Scootaloo's stuffed pony.
Ringing bells echoed through Ponyville signifying the end of the school day. The school door slammed open allowing the anxious ponies inside escape from the torturous institution of learning.
“I’m so glad it’s the weekend, I'm not sure i could take another minute of that! Who needs to know how to use an abacus nowadays anyway?” Scootaloo lamented leading the pack of ponies in their grand escape.
“I thought it was a pretty cool lesson. Nopony actually uses them now but it is cool to see where the idea for calculators came from.” Sweetie Belle mused out loud.
“Well ahm just glad we don’t use them at the apple stand. It would take forever to go through all tha orders we get!” Applebloom added.
As they chatted the other ponies ran past them. One of them being less careful than others bumped into Scootaloo sending her to the ground.
“Ooof! Hey! Watch it!” Scootaloo yelled tumbling to the ground. Her saddlebags flew off her back from the impact sending them sailing through the air causing her books, her pencils, and a stuffed pony to tumble out.
“Oh, what’s this I see?” a snooty voice called out plucking up the stuffed pony before Scootaloo could protest. diamond tiara held up the Spitfire toy in front of everyone. “Looks like somepony is a fan of the Wonderbolts, but what kind of baby pony keeps stuffed animals anyway?”
Scootaloo snatched the stuffed pony back from diamond tiara angrily. “It’s none of your business what I keep! My friends don’t judge me just because I have a few stuffed animals. Coolness goes deeper than appearances not that you would know, right girls?”
“Well, I guess we never thought you of all fillies would keep stuffed animals.” Sweetie said with trepidation.
“Yeah, ah thought you would’ve out grown that sort of thing by now.” Applebloom continued slowly.
Scootaloo couldn’t believe what she heard. Her friend’s unsure faces mixed with their unsteady words created a symphony of emotions welling up inside her. “It can be cool to keep stuffed animals… can’t it?”The continued silence from her friends and the snickering from the other ponies sent a clear signal to Scootaloo. Putting her saddlebags back on she ran the rest of the way to her scooter. “I’m outta here, you guys can go laugh at somepony else!” Scootaloo yelled taking off at high speed.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shared nervous looks. “Maybe we should’ve said something. It’s not that embarrassing having stuffed animals is it?” Applebloom asked
“I don’t know when you should get rid of your stuffed animals, I got rid of mine last year when everypony called me a baby for admitting to sleep with them. “ Sweetie returned.
“Maybe we should ask Twilight, she might know when fillies are supposed ta get rid of their stuffed animals.”
“Yeah! Twilight always knows the answer and if she doesn’t I’m sure she has a book on pony psychology or something.” Sweetie said running towards the library.
~
Scootaloo slowed as she came to the edge of Ponyville. She usually wanted to go as fast as she could every chance she got, but after what just happened she decided to take it slow and started walking her scooter beside her.
“I can’t believe I’m the only filly in school that still has stuffed animals. I thought for sure Applebloom or Sweetie Belle would have one... or at least stand up for me.” Scootaloo uttered in disbelief. Pulling out the spitfire doll she examined it closely while memories of her foalhood rushed through her head. Not a night went by that she wouldn’t snuggle up with her stuffed friend. While she much preferred Rainbow Dash to any of the Wonderbolts no one had yet made a plush of Rainbow for her to snuggle with so she kept Spitfire whom she also idolized from her earliest memories.
“I guess you have to grow up sometime.” Scootaloo said with a frown. Rearing back she flung the doll into a group of nearby trees. She felt a dull sadness well up inside her as she hopped on her scooter and took off leaving her childhood friend behind. Making a beeline into town Scootaloo decided to get something to eat as a yellow Pegasus hovered overhead.
~
“Order and harmony.” Twilight murmured in disbelief taking in the rare sight of a pristine library. Not a single book out of order, no newspapers sticking out of the archives, every index card in place. In a town as small as Ponyville, one would think keeping a library in tiptop shape would be easy… they would be mistaken. If it wasn’t Rainbow smashing into a shelf it was some overzealous reporter trying to make a name for themselves by tearing through the newspaper archives. Sometimes some irresponsible parent would bring their fillies and start reading while their offspring rummaged through the index cards causing Twilight to hyperventilate while the cards piled up on the floor. But this day… this glorious day… the library shined.
