For reasons that he could not quite ascertain, William found himself drifting away from the school grounds before he even reached them.

He slowly wound away from the ringing of the bell, following the dirt road away from it. William gave a small pebble a kick down the center of the road, watching it stumble and bumble along its path until it came to an eventual halt. He let out a quiet sigh through his nose, sticking his hands into the pockets of his pants and continuing along his way.

“Since when do you ditch school?”

William jumped at the sound of Scootaloo’s voice, and she chuckled as she began trotting from behind him to his side. The orange pegasus gave him a sly wink, her large magenta eyes distracting him.

“It’s cool,” Scootaloo grinned. “I promise not to tell if you don’t.”

William did not reply, only walking along the roadside and away from the schoolhouse. She kept up pace next to him, which wasn’t difficult – he didn’t necessarily have long legs.

“… You still mad?”

“Hm?” William looked up suddenly, having been lost in his thoughts.

“About the other day?” Scootaloo said uncomfortably. “Because, I mean, I-I get it if you are –”

“Everything is fine.” He replied expressionlessly.

“Are you sure?” Scootaloo pried, her wings ruffling agitatedly.

William furrowed his brows suspiciously.

“Why does it matter?” he grumbled.

“Be-because…”

William hadn’t noticed that she had stopped walking, and he slowly came to a halt to turn around to face her. To his surprise, she looked torn between anxious and fairly unhappy, and didn’t look up as she rubbed her foreleg.

“I, well… I was thinking about what you said,” Scootaloo said uncomfortably. “Because I didn’t really get it at first when you were talking about feeling like somepony just… treating you like an object, and-and I really don’t want to make you feel like-like that, is all.”

William let out another quiet sigh through his nostrils, thinking.

“… Shut up,” Scootaloo said suddenly, pushing him. Her face was red, and her sudden scowl confused him. He stumbled, but kept his ground. “Just quit looking at me like that, okay?”

“What?” William blinked.

“That,” Scootaloo’s frown deepened. “It freaks me out when you look at me like that.”

She turned her eyes away from him, her magenta gaze looking elsewhere – anywhere else. It was the same look that he’d seen Rainbow Dash give him a couple of times. Even her eyes looked similar, the same bright color. It bothered him even more deeply than he thought it would; like looking at a miniature Rainbow Dash.

William steeled his nerves and mentally kicked himself, as he would probably continue to do all day, for his decision.

He merely stood in front of her with his arms held out.

Scootaloo eventually grinned and promptly pounced him, tackling him with a hug. Something occurred to him as he picked himself up from the dirt, trying not to laugh as she was.

Sometimes, the best form of communication one can have with another doesn’t involve speaking at all.

Scootaloo sat beside William silently, unable to assume the same indian style position that he sat in.

The bog they looked over was a bit noisy, in a peaceful sort of way. The buzzing of busy the occasional pair of dragonflies flittering lazily overhead and blown apart by the wind, and the croak here and there of a couple of frogs far apart in the morning sun gave the whole place a warm and simultaneously isolated aura. It was a calm, serene kind of din, and the glow of the morning sun basked them in a warm light.

“… We should do this more often.”

“Hm?” William turned his head toward her to find that she was craning her neck up to watch a couple of brightly colored dragonflies dancing back and forth with each other before zipping apart in opposite directions.

“This,” she waved a hoof before her. “Just, you know, hanging out. We should do it more often.”

“If you insist,” William looked back out over the swamp, and watched a pair of thriving water lilies drift along.

“I do insist,” Scootaloo nodded. “Every day. From now on; it doesn’t even have to be with the whole Crusaders. Just me and you. ‘Kay?”

“Actually…” William cleared his throat inelegantly. “Well… I am expected to spend each day with Diamond Tiara in order to –”

“Oh come on!” Scootaloo scowled. “Is there really just no getting away from her?”

“Why do you hate her so much?” William asked curiously, before realizing that it was probably for the same reasons he had in mind.

“She’s a snotty, stuck up brat, that’s why,” Scootaloo frowned even more deeply. “She’s mean –”

“Miss Scootaloo.”

“ – She’s a lying –”

“Miss Scootaloo.”

“ – Conniving, plot-faced, manipulative –”

“Miss Scootaloo.”

“ – Vicious, possessive –”

“Scoots.”

The pegasus froze, the next words practically dangling from her open lips. She blinked, not realizing that she had suddenly stopped breathing for a few seconds.

