At the edge of a river sat a small filly named Scootaloo. Her coat was a mild orange, while her short, feather-like mane, tail and eyes were fuchsia in color. Leaning against the large rock next to her was the blue scooter with red handles that she rode to the river, as well as her purple helmet. Most ponies didn't wear helmets while riding their scooters, but not Scootaloo. With the help of her small wings, she could ride it at nearly dizzying speeds. Whatever skills she lacked in flight, she made up for them with her skills on a scooter.
This river was located fairly far away from Scootaloo's hometown of Ponyville, and was very isolated and quiet, aside from the occasional bird or deer. Ever since she first discovered the river, Scootaloo used it as a retreat of sorts. Whenever she felt down or wanted to think in peace, she rode her scooter to the river and sat at the edge, sometimes throwing rocks in and making them skip across the river's calm surface. Scootaloo started to search the sandy shore for a good, smooth pebble, and found one right next to the water. After taking a moment to aim and ready her throw, she tossed the pebble into the river and watched proudly as it skipped across the surface five times before sinking to the murky bottom.
"Awesome," Scootaloo muttered to herself with pride, but then groaned and put her hoof to her face. "I sure wish somepony else saw it..." She then sighed wistfully and sat back down, blankly looking into the river's dark and murky water. Despite being outgoing and friendly, Scootaloo didn't have any true friends. She was on good terms with some of the other ponies at her school, but there was nopony she was really close with, and the fact that she had yet to get her cutie mark made her an outcast of sorts. There was nothing more she wanted than somepony she could call a true friend: Somepony to hang out with, somepony to play games with, somepony to go to when she had a problem...
Suddenly, Scootaloo saw a rainbow appear in the sky. But what got her attention was that it wasn't like any other rainbow: It was completely straight across the sky, and appeared with an almost startling speed. "Huh?" Scootaloo said, looking up at the strange rainbow with a raised eyebrow. The rainbow continued to shoot across the sky, but then appeared to curve first upwards and then into a loop before turning around.
"What the hay?!" Scootaloo exclaimed. She had never seen anything like it in her 9 years of life. As the rainbow shot across the sky and made loops and spins, Scootaloo looked up at it slack-jawed, completely transfixed by the sight. Before long, the rainbow got closer to the ground, and Scootaloo could make out an object at the head of the rainbow. Squinting and using her foreleg to block out the sun, she then made out... a pegasus?
"Okay, either this is the coolest thing I've ever seen, or I'm going nutso," Scootaloo said to herself. "That can't be a pony... ponies don't make rainbows..." But the object then flew right over her, and she could indeed make out a pegasus with a coat the same color as the sky she was flying through, and a rainbow-colored mane and tail.
"HELLOOOOOO UP THERE!!!" Scootaloo yelled at the top of her lungs, trying to both get the pegasus' attention. Not only did she want to get to know this amazing pegasus... but she also wanted to prove that the pegasus was real and she wasn't going crazy. The pegasus stopped in mid-flight, started hovering, and looked down at her.
"He's real! Or she's real!" Scootaloo thought to herself, unsure of what gender the pegasus was. She waved up at the pegasus, who waved back and started to fly down to her. As the pegasus got closer, Scootaloo - who was beaming with excitement - tried to make out more features, but then noticed that the pegasus seemed to be losing control of her wings. She could only watch in horror as the pegasus lost control and crashed into the river with a big and loud splash.
"Oh Celestia, I'm sorry!" Scootaloo yelled as she ran into the river to help the pegasus. The river wasn't very deep where Scootaloo was and only reached up to her neck, but the pegasus crashed in a deeper spot - thankfully, Scootaloo thought. As she approached the spot where the pegasus crashed, she was sweating with worry. "She could be hurt... or worse... and it's all my fault!"
But to Scootaloo's relief, the pegasus' head popped out of the water. At this distance, Scootaloo could tell it was a mare by the shape of her head, even though the fringe of her rainbow-colored mane was soaked and covering her face.
