In the morning I looked in the mirror, seeing my orange face staring back at me. I let out a sigh. Rainbow Dash had came over for breakfast. She had just let a few minutes ago. I felt a lot of pressure on myself. It was now solely my job to train the kids and make sure they excelled. I didn’t know if I could handle all of it. I would do my best, but I missed her already.

I opened the faucet and put my hooves under the jet, cupping a little water before throwing it on my face. As I shut the water off I said to myself, “Just gotta stay strong… for Rosie’s sake.”

I went to school. Nothing too different there.

After school I felt like a bundle of nerves as I went home to collect Rosie and the two of us went to the park. When I got there I saw Honey Drop, Sun Glimmer, and Rock Climber were already there. When he saw me he ran over to me, looking on top of the world.

“Hey, Scootaloo!” He threw himself at me, giving me a quick hug. “Look!”

I looked down at where he was pointing and I saw him wearing his new goggles.

“Wearing those already, huh?”

“Yep!” he responded with a huge smile.

“I’m… surprised.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just thought with Rainbow Dash away for training you’d be a bit more down in the dumps.”

“I might have been, but something really, really good happened yesterday. I got my old best friend back.”

“Well, that’s nice.”

I saw some of his excitement disappear. “I invited him to come here today. He’s a bit nervous because you don’t like him. Can you just promise me you’ll give him a chance when he shows up?”

I looked at him questioningly. “Sure, I promise. But… why would he say I don’t like him? Do I know him?”

“Yes.”

I went through my memories of the past year. I couldn’t think of a single pony I had fallen away from lately, never mind one that Rock Climber knew. I guess I would just have to wait.

“I’m gonna go get him, okay?”

“Sure.”

He went running off, and Rosie asked, “Who is he talking about, Scootieloo?”

“I don’t know." I shrugged. "I really don’t.”

While I waited I told Rosie to start her warm-ups. Honey Drop was practicing her magic like usual. She had really improved in the past two months because of her lessons with Twilight. She had used me a test subject last week and she was much better at controlling her levitation magic.

Sun Glimmer was turning out to be a natural athlete as well. She could go from tree to tree almost effortlessly without touching the ground.

I heard Rock Climber’s voice after a few minutes. I turned to see who this 'lost friend' was and my heart skipped a beat as I saw Thunder Storm. Rock Climber was riding on his back, looking on top of the world.

Rock Climber's expression just didn’t process in my mind. I immediately felt angry, and I could see Rose shudder as she hid behind me. “What are YOU doing here?” I snapped.

“Scootaloo!” Rock Climber said pleadingly. “You promised you’d give him a chance. He finally apologized to me and promised to do better yesterday.”

“Why should I care about that? I don’t want him here!”

Now he sounded angry. “So are you just a hypocrite, then? Like when you broke your word of not getting into an argument with Rainbow Dash over the race? You said to me back on the first day of school that even if I had been doing the wrong thing I stopped being wrong when I admitted I had been doing something bad and wanted to change.”

I let out a small groan through my clenched teeth, feeling trapped by my own words. “Fine, then. Speak.”

Thunder Storm said, “First off, Scootaloo, I want to thank you for taking such good care of my little brother. He needed someone like you around while I was off being an idiot.

“I know I hurt you, all three of you, with my actions. It’s no excuse for what I did, but I felt trapped in the cycle.” He began explaining what had prompted him to begin his bad behavior. Though their motivations were different his reasons were similar to Rock Climber’s. “In the end I forgot what was important. I cared more for my popularity than about my brother and my family. Seeing you taking care of him and doing the things I should have been doing made me jealous and opened my eyes to my true feelings.

"I hated what I was doing but I felt so trapped. In a way I just accepted my new way of being because I thought it was too late to change. I stopped fighting, and I set a bad example for Rock Climber to follow. At the moment I barely deserve to be called his brother anymore. I admit it freely. I’m a big jerk and a scumbag. I’ve done many bad things to ponies who didn’t deserve it and I feel like the worst pony in the world.

"I think that is probably why it was so hard to come to grips with what I’d been doing and to see it as wrong. I didn’t think of myself as a bad pony, so in order to keep that self image I had to delude myself with excuses and justifications for my behavior to avoid being crushed by the guilt.