“She’s not so bad, once you get to know her,” William nodded a little. “Even if she does make me uncomfortable.”

“She’s – how so?” Scootaloo’s frown ingrained itself even more deeply into her face. Much more and she would begin to look like an upside down Pinkie Pie.

The sudden light flush that rose in William’s cheeks was all she needed to know. Scootaloo stood swiftly, leaning over him and causing him to lurch back against the sandy bank.

“Didn’t you say that you didn’t want to be treated like some kind of object?” she narrowed her magenta eyes at him as her face drew unbearably close, and again he was reminded of Rainbow Dash. When he didn’t immediately answer, she took another step forward threateningly until they were close together.

“So tell her that she can’t have you.”

The closer that Scootaloo got to him, the more he noticed the smaller details; how focused and sharp her eyes could seem despite their large size, the minor twitch in her lip as she seemed just on the edge of a pout. The light scent of apricots drifting energetically from her mane, as if she could generate electricity with a single touch.

And for just a single moment, she didn’t remind him of Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo didn’t appear to him as alien and intimidating, as just as untrustworthy as everyone else. And from just that one single, fleeting moment onward, William viewed Scootaloo precisely as he should have right from the beginning.

Innocent.

Scootaloo felt an odd pang in her chest from the bizarre look William was suddenly giving her as she inclined over him, hooves flat against the ground on each side of his head.

“… William.”

“Yes, Miss Scootaloo.”

“Do I – do I make you feel uncomfortable like… like Diamond Tiara does?” she asked tentatively, a sad tint in her tone. Scootaloo chewed her bottom lip when he didn’t reply automatically.

“… No.” William clinched his hands together across his stomach and stared up at her. “No, you do not.”

She looked away from him then, a look of what he could only surmise was hidden regret or discontent.

“… I don’t know why you look so disappointed, Scoots,” William said quietly, sliding his hands up her sides around her back, and clasping them gently over her small wings. “I should think you would be happier to know that I have grown so fond of your companionship.”

“Only my closest friends call me Scoots,” she smiled softly as her magenta eyes met his almond ones, the tip of her nose barely touching his own.

“I know, Scoots. I know.”

“Friggin’ adorable,” Discord sniffed, wiping a single tear from his eye.

Scootaloo yelped as they tumbled in panic, scrambling to their feet as the form of Discord lazily swung back and forth between a couple of trees, using the tip of his tail to wrap around the trunk and turn himself into a makeshift hammock.

“Discord!” Scootaloo’s wings ruffled dangerously, and William awkwardly gawked at the yawning God of Chaos. Just how long had he been behind them…?

“That’s m’name, don’t wear it out,” Discord stretched his arms and leaned out into the air, somehow managing to still remain balanced without falling, despite the lack of support. He gave them a lopsided, toothy grin, and added “But if you do, ‘your mighty fine handsome incredible deity of all things mayhem and awesome’ would work pretty well, too.”

“Good morning, Father,” William cleared his throat anxiously, desperately trying to ignore the burning in his cheeks. “I trust all is well?”

Discord snorted, spiraling into the air with a twirl and cracking his back. Several handfuls of Styrofoam packing peanuts burst out, crackling to the ground when he did so.

“Bah,” he grinned more widely, waving him off with one talon. “I keep forgetting just how stuffy you act all the time. You’re like an itty-bitty widdle grown up!” Discord lurched forward and pinched William’s cheeks with his talon and paw, and with one swift movement pulled the red right out of them.

Literally. Discord pinched his cheeks and pulled away the bright red color that had flushed into them, and held the colors up to the light to better inspect them.

“Hmm,” he eyed them through a monocle that had somehow appeared on one of his large, misshapen red eyes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that someone was caught with their pants down, eh?”

“He still has his pants!” Scootaloo stamped a hoof against the sandy bank, as equally put off by the sudden appearance of the odd draconequus as William was.

“Not helping, Scoots,” William hissed quietly out of the side of his mouth.

“Of course he does,” Discord patted the frustrated Scootaloo atop the head before vanishing with a click of his talons, only to reappear behind them as a bundle of lily pads sprouted on impossibly long sprouts to form a green throne, which Discord reclined in. He sipped through a bendy straw from a wine glass full of chocolate milk, which began vanishing from the bottom up as he slurped noisily at it.

William had almost forgotten just how utterly mind bending it was, trying to watch Discord and retain a semblance of logic. Nigh impossible, actually.

And for a moment, William honestly didn’t know what to say. What was one supposed to say to a mad god?