"I'm so sorry!" Scootaloo said nervously as she approached the mare, who used a foreleg to brush her fringe back, revealing a pair of rose-colored eyes. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
The mare simply shook her wet head and laughed."Done it a thousand times, kiddo," she said in a somewhat scratchy voice. The mare appeared to be in either her late teens or early twenties, and while she wasn't "conventionally" attractive, she was still quite beautiful. "Come on, let's get out of the drink."
As Scootaloo and the mysterious mare walked to the shore, Scootaloo felt a weight leave her shoulders. Not only was the mare okay, she didn't seem to be too upset about the situation. When they got on solid ground, Scootaloo leaned against a rock as the mare shook herself dry.
"How did you make those rainbows in the sky?" Scootaloo asked, fascinated by the unusual mare standing in front of her.
"Don't know," the mare shrug, "Just something I've done since I was little." A smirk came to her face. "I take it you liked what you saw?"
"Yeah," Scootaloo admitted. "...you're amazing!"
The mare chuckled. "Thanks, kid. Well, gotta dash!" And with that, she took off, leaving another rainbow trail behind her.
"WAIT!" Scootaloo yelled as the mare flew away, "I didn't get your name!" But the mare didn't hear her and just kept flying up into the sky.
"I know one thing," Scootaloo said to herself, "I definitely wanna see more!" She looked up in the sky and watched the mare, who flew right over her and in the same direction she came from. With a grin, Scootaloo climbed onto her scooter and buckled up her helmet.
"Let's see her try to out-fly me!"
Scootaloo positioned her foot on the ground, ready to kickstart the scooter, as she rapidly flapped her wings. While her wings were tiny, they could still propel her on her scooter... and once she was confident her wings were flapping fast enough, she kicked the ground and took off.
Rocketing through the grassy field and darting through rocks and trees, Scootaloo occasionally risked a glance up at the sky so she could follow the rainbows. The mare was flying faster than any pegasus Scootaloo had seen before, but as fast as she was, Scootaloo on her scooter was a bit faster. Eventually, Scootaloo actually got ahead of the mare! She took a moment to laugh at her achievement, until the mare stopped and hovered down to her level.
"Whoa, you've got some skills!" the mare said, clearly impressed.
"Thanks," Scootaloo said, and she couldn't help but blush at fact that this amazing mare was complimenting her talents.
"Keep it up," the mare said with a grin. "Who knows what you'll do!" And before Scootaloo could ask for her name or introduce herself, the mare darted up into the sky again.
"Aw man," Scootaloo groaned. She had only known the mare for a couple of minutes, but was already starting to admire her. Not only was she amazingly skilled in the sky, but she was also quite friendly from what Scootaloo had seen. In fact, the mare reminded Scootaloo of herself in some ways. The mare was an excellent and fast flyer, just like Scootaloo was on her scooter. And the mare seemed to be a tomboy, which Scootaloo was.
"If I could just get to know her better, maybe she... maybe she could be my friend!"
Determined not to lose the mare, Scootaloo once again took off on her scooter after the rainbow trails in the sky. And once again, Scootaloo managed to outrun her. The mare hovered down to Scootaloo again, but instead of a smile, she had a befuddled expression.
"Kid, what's with the tailing?" the mare asked. "Don't take this the wrong way... but you're kinda starting to creep me out."
"I just..." Scootaloo started, but frowned and looked at the ground.
"It's okay, I'm not mad or anything," the mare said. "Just... give me some space, 'kay? I don't need a sidekick."
And with that, the mare flew away... but this time, Scootaloo didn't feel compelled to follow her. She just set her scooter against a nearby tree, took her helmet off, and sat down next to the tree with a sigh. As she thought about the mare's words, Scootaloo grew angry.
