A Scootaloo Story

by Golden Tassel

Chapter 13

After telling Sweetie Belle to take Applebloom home, Rainbow Dash set off after Scootaloo. She had lost sight of the young filly, but after a quick circle above the treetops she spotted Scootaloo running through the apple orchard. Rainbow Dash didn't try to stop her right away; instead, she followed Scootaloo from above and waited until the filly tired herself out.

Scootaloo stopped running and slumped against the base of an apple tree to catch her breath, and that's when Rainbow Dash swooped in for a landing. Too exhausted to keep running, Scootaloo turned away and hid her face against the tree. "Leave me alone," she said, sobbing.

"I'm not going anywhere, not until you tell me what's going on. Why were you and Applebloom fighting? What's this about you smoking? Talk to me, Scootaloo. I'm trying to help you."

"I just wanted to impress you. I saw this flyer for a stunt competition and the prize was a pair of Wonderbolts tickets. I thought if I could win, you could go with me. But I'm such a failure I couldn't even earn the money to enter. Then I tried one of Honeydew's cigarettes and. . ." Scootaloo looked over her shoulder at her wing. "I felt like I was flying. It was more than I ever dreamed of. I didn't want to do anything else, but then Honeydew caught me stealing more from her, so I ran away and now Applebloom's mad at me, and you'll never want to spend time with me again."

Rainbow Dash balked; she didn't know what she should have expected, but things suddenly sounded far more complicated than she was prepared to handle. But she saw that now, more than ever, the young filly who idolized her needed her help, and Rainbow Dash was never one to shy away from a challenge. "Of course I'll still spend time with you," she said as she moved closer and sat down next to Scootaloo. She put her hoof on the filly's back. "You don't need to do anything special to impress me."

"I don't?"

"I'll hang out with you anytime. But fighting with your friends and smoking. . . whatever it is Honeydew has. . . those are bad things, and you can't just run away from them. Come on; I'm going to help you make things right. First stop: you're gonna apologise to Applebloom." Rainbow Dash lifted Scootaloo up onto her shoulders and carried her up into the air. Together, they flew off toward the farmhouse.

---

Applebloom was sitting at the kitchen table. She had nearly an entire roll of gauze stuffed up each of her nostrils and was holding an ice pack over her left eye. She had to sit leaning forward to keep the blood from her broken nose from draining down her throat and she had to breathe through her mouth. Applejack and Rainbow Dash went into the living room where they could be out of the way, but close-by in case the two fillies weren't finished fighting.

Scootaloo climbed into the chair on the opposite side of the table from her friend. "I'm sorry I hit you," she said hesitantly.

Applebloom pulled the ice pack away from her face, revealing a dark, puffy bruise in the shape of Scootaloo's hoof. "Applejack says she's got half a mind to ground me but reckons getting beat up is enough of a lesson." She brought a hoof up to her cheek and flinched. "You got a mean right hoof. Did you give me a black eye? It feels like I got a black eye."

"It's around only half your eye. What about me?" Scootaloo leaned over the table and turned her head to give her friend a better look at her.

"Oh, you got a real nice shiner." Applebloom held out her ice pack, but Scootaloo declined the offer. "Doesn't it hurt?" Applebloom asked as she put the ice pack back on her face.

"Nah. My ear is killing me though. How bad is it?"

"Well, it ain't bleeding no more. It's not so bad; you'll probably have a really cool notch to make you look tough." Applebloom started to laugh, but that made her nose hurt, so she stopped.

"So are we still friends?" Scootaloo asked after a silent pause.

Applebloom didn't answer right away. She wanted to forgive Scootaloo, but it didn't seem like it was that simple. "I reckon that's up to you," she said eventually. "You acted like we didn't care about you or wouldn't understand if you were having trouble. The way I see it, you're the one who stopped being our friend."

"I know. I'm sorry." Scootaloo sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking." She put her head down on the table and covered her face under her forelegs.

"Well, next time try trusting us." Applebloom smiled across at her friend and she peeked out from between her hooves. "We are your friends after all."

"Alright, it sounds like you two patched things up," said Rainbow Dash as she and Applejack came into the kitchen. "Let's go, Scootaloo. I'm taking you home and I'm gonna have a talk with Honeydew."