I heard a knocking on the front door, but I didn’t have the strength to get up and answer it. After a little while I heard the door open. I suppose I should have gotten scared, but I felt nothing at all. I heard hooves approaching my room.

“There you are,” said a voice I knew all too well. It was Rainbow Dash. I turned my eyes slightly. When I spotted her in my vision I felt a flush of anger flare up inside, but then it faded out after a second and I stopped caring. I saw her look around, and she let out a little laugh. “Well it looks like someone got all hot and bothered over my words. That’s good.”

Once again I felt rage come forth at her words, but like before it quickly went away before I could do anything with it. With the little bit of energy I had I deliberately turned on my side, not wanting to look at her.

I heard the sound of her hooves coming toward me, and then she sat down on my bed. “Scootaloo, you know how I feel about you, don’t you? You’re the only pony that I could openly come up to and tell them that I love them. I care deeply for you and your well-being.

“I wonder if you remember what I said to you that day after you saved Rose Blossom? About why I didn’t interfere despite your inexperience with flying.”

I let out a sigh. In a bland tone I responded, “Blah blah, it was my rescue and my chance to prove what I could do. So why should you interfere? Blah blah blah.”

“And do you remember what I said after that? I told you that if I didn’t think you could handle whatever came your way I wouldn’t have bothered training you in the first place. You’ve always had a thirst to prove yourself, so you always pushed yourself as hard as you were able, and you grew strong from it.

“Those words I said to you a little while ago were deliberate. I was trying to make you angry. Anger can be useful and fill you with energy. Despair brings about a feeling of powerlessness and drains your energy. I had no fear in saying them, though, because like I said before I know you could handle it.

"Your grandmare had the utmost confidence in you. In her last words she said that she was certain that one day you would surpass me and grow into your own pony. You succeeded in that. I also have that same confidence in you, that you’re far stronger than you realize. As I said the day of the race you laughed when you were told you might be crippled for life after being hurt by the dragon. You were satisfied simply with the number of lives you had protected. I could never have done that.”

I felt her pull gently at me, and with a touch of reluctance let her lift me up. She pulled me to her, and gave me a strong hug. “Hang in there, Scootaloo. You’re made of more than this. This isn’t enough to break you. I know that for sure.”

I hugged her back, starting to cry again. I stayed in her hug for a while. “I guess I came to you specifically for a reason. I may not always like what you say, but you do say what no one else would have the courage to.”

She rubbed my back as we continued our embrace, not letting me go until I settled down.

“Scootaloo, I can’t entirely understand your feelings. I’ve never lost someone I loved yet. But after you lost your grandmare and you went into your shock coma I grew extremely worried for you. When the nurse said you might never come out of it I was devastated. I would guess that the feelings I had then were maybe half of what you had gone through.

“You know full well that I’m not always as strong as I make myself out to be. You know my weaknesses more than anyone else. I also know you like a book, so I’d never push more on you than I thought you could handle. When the day comes, assuming it isn’t you that goes, I trust that you’ll be there for me when I lose one of my friends or parents.”

“Of course!”

“In regards to your situation, you need to do right by Rose Blossom. You don’t want her to get hurt, but that’s precisely why you need to give it your all in teaching her. If you constantly protect her then she won’t develop the skills to succeed and will one day be faced with an obstacle she can’t overcome because of it. Think of how many hundreds of times you fell flat on your face before you finally managed to fly. And even on your first time you got so distracted at success you nearly crashed into a tree. You don’t have to be like me. You don’t have to yell and scream and demean her. But you should push her to be the best she can be, otherwise you do her a disservice.”

A dead serious look on her face now she said, “Scootaloo, are you truly ready? Ready for your third teacher?”

Confusion went through me, both by her change of attitude and her words. “Third teacher?”

“Your first was your grandmare. She taught you about love and living well. She gave you the emotional attributes you needed to interact with others.

“I was your second, who gave you the physical skills to conquer any challenge and be brave and courageous. With these attributes from your two teachers you have everything you need to move on to your final teacher. The third teacher is the master you will follow the rest of your days. You will never stop learning from it, just as I do every day.”

“Someone who knows more than you and my grandmare? Just who is this 'third teacher?' ”

“Not a who, but a what. The third teacher is life. Life will constantly throw obstacles and twists and turns in your path. How you react to those and how you go forth on your path will determine how happy or miserable you will be.

“In the end, Scootaloo, you only have two choices. You can give in to this despair from the past, let it conquer you, and abandon loving anyone or anything the rest of your days... or you can push past the fear to risk losing someone else you love while living to the fullest. Those are the only two choices you have. You can either embrace life and risk the hurts and pains it brings about, or you can run away from life and live as a shell. What choice you make here will determine whether you face life with dignity or fear.

“If you continue on as you’ve been doing the past week, then the choice you will make is obvious, and it will mean all the time I spent on you was worthless, and you are worthless. Your past deeds will come to nothing and you’ll be forgotten. Your family will cease to know you. If that’s the path you want to take then I can’t stop you. However, I know for sure that’s not the choice you’re going to make.