"'Don't need a sidekick', huh?!" Scootaloo muttered. "Who does she think she is, some sort of superhero?" But before long, her anger faded, and sadness took its place.
"All I wanted was a friend..."
...
Defeated, Scootaloo rode her scooter into Ponyville as the sun set on the horizon. She eventually reached a small cloud house on the edge of town, and stopped in front of it. "Mom? Dad? I'm home!"
The front door of the cloud house opened, and an orange pegasus mare with a purple mane - Scootaloo's mother, Sunset - stepped out and flew down to the ground, landing in front of her.
"It's about time you came home," Sunset said with a kind but concerned tone. "What'd you do?"
"I just rode around town," Scootaloo lied, trying to mask her disappointment.
"Well, hop on," Sunset said as she kneeled down and spread her wings, and Scootaloo climbed onto her back and held on. Every time she wanted to enter or leave her house, Scootaloo had to get her parents to fly her up or down from it - much to her frustration.
After a seconds-long flight, Sunset landed on the porch of their cloud house, and Scootaloo hopped off and followed her inside. As soon as they stepped through the door, Scootaloo noticed that there were hearts made of red paper hanging from the ceiling.
"Uh, Mom?" Scootaloo asked, "What's with the hearts?"
"Hearts and Hooves Day is tommorow, silly," Sunset gently teased. "I want your dad to be surprised when he comes home. I've also got cookies and a cake baking in the oven, and..."
As Sunset talked, Scootaloo's mind drifted off to a different subject. Hearts and Hooves Day was tomorrow, and while its most common association was with romance, it was also a day for ponies to let their family and friends know how much they meant to each other.
Friends...
"That's IT!" Scootaloo exclaimed, a wide grin on her face.
"Oh, you think that the first cake blew up in the oven because I used too much batter?" Sunset asked, unaware that Scootaloo had just tuned her out.
"No, Mom," Scootaloo said with a sheepish grin. "It's just that... I'm really tired, so I'll just go to bed if that's cool with you."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "The cookies are about ready. Don't you want some?"
Scootaloo was conflicted... she loved her mother's cookies, but she also had an important mission. "Uh... I'd love to, mom, but... I drank like 7 Super Soda big gulps and I've gotta pee really really bad." Before Sunset could say anything, Scootaloo sprinted upstairs to the bathroom and waited for a couple of moments.
"Oh, brother," Scootaloo groaned to herself. "That's the best story I could come up with?" She then flushed the toilet to back up her story and wasted no time running into her bedroom and closing the door. Between the action figures scattered everywhere and the posters of rock and techno covering up the walls, her bedroom looked more like that of a colt's than of a filly's, but that was just the way she liked it. She stood and waited for a second, listening closely for the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs or flapping wings... but didn't.
"Phew, she bought it!" Scootaloo said with a smile, before walking to her closet and rummaging around. "That arts and crafts crap has gotta be in here somewhere," she muttered to herself, tossing aside stuffed animals and musty old wool sweaters that her late grandmother gave her ages ago, before turning up a plastic bag full of pieces of paper, colored pencils, ribbon, glitter, scissors, and a tube of glue. She grabbed the handles of the bag in her mouth, took it to a small workdesk in front of her window, and spread the contents out.
Scootaloo cleared some room on the desk and spread out a piece of red paper, eager to begin. First she was going to cut a heart out of the paper, so she held the scissors with her hooves and started to cut. Or at least try to.
"Grr!" Scootaloo groaned in frustration as the dull scissors barely cut the material, "stupid safety scissors..." But after a few moments, she managed to cut a heart out of the paper. It was a bit rough around the edges, but it was still a heart.
"Don't need these babies anymore," Scootaloo said with relief as she tossed the safety scissors aside, and reached for the colored pencils. Even though she had just started, she already had a plan for how it would look. One color at a time, she colored in a rainbow pattern on the edges of the heart, a broad grin on her short orange muzzle as she did so.
"Boy, she's gonna love this..."
