Author's Notes:

Chapter Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQivBZvmHj4

The Icarus Account - Proud

I don't know, I was listening to this song, Proud, by The Icarus Account, and another called Windows in Heaven by We Are The In Crowd, and all I could do was think of this dang story. I felt like maybe this would be something Scootaloo would write as a teen, and bring to Port Mane one day after something hit her and reminded her of her parents and aunt. To all my readers who have stuck with this, be sure to check the story info section, I've added quite a bit of art to date, and intend to add more!

I don't know with this story. I want to be done, but it keeps coming back. Every year I go to the convention, every year I feel like coming back. I feel like the main story is done. I may inject entries at some point in the future, or I may just add little bonuses like this. Who knows. I just know that to this day I see Scootaloo and Featherweight like kids of my own in some convoluted sense. I just want them to be happy, even knowing they're fiction. The mind and heart are strange, sometimes.

Headnote by Amber Dash:

While I was compiling this diary's sections to include, I was looking through old boxes, and found a letter. I showed it to Dad, and Dad told that Scootaloo wrote it for her parents one day in at Ponyville Junior. They took it to Grandpa Thunderclap and Grandma Rosy Fields grave, and the next day he went back and grabbed it, to save it. He felt like one day she may want to read it again. He never re-opened it, but he said I could keep it, so I decided to include it here.

Dear Mama and Papa, Auntie Raincloud,

I know it has been years since I have seen you. I know I may ever get to meet you again, outside a dream, but I still think about you. I still hope that, in the bottom of my heart, you are proud of the mare I've become. I know I make my mistakes. I know I've lost my way from time to time, but I still do what I can to make you both proud, even if you aren't here.

I use what you've given me, these wings, these hooves, this mind, and this heart, and make the best of what life has given me. I've found a colt who cares for me like family. I've made friends who mean more to me than I ever thought friends could. I'd lay down my life for them. I'd be there for them like you were for me. I know we didn't get the greatest amount of time together, but in the eight and nine years we had together, I learned many things that stick with me to this day.

I hope the mare I've become is one that you would be proud to call your daughter. I know, no matter what I'd done, you'd tell me you loved me and were proud, but I want to be somepony amazing. I may have not found my mark, my purpose, what makes me special, yet, but I know it's out there, and even though you can't be here to tell me to stay strong and optimistic, I know your words, even all these years later. I still know the value of hard work and dirty hooves. I still know the meaning of love, and I hope Featherweight feels that. Who knows, maybe one day we'll marry.

I wish you could have been there for so many events, and while we were separated so long ago, you stay in my heart, always. I don't know why I'm writing this, and I know some stray gust will blow it away, or rain will turn it to dirt where it lies, but the feeling that I could maybe tell you just what you mean to me, even now, still lingers in my heart. Maybe writing this is pointless, but maybe your souls, Mama and Papa curled up together, and you, Auntie Raincloud, rocking in that chair like always, can see these if Princess Luna can deliver them to the Land of Eternal Sleep. I don't even know if it exists, but books talk about it, and maybe I can just tell you this: thank you for the small fragment of time we had together. Thanks for taking care of me, and I haven't forgotten you.

Love, your daughter and niece,

Scootaloo