A Scootaloo Storyby Golden TasselChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 9Chapter 14Chapter 1Rainbow Dash was flying. She was soaring around the sky so fast that all anypony could see of her was the rainbow streak she left in her wake. Scootaloo, along with her friends Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, and most of the rest of Ponyville, was watching Rainbow Dash do a practice run for a routine she would be performing at the upcoming Cloudsdale Sky Rally. While Rainbow Dash's movements were too fast to follow for most of her audience, Scootaloo could see her perfectly. The young filly had learned how to watch her idol. Unlike the other spectators, she didn't try to follow Rainbow Dash with her eyes alone, and while Dash zoomed across everypony else's field of vision, Scootaloo was already turning her whole body, hopping around to follow Rainbow Dash. She never once lost sight. Scootaloo could see every move that Rainbow Dash made in the air: the beats of her wings, the way she alternately tucked her legs in or stretched them out to change her drag and center of mass, even the way her rainbow mane and tail rippled behind her. It was all crystal clear to the young filly. Rainbow Dash made a close pass along the ground, a move met with raucous applause. The gust of wind that followed her swept up a number of fliers that had been posted around. One of these fliers landed in Scootaloo's face so she couldn't see Rainbow Dash's next stunt. After pulling the flier off her face, Scootaloo had a look at it. "Junior Stuntpony Competition," it read. It was advertising an event being held next month in Manehattan, an event for young ponies like Scootaloo to show off their moves and compete for prizes. "Sweetie Belle! Applebloom! Look at this!" Scootaloo called to her friends and showed them the flier. Her small wings buzzed with excitement. "But Scootaloo, don't you do stunts all the time around here?" asked Applebloom. "Why would you want to go all the way to Manehattan to do them?" "Because look at the first place prize: two VIP tickets to a Wonderbolt show!" answered Scootaloo. "I can totally win that, easy. Rainbow Dash loves the Wonderbolts, so I know she'll want to go with me when I offer her the other ticket." Scootaloo read further down the page and then her excited grin faded. "Oh. Except there's a registration fee, and the deadline to register is in two weeks." "Can't you just ask your parents for that?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Now, Sweetie Belle," Applebloom said as she shifted her tone to a mock imitation of her sister's often stern demeanor. "It ain't right to just go asking for handouts all the time. A filly's gotta know the importance of hard work and earning the things you want." She perked up as an idea came to her. "I know! All three of us can work together to find a way to make enough money to pay for the registration fee, and maybe we'll find our cutie marks in the process." All three of them then cheered out in unison, "Cutie Mark Crusader Entrepreneurs!" Chapter 2The Cutie Mark Crusaders wasted no time in getting started with their first venture into the world of capitalism: a lemonade stand. The stand itself was a simple construction; essentially an overturned crate for a table with a sign held aloft by two boards nailed on either side of the box. The materials, assembled by Applebloom, had been appropriated from the supply shed at Sweet Apple Acres. It was decorated with paints in a variety of colors and with simple curtains hanging along the sides—Sweetie Belle's contributions, "borrowed" from Rarity's shop. The sign read "Lemonade" in large bold letters, and even had the stereotypical backwards "e" in its spelling; a point that had been the subject of debate among the Crusaders. Applebloom thought that spelling it with backwards "e"s would appear quaint and attract more business, while Scootaloo argued that they should attempt to look professional. Sweetie Belle couldn't make up her mind on the matter, but eventually came up with the winning solution: they split the difference and wrote only the last "e" backwards. After they had finished constructing the stand, the young fillies set up shop in the middle of Ponyville where there was always plenty of foot traffic. The sun was shining bright and the sky was clear. It was a warm day, and after Scootaloo arrived, hauling a large wooden bucket full of fresh lemons (also appropriated by Applebloom from her family's farm) in the red wagon that she towed behind her scooter, the Crusaders were able to start mixing the lemonade. No sooner had they set their first pitcher on the stand than they had their first sale to a passing mare who smiled as she paid her two bits. Sales were slow, but steady for the first hour, and by Applebloom's estimate, they would earn enough to cover the registration fee for Scootaloo to enter the Junior Stuntpony Competition by sundown. That's when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up. Diamond's father, Filthy Rich, was with them, and he was helping—or, rather, he was overseeing the construction of their own lemonade stand. A small team of construction ponies under his employ quickly assembled a long counter made of solid oak which had been sanded, stained, sealed, and polished to a mirror shine. A large, sparkling sign went up over the counter, promoting the new rival stand, and its lower price of only a single bit. "Lemonade" was spelled with both "e"s facing the correct way, and all the letters were expertly carved into the wood. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn't even appear interested in running their own stand, as they brought reclining lawn chairs with them and sat far behind it where they wouldn't have to dirty their hooves. They had convinced Snips and Snails to operate the stand for them without any promise of compensation (something about "It will look good on your resume later.") Within minutes of the rival stand's completion, every pony in the town was buying their lemonade from Diamond and Silver. Theirs even came with ice, making it the perfect refreshment on a hot summer day. Rather than attempt to compete when they were so seriously outclassed, the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave up and hauled their ramshackle crate with its attached sign and curtains back to their treehouse. They abandoned their lemonade stand in back and swore never to speak of it again. They would just have to try something else tomorrow. Chapter 3Pulling weeds. That was Appleboom's big idea: They would go door-to-door around town, offering to do yard work for money. