“Welcome!” Cheerilee said as she opened the door and let another shaft of the schoolhouse’s light out into the night. “Welcome to our open house!”
Her grin seemed a little forced. Still, Scootaloo smirked back at her. “Thanks, Miss Cheerilee! I put this on the schedule long ago so there’d be no chance of missing it.” On her left, a pegasus mare that shared her coloring nodded. On her right, a blue pegasus stallion with yellow mane and tail smiled.
“We wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he said, giving Scootaloo’s mane a tousle. “We’ve heard great things about your class from our daughter.”
“I-I guess I just didn’t expect you to actually show up. When Scootaloo said…”
Scootaloo’s smirk only grew. “Sorry, but they’re always so busy. That’s why I put it on the calendar as soon as I knew a date.”
Leaving an open-mouthed teacher behind her, Scootaloo strolled over to her desk. “This is where I sit. Apple Bloom sits over there, and Sweetie Belle here,” she said, pointing out each in turn.
Her mother ran a hoof over the faux-wood finish. “That’s wonderful, dear. And I’ll just bet that’s your artwork hanging on the wall over there.”
Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh… yeah. Not my best, but I thought it captured Rainbow Dash’s awesomeness.”
“It certainly does,” her father said. “Why won’t you ever allow us to hang these things up at home?”
Scootaloo didn’t answer. She just led them over to the refreshments table and helped herself to a few cookies. Her parents both eagerly dug into the punch and finger sandwiches, and… Jeez, she wished they’d behave themselves a little better. But that wasn’t important. What was important was simply their presence. “Please chew with your mouth closed,” she did hiss at them, though.
“Huh?” her mother said after guzzling down the last of her punch.
Scootaloo burped. She blushed a bit, but… that had drawn the attention of just the right pony.
“Rude much?” Silver Spoon asked, glaring at Scootaloo and wrinkling her nose as if she’d just farted next to her and walked away.
“And this is Silver Spoon,” Scootaloo said to her parents. “One of the biggest bi—er, names in the class.”
Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow. “Either one will do, blank flank.”
“Well, looky here,” Scootaloo answered with a gesture to the adults hanging close by her side. “Seems you were wrong. I did bring them with me.”
Silver Spoon pricked her ears and leaned defiantly forward. “So you hired a couple actors. Big whoop.”
“Nope.” Scootaloo closed her eyes and turned her nose up. “Not by a long shot. Go ahead. Test ’em.”
“What did Diamond Tiara blackmail Scootaloo with a picture of?” she immediately barked.
“Our awesome daughter making a dangerous and daring controlled flight into the terrain. Mud, specifically,” the mother responded.
“Pfft. Whatever. You must be so proud,” Silver Spoon replied. She rolled her eyes toward Scootaloo’s father, who was busy jamming a hoof in his mouth to dislodge an oat from his back teeth. “If that’s what you consider parents, you’re welcome to them.”
“Well, boy howdy, it’s mighty nice to finally make y’all’s acquaintance,” Applejack called from behind them. Silver Spoon merely shook her head and trotted off.
Scootaloo’s parents turned as one and stared back, toothy grins fixed on their faces. Applejack’s eyes shifted back and forth between them for a minute, but she didn’t get any response. “Um… my name’s Applejack,” she said, her hoof making an exaggerated stab toward her own chest. Still silence. “What’re yours?”
Scootaloo had about broken into a sweat when Applejack leaned toward her and shielded her mouth with the back of a hoof. “Foreign types, are they? Mind translatin’?”
“Oh, uh… yeah. Yeah.” Scootaloo scratched behind her ear. “Her-o name-o es Applejack.” She totally sold it with a big smile.
“How come I’ve never met them?” Apple Bloom said as she emerged from behind her sister. “I’ve gone to your place a bunch of times.”
