Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Scootaloo stirred awake with a great big yawn. After a quick stretch she made for the bathroom, scratching her side and smacking her lips. It was much too early for a schoolday, but she was kinda used to it now. Auntie Pitter Patter was a complete morning pony. It had been impossible to sleep in while staying with her, so she got up bright and early to avoid any problems. Scootaloo let her boxers drop while she walked, not bothering to pick them up again. There was no need to with her parents out of town. Again. Besides, she was busy. Her shower called.

While the water ran, she turned her still blurry gaze upon the bathroom mirror. Red eyes, bed mane, ruffled feathers. The shirt she'd slept in halfway hanging from her shoulder. Yeah, she looked pretty bad right now. Scootaloo couldn't suppress a grin.
"Not going to win any beauty contests that way," she told her reflection. It just grinned back. With a quick laugh she reached for a brush.

Now clean and with the worst of her morning prettifying over, she sat down for a hearty breakfast of stale cereal without milk. While not tasty, at least it was edible. As well as a good reminder that she'd have to buy some groceries later today; she could mooch off of Apple Bloom during recess to tide her over. Her granny always packed way too much, probably knowing she shared it with her friends.

Scootaloo paused as a new thought came up.

Apple Bloom had a coltfriend. Did she share all her treats with him now? And since it was Snips, would he really eat them all? He looked like he would! Maybe she would have to buy something on the way to school, too. Horseapples!
Ah well, nothing she couldn't handle. Scootaloo shrugged and let her spoon drop into the halfway empty bowl. Why bother with disgusting cereal when she had to buy something along the way anyway?

A quick look inside her wardrobe later, and she had thrown together her outfit for today. Black shorts, blue shirt, grey jacket, Scootaloo turned around in front of her mirror to view it from all sides. It looked fine so far. Perhaps a bit warm. Pegasi didn't feel the cold as much as other ponies. She shrugged and put the jacket back. Going without it should be fine. Plus, she looked good!

"Who's got two thumbs and the hottest scooter in Ponyville?" she asked while pointing with said thumbs, "That's right, this girl!"

The sun was already up outside. There was a saying that a lot of ponies rose with Princess Celestia.
The boys also said a lot of ponies went to bed with Princess Celestia, but that was just them being stupid, as usual.

Scootaloo straddled her wooden scooter and spread her wings. She'd needed to upgrade when her old one grew too small. And what a good idea that had been! She smirked as she glanced down towards her flanks, where the fabric of her shorts hid her cutie mark: A flaming wheel.

As it turned out, all the crap she and the crusaders got into really did prepare her for a cutie mark! Stuntmaring was a piece of cake compared to some of the things they'd pulled, or thought about pulling. Really, riding a giant eggbeater?
"Must've been dreaming that day," she muttered. With one forceful push of her wings she went off.

Scootaloo arrived way early at the thankfully unlocked schoolhouse. Even with a quick stop at Sugarcube Corner, where a slowly blinking mister Cake gave her two cinnamon buns for the price of one, mumbled something about 'twins', and dropped face-first into a pile of jelly donuts. She still had enough time to get comfortable even if she took her sweet time eating her sweet, sweet second breakfast. Which she had no intention of doing. A few bites later and it was gone forever. With nothing else to do, Scootaloo shuffled her chair around to watch the door. Who knows, she thought, maybe it'll be fun not to be the last to arrive some time!

She was right. The chance to watch all the other students arrive proved... interesting.

The first who did was Tootsie Flute. Scootaloo finally remembered her name.
She wore the same clothes as the day before. Still the same hot pants and tight vest. Maybe even tighter, if that was even possible. Tootsie was a skinny girl, but the outfit really helped to bring out her looks. She looked good.

And nervous. Very nervous. She barely noticed where she walked, always peeking at something in her bag. When she entered and saw Scootaloo she actually seemed startled, but caught herself just as quickly and gave her a shaky smile and a half-hearted wave. Scootaloo answered with a nod. No sense in scaring the poor filly any more.