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle needed a lot of convincing to go along with it. Applebloom had plenty of experience working the fields on her family's farm, and to hear her tell it, it was some of the easiest work a pony could do. The potential of ending up with a weed-pulling cutie mark was the biggest concern. What eventually sold them on the idea, though, was when Applebloom pointed out that there would be exactly zero risk of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showing up to steal their customers away. "That would be quite a sight, for sure!" Sweetie Bell had said as the three of them shared a laugh. "Can you imagine Diamond Tiara doing work? For herself? With her hooves? I'd pay to see that!" Once they had finished laughing and were all firmly in agreement that seeing Diamond and Silver doing manual labor would be a sight worth paying to see, the Cutie Mark Crusaders set out for a day of hard work. It turned out that, while Sweet Apple Acres was certainly the agricultural center for the entire town, lots of ponies had small flower and/or vegetable gardens, and they were all more than happy to pay someone else to take care of them. The work wasn't even that bad once they got into it. It was all second nature to Applebloom, but Scootaloo picked it up easily enough. Even Sweetie Belle described it as "playing in the dirt" while remarking about her sister would probably faint if she ever had to do anything so common. By the late afternoon, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had visited several homes and spent an hour or so at each of them. They had nearly raised all the money they would need to send Scootaloo to the stuntpony competition; one more house would do it. And did they ever find the mother load: The final house they approached was owned by an old widow who rarely ever left her house, and had let her entire yard run rampant with every kind of weed that had ever been known to grow in Ponyville (and several others that the young fillies had never seen before). The old mare was stingy, and haggled the price down to half the hourly rate that everypony else had been paying—to be paid only when the entire yard was cleared. Still, though, with the amount of work her yard would require, it would be more than enough to cover Scootaloo's registration fee, so with only a few hours of daylight remaining, the Crusaders agreed and got to work. One of the most prolific weeds was thistle, and after only an hour of hard work, all those prickles had given the Crusaders sore hooves and mouths. They kept working through it, though, encouraged by reminding themselves that they were almost finished and then they could return their attentions to less back-breaking ways of earning their cutie marks. By the end of the day, with the sun resting low on the horizon, even Applebloom was exhausted. While Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat down to rest, Applebloom went up to the house and knocked on the door. She asked the old mare for their payment when she answered. "I told you I'd pay you when the job is done! I still see a weed in my yard. There!" said the old mare, pointing to a lone dandelion flower in an otherwise pristine yard. "You lazy kids aren't getting a cent out of me until you've finished." "I'll get it," Scootaloo said as she got to her hooves and trotted over to the dandelion. She ached all over, but what was one more little flower? She grabbed the stem in her teeth. "Make sure you get the root!" yelled the cantankerous old mare. "If you don't get the root, it'll just grow back and then I'll have a yard of nothing but weeds!" Scootaloo rolled her eyes and bit down lower on the plant, grabbing up as many of the leaves as she could before she started pulling. It was a stubborn little flower, but Scootaloo wasn't about to let a stupid plant get in her way now. She pulled harder, but still the dandelion wouldn't budge. She put her whole weight into the effort, and even started flapping her wings. Sweetie Belle, seeing the trouble her friend was having, grabbed one of the small garden trowels they had brought with them and went over to help. She pushed the trowel into the dirt under the dandelion. As soon as the blade cut through the weed's taproot, it no longer resisted Scootaloo's attempt to pull it out. Suddenly the young pegasus filly had every ounce of her own strength pulling her in one direction with nothing holding her back. Scootaloo went flying, completely out of control, and she crashed through the old mare's window. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both rushed to the window to look in on their friend; she was dazed, but unharmed, and as soon as the old mare was satisfied that she wouldn't be responsible for any medical bills, she began angrily demanding payment to fix her broken window. The day ended with the Crusaders giving up everything they had earned that day and going home with nothing but aching backs and shoulders for their trouble. Tomorrow, they agreed. Tomorrow they would find another way to earn that money. Chapter 4Over the course of a week, Scootaloo and her friends tried a variety of different jobs in an effort to raise enough money to send Scootaloo to the Junior Stuntpony Competition in Manehattan next month. The Cutie Mark Crusader Courier Service had exactly one client, and after the Crusaders lost the package, it didn't seem fair to charge for it. At least, unlike their attempt at yardwork, they didn't end up having to pay for it in the end since, as their customer readily admitted, shipping fireworks in a hastily taped-together paper bag and entrusting it to a bunch of young fillies had probably been the first mistake made that day. Ponyville's mayor had briefly employed the girls to fill in for her vacationing secretary. But an argument broke out when competing contractors ended up scheduled to meet with the mayor at the same time, each assured that his was the winning bid for the job of renovating the town hall. The Crusaders made an attempt at selling their services as conflict mediators, but the mayor instead made the wise decision to send everypony home and simply wait until her secretary returned. Pet sitting was suggested at one point, but after Sweetie Belle pointed out that they had tried that once already and it hadn't turned out very profitable, they skipped the idea and moved on to the next one: Cutie Mark Crusader Building Inspectors. Surprisingly to the young fillies, there was more to that job than simply showing up at ponies' houses, issuing citations, and demanding payment. The mayor was not happy about