...
After about a half hour, Scootaloo had created a Hearts and Hooves Day card adorned with sticky sprinkles and glued-on ribbons. All that was left was to write something in the big blank space in the center of the heart.
"But what to write..." Scootaloo wondered. "'You make me see rainbows'? Nah, too cheesy. How 'bout... 'I really look up to you'? Nah, too mushy. 'You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow'?.... nah, too romantic!" She then sighed and hastly scribbled onto the heart:
I think you're really awesome. Will you be my friend?
"Bingo! That's perfect," Scootaloo thought. "Now to just let it dry, and..."
"Scootaloo?" Sunset's voice called from the hallway, and Scootaloo's eyes went wide. "Oh horseapples... uh..." Her eyes darted around the room, looking for something that could hide her card, when she saw a teddy bear that she had tossed out of the closet. She picked up the bear, sat it down on the card, and shoved all of the supplies off of the desk as her mother came to the door.
"Here's some cookies before you go to bed," Sunset said as she walked into the room with a plate of cookies on her back, when she saw an unusual sight.
"Bart?" Sunset said with a surprised smile as she saw the fluffy brown teddy bear sitting on Scootaloo's desk, "I haven't seen him in ages!"
"Yeah, I just felt like sitting him there," Scootaloo said. "Thanks for the cookies!"
"You're quite welcome," Sunset said as Scootaloo quickly grabbed the plate off of her back and set it on the bed. "Is everything okay? You seem to be in a hurry."
"Hurry?" Scootaloo said with a laugh, "No, I'm just really tired and I know you must be too, so I'm gonna go to bed now!" She quickly kissed Sunset. "'Night, Mom!"
"Goodnight," Sunset said with a bemused grin, "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow!" Scootaloo said. "Bye... uh, I mean, goodnight!"
As Sunset left the room and closed the door, Scootaloo sighed with relief. "Phew! That was close." After taking a bite from one of the chocolate chip cookies, Scootaloo picked up "Bart" and tossed him aside... only to reveal that her card was ruined and that "Bart" had sprinkles all over his rear.
"Darn it!" Scootaloo grunted as she put a hoof to her forehead, "Just great! Oh well, I've got more sprinkles..."
As Scootaloo picked up the container of sprinkles off of the floor, she thought about the mare she was going to all this trouble for. "She better like this..."
...
The next day after school, Scootaloo rode her scooter to the river, the Hearts and Hooves Day card held tight in her purple backpack. She didn't see any rainbow trails in the sky yet, but remained determined to get her message to that mare. The fact that she spent the school session alone while everpony else exchanged cards gave her even more incentive.
Finally, Scootaloo arrived at the river, only to see a blue and red tent pitched on the small knoll overlooking the river. The river's usual serene silence had been replaced by rock music blaring from a radio in the tent, and there were energy drink cans messily stacked up next to the tent. There was also a window on the back of the tent, and when Scootaloo craned her neck to see inside, she could make out a cyan mare's head with a recognizable rainbow-colored mane.
At first Scootaloo was relieved that it was the mare and not just some teen partier or redneck hunter, but then started to have second thoughts. "What if she doesn't like it? What if she thinks I'm a freak? What if she yells at me to go away?" But her concerns were brief, as she quickly strengthened her resolve. "Darnit, I didn't go to all that trouble to make this card just for it to go to waste. Even if she... doesn't like it... it's worth a try."
After getting off of her scooter and setting the helmet on the handlebars, Scootaloo walked towards the tent, but soon heard a loud snapping noise. She looked down and saw she'd stepped on a stick... and the radio turned off.
"Huh?" the mare's scratchy voice called out, "Who's there?"
"It's... me," Scootaloo called.
"'Me', who?" the mare responded before coming around the side of the tent and seeing Scootaloo. "Oh, it's you! What do you want?"
"I just wanna give you something," Scootaloo said shyly before taking off her backpack and opening it.
