to look at them. She rolled her way around using her legs, occasionally lowering one down to push on the ground. She was, at this time, just like everyone else; it was something she didn't normally experience. She kept her head hung, surveying the ground and each individual pebble that disappeared underneath her blue scooter.

She had kept this swaying motion that propelled her forward for what could quite possibly have been hours. This motion was the only thing that she could focus on other than her thoughts. The lump in her throat grew larger as she again recalled the events from earlier that day.

Back at school, Diamond Tiara had reached new heights, or rather lows, for her bullying. She had actually recruited their entire class to take part in the act. The assembled mob created a wall of themselves in front of the filly, and trapped her from behind by one of the outside walls of the school.

They taunted her, called her names, and teased her with words that conveyed a simple message: She could not fly. She could not fly and she should be ashamed to call herself a pegasus for it. What kind of pegasus can't fly? A pegasus baby, of course, you must be a baby! These pounding words rebounded and ricocheted off the filly's own self-destructive thoughts held regrettably true in her mind, making the barbarism all the more effective. The bell to come in from recess was the only thing that did, or could, stop the onslaught.

Once the others had left, the only thought that flowed through the filly's mind was escape. Get out of this hostile place and find somewhere safe to hide. That is what she was focused on now, but a few hours had passed since she left. She was now riding around aimlessly, zombified in her movements. She didn't really care if anyone was around; she was too busy with her thoughts.

While immersed in the great, swelling sea of her psyche, she failed to notice a certain cyan mare hovering above her. She had been that way for a few moments now, simply watching the orange filly go. The mare decided to speak up to snap the filly out of her trance. With a smooth flap of her wings, she propelled herself and the cloud down close to the ground.

"Hey Squirt, whatcha doin'?" were the simple words spoken, but they were quite enough to catch her attention. Scootaloo yelped and leapt into the air, landing back on the gravel with a rough thud. The young pony rubbed her bottom and looked up.

"Eh, hi, Rainbow Dash," she said. She hadn't the energy to muster a more enthusiastic response. Normally she would answer to Dash's greetings with a mindless string of words, shakily woven together in the moment. Her weak reply was met with a worried look from Dash.

"What's the matter, Scootaloo? Normally when I say 'hi' to you, you bounce off the walls. Everything okay?" asked Rainbow with a wry smile.

"Huh?" asked Scootaloo, relieved to hear her name accompanied with compassionate words. It had only been a short time since they had become honorary sisters during their camping trip. "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing is wrong," said Scootaloo, truly trying her best to wear a smile. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for Rainbow.

"You think I was born yesterday?" she said. "I may not be an egg-head, but I'm not stupid. I know when a pony is having a tough time, so out with it."

Scootaloo sighed in resignation. She recounted in her mind the events of the day. "Some of the other fillies at school were making fun of me for not being able to fly." Scootaloo clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her scooter. "And they didn't stop until I couldn't hear myself think."

"What?" Rainbow started as she felt the fur on her nape stand up. "Who was saying that to you? Was it that stupid Diamond Crown... whoever, again?"

"Well, it was kind of everypony, but she started it." Scootaloo could feel the lump reforming in her throat.

"But..." Dash started, exasperated, "where were your friends?"

Scootaloo lightly shrugged. "Well, they weren't there. Apple Bloom's been out sick and Sweetie Belle is with Rarity in Canterlot for a vacation. Normally they back me up, but..." she trailed off as she began wiping her nose. "I just want to fly, Rainbow Dash, so I can prove them wrong and show them that I'm… I'm not some worthless baby."

Rainbow furrowed her brow. With a swift motion, she wrapped a wing around the small pony and pulled her in. "Kiddo, you can't just let those rotten fillies get to you. I got bullied when I was your age, did you know that?" Scootaloo shook her head. "Well it's true. Do you know where I'd be if I let my bullies get to me?" Again, Scootaloo shook her head. "If I listened to the bad ponies that called me names, I wouldn't be the death-defying, cloud-busting, Sonic Rainboom-ing pegasus I am today." Rainbow poked the filly in the head, eliciting a small giggle from her.

Scootaloo sighed once more, her smile slowly fading and herself again becoming crestfallen. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash."

The elder pony cocked her eyebrow. "For what?"

Scootaloo rubbed her shoulder. "You know, for making you get all sappy-like for me."

Rainbow chuckled. "Don't worry about that, Squirt. Everypony has a bad day sometimes," she said as she squeezed the small pony in her wing. "Besides, that's what big sisters are supposed to be for, right?" Scootaloo giggled once more.

"Thanks Rainbow Dash."

The wind softly picked up, granting the pair a moment of serene quietness.

"So…you still can't fly, huh?" Rainbow said, breaking the quiet air.

