> It Was Just An Accident > by Matt11 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I Still Love You > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo was sleeping in the guest room of Dash's cloud home. Her parents were away on a business trip so she got to spend a week with Rainbow Dash, her big sister. When she woke up it was five in the morning. She decided she might as well make Dash a morning breakfast. Her vision was still a little blurry as she tried to force herself to wake up, stifling a big yawn. She threw her covers off and got up. She debated on just going to the kitchen but, not wanting to do anything that might disappoint Rainbow Dash, she fixed her covers. Her mother always told her that it's important to make your bed after you wake up. Since she was too lazy and tended to procrastinate she always did them as soon as her hooves were on the floor. That way it was done and over with and she didn’t have to worry about it later. After making her bed she went downstairs and into the kitchen. She pulled eggs, pears, and apples out of the cabinet. She placed the apples on the cloud table, and then went back to preparing the eggs and fried pears. After several minutes of cooking she heard a DING. The sound made her fall off the chair she placed so she could reach the stove. When she was finally done she put the food on two separate plates and placed them on the table. “Oh, I hope Dash will like this,” she said, walking off to Dash’s room with a microphone Pinkie let her borrow… somehow. She put the microphone to her mouth, while she bounced in the air buzzing her puny wings. “DASH! WAKE UP! I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU, BIG SIS!” she screamed, causing Dash to jump and hit her head on the ceiling before limply falling on the floor. Dash rubbed her head with a hoof. “Ow, that hurt more than I thought it would have,” she said, turning to Scootaloo and scowling. She didn't like to get mad at Scootaloo unless it was about something important. “Scoots!" Dash said walking closer to the filly “What did I say about yelling when I’m sleeping?” she asked rhetorically to Scootaloo. Scootaloo frowned and dropped the microphone on the floor “Sorry, Dash. I just wanted to wake you up. After all, you snore really loudly.” Scootaloo instantly regretted it because Dash pinned her to the floor and started tickling her. Dash bent her head near Scootaloo’s ear, and whispered, “Hey, I do not snore! You must be mistaking me for Rarity! Now tell me, who's the most awesome mare in Ponyville?” She couldn’t answer immediately because Dash’s hooves were rubbing up and down on her underarms, still in a fit of laughter “Dash, please s-stop, haha.” Scootaloo couldn’t take it anymore and finally said “Y-You are, D-Dash. Haha.” Dash got off the laughing filly and said, “Ya know I love you, don’t you, squirt?” She walked out into the hallway, Scootaloo following behind her. She patted Tank on the head as Scootaloo responded, “Yeah, big sis, I know that you love me a lot.” Scootaloo gave her a bright smile as Dash draped a wing over her. They both walked into the kitchen. When Dash got into the kitchen her mouth dropped open at seeing that Scootaloo managed to cook a decent breakfast. She could hardly cook anything herself. "Wow, squirt. How’d you make this?” Scootaloo blushed. “Promise you won't laugh at me?” Scootaloo asked, as she knew Dash would laugh at anything, even ponies injured in a funny way. Dash wrapped a hoof around Scootaloo, pulling the filly close to her. “Now what have I told you? I would never laugh at my sister. Tell me how you managed to cook all this." She grinned towards Scootaloo, and the filly ran up and hugged her sister lovingly. Scootaloo let go of Dash and stared at the wall before saying “I… I take cooking classes, okay? I… uh… told my mom I wanted to learn to cook for when I will be out on my own so she got me into a cooking class.” Scootaloo said, rubbing her front right hoof as she blushed. She had just revealed a secret to Dash that not even her friends knew about…. somehow. Rainbow Dash looked at Scootaloo. “Scoots, that’s actually pretty cool. Maybe you can get a cutie mark in cooking!” She giggled a bit as the two of them sat down at the table and had a nice breakfast together. After they finished, Dash wiped her face off. "Hey Scoots, want me to teach you how to fly? I mean your wings are big enough now. Unless, of course, you have a medical secret you don’t want to reveal.” “AWESOME! I can’t wait to fly.” Scootaloo buzzed her wings in excitement. “It has been my dream for a long time!” she said with glee, and a bit of curiosity about how Dash was still unaware of her inability to