She ran as fast as she could, her orange hooves digging deep into the clouds with every step she took. She looked over her shoulder, making sure nopony was following her. Skidding to a stop, the filly hopped off the cumulonimbus cloud, falling straight onto a stratocumulus cloud. She looked before her at her only place of sanctuary at this stupid summer flight camp. At the moment, it was being blocked off by several cirrus clouds, but behind those clouds was a rainbow pool. Attempting to fight back even more tears from streaming down her face, the filly closed her eyes and kicked the clouds out of sight, revealing the pool. The orange Pegasus dove right in, soaking herself in the multicolored water.
"Didn't expect to find you here." A high-pitched voice unexpectedly spoke, throwing Scootaloo off guard. She let out a fearful squeal as she opened her eyes, seeing a light grey colt floating in the pool with her. She recognized him as Rumble, one of the Pegasi who attended flight camp with her. "Did I scare you?" He grinned as he asked the sarcastic question.
Scootaloo immediately turned away from Rumble, fearing he would be like the rest of the foals back at the camp grounds and mock her. "What are you doing here? I supposed you followed me here, right?"
"No, I was already here." The colt explained, "I usually come here during the day just to get away from everything. Sometimes I like to be alone." He looked over to Scootaloo, finally raising an eyebrow at her question, "Why would I follow you here anyway?"
Tears flowed down the filly's face. She let out a small sniffle, "To make fun of me, like all of the other colts and fillies back at the camp grounds…"
Rumble could tell something was bothering Scootaloo, not only by what she had just said to him, but by the tone in her voice as she spoke. It had been made clear to him that the filly was crying. "What's wrong, Scootaloo?" He calmly asked, scooting closer to her, "Who's bullying you?"
"Why do you care? Why don't you just go ahead and call me names, just like your friends do?" Scootaloo spoke miserably.
Rumble frowned, placing his hoof on her shoulder. "I promise I'm not going to make fun of you. What reason would I have to do so?"
Scootaloo still refused to look at Rumble. Her lower lip quivered and she let out a heavy sigh, "Because… I can't fly…"
"That's it?" Rumble asked, completely confused. Of course Scootaloo couldn't fly. The whole point of flight camp was to learn how to fly in the first place.
"Everypony calls me 'chicken wings' or 'heavy feathers'. Every single pony at this stupid camp has called me a name, and I have no friends to defend me. All of my friends aren't Pegasi like us, so they couldn't come to camp with me. And now, I have no friend to stick by me." Scootaloo admitted.
Rumble paused for a moment, taking in Scootaloo's words. He observed her, noticing how she refused to look at him, and realizing that she was right. He always noticed her off by herself back at the camp grounds. "I'll be your friend." He suddenly said.
The orange filly's ears instantly perked up. She turned around, finally facing Rumble. "What did you just say?"
"I said I'll be your friend." Rumble repeated, "Those silly foals back at camp have no reason to make fun of you.
Scootaloo was at a loss for words. Never before had a fellow Pegasus offered to be her friend. They were usually too busy bullying her about her inability to fly to make her acquaintance. "I… Don't know what to say…" She stuttered as a small smile started to grow on her face.
Rumble let out a chuckle, "You could say 'okay'".
"Well, okay!" Scootaloo giggled along with her new friend.
"And you know what?" Rumble looked Scootaloo in her wisteria eyes, "When I get back to the camp grounds, I'll talk to my pal Featherweight. The two of us will defend you from here on out, I promise."
Suddenly, Rumble was greeted with a tight hug from the Pegasus filly. "Oh, thank you, Rumble! You're the best!"
A blush couldn't help but make its way onto Rumble's grey face. "Well, what can I say…?"
Scootaloo hopped out of the multicolored pool, shaking the water off of her as if she were a puppy. "I'll see you back at camp, alright?" She said as she began to walk off to a series of clouds leading her back from where she came.
"Wait!" Rumble called out, instantly stopping Scootaloo in her tracks.
"What?"
A smile formed on the grey Pegasus's face. "I'll always be here for you if you ever need me."