“It takes courage to live, and you have that in spades. Giving away your old scooter reminded you of how temporary life can be, and how things can change in an instant. That distracted you, and has made you fearful of the possibility of losing those you love. However, you overcame that fear before when you moved in with Cloud Hunter and Star Gazer and Rose Blossom. So if you did it once before, then I know you can do it a second time.

“I believe in you, Scootaloo! You will get past this. If the worst happens then all of us will be there for you and help you endure.”

“I know, Rainbow Dash. It’s just a hard thing to accept that. It hurt so badly the first time. It just feels like the second time will break me for good.” I began shaking as I cried some more. “Hold onto me, Rainbow Dash, And never let me go! Help keep me from snapping into pieces.”

Rainbow Dash put her hooves around me again, pulling me tightly to her. “There, there. It’s okay. I’m here for you, just as I always have been before. I won’t let life destroy you. You may be feeling down now, but you’ll conquer these fears just like you’ve conquered every challenge I’ve put in your path.”

I closed my eyes, my shivers slowly stopping. In my mind I flashed back to my fillyhood, of being held by Rainbow Dash just like this during some of my bad days in the past. Back then I had been so weak… so inexperienced. Now I was almost an adult, and I had done so much. I wasn’t the weakling I was back then. I was so much more.

I took a deep breath, feeling strength beginning to go through me. I pulled myself away from her, getting off the bed and getting on the floor. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. For reminding me of something I was on the verge of losing sight of.”

She smiled back at me. “No problem, Scootaloo. Now that’s the look I like to see. You’re ready to fight with the world again.”

I heard the front door open, and after that voices in the kitchen. I left my room, Rainbow Dash behind me. I saw Mom and Dad with some groceries. “Hello, Scootaloo. And hello, Rainbow Dash. How are you?”

“Doing good, ma’am,” responded Rainbow Dash. “Your little filly here was just having some doubts. Because she’s nothing without me I had to come save her AS USUAL!”

“Hey!” I responded, giving her a playful shove. “Don’t forget who saved your tail from a bunch of broken bones. I’m not a filly anymore. Granny!”

Rainbow Dash laughed, and we playfully roughhoused a bit before Mom giggled and said, “Alright, you two. None of that in the kitchen.”

“Yes, Mom,” I responded, sticking my tongue out at Rainbow. “Lucky my mom was here to save you.”

“You wanna take this outside?” Rainbow asked, putting on her tough girl act.

“I’m sorry, but I am above such things,” I said in a detached, regal voice. Adopting a normal tone I said, “Not today. I have to go see Rose. I said I would help her and her new friend in their scooter lessons. Do you know where Rose is, Mom?”

“Oh, yes. We went over to meet Rock Climber’s parents, and the two of them are off riding scooters at the park.”

“I need to go talk to her. I’ll see you guys later.”

“Okay. I’ll catch you later, adult.” Rainbow snickered. “It just doesn’t sound right that way.” She gave me a hug. “You’ll always be a kid to me.”

“I know,” I said, hugging her back.

I hugged Mom and Dad as well, and bid them farewell as I left. Unfurling my wings I took to the air, heading to the park.

I did some laps around, scanning the ground for any sign or Rose or her friend. I didn’t see them anywhere.

“Hey!” I looked down to see two fillies waving at me.

Heading to the ground I said, “Yes?”

“Are you Scootaloo?”

“Yes, that’s right. How can I help you?”

“So you're Rose Blossom’s sister.”

“Ah,” I said, understanding. “Are you some of her new classmates?”

“Yes, I’m Sun Glimmer, and this is Honey Drop.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Honey Drop.

“Same here,” I responded.

“So where’s Rose Blossom? I thought she’d be with you. My mom said she was at the park with a friend of hers.”

The two of them now looked confused. “That’s strange,” said Sun Glimmer. “She said she was going back home to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” The two of them exchanged looks of fear, and I didn’t like it one bit. “Tell me WHAT?”

“Well… uh…some bullies knocked her off her scooter and stole it.”

It felt like my heart had stopped for a moment. My whole body went tense. I let out a growl. No one picked on my sister and got away with it!

“Who was it? And where is she?”

Sun Glimmer described the three stallions to me, and how Rose had left them. “She said she was going to go home to tell you so you could get it back.” She let out a gasp. “Oh, no! No, no, no!”

“WHAT?” I snapped at her.

“This pony Lyra said that they had a hideout at the edge of town, on an abandoned warehouse overlooking a cliff by the water. I think she lied to us and is trying to get it back by herself.”

I almost started hyperventilating I started breathing so hard. In my mind I heard some of Rainbow’s speech come back to me. Rose was trying to be stronger than she actually was. She was in danger!

“Thanks for telling me,” I said, jumping into the air. “Go back home. I’ve got it from here.”

“Are you gonna be okay alone?”

“Don’t worry. I know these guys. They’re in my school and they’re a bunch of pushovers. They can’t handle me.”

I took off, flapping as hard as I could. “Darn it, Rose! What were you thinking? You better be okay. I don’t want to lose you!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: DON'T mess with my sister. Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 58 Minutes