fly. “Ok, Scoots. I’m going to use the restroom real fast, and then I will start the training for you.” Dash’s expression turned serious. “Remember, don’t go into my private room over there. I got important stuff in there and I don’t want you to mess with them, understood?” Scootaloo nodded. With that said Scootaloo saw Dash leave. She waited for about three minutes before her curiosity about the content of the room got the best of her. She walked into her sister’s private room and opened it with a shoulder hit. Upon getting in there Scootaloo saw a trophy. She walked slowly towards it to give it a closer look. However, due to an old wrinkly carpet on the floor, she slipped, hitting the ebony trophy stand with her head and making it fall over, shattering into tiny pieces and ashes. Scootaloo’s eyes widened in complete shock “This is not good. Dash said to never come in here, so why I am here?” Scootaloo took a deep breath, in front of her existential crisis. “No, wait,” she said as she tried to gather the pieces. “It’s ok. She's my sister. She will forgive me… I hope. Hopefully I won’t go back to the Taigeto.” Scootaloo had just collected all the pieces and was about to hide them when she heard a shout. “SCOOTALOO!” She turned around to see Dash, looking at her with a mixture of emotions between sad, furious, and cruelly excited. Dash walked up to Scootaloo. “What did I say about coming in-” she stopped talking when she saw what Scootaloo had in her hooves: the trophy that her mother won and gave to Dash when she was really young. Her mother’s ashes were stocked in there after her death in a flight incident. Scootaloo dropped the pieces on the floor and backed up a little. “I’m sorry! It was an accident!” Scootaloo couldn’t really say much more right now, because the wrong word could spell death by frostbite and hunger on a mountain deep in the Everfree. Dash walked over to the trophy pieces, murmuring something, then she fell to her knees and started crying a river. Seeing Dash cry was painful for Scootaloo because, in this case, it meant that soon the one crying was going to be her. Scootaloo walked closer to Dash “Please Dash, I’m sorry. It was just an accident. I didn’t mean for that to happ- ". She was cut off by Dash. “SHUT UP! How many times have I told you to NEVER come in here?” She stared intensely at Scootaloo, her anger rising up. “You know what, just get the BUCK out of here. You've caused enough problems for one day,” she said, before returning to her trophy. “But Dash I’m sor- "Scootaloo instantly stopped and stepped back into the cloud wall. Dash was walking towards her, glaring at her angrily. Dash stopped when she was muzzle to muzzle with Scootaloo, "Sorry? You’re SORRY? Well, you done goofed, kid, because I’m not BUCKIN accepting it! GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I USE YOUR ASHES TO MAKE A COPY!” she yelled, as she slammed a hoof into her cloud wall, destroying it. Scootaloo got to the doorway, stopped, and looked at Dash, her sister. “I still love you.” After that, she left. Luckily her wings were big enough for her to glide down the house safely, but the clouds suggested a precipitation that Scootaloo forgot about. “Maybe I can stay with Shy for a while," she said, as she left crying. > chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo walked through Ponyville, barely noticing where she was going. She kept stumbling, almost falling over as tears kept forming in her eyes, blurring her vision. She felt moisture on her back, and looked up to see the dark clouds overhead begin unleashing their payload. The small drops quickly began to increase in number until it began pouring. The filly just looked up towards the sky, barely feeling the cold of the rain as it soaked her orange coat. She began walking again, not ever bothering to hurry her pace toward Fluttershy’s house. Even when she began to shiver from the rain she still didn’t speed up. When she reached Fluttershy’s cottage she banged on the door a few times. After a few seconds she saw the door open and Fluttershy standing there. “Hello?” Her eyes widened. “Scootaloo! Oh, you poor thing! You’re complete drenched.” Fluttershy grabbed her and picked her up, flying towards her bathroom. Setting her in the tub she turned on the shower and waiting for the hot water to come on. Scootaloo just said nothing and let Fluttershy do what she wanted. The chill of the water on her coat felt like nothing compared to the chill in her heart. She let out a small involuntary gasp as she felt the hot water on her body, stilling her tremors as her body heated up. Fluttershy ran the sprayer over the filly’s coat, saying, “Oh, I’m so sorry you got caught out in