I Always Wanted to be Like You

by Cheezy805

Chapter 2

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 2

Scootaloo ran like she had never ran before. Twilight warned her that she wouldn’t like what she saw, but she didn’t listen. Rainbow Dash was tough; she could keep her head in any situation. Scootaloo didn’t know what she would do without her hero.

Where do I go? I don’t want to be found… I need to think… I can’t live without her!
She was thinking of how she would live the rest of her life. Her parents had died years before. She was told that they had simply gotten lost in the wilderness, but she knew they were gone forever.

Rainbow Dash and the Crusaders were the closest to family she had left. Without Rainbow, she simply couldn’t live.

She found herself carried by some unknown force straight to the CMC Headquarters, tears streaming down her face the whole time. Perhaps she had simply gone there subconsciously while thinking so hard.

When she neared the door, she heard a soft sniffling. She cautiously pushed it open, tears that had been fresh but a moment ago already drying from the wind on her face. She saw a pink pony huddled in the corner.

I think I recognise her… is that… ‘Pinkie?’ she said.

The pink pony was definitely Ponyville’s resident party-goer, but her mane had completely lost its natural frizz. It was now lying unnaturally flat against her neck. Her tail was in a similar way.

‘Don’t call me that! Call me Pinkamina. Only my friends call me Pinkie, and I don’t deserve any friends.’ She retorted.

‘Sorry Pink- a… mina…. What are you doing in my clubhouse?’

‘Hiding. After I saw Rainbow so hurt, I just wanted to be alone. Please, please tell me she’s okay!’ Pinkamina pleaded.

‘She… she’s alive.’

‘Oh… Well… How bad is it?’

‘Maybe you should…‘ she had been about to say “see for yourself”, but after seeing it first-hand she couldn’t bring herself to say it. A mere minute ago she had never wanted to see anypony ever again, but now she didn’t want to be left alone. She knew, somewhere in the back of her subconscious, that if she was left alone, she would do something stupid and end up worse off than Rainbow. ‘Maybe you should just stay with me and hope for the best’ she finished.

‘O-okay’ said Pinkamina, holding back more tears. She trotted over to Scootaloo and sat close to her.

She’s nothing but a kid in an adult’s body, thought Scootaloo. She is going to take this far worse than anypony else. They sat together for what felt like an eternity, before finally drifting into sleep next to each other.

---

‘She left her scooter.’ said Applebloom

‘Well, duh. Way to go, Captain Obvious!’ retorted Sweetie Belle.

Neither were very happy about anything at the moment. While Applebloom seemed to just be depressed, barely showing any emotion, Sweetie Belle had gotten angry. She seemed angry that her friend had abandoned them. If only she knew how highly Scootaloo thought of Rainbow Dash, she might understand.

‘Well, maybe we should find her. She’ll want to be left alone, but the best thing for her right now is someone to talk to.’

‘Fine. If she thinks I’ll forgive her so easily, though, she has another thing coming! How can she just leave us? We all think highly of Rain-… Of her’ said Sweetie Belle, now fighting back tears. ‘Let’s try to find Pinkie. With any luck, they’ll be together. I don’t know how I know it, I just do.’

‘Well, where would she go? Ah think she wouldn’t go back to Sugarcube Corner. That place is too happy. Maybe she’s gone to the Everfree Forest?’

‘Possible, but not likely. That’s where the accident happened. Let’s just go and leave Scootaloo’s scooter at the clubhouse, then we’ll start looking.’

The two friends set off towards the outskirts of town, not knowing what to expect.

---

‘Oh, Rainbow…’ said Applejack. She leant in close to the other pony and nuzzled her, as though simply trying to awaken her. A sole tear ran down her muzzle and fell onto the other pony’s.

After a moment, she seemed to realise she was being closely watched by the others and pulled back a bit.

I had a feeling they were closer than just friends. That would explain a lot. But, Rainbow Dash… why… why did it have to be her? thought Twilight.

Fluttershy suddenly let out a great shuddering sob. ‘Oh, it’s all my fault! I should have told her not to, I could have told her it was too dangerous, but no! I can’t be assertive at all, I simply let all this happen! While she was getting ready, I realised how dangerous it was and I still just watched from the sidelines. Why? Why did I have to do that?’

