The bell signaling the beginning of school rung.
All around her were her classmates as they ran into the schoolhouse, eagerly waiting for Cheerilee to begin the lesson. The general consensus being that the faster school began, the faster it would finish and the sooner they could go back outside to play.
Everypony went to the seat they seemed to always take. Each and every one of them never really felt like changing seats as they all wished to sit somewhere they were comfortable with, somewhere that they were safe in the knowledge it would not change.
She sat where she always had as Cheerilee started the lesson, between her friends. Her classmates all seemed bored out of their minds as they listened to Cheerilee explain the history of Ponyville. All of them had a blank expression besides her friends as one drew out plans and the other whispered ideas, where would she be without them?
Faces she barely knew moved into the room she sat and she greeted them one by one, a party hat on her head and those of the foals around her. Each and every one of them had an empty space where their cutiemarks would appear.
She blew out the candles, causing the foals around her to cheer. As the pieces were cut out of the cake and hoofed out to everyone, the foals began to gather around her. They asked her enough questions to make her head spin if it weren’t firmly attached. Then they moved away from her, towards the foal who had earned his cutiemark in eating. She just sat there quietly as no more questions were asked.
There were so many faces moving past her, new and old. They moved into newly formed friendship groups. She looked all around, her head close to the ground. The bell rung and they moved into the small schoolhouse at a slow pace, not wanting to stop talking with newfound friends.
The teacher up the front asked them all to be settled and seated. There weren’t many seats left so she just walked up to one near the front. She slunk down in her seat as the teacher introduced herself as Cheerilee and the class all chorused a dull “Good morning Ms. Cheerilee”.
Cheerilee then said “Now class, seeing as it is the first day for a few of you, let’s begin with introductions. Starting from the front.” Cheerilee then pointed towards her with a hoof as she stood up on her seat excitedly.
Her voice betrayed her shyness as she spoke proudly, “My name is Scootaloo, and I’m going to be the best flyer in Equestria, just like Rainbow Dash!” She quickly regretted this as her classmates and teacher began to laugh amongst themselves, causing her to quickly curl up in her seat.
“Now that we’re friends,” said Applebloom, “why don’t the three of us work together to find out who we are and what we’re supposed to be?”
“Ooh, ooh! We could form our own secret society!” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
“I’m liking this idea.” replied Scootaloo.
“A secret society, yeah. We’ll need a name for it though…” pointed out Applebloom.
“The cutiemark three?” suggested Scootaloo.
“The cutastically fantastics?” said Sweetiebelle.
Appleblooms turn came up, and she knew the perfect name “How about, the Cutiemark Crusaders?”
On the inside Scootaloo was jumping for joy at the name, outwardly though she merely said “It’s perfect!”
Each and every day the three of them tried out something new. From applebucking to ziplining, they tried anything and everything in search of their special talents. Sometimes it seemed as if they had tried everything, then one of them would point out something to new and they would once more go off to earn their cutiemarks.
Scootaloo could not help but smile as she looked at the two near her. They sat huddled around a long list of activities, most crossed out. They were inside their clubhouse, something they built on their own with nopony else being able to keep them from their ideals.
“We haven’t tried hang gliding yet have we?” said Sweetiebelle, a thoughtful look on her face and a hoof on her chin.
“We did that a week ago remember? You ended up stuck in the branches of the library.” retorted Applebloom. “What do you think Scoots?”
Scootaloo gave a quiet “Hmm” as she thought, memories of the things they’d done together rushing through her mind. ‘Let’s see, we already did bowling, then we did chess. We’ve already done catapult building, pumpkin throwing, ballet, rapping, hoofball, basketball, knitting, dressmaking, gymnastics...’ she would occasionally make a slight grimace as disastrous or dull memories flicked through her head. It took a few moments as she sat there quietly before all of a sudden, “I know! How about we…”
They sat around a table, milkshakes between their hooves and smiles on their faces. They’d decided to meet up at their old hangout in Sugarcube corner and reminisce on days gone past. They would occasionally laugh at some of the things they’d done and sometimes one would cover their head in their hooves as an embarrassing memory was brought up.
Scootaloo looked to her friends, all grown up with jobs of their own and talents realised, and she smiled widely. To her it seemed that, throughout their lives there would not be anything to separate them completely.
“What’s got you all smiley Scootaloo?” inquired Sweetiebelle, her mane was a lot longer than it had used to be and her frame would be welcome on a very highly paid model.
“Yea Scoots,” said Applebloom, “you’ve been doing nothing but smile since we got here.” Applebloom had a pair of goggles on her head that Scootaloo had gotten used to over the years. Her signature bow now tied around her medium length mane and her frame almost identical to her sisters as well formed muscles could be seen.
Scootaloo blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head, fluffing her wings slightly in embarrassment. “Don’t worry about me girls, I was just thinking about something silly.” Her friends just laughed at the minor confession. Their laughter was the mean, shame-inducing laugh she had once gotten used to, it was laughter between friends that she could never replace.
As through every little hiccup in their relationship they would always come back together. Because they were the Cutiemark Crusaders, and nopony could change that.