“I can’t believe it! It’s been months since the library has been this clean! I think we should celebrate, don’t you Spike? Spike?” Twilight whirled around to see him passed out on the staircase. “Maybe I worked him just a little too hard this time.” she said with an awkward grin.
*SLAM!*
Twilight nearly hit the ceiling as the door to the library slammed open, while miraculously leaving the baby dragon napping.
“Twilight! Twilight! We gotta ask ya somethin!” Applebloom said excitedly.
Despite being slightly annoyed at the destruction of such a wonderful moment, she found it impossible to be angry at the excited fillies. “What’s going on girls? What’s wrong?”
“When are ponies supposed to get rid of their stuffed animals?” inquired Sweetie Belle.
Confusion spread across Twilight’s face. “Stuffed animals? What are you two talking about?”
Applebloom stepped forward to explain. “While we were at school Scootaloo accidentally dropped a stuffed animal and everypony started laughing.”
“If by drop you mean got knocked down by a crazy pony then that’s exactly what happened.” Sweetie Belle added.
“I don’t get it, what’s wrong with having a stuffed animal?”
“Whaaaaa?” both of the fillies exchanged confused glances.
Twilight finally put it all together, “Girls, there’s nothing wrong with having a stuffed animal. It’s not like getting rid of them is some sort of rite of passage, heck even I still have a few of mine.” She said gesturing to a box in the corner. “Are you telling me neither of you have stuffed animals?”
Applebloom hesitated. “Well ah do have one from when ah was young that looks like my sister but ah don’t sleep with it much anymore.”
“I used to have one but I told my sister to throw it away because I was too old for it.” Sweetie Belle admitted with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Girls, anypony who makes fun of you over such trivial things are not true friends. A true friend is somepony who will be with you no matter what and nothing as simple as a stuffed animal should stop that.”
The fillies exchanged nervous looks as if they had just been caught stealing from Sugarcube Corner. “You’re right Twilight, we weren’t very good friends. We should have stood up for her when they started picking on her.” Applebloom said sadly.
“Hey, I know! Let’s go find Scootaloo and say we’re sorry by getting her some treats at Sugarcube Corner!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
*SLAM!*
Quick as a flash the library returned to silence. Twilight smiled staring through the window at the energetic fillies running to town. Pivoting around she glanced back at the staircase toward Spike still passed out, a line of drool leading from his mouth to the ground. Twilight let out a giggle, “That numbskull, he’s going to wish he’d slept in his bed when he wakes up with a sore back.”
~
*DING A LING!*
The trademark chime of the bell announced her arrival to the entire shop. Scootaloo felt self conscious waiting in line while the two ponies ahead of her finished their transactions. Dragging her mind away from earlier events she spied a large chocolate chip cookie with rainbow candies in it. The multicolor candies served as a reminder of her prismatic idol and she quickly decided it would make a fitting lunch and waited patiently in line.
*DING A LING!*
The bell announced the arrival of yet another pony to the sweet shop. Trying to ignore the ponies around her proved futile as Scootaloo felt a tap on her side. Spinning around she came nose to nose with Fluttershy holding her Spitfire doll towards her.
“Umm, I think you forgot this in the forest.” Fluttershy said with a smile.
Scootaloo felt everyone’s eyes upon her, especially Rainbow Dash who occupied a seat in the back while Fluttershy offered her childhood friend back to her. “That isn’t mine! I don’t even know where you got that! Just leave me alone!” she yelled running for the door.
*DING A LING!*
The bell above the shop rang again as Scootaloo barreled outside at full speed trying to escape the scene of embarrassment.
“What was that all about?” Rainbow asked trotting over to a distraught Fluttershy stuck in place dumbfounded at the exchange.
“I-I-I- I don’t know! I was in the woods and I saw she forgot her stuffed animal so I brought it back to her.” Fluttershy squeaked out.
“Well it’s definitely hers, I’ve seen her play with it when she thinks noponies watching. “ Rainbow asserted.
*DING A LING!*
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle jumped through the door. Taking a look around the shop their faces fell with disappointment.
“What’s the matter girls?” Fluttershy asked
“Well we were looking for Scootaloo so we could apologize.” Applebloom said.
“Yeah, today some fillies at school made fun of her when she accidentally dropped her spitfire plushie on the ground. We didn’t exactly defend her so we asked Twilight when ponies should get rid of their stuffed animals and she said it’s ok for ponies to keep them so we decided to make it up to her by buying her a treat.” Sweetie Belle explained.