Everypony in the room turned to look at her. Rarity was the first to speak up. ‘Fluttershy, it’s not your fault… She wouldn’t have listened. Just be glad that you were there to help when she needed it. If you hadn’t been there, Celestia knows what could have happened.’

‘But… But…’ She broke down into more quiet tears, burying her face in Rarity’s mane. It goes to mark just how serious the occasion was that Rarity didn’t immediately pull away from Fluttershy, ruining and wetting her mane.

‘Hold on, y’all… Twilight, couldn’t you write to Celestia and ask f’r help? Ah’m sure she’d be happy to do everything she could, and do not try to tell me this ain’t an emergency!’ Said Applejack, putting on a brave face.

‘Well… Okay… But I’ll need to go and talk to Doctor Hoovington to see what exactly happened. I’ll be back tomorrow with help. Visiting time is over in an hour.’

‘Okay darling. We’ll be sure to come and get you if anything happens’ said Rarity, only now leaning slightly away from Fluttershy and trying to flick her mane to the other side of her neck.

---
Wh… Where am I? This isn’t anywhere I know… It’s so dark… Oh wait, my eyes are closed.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She immediately recognised that everything was white and fluffy. She must be in Cloudsdale. Well, where to?

She began to trot down the main street. Wait, why am I trotting? She unfurled her wings and tried to fly, only to realise that she couldn’t lift off the cloud. What’s going on? Oh well, I guess I’m grounded. She looked down through the cloud to the earth a mile below. Sort of.

Hang on… why is there nopony around? She looked up to the sky. ‘Hello? Is anypony out there? Hellooo… Alright, this is weird.’

‘Maybe I’ll just head home.’ She said while beginning to trot towards her cloud house on the edge of Cloudsdale. After a few steps, she became aware of an extreme pain in her right foreleg. What is going on? She thought. She looked down and noticed that it was bent at an odd angle, then right before her eyes, a cast appeared on it.

Wait, does that mean…? She glanced back at her wing as, right before her eyes, it extended and bits of bandage and gauze appeared on it. She felt sick watching her perfect wing suddenly become so mangled and broken.

Something weird is going on here…

She continued limping slowly toward her house. If she needed to go anywhere, surely Tank would be happy to help her. He had done so in the past, after all.

Right as she thought this, the tortoise flew over to her, attached to his shell was the special fan Rainbow had designed to help him fly and walk on clouds.

‘Hey, Tank. Do you think you could help me get home?’ she asked.

Tank flew towards her.

He’s not stopping. ‘Tank, stop. Any time now!’

She tried to move out the way, but suddenly realised she couldn’t move at all. She noticed medical apparatus appearing all over her body and she was suddenly bound to several machined. Tank flew right through her.

‘Aahh! But… No… That’s impossible. Tank? Tank! Don’t leave me here!! TANK!!!’

---

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had arrived at the clubhouse. They didn’t hear anything inside, so they assumed that Scootaloo wasn’t there. Neither would Pinkie be.

They trotted to the door and leaned the scooter against the door frame, then entered. Applebloom merely stopped moving mid-step, but Sweetie Belle let out a shriek when she saw the two ponies lying in the corner together.

‘Scootaloo, you scared us half to death!’ yelled Sweetie belle, before realising they were asleep.

‘BATS! Leave me alone! Go away, baaattsss!!! Oh, it’s you, Sweetie Belle. You scared me, hahah!’ said Pinkie Pie, her hair returned to normal. ‘What happened? Why am I here… And… Oh.’ Her hair suddenly deflated with the sound of a balloon being let go. She had remembered exactly why she was there and what had happened.

‘Oh… Well… I think I might go and see R-R-… Her… Now.’ Pinkie couldn’t bring herself to say the name of her friend.

‘…Okay… I guess I should go back too. She… She’s my hero… And I just ran out like that… I can’t leave her. I’ll go, too.’ Said Scootaloo.

If anypony else were there, they would have been proud of the braveness Scootaloo was showing right then. Even Rainbow Dash herself would have been impressed.