"Kid, I don't wanna be rude, but I don't need a sidekick!" the mare said, but then Scootaloo gave her the card and her face went blank.
"Uh... happy Hearts and Hooves Day," Scootaloo said nervously. The mare looked over the card with a blank expression, which made Scootaloo even more anxious. Did the mare like it? Did she think Scootaloo was a weirdo? It was impossible to tell. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the mare opened her mouth to speak.
"...you made this?" she asked, looking over the card. It was a little rough in places, but a lot of time and effort had clearly gone into it.
"Yeah," Scootaloo said, and then decided to spill her guts. "It's just that... I think you're really cool, and I'd like to get to know you better, and I'm... well, I don't have any friends so I get pretty lonely sometimes. I don't really wanna be your sidekick, I just wanna be your friend. So..." she looked up at the mare with a sheepish smile, "... will you be my friend?"
A million thoughts - some of them positive, some of them negative - were running through Scootaloo's head as she waited for an answer. As she watched the mare look at the card some more, she started to wonder if the card had even been worth making.
Finally, the mare spoke. "I've got a couple extra sodas in the cooler," she said with a friendly smile, pointing a hoof back at her tent. "Wanna hang out?"
"...huh?" Scootaloo asked, "You mean it? You don't think I'm a weirdo?"
"Hay, no!" the mare exclaimed. "Now yesterday, I may have seen a weirdo, but today all I see is a sweet little filly who probably spent hours making this card. Am I right?"
"Well... it was more like thirty minutes," Scootaloo said, smiling. "But... yeah."
"Well, c'mon," the mare said, "Let's just chill together." She then held out a hoof. "My name's Rainbow Dash. What's yours?"
Scootaloo couldn't believe this was happening, and her cheeks turned rosy as she put her hoof to Rainbow Dash's. "Scootaloo," she said with a bashful smile.
"Nice to meet ya, Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash said, also smiling bashfully. "C'mon."
Scootaloo followed Rainbow Dash, and they sat down in front of the tent. Rainbow opened a small blue cooler sitting at the mouth of the tent, and tossed Scootaloo a soda.
"Hey, listen... I'm sorry I sorta blew you off yesterday," Rainbow said. "It's just that... I'm so used to kids fawning over me, AND I had these two weird-looking colts who wouldn't stop following me around, that I guess I just saw you as another fan. But none of 'em have ever done something like this for me... until you, that is." She looked at the card and smiled. "Is it cool with you if I keep it?"
"Sure!" Scootaloo said. "It's yours! I made just it for you!"
"Well, thanks, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said as she set the card aside. "I really appreciate it." She then cracked open her own drink and took a sip. "So tell me about yourself, Scootaloo. I know you're really awesome on a scooter..."
"Not as awesome as you are at flying!" Scootaloo said. "But yeah, I guess I am pretty good. Sure, I don't know how to fly, but that's okay."
"Hey, don't push it," Rainbow suggested. "You'll fly when you're ready to fly. I gotta say, nopony's ever gone ahead of me! You ever think about entering any scooter races?"
"I would, if there were ever any going on," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "Ponyville's kinda boring, to be honest..."
"Yeah, I'm with ya on that one," Rainbow Dash said. "It's no Cloudsdale, that's for sure..."
"You're from Cloudsdale?" Scootaloo asked, intrigued. She had heard a lot about the pegasus' capitol city, but had never been there.
"Hmm-hmm," Rainbow said with a nod. "Had me a house right outside. But I found a better paying weather job in Ponyville, and plus my friend Fluttershy lives around here, so I moved my house."
"You're a weather pony?" Scootaloo asked, intrigued once again. "My dad is, too! His name's Raindrop."
"Raindrop," Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her chin. "Grey stallion with a dark blue mane?"
"That's him!"
"Yeah, I've seen him a couple times," Rainbow said. "He seems like a pretty cool guy... I haven't really gotten to know him, though. I just got here a couple days ago."
