Big Sis Scootaloo

by Never2muchpinkie

Chapter 18: Rock Climber and Thunder Storm

Rock Climber’s face scrunched up a bit. Just what he didn't need right now. “What do YOU want?” he said angrily.

Thunder Storm looked a bit mad at the response at first, but then it faded into neutrality. “Maybe it’s hard to talk about.”

In a bored voice Rock Climber said, “Well then why don’t you go away until you know what you want to say? I’m busy.”

Again a flare of rage built up inside him. “Look, kid, your two 'sisters' aren’t here to save your flank right now, so you should can the attitude.”

A slight fear came to Rock Climber as he acknowledged that point. “Well… what is it? All of a sudden after ignoring and wishing for bad things to happen to me all of a sudden you’re here to talk? What could you possibly have to say?”

“Well… I guess… maybe… it’s hard to miss the changes in you lately. Even when I’m not in the same room I can constantly hear you talking about training and Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash and Rose Blossom and all that. And especially about having two older 'sisters.' So maybe… I’m just a little jealous.”

Rock Climber’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Jealous? Jealous! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Like that’s my fault! If you had been doing what you had supposed to have been doing from the start we never would have broken apart like we did! YOU were the one who chose to commit all those crimes with your new 'friends.' YOU were the one that said I was just a bother and who had better things to do with your time! YOU were the one who dragged me along in your crime spree and tried to get me to enjoy it! Now you’re jealous that I have two REAL siblings who treat me right and teach me all the stuff YOU should have been teaching me? You’re pathetic!

“I can’t stand you! It’s been FOUR… MONTHS! FOUR MONTHS! You haven’t apologized once. You made me feel like you were going to kill me. While we were out having our 'fun' you treated me horribly. You called me all sorts of bad names, like 'idiot' and 'useless' and worse, you constantly hit me, and only considered me useful to trick people into not being that mad if we got caught stealing.

“DO YOU KNOW HOW ALL THAT MADE ME FEEL? IT MADE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH WITH GUILT! Every night I went to sleep my mind would spin with all the bad things we had done that day. I knew it was wrong! I knew it, and yet…” Tears came down his eyes, a mix of anger and sorrow. “And yet I... I still went along with it anyway, because I loved you and just wanted to spend time with you.

"You took advantage of me and stopped caring about me for the sake of those two idiots. THAT’S NOT WHAT A BIG BROTHER IS SUPPOSED TO DO! A big brother is supposed to teach their younger brother to do the right thing, not teach them how to be a thug!

“I don’t even consider you my brother anymore! You’re the worst pony I know, short of those other two morons! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! And I never want to see you again!” He turned away from Thunder Storm and began sobbing on his bed. Those thoughts were all things that had floating across his mind the past few months, but he kinda felt ashamed of them.

Thunder Storm stood there for a while, unsure of how to respond. If he was going to do something he would have to go for it. Sitting down on the bed next to Rock Climber he grabbed his brother and set him on his lap, putting his hooves around him.

Rock Climber went still, the hiccupping of his sobbing slowing down. He didn’t want to put forth the effort to escape.

“I deserved that,” said Thunder Storm. “I know I did, and it was a long time coming. For a long time I didn’t want to acknowledge I had done anything wrong. I stubbornly insisted I was right, and that you were just the tattletale brat who was a terrible brother. Of course it’s the opposite. I was the terrible brother. I’m actually kinda glad that Scootaloo began mentoring you, or else I might never have gotten it.”

Rock Climber didn’t respond. He just sat stiffly and didn’t move.

“Hearing about you training with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash only made me angrier. On top of being a 'traitor' you also got off scot-free without any punishment and you just adopted an older sister, then another one a day later. You began training with them to improve your skills, and when you’d come home I’d have to listen to it. It only made me angrier and closed my heart off further. I really did feel that I hated you the past few months.

“Once my grounding ended and Mom sent me out that day last month to take you home I once more found my heart hardening against you because of how you snapped at me. I wanted to hit you so badly right then, I admit it. And then when I began walking toward you both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo immediately jumped to your defense. That frustrated me to no end.

“Everything frustrated me. School, homework, ponies... everything. I’ve been so full of rage lately I can’t even explain it. Some days I would come to watch your training. In secret, of course. I didn’t know why I was doing it. I guess I was just curious… or looking for some dirt on your teachers. Something I could use against them for revenge. I saw how completely happy you were in your training, working so hard and straining to be your best. It took me a while before I could even acknowledge what I was actually feeling inside.