Next to arrive was one of the rare colts in class. A Pegasus with a grey coat and darker mane. What was his name again? Roar? Anyway, he looked like a lot of colts that age did: Some blue shirt and jeans combo that did nothing to show anything off. His eyes grew wide when they met hers, but he looked away before she could make out why. What, did she have anything on her face today?
He plopped down on his seat and kept looking at anything but her. He was frowning. Like he was angry or something.

He could've at least said hello.

Shortly after Roar came a pair of ponies at the same time. And what a pair that was.
Peppermint Twist and a guy everypony only called Truffle, even though that wasn't his name. They were nuzzling and laughing together, with his hand firmly on the hip of her short plaid dress. She looked like a pony from half a century ago, all checkered in white and red. But she somehow made it work. Scootaloo saw her push a bonbon in his mouth, which he answered by giving her... flanks a squeeze?

Scootaloo blinked. Had he just... Naw. That was probably only her imagination running wild. She ducked her head to hide her blush, peeking out at the giggling and obviously happy couple. She wondered how having her flanks squeezed felt like. Twist had a lot more hip than she did. Probably a lot softer as well.

Scootaloo crushed that thought with extreme prejudice.

They soon caught sight of her. Twist tore herself away from her hubby, whispering something in his ear before skipping over to her desk. Whatever she told him had to be good, judging from the grin threatening to split Truffle's face. The redhead actually gave Scootaloo a quick hug. Wow, her body really is soft.

"Scootaloo! You're back!" Twist adjusted her glasses and looked at her from head to hock. "Looking good, Scoots, looking good! We kinda missed you. It'th—I mean it's not the same without you."

Scootaloo smiled back.
"Glad to be back. I see you've been working on your talking?" Twist's energetic nodding sent red curls flying everywhere. Scootaloo ducked away but couldn't stop a giggle of her own.
"I'm so happy for you! And I see things are still working out with Truffle. You know, I'm still surprised you were the first of us who found her special somepony."

Twist put her hands on her hips and sent a mock-glare in her direction. Whatever effect she was going for was ruined by the wide, bracer-filled smirk.
"I just knew what I wanted and took it. And yeah, he's a great guy." She relaxed, peering over in Truffle's direction, who was currently balancing three jelly beans on three fingers.

"He just... makes me so happy. He likes me for who I am. I can just be me and he likes that!" She turned back to Scootaloo. "Every filly should get to experience something like that. I bet there'd be a lot more happy ponies around if they did."

She got a shrug from Scootaloo in response.
"I suppose," she said, "the most important part is that he makes you happy. If I find some colt who does that for me, I'll go right ahead and ask him out. Don't wanna wait for the guy to work up the nerve, we'd probably have to wait for the next princess to set up a date in a thousand years otherwise."

She didn't get the laughter she expected. Instead, Twist merely stared at her, with a small smirk on her face. Nopony else was laughing either. Scootaloo suddenly had an uncomfortable prickling sensation at the back of her head. Like she was being watched. But when she looked around neither Roar nor Tootsie seemed engaged in their dicussion. Roar had his back turned to her while Tootsie lifted the lid of her desk to look inside.

"Yeeeaah," Scootaloo said. Twist didn't seem to have noticed her discomfort. She just patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Scootaloo! You'll find the right guy for you, I swear! You'll hang out together, and if you like you can take him out to auntie Bon Bon's shop for some sweets on a 'lovers' discount'. It'll be super fun for the both of you! Just you wait."
And with that she skipped away. Scootaloo had little time to process what she'd just been told, though.

"Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged back in," drawled a voice behind her. A high-pitched, squeaky, bratty voice. Not her least favourite voice in the world, but up there. Scootaloo groaned and turned around in her chair to greet the grey-coated, bespectacled filly who smirked down her dainty nose. She stood with her arms crossed and one leg out, incidentally showing off how tightly the fabric of her yoga pants clung to her legs. This one was a beauty in the making and she knew it.