the rain, Scootaloo. I guess you didn’t know there was going to be a storm today.” Scootaloo didn’t respond, but Fluttershy didn’t notice much, so focused on trying to prevent Scootaloo from catching a cold or pneumonia. Feeling the temperature with her hoof she turned up the heat just a little bit, continuing to ran it all over her until she felt satisfied that Scootaloo was okay. She turned the water off and picked the filly up out of the tub, grabbing a towel and lovingly rubbing her dry. Grabbing a second towel she wrapped it around the filly to keep the warmth in she picked Scootaloo up and brought her to her own bedroom. Setting the filly down she went into her closet and pulled out a spare blanket, also wrapping it around Scootaloo. “There we go! Much better. Now you’re all warm and toasty and safe.” Scootaloo felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were complete polar opposites in so many ways. Dash was so brash, bold, outspoken, and blunt. Most of the time Scootaloo loved that about her idol, but not when it was turned on her. Fluttershy on the other hoof was so tender, compassionate, caring, and loving. On normal days it was a bit of a turn off to her, but on days like today she knew exactly where to go to for comforting. “What’s wrong, Scootaloo?” asked Fluttershy. Scootaloo closed her eyes hard, shaking her head. She knew Fluttershy would never make fun of her for crying, but she still tried holding on to the pride of her tomboy image. Despite Rainbow likely hating her now she still was striving to be like her. It was a losing battle, however. She didn’t have the strength to fight, seeing Rainbow’s furious expression in her mind, then her distraught one. Before she broke down she tried to shift her emotions, tried to make it Dash’s fault so she could avoid blame. Sounding angry she said, “It’s that dumb Rainbow Dash!” “Oh?” she said in a concerned voice. “Did you two have a fight?” “Yeah! I mean, I know I broke the rules but she didn’t have to get so mad at me! I went into her room because I wanted to know why she was always telling me not to go in there. I knocked over this trophy and broke it. I mean, what’s the big deal? She’s famous! I bet she has a million trophies. What’s the big whoop if one of them breaks?” Fluttershy nervously asked, “When it broke… did you see gray stuff scatter everywhere?” Scootaloo laughed. “Yeah. It just shows even more how little she cared for it if she was using a trophy as a stinking TRASH BIN! I mean, how lazy can you get!” Fluttershy put a hoof on Scootaloo’s face. “Scootaloo. That… wasn’t Rainbow’s trophy.” Scootaloo’s eyebrow went up. “What do you mean it wasn’t her trophy? It was in HER room! Are you saying she’s a trophy thief?” “That trophy belonged to her mother. Her mom died about five years ago. She was cremated… and Rainbow had her ashes placed inside the trophy.” Scootaloo went stone still, her eyes shrinking so much they were nearly invisible. “Please tell me you’re joking.” “N-no. It’s the truth.” Her body tensed up, and this time she couldn’t hold back the tears. She began sobbing and wailing. She felt Fluttershy grab onto her, setting the filly on her lap as she cried. Working her hooves out of the blanket she placed them around Fluttershy. Her emotions overflowed as she completely lost it, slamming her hooves repeatedly against Fluttershy’s back. That explained why Dash had gotten so mad and upset, and it also made it clear to the filly that she was never going to be forgiven. Rainbow would despise her until she died. She couldn’t fix things up or just buy her a new trophy. Fluttershy rubbed her back, ignoring the little dots of pains as Scootaloo hit her. When Scootaloo’s emotions began ebbing a little Fluttershy began to sing to her. Despite not wanting to be cheered up Fluttershy’s voice was just so calming and loving that she couldn’t help but start settling down. To Scootaloo her tone felt like sitting in a field of flowers under the warm sun. It reminded her of all the love and kindness there was around her. Little by little she began settling down until she had no more tears to cry. “That’s much better, Scootaloo,” said Fluttershy, still rubbing her back. “You needed a good cry to get out all those negative feelings. Now I want you to listen to me carefully, okay?” “O-okay,” she responded, sniffing and letting out a heavy breath. “I know Rainbow Dash really well. Out of us six friends I’ve known her the longest. Rainbow Dash can be rude, crude, cruel, angry, impatient, and forceful. That’s just the way she is. You’d think that someone like us could never be friends with her, but we are. And do you know why? Because she’s loyal to those in trouble. You