“… Lovely weather we’re having,” William coughed into his fist uncomfortably.

“Really?” Discord glanced upward, and it took William a moment to realize that it wasn’t just the angle of the sun – all of the clouds had turned a bright shade of pink. “Looks like more bad storms incoming, if you ask me,” he said cheerfully.

“What do you want, Discord?” Scootaloo asked suspiciously, edging protectively toward William.

“What, I can’t stop by now and then to check up on my favorite adoptee every now and then?” Discord scoffed innocently, slithering upside down on his leafy throne as it wobbled dangerously. The half-filled glass of milk turned with him, sloshing upward and spilling into the sky.

“You have before?” William asked curiously.

Discord tapped the bridge of his nose with one talon, giving him a sly grin.

“More often than you’d think,” he cackled.

With a sudden serious look, he snapped his talons as the pink clouds vanished, along with Discord and the leafy throne. He popped into existence behind him once again, and William and Scootaloo whirled around again to find that he stood with a grave, solemn expression.

“But, seriously,” Discord stated inexpressively. “I’d be grateful if you kept my little visits just between us, hmm?”

“What’s it matter to you who knows if you’re running around Equestria?” Scootaloo demanded suspiciously.

“What’s it matter to you who knows that you’re ditching school to make googly eyes on top of Willy?” the draconequus leered.

“I don’t – not my – can’t just – not what happened –” William mumbled, embarrassed. Scootaloo didn’t seem to have anything to reply with, which only made Discord laugh again. It wasn’t nearly as cold as the last one, though; much warmer, more genial.

“Where have you been all this time?” William asked quietly, desperate to change the subject and sorely wishing that he had a book to hide behind.

“Oh, you know,” Discord rolled his wrist leisurely as he began drifting up into the air, reclining on an invisible sofa. “Busy being a God of Chaos, doing godly, chaos-y things,” he said conversationally. “But if you must know, I’ve been looking high and low.”

“For what?” William inquired, genuinely interested. It seemed rather odd that there was something that a god couldn’t find.

“And that’s the million bit question, isn’t it?” Discord grinned coyly, tapping his nose again. He slowly vanished from one end to another into a wisp of smoke, until all that was left was his enormous, Cheshire smile. And in time, even that was gone.

William and Scootaloo walked in silence for a while, side by side.

The pegasus had her head held low, contemplating. William, however, was nearly strolling alongside her down the small path through the bog. The birds sang a little more cheerfully, the breeze at their backs was a little more gentle, the world was a little more colorful and the sun was a little bit brighter.

William just seemed a little bit more chipper.

He noticed the upbeat manner in which he was walking, and immediately remedied the situation.

“So…” the filly began awkwardly. “Discord’s still… Discord.”

“Hm?” William hummed distractedly. “I would assume so.”

“… What’s it like?” Scootaloo asked eventually, slowing to an eventual halt beneath the shade of an overhanging weeping willow.

“What’s what like?” he turned slightly, furrowing his brows.

“Having parents.”

William paused, letting it bounce around his head for a few seconds before it finally sank in.

“I… didn’t know that you didn’t.”

“Ponyville orphanage is a pretty small place,” she said quietly, sitting against the trunk of the willow and watching the light dance off the bog’s water. “Nopony even notices that it’s there, usually.”

He contemplated for a long moment, covering his mouth with his hand and holding his jaw as he thought.

Eventually, William sat beside her, wishing that he had brought along something to eat.

“It’s… really not all it’s cracked up to be,” William replied.

Scootaloo snorted.

“You don’t have to lie to try to make me feel better, you know,” she eyed him warily.

“I’m not lying to you,” William shook his head defensively. “It’s the truth.”

“How can you really believe that, though?” Scootaloo asked in confusion. “You’d think that having a mom and dad would be great.”

William scratched his head uneasily, and said “Well, let’s face it; Discord is highly irresponsible. He’s rarely there at all.”

“Well, maybe,” Scootaloo struggled. “But, I mean – you still get to live with Rainbow Dash, right?”

“Yes,” he nodded slowly. “And to be fair, you remind me of Miss Dash in a lot of ways.”

“I do?” she perked up.

“I can’t necessarily say that I care for the company of Miss Dash.”

Scootaloo gave him a confused, tilted look at his odd admission. After a couple of seconds or so, she nodded quietly to herself.

“Is-is it because of… your dad?”

“No,” William shook his head. “Although I do not doubt that Miss Dash’s current… behavior is in some way related to Discord.”