having to deal with the numerous complaints she had received on her day off, and strongly encouraged the Crusaders to not try their hooves at any more civil service jobs. The Crusaders tried a few other things after that, but could no longer find anypony willing to pay them by then. It was at this point that they decided to give up on making money for themselves. "I think we've learned the value of hard work by now," Applebloom said with a note of resignation. "I'm mighty sorry, Scootaloo, but I guess we're just not cut out for making money on our own." "At least we know we gave it our best shot," said Sweetie Belle as she put a comforting hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "So there's no shame in asking your parents to pay the registration fee now." Applebloom nodded in agreement. "And hey, once you're there, we know you'll win for sure. Ain't nopony better on a scooter than you. You'll be watching the Wonderbolts with Rainbow Dash in no time!" Scootaloo forced a smile for her friends. "Thanks." She heaved a sigh and looked up into the sky which was already starting to turn orange as the sun neared the horizon. "I better get home. I'll see you later," she said as she put on her helmet and hopped onto her scooter. She waved goodbye to her friends as she rolled off. Once her friends were out of sight, though, Scootaloo stepped off her scooter and simply walked it home instead. She didn't really feel like riding anymore; it only reminded her of what she no longer held out hope of going to. "Scootaloo, is that you?" called a voice as soon as Scootaloo came in the front door of her home. "Yeah, it's me, Honeydew. Is there anything for dinner?" Scootaloo called back. "I see I'm still not getting anywhere with asking you to call me 'mom,' am I?" muttered the mare as she rolled over on the couch and reached for a freshly-rolled smoke on the coffee table. "There's sandwich stuff in the kitchen," she said through gritted teeth as she held the smoke in her lips while lighting it. "Make one for me will you?" The bread was stale, and the daisies and alfalfa sprouts were starting to wilt. Scootaloo took one look at them and decided she wasn't that hungry anyway. She didn't bother making a sandwich for Honeydew, and quietly went upstairs to her room. She locked the door and slumped down on top of her bed. Not tired enough to fall asleep, the young filly just lay there and stared up at the poster of Rainbow Dash on her wall while the sun went down outside her window. Chapter 7The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at their treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were busy talking about something, but Scootaloo didn't pay attention to what. She was sitting by herself in the corner with her back against the wall while she tossed a ball into the air. Scootaloo watched the ball as it rose up above her, nearly touching the ceiling before slowing to a stop. It hovered there at the peak of its arc for only an instant, and then sped up rapidly to fall back into Scootaloo's waiting hooves. Each time she caught it, she tossed it up again. The ball had pretty colors—a whole rainbow swirled around on its rubber surface, and the way it would spin when Scootaloo threw it made the colors mix together in different ways each time. Sometimes there was more blue and green, sometimes red and orange. If she got it spinning fast enough, the ball turned some shade of off-white. Scootaloo started wondering about the ball: Was it a ball because it was round? Or was it round because it was a ball? It wasn't perfectly round, though; it had tiny little raised bumps all over to make it grip better, and there was a seam that ran all the way around the middle, and there was a dimple in the seam so it could be inflated. None of that was visible except up-close, though, so did that make the ball more round when it was far away? Did that make it less of a ball up-close? "Earth to Scootaloo!" Applebloom hollered. "Huh?" Scootaloo turned her head to face her friends, forgetting about the ball she had in the air. It came down right on top of her head and bounced away while the young filly rubbed a hoof where it had hit her. "Are you alright, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't really hurt." "That's good, but I meant besides that," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle approached. "You seem kinda out of it today. Something bothering you?" "You're not upset because we couldn't make the money you needed for the competition, are you?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What? No. No. I'm not upset. I'm . . . um . . . I was just thinking. I was thinking about, um . . ." Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an answer. She quickly settled on her scooter, propped against the wall by the door. "About a new trick I wanna do on my scooter. That's all I was doing." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a look with each other briefly before they asked Scootaloo what the trick was and if she would show it to them. "Oh. It's, uh, not ready yet," Scootaloo said. "I'm still figuring out how I'm going to do it exactly. But you can bet you two will be the first to see it when it's ready." She forced a wide grin and hoped that her friends wouldn't ask her more about it. Much to Scootaloo's relief, her friends shrugged and let the matter go. "Come on," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle headed for the door. "We're going to go meet Featherweight. He said he'd show us his camera, so maybe we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Photographers." Scootaloo got up to follow her friends, but as she glanced out the window, she thought about what time it was. It was early afternoon, so Honeydew had probably woken up and gotten hungry by now. There was no food left in the house, so she'd have to go out to get more. That meant the house would be empty, and Scootaloo could swipe another one of those cigarettes. "Scootaloo, are you coming?" called Sweetie Belle. She and Applebloom were already at the bottom of the ramp while Scootaloo was just standing in the doorway. "You two go without me. I forgot, I have to go, um . . . wash windows." "Wash windows? Are you still trying to earn money for that competition?" Applebloom asked. "Do you want our help?" "No. I gave up on that already—gave up on trying to earn money for it, I mean. And no, you go have fun with Twist—" "Featherweight." "Right. That's who I meant. You go have fun. I just have chores to do." "I thought you said you were going to wash windows," said Sweetie Belle. "Huh? Oh. My chores are washing windows. That's