remember my cutie mark story, don’t you? She stood up for me and was my protector during flight camp.' She has her faults, as do we all, but her good attributes overwhelm the bad ones. You did something dumb and hurt her deeply. I understand that. But she’ll forgive you with some time.” “But-” “Trust me, Scootaloo. Rainbow can be very hotheaded, but she knows what’s really important. She’ll come around. Don’t you think that she considers you more important than those ashes? It’s not as if you did something to actually kill her mother. Her mother was already dead. Keeping the ashes is a useful memorial, but it’s not like she can’t remember her mom without those ashes.” Fluttershy brought up a good point, but she didn’t want to start hoping. She didn’t want to bank on Rainbow’s forgiveness. Not wanting to move for the moment she kept her head on Fluttershy’s chest, closing her eyes and losing herself in the mare’s reassuring hold. The pitter-patter of the rain and the warmth of the mare’s body lulled her into a state of peace and serenity. She gently nuzzled Fluttershy’s coat, settling into her hold. Sleepiness began overtaking her, and she didn’t bother to fight it. Whether Rainbow would forgive her or not, for the moment she was content. > chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dash sat in the ruins of the shattered trophy, tears still coming down her eyes. “Mom...” Her eyes clenched shut but the tears kept flowing down regardless. She put her hoof in the ashes, thinking of the memories the two had shared. Her mom had died a while ago, but she had never forgotten her. Scootaloo’s face popped up in her mind, driving away her sadness and filling her with rage. She swung her hoof at a piece of the trophy, sending it flying across the room. “That damn Scootaloo! She’s such an idiot! I TOLD her not to come in here no matter what.” She got up and smashed her hoof into the wall, but it just barely stilled her emotions enough she didn’t go on a rampage. Thoughts of revenge began filling her mind, and a cruel smile crossed her lips. She knew Scootaloo would return eventually, and when she did she would get a harsh comeuppance. She left her room and headed to the guest room she had set up for when Scootaloo slept over. In it was a bed, a dresser, assorted Wonderbolts posters, and other personal items. She let out a dark laugh as she flipped the bed upside down. She knocked over the dresser, causing the things on top of it to go spilling over. She was going to destroy this room just like Scootaloo had destroyed her heart today. When the filly tried to come crawling back her heart would burn with pain just like she was feeling. Scootaloo would see the room and know for sure she was disowned as a sister, "and then she would leave" and never came back. It gave her immense satisfaction to think of the hurt Scootaloo would feel. The stupid kid didn’t understand a thing. “Oh, sorry. Oh, it was an accident. HA!” She smashed a stuff animal with a hoof at that. “Sorry isn’t going to cut it this time, Scootaloo!” On the floor by the overturned bed she saw a notebook and she let out a girly giggle. Scootaloo’s diary. She picked up the book, hoping to find some deep dark secret to spill to everyone. Maybe Scootaloo still wet the bed sometimes, or had a crush on an older stallion. She flipped through the book, looking for something juicy. She rolled her eyes as she skimmed through pages of fangirling about her. “Ugh! This is so dull! You’re supposed to write secrets in a diary. Geez! Can’t you do ANYTHING right?” She stopped on a set of pages that were doused with tear stains. The words were choppy and broken. She smirked. This was exactly what she was looking for. This had to have been a distressing time for her. She couldn’t wait to see what Scootaloo’s big secret was. “Today is the worst day of my life! I went to the doctor today. I asked why I was having so much trouble flying. I mean, I could glide but that’s about it. He took some x-rays of my wings. When he came back he told me that my wing structure was out of whack. The muscles aren’t growing in correctly. There’s a strong possibility that I’m never going to be able to fly! I’m so ashamed! I can’t tell Rainbow Dash. She would abandon me as a sister in a heartbeat if she knew how wretched I am. “I really hope that this problem isn’t permanent. I really want to learn to fly and be just like her. This is like a cruel joke. I finally get Rainbow Dash as a sister, and now she’s gonna give me up because of how pathetic I am. I just wonder how long I can keep it a secret? She’s gonna find out sooner or later. I hate my life!” It was like a punch in the gut. All her previous rage vanished, leaving