"Nuh-uh," responded Scootaloo.

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. "Aren't your parents teaching you or anything?" she asked. Scootaloo's face flushed. She looked up and met the slanted gaze of her big sister.

"N-No... uh, they, aren't. I mean, they can't, y-you know?" she stammered. "They d-don't have time to… to teach me how, so... I'm kinda on my own right now. I mean, I'm figuring it out on my own... heh." Scootaloo finished and gave the most convincing smile she could muster.

Rainbow, however, was in no way convinced. "What do you mean they don't have time for you? Learning to fly for pegasi is as important as learning how to walk. No, it's more important. Why don't they have the time?"

Scootaloo nervously scratched her ear. "Look, they're uh... always super busy, okay? And they're like... never home at the same time, so..."

For a moment, Rainbow considered chasing the issue further. She knew a smokescreen when she heard one. However, it seemed a touchy subject, so she decided to leave it for the time being. "Hmm," she began, "so for one reason or another, your parents can't teach you how to fly?"

The filly responded with a nod and a sniffle. "Mm-hmm."

Rainbow raised her hoof to her chin again. "Well why haven't you asked if I could?"

Scootaloo beamed in excitement. "Really? You mean, you'd teach me how to fly?" she said as she leapt in front of Rainbow out of her wing.

"Sure. That's the kind of thing you wanted me to do, right?" asked Dash.

"Well yeah, since forever!"

"Good! We'll do coaching, exercises, everything. Trust me, we'll get you flying in no time!"

Scootaloo was beside herself in glee. There was not a trace of the dejected filly from a moment ago.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "But, there's just one thing I need before I can teach you how to fly," she started. Scootaloo stopped hopping in circles around Rainbow. "I need your parent's permission."

Scootaloo's eye's widened. "Wh-What? Why do you need my parent's permission to teach me something?" she asked.

"Because, it's part of the Pegasus Code, duh," Rainbow lied.

Scootaloo cocked her head to the side. "What? No way, there's no such thing."

Rainbow smirked. "Yes, there totally is. Pegasus Code dictates that it's a parent's duty to teach their fillies how to fly. Fortunately, there can be an exception. If a parent is unable to teach their filly how to fly, then they can give somepony permission to do it."

"Well, we don't really need to do that, do we? I mean, I'm sure they'd be okay with it." Scootaloo bit her lip in apprehension.

"We have to follow it," Rainbow said. "The Unicorns and the Earth Ponies have their codes, and they follow them. So we have to follow ours." She didn't feel very noble for lying, but Scootaloo's behavior had her concerned.

"W-well I don't think they can give permission right now, they're way too busy with all their stuff. I-In fact neither of them are home right now," Scootaloo lied, further entrenching herself and hoping Dash would just give up. She began kicking the rocks under her hooves. "Please can you just teach me to fly?"

Rainbow was relentless, and was getting tired of Scootaloo's obvious dishonesty. She had had enough and decided to finish it. With slight, real hesitation, she turned her back to the filly. "I'm sorry, but If your parents can't teach you, or give me permission to teach you, then I guess you're on your own." She spread her wings, and motioned to take off. Rainbow was stalling herself to give Scootaloo as much time as she could.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" called Scootaloo as Rainbow began flapping her wings. "Don't go..."

The mare glanced back and found the small filly, her hoof outstretched, looking so helpless. She felt a twinge in her chest at the sight, and it was at that instant that she regretted her actions. With relief, however, Rainbow folded her wings back in and trotted back to Scootaloo.

The young pony cast her gaze down to the grass. "Do you promise not to tell anypony if I tell you why?" asked Scootaloo.

Rainbow sat herself down in front of the filly. "Why do I need to promise you not tell anypony? What's this big secret?" asked Dash, now concerned for her safety.

"Just promise me, and then I'll tell you," responded Scootaloo.

Rainbow pursed her lips. "Okay, fine, I promise not to tell anypony your secret." She realized a bit too late her rushed tone.

Scootaloo's eyes narrowed, she would need more than that. "Pinkie promise not to tell".

The mare sighed and straightened herself up. "Okay, I promise not to tell anypony your secret. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She gave and expectant look to the filly.

Scootaloo held her sister's gaze for another moment before releasing the tension in her shoulders and sitting back down. "Okay," she began as she cleared her throat. "The reason... the reason my parents can't teach me, or give you permission to teach me is... is because…" Scootaloo paused to clear her throat. "See it's just that I... I mean I don't..." she exhaled and tried to collect herself. The truth was right there, right at the bottom of her throat. The thought was formed and the words were ready, but they were too big to force out. "I... I don't..."

It was no use, the lump that quickly formed in her throat completely cut her off. Scootaloo could only sit there, thinking of the rest of the sentence she was trying to finish. The final words didn't seem to want to come out.