what I meant." Scootaloo forced a dry laugh while she walked her scooter down the ramp from the treehouse. "Anyway, gotta go. Bye!" She couldn't get moving fast enough once she was on the ground. Scootaloo sped off on her scooter, leaving her friends behind. "I think there's something wrong with her," Sweetie Belle said as she watched Scootaloo disappear into the distance. "It ain't just you," said Applebloom. "Something's eating at that filly. Let's go tell Featherweight we'll have to take a rain check, and then we'll check up on Scootaloo." Chapter 8The plan had been perfect: Honeydew was out of the house, so it was simple to find her stash and take one of the poison joke cigarettes. It was such a perfect opportunity, Scootaloo decided to help herself to a second one for later. She hurried up to her room where she closed the door and drew the curtains across her window. Scootaloo hid one cigarette under her mattress and lit up the other one. The first hit burned her throat, but not as bad as the first time last night. Scootaloo was able to hold back the coughing until she had taken a full breath of smoke. The first time she tried it, she had coughed so hard she nearly threw up, but this time was better. After a few deep breaths to steady herself, she was ready for more. She had just brought the cigarette back to her lips when she heard hooves stomping up the stairs. Then came Applebloom's voice from the hallway, "Scootaloo? You up here?" Scootaloo hastily dropped the cigarette onto the floor and ground it under her hoof to put it out just in time to keep it hidden as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle opened the door and came into her room. She put on a wide grin and said, "Oh hey, you two. What're you doing here? I thought you were busy." "We were worried about you, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said. "It's not like you to run off like that. Is something wrong?" "Wrong? No. Why would anything be wrong?" Scootaloo's eyes darted back and forth between her two friends. Did they always stand so far apart? "Well you said you had to wash windows, but it don't much look like that's what you're doing. And I—" Applebloom stopped and sniffed at the air. Her nose wrinkled. "What's that smell? You're not playing with matches again are you, Scootaloo? Indoors?" "What smell? I don't smell anything. Do you smell anything, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked. "Oh no," Sweetie Bell said. "You're not getting me with that again. Last time I said I smelled something you said 'she who smelt it dealt it' and blamed it on me." Scootaloo snorted and laughed as she remembered that incident. "Yeah. But this time it was Applebloom who smelt it." She looked over at Applebloom. Scootaloo felt her face stretching as she smiled and laughed raucously while pointing her hoof. "Whoever spoke it broke it." "I did not! That's not even what I'm talking about. I—" "She who denied it supplied it!" chimed Sweetie Belle with a laugh of her own. She was pleased to be on the other side of the joke this time. Applebloom shot her a cross look, though, which immediately quashed any intention to continue the crude rhyming game. Scootaloo was still giggling uncontrollably though. Applebloom sighed. "Alright, fine. You're having a good time without us. Let's go, Sweetie Belle. We'll see if Featherweight still wants to show us his camera." And with that, Scootaloo's friends left. Scootaloo locked her door after they were gone, and peeked out her window from around the curtain. She waited until she saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walking away from the house before she salvaged what she could of the cigarette she had stomped on. She'd only had one hit off it and already her wings felt lighter than air. Soon she would be soaring again, and she couldn't wait. Chapter 10Ponyville was quiet at night, which made it easy for Applebloom to go unnoticed as she made her way across town, having snuck out after her big sister had tucked her in for the night. She was determined to do something, even if she didn't have any idea what that something would be. She arrived at Scootaloo's house; it was dark and silent, like every other house in town. Applebloom circled around the house to where she could look up at the window to her friend's room. It was wide open. "Scootaloo?" Applebloom called out, careful to not be too loud. After a moment, her attention was drawn up above the window to the roof where she heard the sound of hooves on shingles. "Applebloom?" Scootaloo called back as she peeked out over the edge of the roof. "What are you doing all the way down there?" "What are you doing up on the roof? How did you get up there anyway?" "I climbed," Scootaloo answered, pointing a hoof toward a decorative lattice that ran up the side of the house right next to her window. Applebloom followed suit and climbed the lattice up to meet her friend. Scootaloo helped pull her up onto the roof before she returned to lying on her back and staring up at the night sky. Applebloom watched her put something between her lips; the end of it glowed bright orange as she took in a breath through it. "What are you doing up here?" asked Applebloom. Scootaloo breathed out, sending up a small plume of wispy smoke that seemed to glow in the dim light of the half moon. "I wanted a better look at the sky," she answered. "Isn't it beautiful? It's full of stars, but it's also so empty, and it goes on forever." "Scootaloo . . . what is that?" Applebloom asked as she watched her friend take another drag off the poison joke cigarette. "Something I swiped from Honeydew. It's incredible. Here." Scootaloo sat up and held out the smoldering cigarette. "You gotta try it." "I don't know, Scootaloo. Something just don't seem right about this. Is this why you were acting funny all day today? I don't think I wanna be like that, and I don't think you should neither." Scootaloo withdrew her offer and took another drag for herself—a long one so Applebloom could watch it burn down almost to her lips. "I've never felt this good before," she said as she breathed out another cloud of smoke. "What's so wrong about that? I thought you were my friend." "I am your friend! Why do you think I snuck out and came all the way out here in the middle of the night? I'm worried about you." "Well I'm fine. Never better. You can stop worrying now. Maybe you should run along back home before you get in trouble with your big sister." Applebloom clenched her jaw and then sighed, shaking her head. She carefully climbed back down the lattice. Once on the ground, she glanced back up at the roof and saw Scootaloo's head peeking over the side again. "Applebloom?" Scootaloo called down to her. "You won't tell anypony, will you?" Without an answer, Applebloom hurried home. Chapter 11Scootaloo stayed up on the roof through most of the night. She let herself forget about Applebloom's intrusion, and she instead gazed up into the night sky and lost herself among the stars. It was nearly dawn when she climbed back down into her bedroom. She tucked herself into bed and fell asleep right away. It was several hours later when Honeydew woke up on the couch, where she had fallen asleep right about the time Scootaloo had been climbing up onto the roof. After rolling over a few times, Honeydew decided it was time to get up. She yawned and stretched her back as she got up, and she then went into the kitchen to make a sandwich. She made two—one for herself, and one for Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, food!" called Honeydew from the bottom of the stairs. When there was no answer, Honeydew shrugged and left Scootaloo's sandwich on a plate on the stairs. She returned to the couch where she ate her sandwich and then lay down to take a nap. Honeydew's nap was interrupted when she opened her eyes to find Scootaloo rummaging through her stash of poison joke cigarettes. "What the hell are you doing?" she yelled at Scootaloo as she pulled the young filly away and shoved her into the corner of the couch. "I was only looking," said Scootaloo. "Don't you lie to me! You were stealing from me, weren't you?" Honeydew glared down at Scootaloo. "Weren't you?" she repeated, louder. Scootaloo pursed her lips and then stood up defiantly. Her small wings flared up at her sides. "Yeah, I was. So what? It's not like you even would have noticed. What do you even care what I do anyway?" "Don't you take that tone with me. I'm in charge here, and as long as you're under my roof, you'll follow my rules. This"—Honeydew pointed to the poison joke on the coffee table—"is not for you." "What's the big deal anyway? You do it all the time." "That's different. And I don't have to explain myself to you. You're grounded. Go to your room." Scootaloo locked eyes with Honeydew. She didn't move. "Go to your room now," Honeydew repeated. "Or . . . or I'll spank you." Scootaloo laughed. "Spank me? What do you think I am? A baby foal?" Her patience exhausted, Honeydew grabbed Scootaloo by her foreleg and bodily pulled her over to the stairs. "Upstairs. Now. Or if you want to keep acting like a baby, so help me, I'll treat you like one." The look in Honeydew's eyes was clear: Scootaloo could shut up and go upstairs or things would escalate. Scootaloo shut up and went upstairs to her room. Her final act of defiance was to slam her door as loudly as she could just as she heard Honeydew yell up the stairs to not slam the door. The house was silent after that. It was in that silence that Scootaloo made up her mind to run away. Honeydew was right: as long as she lived here. . . Scootaloo climbed out her window and down the lattice. Once on the ground, she got on her scooter and sped away from Honeydew's house. Chapter 12Actually running away had been easy, but with no idea where to go and no plan for what to do, Scootaloo's new-found freedom quickly turned into several hours of boredom. She avoided Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, figuring that they wouldn't want to spend time with her anymore, and Applebloom would probably just tell her to go home anyway. As it got dark outside, Scootaloo started to consider going home because she had nowhere to sleep. But going home would be to admit defeat, and she'd have to put up with Honeydew forever. After some deliberation, Scootaloo made her way to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had already gone home for the day, so Scootaloo had it all to herself. And that's where she settled down for the night. "Scootaloo? Scootaloo, wake up. Scootaloo!" Scootaloo's eyes snapped open; she rolled over and stood up, surprised to see Applebloom and Sweetie Belle staring at her. Bright sunlight shined in through the windows of the treehouse. "What in the hay are you doing here? Did you sleep here?" Applebloom asked. "We went to your house to see if you wanted to join us today, but Honeydew said you were grounded. Just what is going on with you?" Scootaloo blinked a few times, her eyes still adjusting to the bright daylight. "Sorry," she grunted. "I meant to leave before you two showed up. I'll just go. . ." "Go where? Home?" "Pffft," Scootaloo snorted. "Where Honeydew can yell at me and ruin my life? Forget that. I'm flying solo from now on. See you later . . . maybe. I'll try not to be here when you get here tomorrow." Applebloom blocked the way toward the door. "Now hold on a second there. This treehouse is for all of us, but if you're just gonna ditch us, then I don't think you should come here anymore—and you definitely can't be living here, Scootaloo." "You can't tell me what to do." "Well, I reckon I just did. What are you gonna do about it?" Scootaloo had enough. She struck out with her forehoof and connected squarely with Applebloom's cheek. Applebloom fell over, but she got up quickly and hit Scootaloo back hard enough to knock her down in turn. Sweetie Belle shrieked. She went to try to help Scootaloo up, but Scootaloo shoved her away to get up on her own. "Okay, you both hit each other. Now you're even. No reason to keep fighting, right?" Sweetie Belle said. "Right?" Applebloom and Scootaloo both lunged at each other and tumbled around on the floor, kicking and screaming at each other. When Sweetie Belle nearly got kicked herself, she gave up on trying to pull her friends apart and instead ran outside to get a grown-up to help. And she didn't have to go far before she spotted someone; lazily drifting by on a small cloud above was Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow!" Sweetie Bell yelled up at her. She waved her forelegs and yelled again, "Rainbow! Help!" Luckily, Rainbow Dash wasn't napping or she might not have heard the young filly calling out to her. When she saw the scared look on Sweetie Belle's face, she knew something was wrong and quickly flew down to meet her. Sweetie Belle was too upset to be able to explain what was wrong, so she just ran back to the treehouse with Rainbow Dash right behind her. Back inside the treehouse, Applebloom and Scootaloo were still fighting and their struggle had knocked over all the toys and furniture they kept there. Rainbow Dash saw what was happening and rushed over to pull the two apart. Sweetie Belle got in Applebloom's way to keep her from charging