With a little laugh, Scootaloo shrugged. “They’re just so busy. Dad’s the senior hail advisor to the mayor of Cloudsdale, and Mom’s the head snowflake inspector.” She wobbled on her feet, but maybe Apple Bloom hadn’t noticed…
“You don’t look so good,” Apple Bloom said with a frown. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, no problem. Look, I gotta go, okay? See you tomorrow?” Without waiting for an answer, she sidled back over to the refreshments table, where her mother gulped down two more cups of punch, and then she left.
Scootaloo soared over the landscape. In this weather, she knew she’d find thermal columns rising from the spots of exposed rock near the edge of the forest. So she aimed for those and got a serious boost, up above the highest clouds. From their vantage point on the ground, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had to gasp. They’d never seen expert flying like this before, and they likely never would again.
It took her a good couple of minutes to dive back down to the ground, but when she did, those two waited to lift her up and parade her back into the classroom. She put on her most gracious smile and accepted their frantic cheering.
“Scootaloo?”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” she mumbled, “it’s fine if you call this ‘Scootaloo Day’ from now on. I’ll grant you a trademark waiver.”
“Scootaloo!”
She jerked her head up off her desk to the raucous laughter of the class. Well, most of it. But right then, Cheerilee’s scowling face had occupied all the attention she had to give. “Scootaloo, please stay inside during recess. You can give me a good hundred lines of ‘I will not fall asleep in class’ on the blackboard.”
“You do look pale,” Sweetie Belle remarked as the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked home from school. “You sure you didn’t catch a bug or something?”
“I’m fine,” Scootaloo replied. The strap of her bookbag slid a little out of her grip.
Apple Bloom turned a skeptical eye on her. “You wolfed down your lunch like it was your last meal and then asked everypony else if they had some candy.”
“I’m fine.”
Sweetie Belle came up alongside her and leaned a shoulder into her. It did feel nice and warm. “Look, are your parents not feeding you enough? If you’re going to bed hungry, please come over to my house. We’d love to fix you a plate.”
“Same goes for me,” Apple Bloom chimed in. “If anypony doesn’t leave Sweet Apple Acres full to the gills, we haven’t done our jobs.”
“I’m fine.”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a glance, but then Sweetie Belle peeled off from the group when they passed by Carousel Boutique. “This is my stop. See you tomorrow, girls!”
“What, no crusading today?” Apple Bloom groaned.
“Ugh,” Sweetie Belle said with a grimace, “too much homework today.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Scootaloo continued on in silence until her turn came to break away from the road. “Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Apple Bloom said, but she paused after a few more steps. “And Scootaloo?”
“Yeah?”
“Please do come by for dinner if you need to. We’d love the company.”
“I’m fine.”
Sweetie Belle put on the last bit of her costume and peered through the small gap in the curtain. “There’s Rarity, Mom and Dad! And Apple Bloom, your family’s here, too!” She craned her neck to see up and down the rows of seats and frowned. “But the two we reserved for Scootaloo’s parents are still empty.”
“’S alright,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “I figured they’d be working tonight anyway.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t care?”
“I’m used to it. No big deal.” Why did they make so much out of it? She figured all kids’ parents were like this. Here sometimes, not others, nothing to worry about. “Just some kids’ play,” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah, but it’s their kid’s play!” Apple Bloom replied, waving a hoof toward the audience.
Scootaloo cocked her head. What difference did that make? It was still a crummy kids’ play.
Pinkie had thrown a big reception party at Sugarcube Corner afterward. Of course, she barely needed an excuse to host a party, but Scootaloo wouldn’t complain about it. And her parents had shown up, too. They wouldn’t leave her side, but then she didn’t want them to.
“Oh, they… came for the reception?” Sweetie Belle asked. She held out a hoof. “I missed you at the open house at school. I’m glad to meet you!”
Scootaloo’s father returned the hoofshake and opened his mouth, but he remained silent. His wife finished gulping down a slice of cake, and then he said, “Nice to meet you, too! Scootaloo has told us a lot about you. In fact, if you’d like to know what she wants for her birthday, we could tell you.”