Scootaloo blinked, and said “No, I-I meant your other dad.”

William, now equally befuddled, cocked an eyebrow cautiously.

“My what now?”

“Your-your real parents?” Scootaloo said apprehensively.

He shook his head, and replied “Miss Dash and Discord are my real parents. They took me in, gave me a home – they gave me a family. I never knew my biological parents – ergo, they are not my real parents.”

The pegasus gave him a tilted, unidentifiable look that held his attention much longer than he expected it would. Eventually, she shook her head with a soft sigh and a grin.

“I knew it,” she beamed at him, only serving to confuse him further when she dragged him into a tight hug. “You’re all right, Willy.”

“My name is William, Scoots.”

“I know, Will. I know.”

William hummed as he walked, a contented and cheerful tune. It was almost as if his mind were in a fog; a lovely, pleasant little flurry that just made everything seem a bit less important.

Perhaps if he hadn’t been quite so distracted by his thoughts, he would have realized that the voices coming from inside Rainbow Dash’s house were more than a little familiar.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he held the door open, every scrap of senseless jovial feeling leaving him in a single instant as the weight of the world came crashing back down. William instantly cursed himself for his bout of idiocy, but it was too little, too late.

Both Rainbow Dash and Miss Cheerilee seemed to share his opinion.

“… Uh oh.”

And that was all he could really bring himself to say.

“William Zachariah Klaskovsky!” Rainbow Dash seethed, tapping a jittering hoof against the floor. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in, mister?”

“Well,” Cheerilee said and cleared her throat. “I suppose that foals are bound to be a little too eager for summer vacation every now and then –”

“Thank you, Cheerilee,” Dash’s wings rustled dangerously, and her eyes narrowed. She gave the boy a look that could have curdled milk, and William suddenly felt ill. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll take it from here.”

The schoolteacher nodded uncomfortably, taking her leave and latching the door quietly behind them.

William fiddled with his thumbs for a moment, awkwardly teetering on his heels as Rainbow Dash glared silently at him.

“… Lovely… weather…?” William started weakly.

“Never even showed up to school this time.” Dash spoke quietly, but William had become so silent that she made herself heard easily.

He found that the floor beneath him had suddenly become much more interesting.

“William.”

He uncomfortably tilted his gaze upward, refraining from cringing before her noiseless fury. William found that his throat was mysteriously dry. She was nearly shaking with rage; and a little more unsettling, showed little to no facial expression whatsoever.

“… Yes, Mother.”

“I cannot even begin to tell you how angry that I am with you right now,” she seethed quietly, and William once again found it nearly impossible to look her in the eyes. He knew that look; the quietly bubbling wrath that warned of impending pain. She gripped him tightly by the shoulder, seating him at the table.

William braced himself, silently awaiting the suffering that was about to befall him.

He had seen the look of anger so similar to that before. Just like the older boys at the orphanage, quietly waiting for their moment to strike when none of the elders could spot them. Any moment now, she would lash out at him and strike him; or maybe she had finally grown so fed up with him that she would disown him altogether. The thought shook him deeply, only heightening his panic. Soon there would be anguish, soon there would be pain, soon –

William started with a jolt when Rainbow Dash nuzzled against his neck softly, flinching.

“… You can’t keep scaring me like this, William,” she said softly, wings wrapping around him from behind. “You don’t know how badly you hurt me when you do that.”

He cringed internally, his heart thumping heavily.

“… I’m sorry.” William hung his head, and closed his eyes. “I… wasn’t thinking.”

Rainbow Dash sighed unhappily, and held him closer. “You can’t keep doing this, William.”

“I understand, Mother.”

“Maybe so,” Dash whispered. “But that doesn’t mean that your naughty behavior can’t go… unpunished.”

William froze again when she nibbled the top of his ear affectionately, rolling it between her teeth slowly.

“M-Mother,” he stuttered, twitching.

“No talking back, mister.” Rainbow Dash said dangerously, never raising her voice.

“… Yes, Miss Dash.”

“There’s a good boy.”

“William.”

He jerked in his sleep, eyes flying open as Rainbow Dash shook him awake.

“Yes, Miss Dash?” he asked blearily, rubbing his eyes.

“Come on, Squirt,” she said gently, giving him a kiss on the cheek and rubbing his head with her wing. “I want to show you something.”

“What time is it?” he asked tiredly, stifling a yawn. It didn’t even appear that the sun had risen yet.