back in while Rainbow Dash had to wrap her forelegs around Scootaloo and hold her until she calmed down. Both fillies were bruised and bleeding—Scootaloo from a split lip and a notch torn in her ear, and Applebloom from a broken nose. Once everypony quieted down, Rainbow Dash asked, "What's going on here? You girls are supposed to be friends." "Some friend you are!" yelled Scootaloo. "You're the one who's been ditching us so you can be alone and smoke all day," blurted Applebloom. "Smoking?" Rainbow Dash looked down at Scootaloo. "You're smoking?" Her tone struck a note of shame in the young pegasus filly; it wasn't accusatory or angry—Rainbow Dash was disappointed. Scootaloo suddenly couldn't bear to be around her idol anymore. She wriggled her way out of Rainbow Dash's hold on her and ran out the door before anypony could catch her. Scootaloo ran. Blood and tears trickled down her face. She didn't care where she was going. She just picked a direction and kept running. Chapter 13After telling Sweetie Belle to take Applebloom home, Rainbow Dash set off after Scootaloo. She had lost sight of the young filly, but after a quick circle above the treetops she spotted Scootaloo running through the apple orchard. Rainbow Dash didn't try to stop her right away; instead, she followed Scootaloo from above and waited until the filly tired herself out. Scootaloo stopped running and slumped against the base of an apple tree to catch her breath, and that's when Rainbow Dash swooped in for a landing. Too exhausted to keep running, Scootaloo turned away and hid her face against the tree. "Leave me alone," she said, sobbing. "I'm not going anywhere, not until you tell me what's going on. Why were you and Applebloom fighting? What's this about you smoking? Talk to me, Scootaloo. I'm trying to help you." "I just wanted to impress you. I saw this flyer for a stunt competition and the prize was a pair of Wonderbolts tickets. I thought if I could win, you could go with me. But I'm such a failure I couldn't even earn the money to enter. Then I tried one of Honeydew's cigarettes and. . ." Scootaloo looked over her shoulder at her wing. "I felt like I was flying. It was more than I ever dreamed of. I didn't want to do anything else, but then Honeydew caught me stealing more from her, so I ran away and now Applebloom's mad at me, and you'll never want to spend time with me again." Rainbow Dash balked; she didn't know what she should have expected, but things suddenly sounded far more complicated than she was prepared to handle. But she saw that now, more than ever, the young filly who idolized her needed her help, and Rainbow Dash was never one to shy away from a challenge. "Of course I'll still spend time with you," she said as she moved closer and sat down next to Scootaloo. She put her hoof on the filly's back. "You don't need to do anything special to impress me." "I don't?" "I'll hang out with you anytime. But fighting with your friends and smoking. . . whatever it is Honeydew has. . . those are bad things, and you can't just run away from them. Come on; I'm going to help you make things right. First stop: you're gonna apologise to Applebloom." Rainbow Dash lifted Scootaloo up onto her shoulders and carried her up into the air. Together, they flew off toward the farmhouse. Applebloom was sitting at the kitchen table. She had nearly an entire roll of gauze stuffed up each of her nostrils and was holding an ice pack over her left eye. She had to sit leaning forward to keep the blood from her broken nose from draining down her throat and she had to breathe through her mouth. Applejack and Rainbow Dash went into the living room where they could be out of the way, but close-by in case the two fillies weren't finished fighting. Scootaloo climbed into the chair on the opposite side of the table from her friend. "I'm sorry I hit you," she said hesitantly. Applebloom pulled the ice pack away from her face, revealing a dark, puffy bruise in the shape of Scootaloo's hoof. "Applejack says she's got half a mind to ground me but reckons getting beat up is enough of a lesson." She brought a hoof up to her cheek and flinched. "You got a mean right hoof. Did you give me a black eye? It feels like I got a black eye." "It's around only half your eye. What about me?" Scootaloo leaned over the table and turned her head to give her friend a better look at her. "Oh, you got a real nice shiner." Applebloom held out her ice pack, but Scootaloo declined the offer. "Doesn't it hurt?" Applebloom asked as she put the ice pack back on her face. "Nah. My ear is killing me though. How bad is it?" "Well, it ain't bleeding no more. It's not so bad; you'll probably have a really cool notch to make you look tough." Applebloom started to laugh, but that made her nose hurt, so she stopped. "So are we still friends?" Scootaloo asked after a silent pause. Applebloom didn't answer right away. She wanted to forgive Scootaloo, but it didn't seem like it was that simple. "I reckon that's up to you," she said eventually. "You acted like we didn't care about you or wouldn't understand if you were having trouble. The way I see it, you're the one who stopped being our friend." "I know. I'm sorry." Scootaloo sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking." She put her head down on the table and covered her face under her forelegs. "Well, next time try trusting us." Applebloom smiled across at her friend and she peeked out from between her hooves. "We are your friends after all." "Alright, it sounds like you two patched things up," said Rainbow Dash as she and Applejack came into the kitchen. "Let's go, Scootaloo. I'm taking you home and I'm gonna have a talk with Honeydew." Chapter 15"Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash spoke softly as she opened the door to Scootaloo's room; she hadn't gotten an answer when she had knocked. The young filly was asleep on her bed with her head buried under a pillow. Rainbow Dash sat down on the corner of the bed and gently shook Scootaloo to wake her up. Scootaloo groaned. She was sore all over now that the adrenaline from her fight with Applebloom had worn off. She pulled her head out from under her pillow and sat up. If not for her aching bruises, she might have believed the last few days to have been nothing but a bad dream. "Hey, kiddo. How you feeling?" Scootaloo held a hoof to her temple and flinched. "Sore." "Yeah, that'll happen when you pick a fight with a farmpony." Rainbow Dash chuckled knowingly as she thought of one of her own scuffles with Applejack. She took a deep breath. "So I worked things out with Honeydew for you." "She doesn't