her feeling bad for her little protégé. She looked around at the room and the realization of what she was doing hit her, leaving her feeling guilty. She lifted the bed back up and set it upright, sitting down on it. She sighed. “What am I doing?” She looked up at the ceiling. “Mom…” Her rage tried to return. Scootaloo had disobeyed her, and broken something invaluable to her. She had every right to be mad! Unbidden, a memory suddenly came to her. CRASH! Filly Rainbow Dash looked down at the broken mess on the floor. “Dashie, I don’t want you going in our room without permission, okay?” Her mom’s words rang through her mind. She was huffing and puffing. She had climbed up the bookcase to get a better look at something on a high shelf. It was a trophy her mom had won when she was younger. She tried pulling herself up higher to reach out for it when it happened. Her weight and her wriggling caused gravity to start pulling the bookcase towards her. “Uh-oh!” Quickly jumping off she flapped a few times to get out of the way of the landing site before, with a big bang, the bookshelf toppled over. She took a few deep breaths. “It’s okay! Mom and dad are outside. They probably didn’t hear it.” Using all her strength she lifted the bookcase back into its proper spot. Thankfully there hadn’t been TOO many books in it. She quickly began shoving books back into the shelves. That’s when she noticed it. Her mother’s prized trophy had been smashed when the bookcase had fallen. Tears began coming down her eyes. Her mom was going to be so mad. Gulping, she began working faster to make the bookshelf look full again. Once all the books were back on the shelves she picked up the two pieces of the trophy. She had to get some glue. She was just about to run out of the room when she smashed into something and fell backwards. When she opened her eyes her heart sank as she saw her mom standing there with a frown. “H-hi, mom. I… I was just… um…” Though she tried she couldn’t think of a single excuse for why she was in there. Her mom had looked at her angrily, then her eyes had gone up to what had flown out of her hooves when she had fallen and her eyes widened. “My trophy!” She looked down at Rainbow Dash. “What did you do!” Tears began forming in the mare’s eyes. “This was a very important thing to me and you ruined it! I’ve told you before I don’t want you coming into my room. You deliberately disobeyed me and I’m very upset with you!” She walked into the room and picked up the two pieces before glaring at her daughter. “Go on! Get out of here!” She gestured forcefully with her hoof. “Go to your room and stay there until I tell you to come out. You understand me?” “Y-yes, mom.” She got up and, with her head down, began leaving the room. When she reached the doorway she stopped and turned around. “I’m sorry, mom. I love you.” “I don’t want to hear it! Go on, you disobedient brat!” She recoiled a bit and then left without a word, heading to her room. She laid down on her bed and began crying. She had upset her mother really badly. Why did she have to be so STUPID? She cried and cried and cried. Every time she started settling down she would see that heartbroken expression on her mother’s face and her sobbing would begin anew. After an untold amount of time she heard a knock on the door. She looked up to see her mother at the door. She flinched and turned her body so she was facing away from her. She heard the hooves approaching her, and then the feeling of shifting weight on the bed as her mother sat down. Her mom grabbed her and set her on her lap, hugging Rainbow to her. “Oh, little Dashie. I’m sorry I yelled at you.” “HUH?” That wasn’t the reaction Rainbow had expected at all. “What are you talking about? I broke the rules. I broke your trophy. You SHOULD be mad at me.” “Shhh,” she said quietly as she began rubbing her daughters back. “It’s just a trophy. I’m a little sad its ruined, but you are much more important than a trophy. You apologized because you realized you had done something bad, and my response was to yell at you and insult you. That isn’t acceptable. I love you so much, my little Dashie. I want you to understand that. No matter that sometimes you cause trouble. All kids do. It’s how they learn to be more careful with their actions and words, so they avoid hurting others they love. I see that you do understand that you did something wrong, and so I forgive you.” As her memories faded tears streamed down her eyes, a sad, thoughtful look on her face. “Scootaloo…” “I’m sorry. It was an accident.” “Please, Dash. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen” “But Dash, I’m sorry!” Three times her sister had apologized. Three times her sister had shown she knew the severity of her actions. And what was her response? Three times she had spurned her sisters attempts to make amends. Even so, right before she left, she had still cared enough to say, “I love you.” Her mother was a glorious mare. Very loving. Very considerate. She had taught Dash a valuable lesson that day about forgiveness. She was her mother’s daughter, was she not? That being the case, she had to follow her mother’s example, and go to her sister now and make things right between the two of them. She tried to fix up the room as much as she was able, and then left the house, flying towards Ponyville. > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow was glad today’s storm was puttering out. She flew back and forth around Ponyville searching for any sign of Scootaloo, but she was nowhere to be found. Two facts quickly helped her to give her an idea of where the filly had gotten to. Scootaloo had left when it was starting to rain, which had to mean she was likely at one of her friend’s houses. Of the five of them she thought it most likely she had either gone to Pinkie Pie’s or Fluttershy’s place. Applejack was another candidate, but Scootaloo would have chosen somewhere close to get out of the rain. Though it was only drizzling now she still wanted to get out of the rain as she had to keep shaking herself off. Of her two friends she knew they were both great at cheering others up; Pinkie through her upbeat personality, and Fluttershy through her patience, empathy, and natural kindness. She decided on Fluttershy. Pinkie was nice, but she could be a bit overbearing and go overboard when wanting to help others. When she arrived at the cottage she knocked on the door, her heart fluttering. Part of her hoped Scootaloo was there, and part of her hoped she wasn’t. She knew she had responded horribly, but she also hated apologizing and admitting she was wrong. When the door opened Fluttershy was standing there. “Hey, Fluttershy. Have you seen Scootaloo today?” In a cautious tone she responded, “Rainbow Dash, why are you here?” Rainbow’s eyebrow went up. “I just told you why I’m here.” “I know that. I want to know just what you’re planning to do. Scootaloo is in my room taking a nap.” “Oh, so she is here. That’s good.” She started to walk in when Fluttershy put her hoof out and blocked her path. “Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo showed up on my doorstep soaking wet and miserable. She told me that she broke your mother’s trophy. She believes you’re never going to forgive her. I told her that you know what’s the most important, so I’m asking you again: Why are you here? Scootaloo needs comforting right now, not another scolding. If you’re planning on yelling at her and making a liar out of me I’m not letting you in. And if you try to force your way in I’ll fight you right here.” Rainbow let out a small laugh at the Fluttershy’s protectiveness. She fancied herself as the toughest around, but an angry Fluttershy could bring even a furious dragon to tears with the power of her Stare and strong words alone. Even she didn’t dare to challenge Fluttershy when she was this ramped up. “Look, Fluttershy. I was furious when I kicked her out. That trophy was a valuable heirloom from my mom, and her ashes are inside it to boot. I know it was an accident, and at the time I wasn’t willing to forgive her, but I remembered something from the past that changed my mind. I need to talk with her and make things between us. I’m not mad at her anymore.” “Good.” She nodded, her anger replaced by a smile. “This way.” When they arrived in her room Rainbow saw Scootaloo wrapped in a blanket, her face calm as she breathed in and out. Fluttershy gentle shook the pegasus, saying, “Wake up, Scootaloo. You have a visitor.” Scootaloo mumbled sleepily a bit, then opened her eyes. “Hmmm? What’s up?” “Someone is here to see you.” “Oh?” She wiped her eyes as she unraveled herself from the blanket. As she put her hooves down and saw Rainbow Dash she gasped as she saw Rainbow Dash. “You!” A pained look came to her face as she hopped out of the bed, going to Fluttershy. “Why did you let her in?” “Scootaloo, Rainbow just wants to-” Cutting her off she turned to Rainbow Dash. “It’s fine! I know why you’re here anyway. I know, I know! I’m a terrible sister and you hate my guts!” “No, Scootaloo,” started Rainbow. “I-” “I know I’m stupid and ugly and useless and untalented.” “Scootaloo, I-” “-just a big fat loser who broke something important to you and you should just cut all ties with me.” “Scootaloo! I-” “So it’s fine. Just go ahead and hate me.” “SCOOT! A! LOO!” Rainbow yelled. “Enough!” Scootaloo looked down at the ground, crying. “It’s