“Earlier today I came to watch your race. I was surprised at how far you’d come. Again, it made me mad. But, in actuality, I wasn’t really mad at you. I was, as I said before, jealous. In the back of my mind I was thinking, 'I should be the one teaching him about that stuff. Why are they doing my job?' I wouldn’t admit it to myself at first.

"After Rainbow Dash gave you those two gifts of the poster and the goggles, and talked about how much faith she had in you, again I got mad. When I heard she was leaving I felt satisfaction at first to see you heartbroken, but then came a new feeling, the one I’ve really been feeling all along: guilt.

“I remember the two of us used to talk about everything. When I’d have a bad day at school I could come home and rant and rave and you’d be there to listen. I was a loser at school. I didn’t have any friends at the time. I was shy. I had trouble opening up to other ponies. Most of the school already thought I was a loser. Then… for some reason… two of the popular ponies took an interest in me. I’m sure you can guess who?”

Rock Climber squirmed a bit in his lap to get into a more comfortable position, but otherwise gave no indication he was listening.

“They invited me to hang out with them. I thought I was dreaming. Someone wanted to hang out with the biggest loser in school? I gladly took them up on their offer. They had me sit at the 'cool' table at lunch. It was like a dream come true. The two of them encouraged the others not to ignore me. I didn’t know why they were being so nice but for that one glorious afternoon I felt like I actually mattered. After lunch tons of other ponies began taking an interest in me. They had noticed me sitting at the popular table and that instantly gave my popularity a boost. After all, if I had been invited to sit there then that had to mean I was someone important, and no one wanted to ignore the popular kids.

“It felt great. For once I didn’t dread going to school. I was cool by association. For the next few days they kept inviting me over to hang out with them. I was on cloud nine. Things were the best they had ever been.” The happiness in his voice evaporated. “Then… that was when IT started. It amounted basically to blackmail.”

Rock Climber looked up a little, but still didn’t say anything.

“Basically they wanted something but didn’t want to pay for it. They were planning to steal it. Thing is, though, they needed a lookout, someone to take the fall if things went wrong. If they succeeded, or if I took the blame if they failed, they would guarantee my continuing ascension to popularity. If I refused they wouldn’t do anything to me but they would withdraw their support.

“I had been a good pony before, so naturally I was hesitant and didn’t want to go through with it. But… but… I had had a taste of being important, and I didn’t want to lose it so quickly! I wanted it! I didn’t want to be seen as just a loser my whole life! I pushed down my guilty feelings and agreed to help them.

“It all went off without a hitch. I distracted the shop owner while they went and grabbed what they were after. Afterward they looked so happy, patting me on the back and congratulating me and, true to their word, they sang my praises and I moved up in the popularity ladder. I still felt a little bad over what I had done, but I thought it wasn’t such a big deal. I made a justification that if he had just had lower prices then they wouldn’t have had to steal it in the first place.

“They kept pushing me to do stuff with them… their brand of fun. I wanted so bad to believe they were really my friends and cared about me. They just wanted to help me loosen up and stop being so stiff on the rules. They wanted me to be more assertive and not just lie back and take all the negative things. If someone made you angry it’s fine to break their stuff or paint graffiti on their property. Every time I began backtracking and wanting to stop they brought up the threat of yanking away the comfy position I had been enjoying. They would see to it personally that I lost all my new perks and that I would be seen as even lower than I had been so far. Because of that I was trapped. I couldn’t take it back anymore.

“I grew to enjoy what we were doing. It gave me a rush to do all these bad things, to avoid being caught, or to laugh at a successful raid. In other areas, though, I began getting worse. I put off school work, I began treating you and our parents like dirt. Everything became only about maintaining my status in school, no matter what form it took.

“That day you caught us I felt so furious and scared that you would ruin everything. I managed to talk them into letting you hang out with us because then you would have a lower chance of tattling on us. If you got to hang out with some older kids I figured you’d go along with whatever we did because of how much you missed spending time with me. I treated you nicer to stay on your good side, but I also became pretty vicious to you. All those names I called you and all those times I attacked you, what I was doing to you was really what I wanted to say and do to myself.