“Uh… um…”
“Mr.- and Mrs.-a-loo!” Pinkie shouted. “I’ve never met you before, even though I’ve known Scootaloo a long time, and if I’ve never met you before, we’re not friends yet, but now we are, and I have to throw you a new friends party tomorrow night!” Her eyes impossibly wide, she stood there with her chest heaving while Scootaloo’s parents stared back at her.
Scootaloo’s mother waited until her husband had taken a long drink and choked down a mouthful of candy. He even grabbed a few spoonfuls of sugar from the bowl near the teapot. “Sure…” she said, “but tomorrow might be tough to pull off. Give us another three days, and you’ve got a deal!”
Pinkie cocked her head for a moment, then broke into a big grin. “Absotively!”
Wedged in between her parents, Scootaloo beamed. They each draped a wing over her back. “We just love our awesome daughter!” they said. All three moved toward the ice cream counter, but they nearly stumbled—Scootaloo’s legs had never felt so heavy.
“Um… maybe we should call it a night,” she said with a forced grin and hustled for the door.
Scootaloo jerked her eyes open when she felt the hoof press against her forehead. “Doesn’t seem like she has a fever,” Sweetie Belle remarked.
“Ain’t you gonna finish your lunch?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Uh, yeah.” Scootaloo forced herself upright in her seat and took the last bite of her carnation sandwich. Then she unpacked the apple from her lunchbox.
“Here,” Apple Bloom said, shoving another next to it, “take mine, too. You’re lookin’ pale again.”
“I’m fine.”
Sweetie Belle directed a tight-lipped smile at Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo, we’re worried about you. You look sick, but your parents don’t seem to care. Are they even home right now?”
“No.” Why would they care? Parents love their kids, but other than that, they’re just another couple of ponies living there. She’d always looked out for herself perfectly fine.
“You…” Sweetie Belle started, but she snapped her mouth shut. Apple Bloom patted her shoulder, and she took a sharp breath. “You mind if we come over after school?”
What were they on about? “Sure. Got some crusading ideas?”
They shrugged at each other. Just about anything might result in a cutie mark, she supposed, but if they wanted to keep it a surprise, fine.
Scootaloo dashed up the stairs with her two friends in tow, and when she got to her room, she plopped into her chair so hard that it nearly tipped over. All three seats had been arranged in a circle with a small table in the middle. She’d set out a plate of cookies and a pitcher of lemonade.
It may not have been much, but she could pull off a proper social as well as anypony. Even if the thought of a proper social made her gag, but she got the sense that she’d better start demonstrating that ability.
The other two took their seats but kept their eyes turned away. “Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said, “it’s time we had a talk.”
Scootaloo’s heart sank, and her chest got all tingly. She gaped at each in turn, but they still wouldn’t look at her. “I-is this one of those in-inter… interventilations?”
Sweetie Belle whipped her head around and raised an eyebrow.
“If you mean where we tell you you’ve been actin’ a durn fool, then yes,” Apple Bloom said with a quick nod. She wore a frown now, not the timid smile she’d had for the past few days.
Letting out a long sigh, Scootaloo rubbed her eyes. “Look, girls, I—”
“We had a nice discussion with Pinkie Pie after the party last night,” Sweetie Belle said. She pursed her lips. “You’ve been acting very strange lately, so we told Pinkie all the weird stuff we’ve seen.”
“We never even heard o’ your parents before,” Apple Bloom added. “And suddenly, here they show up at an open house and a party.”
Sweetie Belle squinted and ran her gaze up Scootaloo’s body, but Scootaloo couldn’t figure what she might be looking for. Unless she knew, but… her eyes didn’t pause anywhere. No, at the end! She lingered a little on—
“They stuck close to you, like they were helping you hide something,” Sweetie Belle continued. “Then the next day, both times, you look like death warmed over. It took Pinkie to help us put it all together, though.”
