Growing up wild will I ever be free?

Growing up wild and forever free

I can hear them; they’re not as silent as many ponies think.
Their breath is soft and heavy, the hoof steps long and quick...
Is hoof steps, right? I can’t remember. I never really paid attention in class, especially to things I’ve seen countless times before.

It’s cold. My wet fur makes me shiver as the gentle rain falls... hehe...ow…
Sweetie Belle would ask how rain can be gentle, but I’ve often watched rain fall from my hole...
Oh, my hole, so warm and comfy…my only home.
The small table with a single flower in a cup, a small bed of blankets and leaves... the walls covered in posters of the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow, the fastest, coolest, most amazingest pony around, as fast as lightning! I use my scooter to catch her all the time, the one she gave me, and now it’s broken, smashed, and twisted.
It was my fault. Apple Bloom told me to watch where I was going when riding it. She’s always been the practical one…hehe. Me the adventurer, Sweetie the planer, and Apple Bloom the practical one... Shame I won’t see them again. At least we didn’t end on an argument

All they will know is that I won’t show up at school tomorrow, though that’s not anything new. I sometimes took a good few days off to find food. It can take a while to go out of town to steal stuff from the surrounding farms. They probably will talk to Applejack eventually, maybe after a week of waiting at the club house. Applejack would probably go and search for where I live at the town hall, and that’s when she will find out...
My old home lies empty; no one has entered in years. I could never set hoof in there after my dad left…after I buried my mother under the tree in the yard.

Dad always hated that tree. It was the one thing in the house that Mom loved as much as me. She always said that she planted it the day I was born, and I was going to grow as strong as that tree… Dad didn’t like that, so he broke my wings again and again and again.
That night he would have broken me completely if it wasn’t for her. He came home as drunk as ever, bat in hoof, red eyes searching for his prey.
Mom had been baking again, and the smell of cookies just seemed to make him angrier. She told me to flee, like she knew what was going to happen would be worse than before.
I obeyed without a second thought, disappearing through my cat flap…I was never allowed to use the doors.
I don’t know what happened inside those walls. I ran to my safe place, the hole that became my home
Normally Mom would come and find me, though neither her nor Dad knew of my hiding place. That time, however, she didn’t come. Darkness came, and I snuck back into the house, not knowing what to expect.
What I saw has haunted me forever: the walls covered in blood, everything turned upside down from the fight, and poor Mom lying in the middle of it all, her eyes wide in horror, frozen in the terror of the moment.
I couldn’t tell anyone; no one would believe me. I’d be sent to my Dad until they found the murderer, and then I would be next.
I hid away for a few days, and when no one came, not even my Dad, I buried my mother under her second love, the tree.

Hehe…ow…I remember it was quite hard work for a little filly. I still don’t think I did it properly, but it was good enough for the time. Afterward, I still went to school, still lived my life. I did what I could to survive. Most farmers have no clue that a filly is taking bits and pieces here and there every few weeks. I’ve become quite a good cook, though I’d never admit it to Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle.
What was that? I’m sure I heard a snap. They are getting closer. Sigh… I can’t move anyway. I can’t get away
My body feels frozen in place, like when the snow would fall on winter nights, except…this feels different. I don’t feel the cold or the sore muscles ... it’s like my body isn’t there. Apple Bloom would know. She’s smart, especially with the things she has learned from Zecora. If only Zecora lived nearby…but she doesn’t live on this side of the forest, and even if she did, she would never hear me. I can barely breathe, let alone yell for help.