"Cool," Scootaloo said, taking another sip of her drink. "And Ponyville isn't boring ALL the time. Like a couple weeks ago, the Wonderbolts did a show right over-"
"YOU like the Wonderbolts, TOO?!" Rainbow Dash said, an ecstatic smile on her face. "I'm their number-one fan!"
"Oh, really," Scootaloo said with a wry grin. "When was their first sho-"
"Hearths Warming Eve Day, 1950," Rainbow Dash said. "It was the original lineup of Flyboy, Windrunner, Thunderbolt and the founder Firefly. It was raining really hard that day, but they still flew. And a lot of the audience didn't show up, but those that did were amazed and told all their friends about it. Their next show was hel-"
"Okay, I get it," Scootaloo said teasingly. "I didn't know the whole original lineup, so you beat me there. Oh well, being their second biggest fan is still pretty awesome..."
"Yep," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm gonna join 'em one day. I'll be the best flyer in the world, just watch me..."
"Well, I'll be your number-one fan," Scootaloo said. "Aw, heck, I've only known you for a couple days, but after watching you fly... I think you might be my hero!"
Rainbow Dash got up, came over to Scootaloo, and wrapped a foreleg around her. "Awww, thanks," she said with a bashful smile... which was quickly replaced by a frown. "Hey Scootaloo, what's this I hear about you not having any friends? How can somepony as awesome and nice as you be friendless?"
Scootaloo couldn't help but smile at Rainbow's compliments before motioning back to her blank rump. "There's your answer."
Rainbow Dash scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Aw, that? Just because you don't have some little picture on your butt?"
Scootaloo laughed. "Yeah, I guess."
"Well that's just lame as can be," Rainbow said. "A cutie mark's pretty nice to have, and it DOES show your special talent. But having a cutie mark doesn't make you awesome by itself. You've also gotta have a good heart and head on your shoulders. And from what I've seen, you've already got both."
"Thanks, Rainbow," Scootaloo said with a warm smile. "I can call you Rainbow, right?"
"Of course," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. "Whatever you like. As long as it isn't 'Rainbow Crash', I'm cool with it."
"Okay," Scootaloo said. "Hey, why do you have a rainbow mane and tail, anyway?"
"I dunno," Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. "I just know my mom had one, and her mom had one, and her mom's mom had one, and her mom's mom's mom had one, and... you get the gist of it. But I sure do like it," she said with a smile of smug pride, but then noticed that the sun was setting. The sky was colored in beautiful oranges and purples, and the sun was starting to disappear over the hills on the horizon. "Hey, you better get home, your mom and dad are probably gonna be worried sick."
"I guess so," Scootaloo said reluctantly, "But... I wanna hang out with you some more!"
"I'll be here tomorrow," Rainbow offered. "And my house is over near Cumberland Lake. You know where that is?"
"Sure do," Scootaloo said. "But can we at least have a campfire tonight?"
"I'd love to, but I don't want your mom and dad to worry about you," Rainbow said. "Ask 'em one night, and if they say okay, then we will. But for tonight, you better get your butt home. Need a lift?"
"Nah, I've got my scooter," Scootaloo said. "Thank you, though! And... it was really nice meeting you."
"Same here, Scootaloo," Rainbow said, but then she smiled and started playfully pushing her hoof towards Scootaloo. "Now go on, shoo, shoo."
With a smile, Scootaloo stood up, headed over to her scooter, and put on her helmet. But as she got ready to leave...
"Bye, kiddo!" Rainbow Dash called, waving to her from the hill.
"Bye, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called back. "See ya tomorrow!" She flapped her wings and kicked at the ground, sending her flying off across the field.
As Scootaloo rode back to Ponyville, she couldn't keep a huge smile off of her face. Her idea worked, and Rainbow Dash liked her!
And most of all, she had a friend.