As it were, Pinkie and Applebloom being depressed, and Sweetie Belle being angry, nopony seemed to notice how much courage it took Scootaloo to say what she just had, and they would not notice how much more difficult it would be to return to Dash’s side.

‘Well, we can’t do it now. Visiting hours are over. We have to wait until tomorrow.’ Said Sweetie Belle, shooting a murderous glance at Scootaloo for running away and forcing them to leave, too.

‘Okay.’ Said Applebloom, ‘Maybe Applejack is still in town and can take me home.’

They left as a group to head back to town.

---

‘Ah’d better be gittin’ home soon.’ Said Applejack, breaking the silence that had again settled over the group.

‘Yes. We all should. A pony needs her beauty sleep, after all.’ Said Rarity.

Fluttryshy let out a small sniffle, then began to shuffle out of the room, followed closely by all but Applejack.

‘Applejack, are you coming?’ asked Rarity

‘Yeah… Ah’ll just be a minute…’

She bent low over Rainbow Dash, filled with memories of their rime spent together. The running of the ponies last Autumn. The Iron-Pony Challenge. All of these had brought them closer and closer until, finally, something had just changed. They had become… intertwined. Wherever one went, the other was with them, spiritually or physically.

As another tear rolled down her muzzle, she gently pressed it to Rainbow Dash’s cheek. ‘Darn mask’ she muttered at the oxygen mask. ‘Ah love you Rainbow. Please don’t leave me’. She turned and left.

---

It began to rain. It never rains in Cloudsdale! What is going on?

She began to get wet. Tasting the rain, she noticed it was salty. She felt her face and realised that the rain was mixing with her own tears.

Why am I crying? I have got no idea what’s going on here. Suddenly a soft, caring voice could be heard. It was faint, but it was there.

‘Ah love you Rainbow. Please don’t leave me’.

Wait… was that? ‘Applejack! Applejack help me! No, why am I being left here all alone?’

She began to cry harder as the rain stopped and she suddenly felt more alone than ever before.

---

The night came and went. Scootaloo had stayed with Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. Both were equally sad. Both were unwilling to talk. Applebloom had found Applejack in a right state waiting outside the clinic. She didn’t seem to be watching where she was going, but rather staring off into the distance where Cloudsdale was barely visible.

Sweetie Belle had walked straight back to Rarity’s Boutique. She hadn’t even been told off for returning home so late.

Twilight had, indeed, talked with the Doctor and found out the exact damage. It was worse than she thought. Her foreleg was more than just fractured, it was cleanly broken. She would permanently be lame, if ever she woke up. Her fragile wing bones had fractured here and there, too, and he said that she would never be speed flying again. She would be lucky to fly at all, once again, if she ever woke up.

The instant Twilight returned home, Spike berated her for being so late and missing dinner. Immediately after he wished he hadn’t, as he now knew something was wrong. He had never seen Twilight this sad; not even when there was a fire in Canterlot and her favourite books had been burned. She had him write a letter to Celestia explaining what had happened and what the damage was. Spike was in a sad mood, too, by the time he sent the letter off and went to bed.

First thing in the morning, they all cancelled their day’s appointments, except for Applejack who had stayed up half the night doing her chores, and had headed together to the clinic to see if there was any change. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went with them and Applejack met them at the door.

Scootaloo was deep in thought the whole way to Dash’s room. This will be the first time I’ve seen her since I ran away. Oh, I hope she looks better. I need to keep calm this time. I can’t run away again, I owe that much to her. Maybe I should have brought a gift? No, what good would a gift do. She would never use it. Don’t think that! She will get better! I’m sure of it. But even so…

Her conflicting thoughts didn’t leave her mind until the door opened and the curtain was already open. Dash had been moved since last time. Her bandages had been changed and she looked a bit better. Even so, all thoughts left Scootaloo’s mind and a strange calm came over her. She trotted over to Rainbow’s bed and climbed up onto a chair to see her better, then broke down.

It is impossible to explain in words the magnitude of her sadness. She simply couldn’t cry. She went limp in shock at seeing her hero in such a state and began to shake violently, then went limp again. She had fainted.