“I don’t have any more excuses. What I did was wrong, plain and simple. Rock Climber has every right to hate my guts, but… for some reason… he still cares about me.” A few silent tears came down his eyes. “He still loves me and wants to start over… even if I feel I don’t deserve it.”

Rock Climber looked upset as Thunder Storm cried. He looked over at me. “Come on, Scootaloo. Can’t you forgive him? For me? I don’t want him to be all upset like I was.”

I let out a heavy sigh as I closed my eyes. “Look… my feelings on the matter are irrelevant. I can see you do understand the gravity of what you’ve done and want to make reparations, and I’m glad for that. Rock Climber has been my foster brother for the past few months and I was delighted to mentor him.

"I told him I would stay that way until you made up your mind on whether you were going to let being held responsible for your actions redeem you or make you more bitter and heartless. I personally forgive you for it, because if you regress and want to start a fight I could kick your flank from here to Baltimare.

"However, Rose is a different story. You terrified her, you upset her, you spit in her mane and then were about to help chop it off before I showed up. You refused to accept any guilt or responsibility and were still cold and ruthless to your brother for a while. I can let that go, but I refuse to let you talk to her right now. I don’t want her to feel pressured to put on a smile and say everything is all right.

"Rosie needs some time to think things over and come to her own decision, without any pressure or pleading. That is the most I can give you right now.

"I’ve been training your brother for four months now, and I feel I know him very well. I’ll be able to tell if you start mistreating him again, even if he says nothing at all about it. Sometimes all it takes is to see the expression on a pony’s face to see how they’re feeling deep inside and how much they’re hurting.”

“I understand,” said Thunder Storm. Turning his head a little to Rock Climber he said, “Well, that’s two promises down. I know you have to get your training in right now, but when you’re done just tell me what you want to do so I can fulfill number three, okay?”

“Sure!” Rock Climber said happily, jumping off his brother’s back. The two of them nuzzled each other. Once more I saw such an intense joy on the colt’s face. His bond with his brother clearly meant a lot to him. No matter how much me and Rainbow Dash had done for him I knew his love for both of us combined wouldn’t match up to his love for his brother. It made me more convinced that Thunder Storm was being sincere, but I wanted to give Rosie more time to make up her mind.

Thunder Storm waved goodbye and flew off. Rock Climber ran over to me, looking completely at ease, his face lit up like a unicorn horn. “Scootaloo… I can’t tell you just how glad I am.” Happy tears came down his eyes. I couldn’t but feel a few warm tears come down my own face. “I finally have my brother back. My real brother. The one who loves me and cares for me and would do anything for me. The one who wants to teach me the good things. The happy one who just wants to spend time together. I thought for sure he was gone for good.”

Although I was happy I felt a cold pit in my stomach. I truly hoped with all my heart and soul that Thunder Storm was being completely serious. To think of him betraying his brother again was heartbreaking. I didn’t know if Rock Climber would be able to take it. If he destroyed his brothers happiness again… then me and him would have a few words. Words like “punch” and “kick” and “beat-down.”

Rosie came around in front of me and hugged me. “Thank you, Scootieloo. I… I’m not really ready to forgive him just yet. But if you hadn’t said anything I probably would have just said I did to avoid him getting mad.”

“No problem.” To the two of them I said, “Well, let’s begin our training. Let’s get flying out of the way. Rainbow put her trust in me so I’ll do my best to teach you as good as she would.”

“Right!” they responded.

*******

Six months after she left Rainbow Dash returned. She had done such an outstanding job at the academy that she had been given a recommendation to move to the Wonderbolt’s proper. She was full of boundless energy and joy as she flew around in her new Wonderbolt’s costume. She had finally achieved her dream. I was so happy for her!

Thunder Storm kept to his word as far as I could tell. Rock Climber would tell me about the fun times he had with his brother whenever we started training and never seemed too upset. I’m sure the two of them had their little spats just like I did with Rose, but they always made up afterward. One day Rosie finally worked up the courage to allow him to come to training. She was still nervous about him at first, but he did what he could to earn her trust and get on her good side. It took her about two weeks before she finally dropped her guard around him.

I think that seeing the two of them racing each other, Rosie looking ecstatic as she did her best to beat her friends older brother, was what finally allowed me to fully forgive him. I no longer had any doubts about his sincerity.

Next Chapter: Chapter 20: The toughest decision of my life Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes