Life in a slower lane.

by JuyUnseen

A warm home for winter

A warm home for winter.

The quiet murmur of rustling leaves whispered across the ground, their sounds only broken by the occasional crackle of dry plant life under a hoof. A quiet yellow form wandered along the border of the forest, heading home after a day of self-imposed work tending to the animals of the area, helping them to get ready for the winter to come.

It was late Autumn, and as Fluttershy walked she could see her breath appearing in warm puffs of white air. She loved the quiet of this time of year. The birds only sung occasionally, and the scampering of small creatures in the underbrush was muffled by the leaves into a pleasant rustling.

Fluttershy sighed happily, enjoying the near perfect quiet, until it was broken by a single sound that didn’t belong to the nature around her. A soft sob broke through the tree line, and Fluttershy’s ears pricked up. The sound was quiet enough to not ruin the silence, but it didn’t belong. The timid yellow pegasus stepped into the forest, following the sounds to their source.

She came upon a clearing rimmed with oak trees, each tall and proud, albeit bare of leaves. In the center of the clearing lay a small orange form from where the crying was coming. The filly’s purple mane hung limply around her face which was buried in her small hooves, and her tears fell in small puddles on the carpet of leaves below her.

“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy broke the silence after a moment of watching the distraught foal, “S-Scootaloo, what’s wrong?”
Scootaloo sat up straight quickly at the sound of a new voice and she turned to face the newcomer, her face still wet from crying.

“O-oh F-Fluttershy…” She wiped away her remaining tears with her hoof, doing her best to hide her emotional state, “I-I was just o-out here e-enjoying the uh…. The l-leaves.”

Fluttershy’s gaze fell, feeling sorry for intruding on the other’s privacy.

“Oh… uhm, I’m sorry… I was just… I didn’t mean to…” She stuttered in her usual, shy manner, “I didn’t mean to disturb you…”

“N-no, it’s okay. P-please don’t leave,” The orange filly’s voice cracked with desperation, afraid the kind yellow pony would try to back out of the clearing and leave her all alone once again.

Fluttershy looked back up slowly, “Would you want to… I mean if it’s okay with you… do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” She asked timidly.

Scootaloo looked back down at the forest floor, grief crossing her face once again as a new tear fell to join the others.
“S-she left me behind,” the younger pony stammered out, “R-Rainbow Dash l-left me h-here… s-she said I w-was too s-slow… that s-she didn’t have time to wait for s-slowpokes to catch up…”

Fluttershy’s gaze softened from one of apology into one of kindness as she stepped towards the broken filly. Her mood changed in a similar manner to her expression. She realized that this wasn’t a situation of privacy anymore, but one that required comfort, and for all her time spent with the small creatures of the land, comfort was one thing she was a master of.

“There there…” She whispered, “S-she wasn’t trying to upset you… Rainbow Dash is just… she just doesn’t always take others into consideration…” She stepped up close to the younger pony who collapsed into her, tears wetting the soft yellow coat.

“B-but she… all I want h-her to do i-is just n-notice me,” Scootaloo cried, “B-but when she does s-she just b-brushes me o-off…”

Fluttershy hugged the distraught filly, talking to her in the same kind, comforting voice that she would use on an injured mouse or sick bird.

“… Why do you try so hard? I mean… not to be rude but… Maybe Rainbow Dash isn’t the right role model for you…”
Scootaloo looked up, “But she’s s-so cool! S-she can do tricks even the W-Wonderbolts can’t…”

“But that doesn’t mean she is the right pony for you to act like… I mean if you want to… it’s okay if you do but…” She trailed off into her usual string of apologies.

“I… I don’t know…” Scootaloo sighed, her tears beginning to let up.

“I-it doesn’t matter, you don’t have to think too much about it… how about we get you home?” Fluttershy asked after a moment of silence.

At this Scootaloo’s lip quivered and she looked down again, “I….. I don’t…. I don’t exactly have a…. home…” She said slowly, “I…. I’ve been sleeping in the clubhouse…”

Fluttershy looked shocked. She had never considered that the little filly might be all alone, but she had never seen her with her parents, and it had always seemed a little strange how clingy she was to Rainbow Dash. It all began to make sense. This little pony was all alone in the world. She would have to weather storms alone and endure winter alone with only her friends for support. Fluttershy hugged the orange filly tighter.

“Then come home with me,” She said.

The look of joy that broke through Scootaloo’s saddened face was indescribable.

---

“Angel? I’m home.” Fluttershy called into her warm cottage as she stepped through the door and ushered the small pony inside.

A pair of white ears pricked up on the couch and slowly the small, snow white bunny got up from the warm bundle of blankets he had been curled up in to greet his best friend and mother figure.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked her little bunny friend, “We have a visitor.”

Angel gave Scootaloo a look that said ‘Stay away from the couch, it’s mine’ before curling back up.

“Oh Angel! Don’t be like that…” Fluttershy fussed over his rude reaction before turning back to Scootaloo, “I’m sorry, he can be grumpy this time of year… well most times of year actually… um... but anyway, let’s get you warmed up.”

She brought the filly into the kitchen where many carrot greens lay strewn across the table and a kettle sat on the stove. With a turn of a dial a small fire appeared under the kettle and in moments the water started to bubble slowly inside it’s metal vessel.

“Now uhm…” Fluttershy began, unsure of where to begin as she had only cared for younger ponies once before, back when Sweetie Belle’s sleepover had been moved to her cottage, “I... I’ll have some tea ready in a bit if you want some… and there’s a spare bed you can use… uhh…” She trailed off. Fluttershy had never been the best conversationalist.

Scootaloo looked up at her, the gratitude from before still apparent on her face. “Thank you for this…”

“No-no, it’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to help.” Fluttershy replied.

The two of them drank their tea once it was ready and when darkness fell Fluttershy tucked the filly into her spare bed.

“Good night.” Fluttershy whispered as she left the darkened room.

Scootaloo lay in the warm bed, thinking. As usual her thought turned to a blue pegasus, but in place of her usual awe she only felt sadness. Scootaloo had dreamed time and time again that one day the blue pony would notice her, invite her in, give her a home. Now, reality resembled that dream, save for the color of the pegasus who gave her a place to stay. In place of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy now stood in that dream. An achieved dream.

Her thoughts were jumbled. Her dreams cast in a new light. She lay snuggled in the warm, cozy bed and the more she thought about it, the more her ideas of what she wanted in her role model changed. Blues were replaced by yellows, rainbows by a light shade of pink, and squinting, determined eyes by soft, compassionate ones.

“Good night,” Scootaloo whispered back to the empty room, “… mom.”

Thanks goes to Chocolateunicorn for editing this chapter.

Comments

[Cunt_Crusader]

D'awwwwww!

[Eustatian Wings]

Wow. Incomplete? Finish it up. You've got something special here, though it is quite rough.

[JuyUnseen]

29889 Incomplete is reffering to the fact that i'm tossing around some ideas on how to continue the story. I dont want to leave it this short

also, i would like to blame the roughness on the fact that i wrote it in an hour

and you have no idea what reading 'You've got something special here' meant to me.

[Professor Donger]

daaaaaaaw!! trackin!

[Celestias Paladin]

After seeing so many pieces of fan art taking pot shots at Scootaloo, I agree she needs some love too. I haven't seen one like this before, replacing Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy, so far I am impressed and I hope to see more, 'casue she needs a happy home. ~Celestia's Paladin

[Meta Knight]

♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪

[rar1ty]

Lovely work you have here. It is something I definantly haven't seen before and would love to read more of! The errors while noticable didn't take away from the story. Please continue

[JuyUnseen]

29918 Thank you, and as for the errors, feel free to point them out to me and i'll fix them on the double, pinkie pie swear.

[Apocalypse Pony]

My only complaint is that this wasnt long enough

[JuyUnseen]

29997 there'll be more, don't worry

[gapaot]

Interesting, keep writing. I'd like to see Fluttershy berating RD.

[Celestias Paladin]

30270

That will be interesting to watch... from canon we know never, ever piss off Fluttershy

[Fin]

I don't cry manly tears often... Oh who am I kidding! There is just something about sad pony storys that just make me start tearing up. and sad foul storys is like 10x worse. I'm Tracking this.
-Fin

[mbpony 512]

Aw, that is kind of cute as I can see Fluttershy doing this.

Please do keep up the good work upon such a great idea like this one.

[MeowPonyMoo]

Nice, I always thought of Rainbow Dash as a bit insensitive (still second favorite... (Of course we all know Fluttershy is best pony...)) and this seems like something she'd do... P.S. Scoots sleeping in the clubhouse seems to be a common theme... I bet Hasbro is going to introduce her parents just to troll...

[Balancer]

Wait 'her gaze softened from one of apology to one of kindness'....is her apology stare like her rage stare then?

[Broneyofnoel]

You, my friend may have the best story idea i've read, ever, keep it up!! I am in love with this story

[Fullmetal brony]

how! T-touching!!! T^T manly manly tears shed! Now to read the rest of this.

[T4]

D'aaawwww. thats adorable. I'm a 15 year old male saying something is adorable, you can have my man card! i got ponies!

[09MLP:FiMfan]

This reminds me of the fan-fic 'My Little Dashie,' But there's no humans. Anyway, it's pretty good!

[immaeacha]

The only thing i didn't like was all the stammering... T-t-t today junior. It was just annoying to read, but still a cool cool story.

[SureFreeD]

I burped when she said 'mom'.

[BlackSteal]

I'm having trouble imagining Rainbow Dash being so mean...
I would have "Believed" it better if she had just continued on and forgot instead of telling Scootaloo that she was to slow.

I shall continue reading. :D

[Starlight Fire]

D'awww!!!

[Csquared08]

I found Dash slightly meaner than I expected her to be. I figured the rejection would be something similar to just being oblivious to Scootaloo, not an actual conscious rejection.

Still, despite that misgiving, I find the premise to be very interesting. I look forward to reading the rest.

[Lazur]

I know this is old but: sob sob sob

[Cloudy Day]

Awww

[mysterioustgexpert]

This story as touched my heart. (I tought i got rid of it a while ago.)

[Autum Breeze]

mom? Jumping the gun a little there, aren't you scoots. even my sunset shimmer didn't think of twi as her mother until at least a day of being cared for her.

this fic seems promising and i will read on.

[King of Kings]

5324920
He more than likely meant his version of the character.

[TheGreatEater]

Scootaloo looked back down at the forest floor, grief crossing her face once again as a new tear fell to join the others.
“S-she left me behind,” the younger pony stammered out

Scootaloo looked back down at the forest floor, grief crossing her face once again as a new tear fell to join the others. “S-she left me behind,” the younger pony stammered out
_______________

Scootaloo looked up, “But she’s s-so cool! S-she can do tricks even the W-Wonderbolts can’t…”

Move down a line.
_____________

Re-reading the story.

[Golden Fang Ryu Shenron]

“Good night,” Scootaloo whispered back to the empty room, “… mom.”

!!!

[Fluttershyisacutegal]

poor wittle itty bitty scootaloo, #don'tbehardonthescoots