even want me here." "That's not true." "Yes it is. She hates me." Rainbow Dash put her wing around Scootaloo. "She doesn't hate you. Honeydew has her own problems, and she just doesn't know how to help with yours." "I'm grounded forever, aren't I?" "Not forever, but Honeydew insisted that you need to learn there are consequences for your actions. Personally, I think you figured out that part already, but it's not really up to me. What I'm worried about is that you might not understand what you did wrong—it's like doing a new stunt; if you mess it up somehow, you'll know about it pretty fast, but if you don't know what went wrong, you'll keep getting hurt. You know what I mean?" Scootaloo thought about that. She knew what Rainbow Dash was talking about—she'd fallen off her scooter dozens of times when trying something new. As she looked up at Rainbow Dash, she realized that even her idol must have crashed at least as many times for each of the complex and spectacular stunts that she now does flawlessly. "What did I do wrong?" "Well, I don't know all the details, but the big one is the smoking. That stuff is poison joke, and it affects everypony differently. It can be really dangerous, and you could get hurt in ways nopony can predict." "It made me feel so good, though." "So good that you stopped caring about your friends? So good that you ran away and got in a fight with Applebloom?" Scootaloo started to realize what went wrong. "Oh." She looked down at the floor, ready to accept that she deserved to be grounded. "So how long?" "One week. That'll give you enough time to figure out the details of what went wrong so you can avoid it in the future." Rainbow Dash let that sink in for a few seconds before she finally gave Scootaloo the good news. "And you'll be free in time to practice for the junior stuntpony competition." "But I couldn't earn the money for the registration fee." "That's why I'll be sponsoring you, and I'll help you practice your routine." Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched Scootaloo's face light up. She tousled the little filly's mane. "I'll see you in a week." Chapter 16The week that Scootaloo was grounded for was possibly the shortest week of her entire life. At Rainbow Dash's suggestion, the young filly passed the time by exercising as much as she had the energy for. And she had a lot of energy; Rainbow Dash's promise to sponsor her at the competition and to help her train for it gave her something to work toward. Every time Scootaloo began to feel tired, she reminded herself what her idol had done to help her. Scootaloo was determined to not let Rainbow Dash down. Once Scootaloo was free to leave the house, her first stop was the Crusaders' treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were there, and they were happy to see their friend again. Scootaloo didn't stay long, though; she already had plans to meet with Rainbow Dash to start practicing. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle offered to come along to watch and cheer her on, but Scootaloo asked them not to. "I'm gonna be trying some new tricks, and it'll take me a while to get right," Scootaloo told her friends. "I think you two have seen me screw up enough lately. But I'll let you know when I've got my routine ready to show off." Scootaloo's friends understood, and they wished her luck with their farewell hugs. To Scootaloo's surprise and disappointment, Rainbow Dash didn't want her to try anything new for her first day of training. "You've got great enthusiasm, kid. I like that. But enthusiasm alone won't win you first place. You wanna win, don't you?" "Of course!" Scootaloo bounced, and her small wings buzzed. "That's what I like to hear! You've already got a lot of talent. I knew that much already, but I didn't realize just how much until I spent the last week trying to find anypony in town who knew as much about scooters as you do. It turns out that you're it, kid. So to start out I want you to just show me everything you know already. Start with the most basic tricks you can do. Those will be the building blocks for the fancy stuff, and you need to be able to do them without even thinking about it before we can move on to harder stuff." That made sense to Scootaloo, but it also changed the way she looked at her idol: Rainbow Dash had always seemed so naturally awesome at everything she did, but now Scootaloo could see that there had always been a lot more about Rainbow Dash than she had ever seen before. She imagined Rainbow Dash practicing the building blocks of aerial stunts while she demonstrated her own basics on her scooter. There was a strange realization within that: Rainbow Dash hadn't always been this awesome. In a way, Scootaloo felt as though some of the magic and wonder she had held for her idol was now lost, but at the same time she felt encouraged—Scootaloo could become that awesome too. All it would take was practice, and it was suddenly within reach. Chapter 5Scootaloo couldn't sleep. The sun had gone down hours ago, and all she had done since going to bed was to lie there alone in the dark. She couldn't bear to look at her poster of Rainbow Dash any more; it only reminded her of what she couldn't have. She wished she had never seen that flier about the stuntpony competition. "Why did I have to get my hopes up?" Scootaloo sat up and started punching her pillow. "Why did they have to encourage me?" Her voice became a growl as she thought of her friends. She threw one last punch into her pillow then buried her face in it to muffle a scream. Scootaloo lay there silently for a while after that, catching her breath. They had no idea how hard the last week had been on her. Each day had been one let-down after another. Giving up had been a relief. Now Scootaloo could just forget about the whole thing. She only hoped that her friends would forget about it too, so they wouldn't ask her why she's not in Manehattan competing for those tickets next month. Scootaloo didn't want to have to lie to her friends about why, though she had already picked out a good one: "I don't really need the tickets, so I figured I'd let some other kid win them." "I bet he'll be real happy," Scootaloo said to herself. Scootaloo's stomach growled; a wilted daisy and alfalfa sandwich was starting to sound pretty appetizing. So the young filly got out of bed and went downstairs. When she got to the kitchen, however, she found that Honeydew had used up the last of it for herself. All that was left was half a loaf of stale bread, and half a sandwich on the coffee table. Scootaloo went over to claim that last half for herself, and there she found