“That explains a lot.” Fluttershy said looking back to Rainbow. “Sorry girls, you just missed her.”
“Awwwww” A duet of disappointment rang out from the fillies. “Well if you see her tell her we need to talk to her.” Sweetie Belle said heading for the door.
“Fluttershy, we can make this right. Meet me tomorrow in town square along with Twilight and Rarity.” Rainbow said with a smirk.
“Rainbow, umm, what do you have in mind? “Fluttershy asked.
“Just gonna solve a problem…. Pinkie Pie style!”
~
Scootaloo stared at imperfections of the ceiling keeping a mental note of the time as it passed on mercilessly. “Ugh! Why can’t I fall asleep?” Scootaloo fruitlessly asked already knowing the answer. Her hooves felt weird not wrapped around her childhood hero.
Her gaze fell to the lone window in the room with Luna’s serene moon staring back down on her. Normally she would take comfort in the sight of the calming landmark in the sky but tonight it only served to mark the cruel passing of time oblivious to the turmoil in her heart.
“I guess I have to grow up sometime, might as well get it over with now. I’ll never be like Rainbow if I keep acting like a kid.” She said turning in her bed yet again.
Scootaloo tossed and turned through the night until her mind finally gave up allowing sleep to overcome her.
~
The morning light struck Scootaloo’s eyelids calling her back from sleep. A dark fog occluded her mind leaving her half aware of surroundings. “Feels like I just fell asleep.” She mumbled as she shambled off the bed. Walking to the mirror confirmed her suspicions of an unruly case of bed hair. “Doesn’t matter, as soon as I get going, it’ll straighten out.” Her official hair style was more of a happy accident of equal parts high speed and strong winds. Her mind rebelled from the lack of sleep slowly begging her to fall back to bed. “Rainbow Dash does her best regardless of how tired she is and if I wanna be as good as she is I can’t give in either!”
Scootaloo slammed open the front door making a beeline for her scooter. Giving her wings a tentative test she flapped them a few times satisfied with how they felt. Licking her lips she placed her hooves on the handlebars and instinctively took off flying down the road at breakneck speeds. Blazing a path through town she dodged the occasional pony that might’ve been a little slow or inattentive until she hit main street. Glancing to her left she saw a plank leaning against the vacant apple stand Applejack usually sold from. Her eyes narrowed as a mischievous grin formed on her face. She ramped the plank taking to the air causing her to soar through the air. She raised her back hooves and jerked the handlebars causing her scooter to rotate during her hang time.
“One, two, three!” she counted the rotations in her head. She slammed her back hooves down with perfect timing right as she hit the ground finishing the trick perfectly. Clapping of hooves came from a few ponies while others showed their disdain for her recklessness in other ways. Regardless of their reaction she had their attention and that’s all she wanted. She screeched to a halt when festive party trimmings caught her eye. Ponies congregated in town square as they filled the outdoor space laughing and sharing stories while a banner hanging above the area caught her eye.
“First annual Ponyville stuffed animal convention?” she read aloud in disbelief. Sure enough everypony had with them some sort of stuffed animal, some of them new, some of them old, but all of them had a loving owner. Nervousness washed over her as she couldn’t help but feel like this was somehow related to what happened to her yesterday. Her curiosity got the better of her when she saw Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle sitting at one particularly large table. Against her better judgment she decided to move closer.
“Stuffed animal convention? What is all of this?” Scootaloo asked.
Pinkie flew out of her chair to greet the filly, “Oh! It’s you Scootaloo! Well we don’t have enough conventions here in Ponyville and somepony took it upon herself to come up with one!” Pinkie Pie enthused. “This is my favorite stuffed pony, her name is Surprise!” she announced pushing forward a stuffed white Pegasus with unruly yellow hair.
“And this is my favorite when I was your age, her name is smarty pants. She helped me edit my term papers by keeping me company when I was a filly.” Twilight said with a satisfied smile.
Fluttershy smiled from behind her mane pushing forward a stuffed teddy bear. “Well this is Barry. I even made him his own cave when I was young so he could sleep in it without his snoring disturbing anypony.” She finished with all the enthusiasm one could expect from Fluttershy.
“Oh darling you’ll love mine, her name is Diva Deevine and she helps me make the most fabulous dresses when my mind is a blank.” Rarity said pointing to a stone studded purple pony plush with what could only be described as a “fabulous” dress.”