"Hey Silver Spoon. Where's your friend Diamond Tiara? You two are usually joined at the hips."

Silver Spoon's smirk vanished. She raised her nose in the air and scoffed.
"Not that it should, like, concern you or anything," she said in what had to be practiced haughtiness, "but miss Rich and I have parted ways. It happened while you were gone."

"Did the two of you finally annoy each other too much when I wasn't around to torment?"

Scootaloo's mouth worked quicker than her brain did. The words only registered when they were already out, and she gave a mental grimace. Making a scene right before school didn't sound like a good idea at all. Scootaloo could see the red rise around Silver Spoon's throat as she grew angry, but before the earth filly had the opportunity to scream at her she was stopped by another voice:

"Spoony, please. Behave."

Scootaloo's mouth fell open when Snails of all ponies put a hand on Silver Spoon's head.
The filly's glare shot in the colt's direction, but it took less than five seconds for her to take a deep breath and nod. Snails grinned his dopey grin and patted her head like she was a puppy. He wore a green vest and brown trousers, all fairly conservative.

"Good girl," he told her, still as slow as ever, "now I want you to get along with Scootaloo. She came back just today. And hello, Scootaloo."

"Um... hello, Snails." Scootaloo had no idea what was going on right now. Snails for one beamed happily. He took Silver Spoon by her shoulder and led her away, giving Scootaloo one last wave on the way. Silver Spoon refused to wave, but at least she didn't look ready to bite her head clear off anymore. She followed the colt, completely docile.

"What the hay just happened..?" she murmured to herself.

Silver Spoon and Snails? On what planet was that supposed to work? But here they were. Snails kissed the filly's brow and she giggled like a schoolgirl. Which she kind of was, granted. But still! Snails?

The sound of several ponies coming from the window interrupted her thoughts.
There was a gaggle of her classmates was right ouside, the ones still missing. She saw Dinky in her low-cut dress, Archer in tight jeans and midriff shirt, Sweetie Belle in her miniskirt. She saw Pipsqueak in the dorky schoolcolt uniform his parents forced on him every day, Featherweight busily taking pictures of the scantily clad girls surrounding him.

And she saw Apple Bloom. Next to a strutting Snips, obviously proud of himself.
Apple Bloom wore a happy smile as she walked with him, swaying her hips with every step. She was almost a head taller than him. And she had several inches on most of the other students—she took after her brother in that regard. But what really drew Scootaloo's attention was something else:

She carried both their bags. One over each shoulder. She bent low to allow the colt to press a quick kiss to her blushing cheek.

White filled Scootaloo's vision. She looked up, startled by the sudden interruption. It was Sweetie Belle. She, too, wore a bright smile.

"I did it," the Unicorn squeed. She clapped her hands, very nearly bouncing in place from giddiness. If anything, Scootaloo was even more confused now.

"Did what?"

Sweete Belle leaned forward, looking deep into her eyes.
"I asked Spike out on a date! We'll go to the park today!" She pulled away again. Perhaps she waited for Scootaloo's answer.

The bell saved her. Not that the ringing did anything to rein in a group of teenage ponies stuck in one place. That job was left to miss Cheerilee, their teacher. The maroon mare cleared her throat and knocked on the blackboard.

"Alright, class, sit down please! Oh, hello Scootaloo. Back from your trip?"
The teacher came over to her. She wore the same open and affectionate smile Scootaloo remembered. She also wore the same long dress with the familiar flower design and her sleeveless vest. Scootaloo sheepishly grinned in return and nodded.

"Good! Maybe you'd like to tell us a little something about it later. For now, students, please open your Equish textbooks on page twenty..."

Author's Note

Whew! That took longer than expected.

Well, I think I like this chapter a little better. But what do you think? Any suggestions how to improve? Any mistakes you found?

And thank you for reading ^_^