“Same time as it was yesterday,” Dash grinned excitedly. “Just a day later. Now, come on, or we’re gonna miss it. I want to share something really special with you, so hurry up.”

William swiftly dressed, wearily following the antsy Rainbow Dash as she led him outside. The brisk morning air chilled him, and he tucked his hands beneath his armpits for warmth. Rainbow Dash kept up an even pace, and he had to almost jog to keep up with her. Her wings were nearly constantly shuffling, as if she were resisting the urge to simply fly ahead.

Eventually, she led him to a small hill, and they clambered to the top of it. With a small huff, Rainbow Dash silently motioned for him to sit, and they settled down wordlessly.

“Okay,” Dash said breathlessly, shifting eagerly as they faced the east. “Ever seen a sunrise before, Squirt?”

William cocked an eyebrow, unamused. This was what she had awoken him for?

“I can’t say that I particularly care for –”

“Oh, shut up and watch already,” she grinned, slinging a wing over him to give him a hug. William grumbled something unintelligible, but was actually fairly grateful for the added warmth. They sat for several minutes, watching as the first few trickles of golden light began slipping up over the horizon.

Streams of pale yellow tickled the clouds, giving them a silvery sheen. Light streaked across the ground, immediately causing shadows to leap forth from the ground as a lenient, deep luminosity crawled up the edge of the sky, like an enormous burning behemoth. It took hardly any time at all for the soft, golden ball of radiance to reach out and touch them with its light, bathing them in a healthy, colorful glow.

In short, it was breathtaking.

William found that he could not, in all earnestness, hold back a smile from the sight any longer. His lips unwillingly turned upwards; at least, at first. He eventually stopped resisting the smile itself, and simply enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun. It was a comforting, welcome sight.

He turned to Rainbow Dash to see her own reaction, and she was indeed smiling. However, it was a sad, tormented half-smile; a bitter and hurting smile, only complemented by the tears streaming silently down her face.

“… Are you well?” William asked with a hint of concern in his voice, resting a small hand on her side. She turned to look at him for a bare moment, before her gaze returned once again to the rising sun.

“… There was a time when I thought that I’d never see a sunrise ever again,” Dash croaked, her voice scratchy and shaking. “I’d almost forgotten…”

William didn’t think that he had ever seen her so completely miserable. He didn’t think that he had anything he could possibly say to her to make the weeping mare feel any better. He couldn’t think of a single thing at all.

“Thank you, Miss Dash,” William finally said in a quiet tone, watching the fiery orb escalate. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know, Squirt. I know.”

Journal of William Zachariah Klaskovsky

Day 22 –

I wonder if I am a bad person.

Those words feel so strange, coming from my own lips; and yet, I can’t help but think that it might be true.

I hate to see Miss Dash Mother so unhappy. It seems like she is always crying, always upset. And the knowledge that I am at the center of it only serves to make me feel even worse. I don’t have the foggiest clue as to how I am supposed to go about improving her situation, regardless of my zeal to do so. Sometimes, it seems that everywhere I go, misery is bound to follow. And yet, it would appear, for all intents and purposes, that I am utterly incapable of stopping it.

I hate feeling helpless.

I hate it.

I do not know if I can even face Diamond Tiara again after the… incident. But if I do not, then she shall most likely assume that I have conceded defeat, and I cannot allow this to pass. Merely because I indulged in truancy for a single day does not mean that I have surrendered; she may have won a battle, but she shall not win the war.

As for Silver Spoon… I have no idea of her current condition. Hopefully she will have recovered enough to endure public schooling once again, as well as tolerate the company of Diamond Tiara.

And as for Scootaloo, I think…

Hm.

I am not sure what to think.

She asked me if she made me feel uncomfortable in the same way that Diamond Tiara does, and at first, I believed so. But the more that I thought about it, the more that I came to realize that was just not the case. True, the girl does make me feel… something.

I just wish that I could identify it. I want to know, and badly; so much so that it almost hurts. It’s such a peculiar feeling.

And on the note of the unidentifiable…

It would seem that Discord has returned.

For what reason, I am not certain. According to him, he has been observing on occasion for some time, but I have nothing accurate to base my findings on. This brings me a small level of frustration, but I shall admit that I am slightly glad that he has not chosen to simply abandon me altogether.

Not that I have abandonment issues, of course. That would be ridiculous.

Author's Notes:

“How terrible-- to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!”
― Sophocles, Oedipus Rex