“I messed up big time. I recognize that now. I did get a swelled head and considered my standing at school more important than family. I did commit many crimes and probably caused a lot of pain and suffering for others. I know I caused that in you. I did horrible things because I didn’t want to be seen as a loser. I got so bad that you abandoned me for a few others who deserved to have you more than I did. I’m… I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Rock Climber! I’ve been an absolutely horrible big brother. I can see it now. Can you ever forgive me?”

Silence reigned in the room but for the sound of their breathing. Thunder Storm waited patiently. From his position he couldn’t make out his brothers expression. Three minutes passed. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. And through all that time Rock Climber didn’t say a word. He just remained silent and unmoving.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, Thunder Storm began getting discouraged. “I understand,” he said quietly. “It’s still too soon. I’ll leave you alone.”

As soon as Thunder Storm removed his hooves from around Rock Climber’s stomach the colt’s hooves immediately came up, grabbing his brothers hooves and placing them back around his stomach, the most movement he’d made since their discussion began. “Don’t go,” said Rock Climber in an uncertain voice. “You hurt me, you know that. You hurt me really bad. You called me terrible names and shoved me and hit me and pushed me into your terrible actions because you knew I would do bad things to spend time with you. I can kinda understand how you’re feeling because you did those bad things for the same reason.

“I’m still very angry at you. You hurt my heart very badly. I’ll accept your apology, but I can’t just forgive you… just like that. You need to earn my trust back. To start with I want three promises from you.”

“And what are those?”

“If you really mean what you say, if you’re really sorry and want to change, then first I want you to promise you’ll stay away from Midnight Dream and Heavy Downpour. Stay far away from them and others like them.

“I’m not the only one you need to apologize to. You hurt a lot of other ponies but you paid for that through your community service. There’s still one pony, though, you haven’t done anything for. You need to apologize to Rose Blossom and Scootaloo too for the pain you caused them.

“And third… third…” He stopped, tears beginning to run down his eyes.

“Yes?” said Thunderstorm.

He pulled himself out of his brother’s hold and turned himself around so they were face to face. “Third… I want us to spend time together again. Just the two of us… doing the right things like we did before.” Despite his words of not forgiving easy he just couldn’t feel angry at the moment. “I missed you, you jerk! I never hated you! I never stopped loving you! I still love you now! I love you so much!

"I’ve been waiting for you to come back. My real brother! Not that jerk you’ve pretended to be the past year.” He buried his head in Thunder Storm’s chest, starting to sob. It became deeper and deeper until he could barely breathe. His body shook with his tremors, squeezing his brother like his life depended on it.

Thunder Storm felt tears come down his own face, feeling like a monster. He let himself get swept away in his emotions as he lost control too. He had scarred his brother so bad, and pride had blinded him to that fact. He hugged his brother tight to him, trying to make him feel precious. He had been such a fool.

When the two of them settled down a bit Thunder Storm said, “I promise you, right here and now, that I will do whatever it takes to earn my place back as your brother. My reputation is dirt back at school because of what happened, but I don’t care about that anymore. I finally remembered what’s really important: you.”

Rock Climber looked up, wiping his face as he looked into his brother’s eyes. He let a small smile come to his lips. For the first time in a long while he thought he saw love there, instead of all the anger and rage and frustration. Maybe his brother was ready to change after all. Nuzzling his brother he said, “I’ll hold you to that.”

Comments

[Never2muchpinkie]

4609413 Well, I guess I might run into the same problem now where you complain I'm writing too much but I put up three chapters today. I'd think you'd rather complain I write too little At least if I write too much you can always come back to finish it later.

I have to say that I think I stink at action scenes. That's why they're so short on description. You may have a different opinion. However many chapters you get through today I hope you enjoy them. I'm planning to wrap this bad boy up in the next four chapters, along with a short epilogue.

I just want to say thank you again with your multiplying bunnies. This whole story is solely because of your idea in the first place. And thanks for just being one of my loyal readers. You're awesome!

[Rose Quartz]

YAY BROTHERLY HUGS :D

[100ley]

Best chapter :D

[Kenshinryuu]

Read through all three chapters in one afternoon. I"m glad Thunder Storm realizes what an ass he has been and wants to mend is relationship with Rock Climber. If those two bad ponies start bothering him again I hope Scootaloo is around to watch his back, I can see the two of them back to back facing off a gang of delinquent ponies easily. Especially if Applebloom and Sweetie Bell join the fray