fine, then. I was never destined for anything great anyway. I’m just a failure and a washout and I don’t deserve anything nice and-” Rainbow Dash walked over, grabbing the filly in a tight hug. “That’s enough, Scootaloo!” She felt herself crying now too. She couldn’t bear her sister’s pain. “I’m sorry for what I said to you, alright. I’m sorry!” The filly just stood limply in Rainbow’s hold. “You don’t have to lie. Fluttershy told me why that trophy meant so much to you. Your mom’s ashes were in there. You SHOULD hate me for what I did. I didn’t listen to you and I did something horrible. I’m a terrible sister.” She sniffed as the tears began again. Rainbow sighed. “Scootaloo, do you know why that trophy broke when you knocked it over?” “Does it matter? It broke. Isn’t that the only important thing?” “Yes, it DOES matter. It broke so easily because I’M the one that broke it first.” She pulled back from Rainbow, a curious look on her face. “Y-you did?” “Yeah. After you left I remembered something from long ago. My mom always told me not to go into her room without permission. One day I broke that rule because I wanted to see what was so important that I was barred from entering for. Sound familiar?” Scootaloo nodded. “Just like today… with me.” “I saw that trophy sitting up on a high shelf. It caught my interest and I began climbing her bookcase. I hadn’t started flying at that time. I knocked the whole bookshelf over with my wiggling around trying to pick it up, and it got smashed. My mother caught me trying to run off with the evidence, and she yelled at me for disobeying. I tried apologizing and telling her I loved her, but she didn’t want to have any of it. She called me a brat, and told me to go to my room.” Again she said, “Sound familiar?” “That really feels just like today.” “I cried my eyes out, feeling like a terrible daughter. My mom had looked so upset. She finally came back to get me, and it was like nothing had ever happened. She put me on her lap, and told me that she loved me and that SHE was sorry. She felt she set a bad example by being so unforgiving. “Remembering that made me think of what I did to you. You did something wrong, but you understood that it hurt me. You tried to make things right and I just shunned you. I regret it. In my pride I forgot what was the most important thing. What’s most important of what my mom left behind aren’t those ashes, but what she left behind in me right here.” She pointed to her heart. “I’m really sorry for what I said. You are still very precious to me. Can you ever forgive me?” Scootaloo nodded, finally returning her hug. “Yes! I forgive you! I’m sorry for breaking the rules and that trophy. You know, I bet we could get Twilight to fix it up. She’s good with magic.” “Yeah,” she said warmly. “We could do that. “Scootaloo?” “Yeah?” Rainbow hesitated. “I have a confession of my own to make.” “What’s that?” “Well, because I was so mad I wanted revenge. I wanted to make you hurt like I did, so I started trashing your room.” “O-oh? Well… we can always fix things up. If Twilight is coming she could help out with that too.” “That’s not the important part. I found your diary.” She felt Scootaloo tense up immediately. “And I saw what you’ve been hiding from me. Your wings-” Scootaloo ripped herself out of Rainbow’s grasp, a look of horror on her face. “No! No! No! No no no no no!” She began sobbing as she slammed her hooves into the ground. “It’s not true! You CAN’T know!” Rainbow picked Scootaloo up off the ground. Scootaloo fought it, but Rainbow held the filly close to her again. “Scootaloo! There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m not going to abandon you! I promise you that.” Scootaloo was shaking in her lap, but she had gotten quieter. “If there’s a problem with your wings we can work on it together. We’ll work on it every day if we have to. We can go to doctors or wing specialists or maybe even get surgery done, but you’re going to fly, kid! I’m not ever going to give up on you! You understand me? I love you, kid, and I always will. No matter how mad you get me we’ll always be sisters until the end of time. And as your sister I’m going to look out for you. You WILL fly, even if it kills me. Even if it takes the rest of my life. That’s my lifelong promise, and nothing is going to stop me from completing it. You got that?” Scootaloo’s breathing got shorter and shorter until she was almost gasping for breath, tears brimming down her eyes. They pouring down her closed eyes before she lost control, sobbing her heart out as she held closely to Dash. Her sister, her friend, her coach, her idol. “T-t-thank you! Thank you, Rainbow Dash! You’re the best sister ever!”