"Scoot," Rainbow interrupted. She reached forward and placed her hoof on the filly's shoulder. "Scoot, it's okay to tell me what's going on, I won't tell anyone."

Scootaloo shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I-I can't say it. Rainbow Dash, I can't tell you that I don't-" she cut herself off.

"You don't..." Rainbow began. After a moment's thought, it suddenly became clear. Scootaloo's apprehension, her nervousness, it was hiding her ugly truth. The mere thought of the reality of her young sister's situation made Rainbow's heart sink. "Scootaloo, you don't have any parents, do you?" Rainbow said, hoping to be wrong.

The young filly's face twisted into a pained grimace. It was torture to hear the ugly words spoken by her idol, her role-model, the very essence of the pony she aspired to be. Scootaloo felt the emotion crashing into her like a coursing river into a dam. Breathing only became more and more difficult with the dense pocket of sadness in her throat. It took everything she had to keep it in.

Rainbow looked at the grass and recalled everything she knew about the young pony. The pieces fell into place at that moment, and everything made sense. She looked back up and found the despondent filly struggling to keep herself together. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo."

Rainbow wracked her mind, trying to think of what to do. She was ill prepared to deal with a matter with such a deep significance. The mare imagined what her other big sister friends would do. Failing to think of any other solution, she decided to do the one thing she thought she could in her position. Once she collected herself, Rainbow reached back out with her wings, dragging Scootaloo deep into her chest.

The feeling of being pulled into such a deep embrace took a moment to properly register for Scootaloo. It was almost foreign. It was unlike anything she had felt before. Though it was unfamiliar, and unexpected, she couldn't help herself but to wrap her arms around Rainbow's waist. At that moment, how she appeared didn't ever cross Scootaloo's mind. The dam had broken, years of pain letting itself out into her sister's chest fur.

Rainbow Dash never would have been able to anticipate the events of her day thus far, but something deep down told her that whatever she was doing, she was doing the right thing. The mare buried her face into Scootaloo's purple mane as she rubbed her back. "It's alright, kiddo, you go ahead."

Somewhere in this pony's life, she had been hurt more deeply than any pony ever deserves. And Rainbow Dash felt determined to put an end to her pain.

Author's Note:

Hey, thanks for reading! I will try to update as often as possible!

EDIT: Over four years later and I'm coming back to fix this fic up. For anyone reading now, don't expect the rest of the story to follow any of the show's canon following season 3, as this story was started, to my knowledge, before season 4 was announced.

Right now I plan to fix the whole story up, so if a following chapter seems disjointed or has a break in the continuity from the previous chapter, I probably just hadn't gotten to it yet. I'll leave an EDIT note in all the author's notes for the chapters I change/update.

Comments

[Rakaziel]

Nicely written and well thought out.

[Honeytongue]

Awwwh!

Loving this so far.
Can't wait to read more.

[RaylanKrios]

A lot of good stuff in here, maybe get an editor or someone to help with spacing/ some small punctuation stuff, but I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. At the very least it looks like a different take on the standard orphan scoots can't fly story.

[ChocolateC4]

You should really indent your paragraphs.
Other than that, though, really liking it. Please don't keep us waiting too long for the next chapter, though.

[dashybrony2012]

4179665 couldn't agree more

[xCobaltRainx]

4183177 I forgot to indent!!!
Sorry, I copypasta'd this from my MS Word document, and it didn't keep the indents.

[JackLikesPancakes]

Here we are, the beginning.
This starts off rather well, but I wish Scootaloo's secret wasn't revealed this early. Maybe it's just me, but I feel as though there could have been many instances where Dash mentioned something related to the secret and she's hiding it.

Sometimes, even the best of friends (even so close as sisters) don't trust others with personal stories.

Anyway, good intro. Very descriptive.

[TheGreatEater]

Scootaloo's sense of peace was again shattered. "Wh-What? Why do you need my parent's permission to teach me something?" she asked.

move down a line.
_______________________

Dash can be so awesome.

[ninjapinkiesdude]

Dont use normal quotes for thoughts, if you have to, use 'Example thought'

[PiMan]

4924506
I like italics for thought.

[TheGreatEater]

Re-reading. Same fix I mentioned last time I posted. [Scootaloo's line needs to be moved.]
______________

Enjoyed reading this a second time just as much as I did the first. If the comments I made earlier about what to fix weren't done, then just assume I'd make the same comments I made earlier.

[MaggotKing556]

4426998 I wasn't expecting that to be revealed so early either especially considering how long the story is

[way_2_spooky_4_u]

I've decided to get you flying by the end of next week!

Rainbow Dash you dunce.