‘Uhh… Maybe we should, uh, y’know… Help her?’ said Applejack, unhelpfully.

‘No’ said Twilight. ‘We should leave her be for now.’

They began to swap stories of times spent together with Rainbow. Any laughter was dry and empty. It was still too early for anything real.

---

Scootaloo began to dream. She appeared in Cloudsdale, just as she remembered it. She had been born there, of course, but had moved to Ponyville when she was just a filly. She barely remembered anything of Cloudsdale, as nopony would take her there, lest she fall and no one see her.

She was at the racing track. This was one of her favourite places in Cloudsdale before she moved. She noticed a short way away was Rainbow Dash. She had her cutie mark on her flank, but she still looked very young. She was at the start line of the track, against two mean-looking ponies. A gunshot rang out and they all flew around the track, blurry from the intense speeds. This was a happier time. Nothing could or would ever go wrong.

As soon as it had begun, the race was already over. Scootaloo realised she had been so caught up in it that she hadn’t noticed how fast they were going. Rainbow Dash came over to her. She began to speak, but the words seemed hollow and echoed, as though spoken through a long hallway.

‘Scootaloo. I know you look up to me. Those ponies over there, you see them? They’re the Junior Speedsters. I was one of them when I was your age. In fact, I basically led them. I was the fastest on the team. The coach said I was the fastest he’d ever seen. Now it’s time for you to take over. My time is past. I’m too old for the junior teams, so you need to take over. Train and train and maybe one day you’ll surpass even me.’

‘But Rainbow Dash, nopony can do better than you!’

Her voice was suddenly much sharper, though still not perfectly clear. ‘Yes, they can Scootaloo. Not anypony, though. Only you. The only one who can surpass me, is you…’

Rainbow dash suddenly dispersed, much as a cloud blowing away. The rest of the dream faded and disappeared in a similar fashion.

She found herself back in the room with Rainbow Dash and the others. The Crusaders were sitting on either side of her and the others were either watching her or, in Applejack’s case, staring unblinkingly at Rainbow Dash.

‘Did anything happen while I was out?’ she asked blankly.

‘No. I’m glad you’re okay. You had us worried there,’ Said Twilight.

‘Girls… I need to go. There’s something I need to take care of, right away.’ Said Scootaloo, excusing herself.

‘What is it? Can we help?’ asked Applebloom

‘No, I don’t think you can. This is really personal to me. I need to go.’

She left without a backwards glance and immediately headed out to retrieve her scooter from the waiting room. She had to begin training as soon as possible. She would drive her scooter really fast to practise holding her wings straight, then she would begin training in beating them fast enough to take off. This was going to be a difficult path for her to follow.

Comments

[Cheezy805]

53754
The original plan was for her to die, but I'm not sure whether I should kill her or not. People really don't want her dead, except you.
Either way she isn't coming back in much for the rest of the story. It won't make a difference whether she's alive or not, because the only time she's referenced is going to be in memories and flashbacks. This is a story about Scootaloo, not Rainbow.

[Mänic]

This is an excellent sadfic, though not the best i've ever read. There are several grammatical and spelling errors but nothing particularly glaring.

[SureFreeD]

53760 You have a point there, but I'd like to see her die, reported by Doctor Hoovington that Rainbow won't wake up, ever. Nice.

[Cheezy805]

53783
He didn't say ever, he just said it was unlikely. As I said, though, she won't come in much again.
I think I'll keep her in a coma until the end of the story. Only time will tell.
The other point is that if you think about the injuries (fractured wings, shattered foreleg) she would never be able to fly again. I might make her Scootaloo's personal trainer, hahah.

[fearanger]

great... *sniff* i'm going to cry now... i dont stop when i do! *cries*

[Primordial Deomontus]

dang it is time for bed it is 3 in the morning. at least i can read this in the morning.

[Ashura]

I'd just like to say three things. :)
One: You wrote Fluttryshy at the part before Applejack remembers the times they had.
Two: I think the race was called the Running of the Leaves.
Finally: Great story! but also
Poor Scoots...