I wonder how long it will take them to find me? Applejack will probably be shocked at the house. They may even think the blood is recent, thinking it was me that was hurt in the house... Applejack will probably get her friends and the Princess involved. Maybe even the royal guard. Hehe…to think, little old me being searched for like I’m important or something. I’m just a squirt raised in the wild of the forest. A Pegasus trapped on the ground, hiding in burrows like a rabbit or a mole.
The Princess will have all her guards searching the ground and air. Perhaps they will even find my Dad, wherever he disappeared to, though I doubt he is still alive after all this time. He could never not get into fights at bars, and without money he probably fell into debt very fast.
I can just imagine him sitting in a dumpster, the guards walking up to him … I can see his face morph into fear and confusion. He probably thought I was dead, and if not, too afraid to tell anyone what happened. Eventually someone will find me, maybe in a few weeks or days…
What if they don’t find me?
What if there isn’t anything left for them to find?
Will they forever not know what happened to me?
No…they will find my scooter…they will know what happened…or at least, they will have a rough idea.
Poor Apple Bloom, poor Sweetie Belle. I didn’t mean to leave them like this. I don’t want to hurt them or cause them grief... I can hear Sweetie crying with her sister, Rarity... I can see Apple Bloom trying to hold it in for her big sister, but letting it out as Applejack wraps a hoof around her.
Rainbow Dash…I don’t know how she will react… I remember when she lost Tank for the winter. It took her weeks to get over him leaving her to sleep... I hope I don’t cause her to cry just like she did back then.
Maybe…maybe I don’t want them to find me. At least if I remain missing, they may have hope that I’m still alive…
Yeah, they will find the house, sure…and perhaps even find my Dad, but they won’t know the whole story… I will have just disappeared on a new solo adventure.
Maybe they will look all over to Saddle Arabia or Zebraca, where Zecora is from. I could have gone there. To discover lost civilizations and treasures forgotten through time.
Yeah, perhaps they will even make up stories about me. About where I could have gone, hehe… OW...
This pain is getting worse…and yet I can’t feel anything…my head is swimming, like there is a giant bucket of apple cider in there washing my brain out…
I have to stay with it, stay brave… Rainbow Dash would want that...she would not want me being a wuss.
I can see them now. Their steps are loud against the forest floor, snapping twigs and leaves. They aren’t even trying to be quite now. They can sense their pray isn’t going anywhere…
Their golden eyes follow mine as they surround me… I guess it’s time to say goodbye
Goodbye Sweetie Belle. I wish I could have sang as well as you... I could have joined you in all those singing competitions... You were such a good friend; even when we wanted to get down and dirty, you still jumped along with us. I hope you keep being the awesome, kind, brave pony you are and keep outshining your sister
Goodbye Apple Bloom. I wish I could say we never butted heads, but even when we did, you proved to have truly learned from your sister. You will be a great builder…heck, you built that club house. All you need now is to go to a class…maybe when you’re older… I won’t be there but I know you will be awesome
Rainbow Dash, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry I couldn’t reach the sky like you can. I have watched you so much, jumping from cloud to cloud, flying with the birds and other pegasi…
Oh, how I wish I could have joined you up there on my own. I know you loved taking me up on your back, letting me feel the wind in my feathers and fur, looking down on the world so small the other ponies are like ants below us, watching in awe as we fly fast across the sky. Breaking through clouds, making it the sunniest day of the year… pranking people with thunder clouds…especially Pinkie Pie…but even with all those fun times, I’m sorry I held you down. I’m sorry I grounded you because of my week useless wings holding me back…
I was the one grounded. You didn’t need to stay close to the ground for me…you didn’t need me…
If only I could have Flown with you...
For the sky to be the limit, flying higher than anybody else to do my own sonic boom… the sonic scoot…
If only…
There is the alpha…
He is so much bigger and stronger than the other timber wolves. Those golden eyes scream.
I am his.
There is no escape
He’s getting closer, his wooden paws not even trying anymore to creep across the forest floor…
I must close my eyes. I’m scared. What happens when you die? Every pony says you go to a better place, but…what if I don’t get there? Am I meant to do something?
Scootaloo.
What was that…
My sweet, sweet Scootaloo.
…Mom…?
It’s ok, Scootaloo.
…That…light …what is it...?
It’s me, little Scoots. Come here.
Mom… I missed you… I missed you so much
I know, Scoots. I’ve watched you all this time, my brave little filly.
Really?
Yes, I am sorry I couldn’t be there...but now you can come home...to a better place…a place where you can be free.
“SCOOTS!!”
Rainbow Dash?
I can see here fighting the timber wolves off, trying to get to me
Looks like she found me
But it’s too late
The light is so inviting. I can hear the rush of the wind, gentle but strong. I can hear fillies and colts running around, laughing and playing.
Mom…is it scary?
No dear, not at all. It is a place full of love. It is your new home, a place where we can be a family, a place where you can soar.
I looked back at Rainbow, barley seeing her
I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I’m going to be with Mom now. I’ll see you when you get here one day. We can even fly together, fly until the edge of the sky.
We could both be forever free...
Scootaloo’s spirit walked into the blazing white light by the side of her mother, smiling wider than she had in a long time. Her wings, bathed in light, grew and formed perfectly, fixing all the scars she once had, allowing both to soar into the sky.