“And this is Jackie! When I was young and mah sister wanted me to sleep in mah own bed she made her with Rarity’s help. Anytime the lightning and thunder came through at night ah held on to her tight. Sometimes ah still do.” Applebloom admitted with a blush.
“I don’t believe this, it has to be some sort of joke!” Scootaloo said letting anger seep into her voice.
“Nopony here is joking.”
Scootaloo wheeled around to see Rainbow Dash waking toward them, six stuffed ponies poking out of her saddlebags. Rainbow moved to the table placing each one in formation. “I think you already know the Wonderbolts, but this one I’m sure you’ve never seen!” Dash exclaimed pushing forward one stuffed Pegasus with a lightning bolt for a tail and a confident smile. “This is Thunder Hooves. When I fell for the first time while trying to fly I ended up in the hospital. My mom gave me Thunder Hooves here while I recovered and he never left my side until I was ready to try again!”
Scootaloo’s eyes bulged out. “You have stuffed ponies too?!” she asked incredulously.
“Sure do! Someponies might tell you that it isn’t cool to keep something like that, but it’s those ponies that have the problem. They’re so insecure with themselves that they feel the need to control others, but allowing people to push you around sure isn’t cool in my book. “ Rainbow stated.
“Oh… that sounds like something Twilight would say rainbow.” Fluttershy offered
“What do you mean you can’t host a party today?” a snooty voice cried out.
“Sorry diamond tiara, but I have my hooves full with the convention. I can’t host it and a party at the same time.” Pinkie said.
“This is lame! What kind of stupid pony plays with stuffed animals anyway?!”
The entire crowd of eighty plus ponies all glared towards her including her own father and mother who were busy showing off their rare set of matching plush ponies they got on their honeymoon.
“I think I better leave before I get grounded. “ diamond tiara said beating a hasty retreat.
“I would’ve never guessed you kept stuffed ponies Rainbow Dash, it-it just doesn’t seem like a cool thing to do.” Scootaloo sputtered out in disbelief.
Rainbow mussed her hair playfully. “Sometimes kiddo, the coolest thing you can do is be yourself!” Reaching in her saddlebags she pulled out the Spitfire pony previously abandoned in the woods. Scootaloo scooped her up with a smile happy to hold her friend again.
Sweetie Belle looked dejectedly at Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. “Now I wish I hadn’t
Told you to throw Perfect Pitch away.” She lamented looking back at Rarity.
Rarity reached into her saddlebags pulling out a unicorn plush with a microphone sewed on her flank and offered it to Sweetie Belle. “I never did throw her away. I thought something like this might happen so I kept her safe in my dresser.”
“I can’t believe you kept her!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly grabbing the plush.
Applebloom nervously approached Scootaloo. “We’re real sorry we didn’t stand up for you yesterday when everypony started laughing. I guess we thought keeping stuffed animals wasn’t cool.”
Sweetie Belle joined her. “yeah, I guess we learned the best thing to do is stand up for your friends, even if other ponies might laugh at you.”
Scootaloo waved off their fears non-chalantly, “Don’t worry about it, were still the cutie mark crusaders and that means we stick together. Hey girls, maybe when can get our cutie marks with the help of our old friends here!” Scootaloo gestured to all of their stuffed ponies.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom looked at each other excitedly before taking off.
“Well this was extremely sweet of you Rainbow, not only did you get Scootaloo to take her plush back, but I think you might’ve started a new tradition here in Ponyville. Ya know, if you hurry you might still have time to return them to the store.” Twilight said gesturing towards her stuffed ponies.
“Return them? Return them?! These Wonderbolts are limited edition sold only at the summer sun celebration two years ago! And Thunder Hooves? He’s irreplaceable! They don’t even make him anymore!” she stated with no small measure of finality.
Twilight stared at Dash in disbelief. “I thought you made all this up just to give Spitfire back to her. I never would’ve guessed you actually had any stuffed ponies!”
“Well Twilight, I like to keep other ponies guessing, being predictable is boring and boring is NOT cool!” Rainbow said wearing a smug grin. “Isn’t that right Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie’s head shot up covered by a lampshade, “Girls! I’m blind! I’m blind! Somepony help meeeeee!” she screamed taking off at full speed before crashing into the side of a building.
Rainbow facehoofed. “Ok, maybe being unpredictable isn’t ALWAYS cool.”
Everyone at the table laughed as Pinkie continued rampaging blindly down the street.