They both leaned forward with an edge to their glares. “And they didn’t eat anythin’ close to real food,” Apple Bloom said flatly. “Not even Pinkie can guzzle sugar like that. I don’t think they actually needed it.”
The coat on the back of Scootaloo’s neck stood on end. She considered bolting for the door, but… too late!
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom pounced at her and wrestled her to the ground. Before she could put up a fight, they had her pinned, but she kicked free of Sweetie Belle’s grip and spun away from Apple Bloom, though she lost a couple of feathers in the process. She darted for the hallway. But Sweetie Belle slammed the door shut and ran over to block the window.
Buzzing up near the ceiling, Scootaloo surveyed the stony faces below. “You can’t stay up there but so long,” Apple Bloom growled.
Apple Bloom was right. Scootaloo had gotten tired already, and she had to concentrate on keeping them from seeing—she couldn’t even flap fully!
And soon enough, she sank. Apple Bloom was right there to tackle her, and she couldn’t even put up a fight anymore. “Pinkie figured it out,” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo clamped her wings down hard, but… Apple Bloom ran a hoof up her neck and peered closely at it. “I don’t know what kind o’ bargain you made, but those two are clearly vampires!”
What!?
“They feed on you, leaving you all drained,” Sweetie Belle added. “Then they stand close by so nopony can see your neck, then make a show of eating junk food, but they don’t even know what real ponies eat!” She nearly had tears in her eyes.
“No, Sweetie Belle, they’re not—”
“Save it!” Apple Bloom barked. She roughly rolled Scootaloo over and checked the other side of her neck. But finding nothing, she scratched her head. “I-I don’t get it. Where they bitin’ you?”
Scootaloo pounded a hoof on the floor, set her jaw, and held back her tears. “They’re not.”
“Then what?” both girls said.
After grinding her teeth for a minute, Scootaloo opened the wing that wasn’t pinned beneath her. All the way—she stretched it toward the ceiling. And tucked way up in the corner sat a wrinkled flap of skin, hanging by a short, densely veined cord.
Scootaloo closed her eyes, and she could feel the tissue pulsing with her own heartbeat, inflating. She looked at her friends again, who both sucked in a shuddering breath. “Hello, girls!” her mother said.
“Sh-she…” Sweetie Belle started, but she never finished.
Apple Bloom backed a step toward the door. “What the hay is this!?”
“Relax,” Scootaloo said. “She can’t hurt you.”
“Y-you’re controlling her?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
No longer held down by Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and her mother walked back to the table. Her father slowly joined them. She drank down a cup of lemonade while her mother’s mouth worked to say something, but no sound came out. As soon as Scootaloo finished—
“—Can’t talk if I can’t, because they share the same breathing as me.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shared a glance.
“The same stomach as well,” the stallion said.
A light went on in Apple Bloom’s eyes. “A-and the same blood, right? You can’t last long tryin’ to pump a filly-sized supply through all three o’ you.”
Scootaloo’s father nodded. “So I had them eat up some sugary snacks to give me a little energy boost. Doesn’t help much, though.”
Finally, Scootaloo let her tears go. What would they think of her? Some kind of monstrosity, for sure. She’d have to give them up.
“How’d you do it?” Sweetie Belle asked.
She might as well tell them. Scootaloo opened the bottom drawer of her nightstand and took out several blossoms of poison joke.
Her friends stared for a minute longer.
“That is awesome!” Apple Bloom erupted.
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle nodded vigorously. “Do you think they could get us into some action movies?”
“Take us on the roller coaster?”
“Get us excused from school?”
“Let us into the pool at that snooty country club?”
Scootaloo coughed. And then she broke into a huge grin. “Yeah, maybe, but more to the point: we need to think about how we can use this to get our cutie marks.”
“Yeah!” the other two shouted.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders parasitic equumunculus exploitation go!”
