“HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!” shouted a red pegasus mare, with a purple mane, as she marched back and forth in the Wonderbolt’s infirmary recovery room. Every hoof step sounded with a loud clap, her wings flared out to their fullest extent and nostrils flaring. “HOW DOES MY DAUGHTER END UP HOSPITALIZED AT A TRAINING CAMP?!”
Scootaloo sat upright in on of the beds, right forehoof in a sling and her wings hanging limply off her back, watching her irate mother walk back and forth. Her earth-pony father, a yellow stallion, stood silently in the corner. Her parents had arrived by hot air balloon in the late afternoon and were briefed on the whole situation from the past week at the Wonderbolt Academy.
As Scootaloo had feared, her mother didn’t take the news very well. Colonel Spitfire, Rainbow Dash and Blue Yonder were also in the room. Doctor Hawkeye, the olive green physician, and the rest of the infirmary staff had wisely shielded themselves outside of the recovery room—performing “other duties.” The Wonderbolt officers and cadets, however, were not so lucky.
“I told you Mrs. Needlepoint,” Colonel Spitfire said. “Scootaloo overexerted herself on the Dizzitron and-”
“Don’t you give me that bullshit!” Scootaloo’s mom spat. “I know perfectly well what overexertion on your wings can do. What I don’t understand is why you let my daughter do such an extreme exercise so many times in the first place! Don’t you have any regulations limiting its use?”
“Mrs. Needlepoint, what you need to realize is-”
“DO YOU?!”
“No.”
Both Spitfire and Needlepoint glared at each other. Scootaloo’s mom leaned in close, but the seasoned colonel unflinchingly stood her ground.
“Typical,” Needlepoint muttered through gritted teeth. She broke eye contact and resumed marching back and forth, “Absolutely typical! Pegasus culture always drives us to push our limits. It drives us to go beyond what is supposed to be physically possible. And yet you rarely think that breaking certain limits might not be a good idea!”
Then Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Come on, that’s not fair. Other ponies are always striving to test their limits, not just pegasi. Besides, we don’t encourage ponies to endanger themselves or others.”
“Oh, that’s a load coming from you!” Needlepoint rolled her eyes and turned towards the second officer in the room. “Sure, you’ve become one of the youngest Wonderbolts in history and can do the Sonic Rainboom on a whim, but how many times have you put yourself in the hospital? How many buildings have you crashed into in your antics? How many ponies have you hurt?”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash raised and eyebrow and looked very confused.
“You’re a roll model—as much as I hate to admit it.” Needlepoint ran her hoof through her mane before looking back up again. She began to speak softly, but with spite. “Ponies look at you and do the things you do, for good and for ill—my daughter being one of them. You may have helped in her fillyhood struggles, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are arrogant and reckless.”
“Mom,” Scootaloo said softly, but Needlepoint ignored her.
“You’re the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with pegasi!”
“Mom!”
“And then there’s you!” Needlepoint then pointed her hoof at Blue Yonder, who shrank back and drooped her ears. “Did you even once think about what you were doing; about what effect that…machine could have on you and my daughter? You’re just as thoughtless as everypony else!”
“MOM, STOP IT!!!” Scootaloo stood up from the bed, balancing on her three good legs. “What’s your deal?!”
“What’s my deal?” Needlepoint repeated, flabbergasted. She looked across the room to her husband. “Honey, can’t you back me up here?”
“Actually, I’m kind of with Scootaloo on this,” Scootaloo’s dad admitted, finally speaking up. “This is going a bit too far, don’t you think?”
“Too far?” Needlepoint parroted. “Too far?! Is it ‘too far’ to want our child safe?”
“But she’s an adult now,” Rainbow Dash stated, frowning at Needlepoint. “She can take care of herself.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed. “Why are you being so overprotective?”
“BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU!” Needlepoint turned to Scootaloo, her purple eyes filling with tears. “I don’t want to have to bury my own daughter.”
Scootaloo stared at her mother, who began sobbing. Scootaloo continued to scowl, but her chest tightened. She began to doubt her own anger.
“What do you mean?” Scootaloo finally asked. Her mother continued crying, but looked up and barely managed to compose herself.
“Every day, when you left home, I always worried that you wouldn’t come back.” Needlepoint sniffed a couple of times and wiped her eyes before continuing. “I thought I got over it, but I was wrong. First it was the skating, then the crusades with your friends and the extreme sports; every activity becoming more dangerous than the last.
“And now you’ve joined the military. The Wonderbolts are more than just air show performers. You’re in the service of your country. Who’s to say that you won’t be sent into battle on some dangerous mission? There might be a rampaging dragon that will do far worse than just shove you in a water tower bucket or some power-sucking tyrant that won’t hesitate to kill you after he’s defeated you. You can go somewhere and never return. I…I don’t think I can b-bear it!” Suddenly, Needlepoint ran out of the room sobbing.
Scootaloo looked around the room at the other occupants. Spitfire managed to keep a neutral expression while both Scootaloo’s dad and Rainbow Dash looked at the swinging door with concern. Blue Yonder, on the other hoof, was on the verge of tears herself.
Letting out a sigh, Scootaloo got up and went after her mom, “I’ll be right back.”
“I’m really sorry about all this,” Scootaloo’s father said as she left the room. “My wife’s anger has been boiling ever since we got your call yesterday.”
***
Scootaloo limped all over the infirmary building, getting quite proficient walking on three hooves. It certainly wasn’t the most efficient way to travel, but without the use of her wings and right hoof for at least a few days she would have to make do.
She had to find Needlepoint. Her mother, however, was nowhere to be seen inside. So Scootaloo stepped outside and found her sitting against the western wall, watching the sunset.
“Mom?” Scootaloo asked with a note of concern.
Needlepoint turned, revealing her puffy red eyes and tear stained face. Then she turned away, fighting back more tears.
“I…I suppose I’m the b-bad guy now,” her voice cracked.
Scootaloo didn’t say anything, but sat down besides the red pegasus and gave her a gentle, reassuring nudge with her muzzle. Needlepoint extended her wing and wrapped it around her daughter.
“I’ve always wanted you to follow your dreams…that you would have a great future.” Needlepoint sniffed a couple of times and let out a slow breath. The sun continued to set in the distance, bathing the land in and orange light. “But I also wanted it to be a long, happy future.”
“But I am happy, Mom,” Scootaloo finally said, looking Needlepoint in the eyes.
Needlepoint sighed, “I suppose there’s nothing I can say to make you change your mind about all this?”
“It’s what I want to do. Sure, it’s dangerous at times, but I can handle it. I don’t want to come home in a casket either. You can’t do many cool, awesome things inside a wooden box where no one can see you.”
Needlepoint couldn’t help but chuckle at her daughter’s horrible attempt at levity. Scootaloo never was very tactful and would almost always say the wrong thing in serious situations, but she loved her all the same.
“Okay,” Needlepoint sighed in relief from her laughing. “I’ll support you in this, no matter how much I don’t like it. At least try to be more careful and think about what you’re doing from now on.”http://www.fimfiction.net/story/196296/scoot-camp
“When have I not?” Scootaloo said sarcastically.
Needlepoint rolled her eyes, “I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get.”
“Should we head back in now?”
Needlepoint continued to look at the sunset. It was beginning to disappear over the horizon, allowing the purples and dark blues of the night to come in. She hugged her daughter tighter with her wing, “Five more minutes.”
Author's Note
Scootaloo's story continues in Over Yonder.