Honeydew asleep on the couch, as was not uncommon for the mare. Also on the table was a small bag with dried flower buds in it. Scootaloo had no way of knowing, but they were poison joke flowers, harvested before they bloomed—it was their pollen that caused the magical joke effects for which the flowers had been named. In the ashtray on the table was a poison joke cigarette that Honeydew had lit shortly before falling asleep. It had smoldered down about a third of the way since then, and its end still glowed faintly while a wispy trail of smoke rose off it and swirled in the air. Scootaloo looked at it curiously. She glanced at Honeydew to make sure she was still sleeping before taking both the sandwich and the cigarette back to her room. Chapter 6Scootaloo was flying. The wind itself carried her aloft like a feather. Above her were the boundless heavens, a bright blue sky that went on forever, and every direction was up. Scootaloo flapped her wings; they were full-grown and strong. Every beat of her wings sent her higher into the open sky. She soared slowly at first, feeling the air rushing all around her, but the higher her wings brought her, the faster she went. The whole sky, in all its infinite beauty, belonged to Scootaloo. Time itself passed at her whim; in one moment the sky was as bright and warm as any clear summer day, and in the next it was the middle of the night, and the sky was full of stars. The stars danced with Scootaloo, swirling around her and pushing her higher still. They swept her up into a bright column of light which exploded into a bright sunny day once again. Faster. Scootaloo wanted to go faster, and no sooner had the desire occurred to her than it became reality. She no longer felt the wind on her face or whipping through her mane. She became nothing but a pair of graceful wings rising ever higher into a sky that no longer resembled the familiar heavens above Equestria—the day, the night, the sun and the stars all melted together and wrapped themselves around Scootaloo. Her wings made her one with the sky. Scootaloo was home at last. Scootaloo was in her room. Half of a stale daisy sandwich lay untouched on the nightstand. Scootaloo lay on her back in bed and stared up at the ceiling with the butt of a poison joke cigarette clutched between her lips. The end of it glowed bright orange as she took a final drag off of it. The smoldering end burned down to her lips and singed her before going out, but she didn't even flinch. To Scootaloo, the cigarette wasn't there. She had only her wings carrying her up into the sky; her wings were all she needed. Chapter 9Applejack and Big Macintosh were sitting at the kitchen table having one of their arguments where they yelled at each other but kept their voices down so Granny Smith wouldn't hear. Big Mac was doing most of the yelling; he was usually the quiet one in the family, but when he was cross about something, boy would he let you know about it. Sometimes when he really got going, he'd bring up things from two or three months prior, as though he'd been saving them up to get all his yelling done in one go. Applebloom never understood what they argued about—this time it was something about somepony leaning on the farm—but she did know it was a bad time to interrupt them when they were like that. Still, she was certain that what she needed help with was important enough, and they could go on fighting all night long if she waited. "Applejack? I need some help," Applebloom said as she climbed up into the chair next to her big sister. The table was covered from one end to the other in papers, none of which held any meaning to the young filly, but Applejack felt it necessary to casually turn a few of them face-down when she heard Applebloom. Big Mac closed his mouth abruptly in the middle of his rant, and he and Applejack briefly shared a silent look. After that, Big Mac lowered his head and became interested in examining the linoleum floor tiles while Applejack turned to face her little sister and smiled at her. "Whatcha need help with, sugarcube?" Applebloom fidgeted in her seat and idly rubbed her forehooves together. "I think something's wrong with Scootaloo, but I don't know what. She was acting all weird today, and she lied to me and Sweetie Belle about why she didn't want to hang out with us." Big Mac quietly slipped out of the room while Applejack took a moment to consider this and then sighed. "Well, you know you three are together all the time. Do you think that she maybe just wants some time to herself?" Applebloom stood up in her chair. She knew it that wasn't it; she knew something was wrong, but she couldn't explain it right. All she could do was ask, "But why would she lie about it?" Applejack reached over and put her hoof on her little sister's shoulder to calm her down. "Sometimes ponies lie because they're afraid the truth will sound bad, even when it really ain't. If Scootaloo wants some time to herself, just let her have it. She'll come back to y'all when she's ready. Okay?" It wasn't really a satisfying answer; Applebloom was still convinced that something was wrong, but she resigned herself to having to figure it out on her own. "Okay," she said, sighing. "Try not to worry yourself about it too much," Applejack said as she leaned over to hug her sister. "Now you run along and get ready for bed. I'll be along to tuck you in shortly." She kissed Applebloom on her forehead and sent her on her way. Chapter 14Honeydew was mad. "What the hell are you doing out of your room!" she yelled. She reached for Scootaloo to drag her back inside, but Rainbow Dash got in the way. "Don't you lay a hoof on her," Rainbow Dash said as she pushed her way inside the house. Scootaloo came in behind her, but kept her distance. "You can't come in here. And you have no right to tell me how—" "I'm here to help Scootaloo, and you and me are going to have a talk about what you're doing wrong here." "Don't you judge me! That little delinquent doesn't need help; she needs a good spanking to straighten her out!" Honeydew leaned around Rainbow Dash to level her gaze at Scootaloo. "I told you what would happen. So help me—" Rainbow Dash kept herself in the way and spread her wings out to block Honeydew's line of sight. "Go up to your room, Scootaloo. I'll come talk to you when I'm done here," she said over her shoulder. Scootaloo hesitated, but only briefly. She hurried up the stairs and closed the door to her room behind her. After a moment to catch her breath, though, she opened the door a crack so she could listen to what was going on downstairs. Honeydew's voice was loud and clear. "How dare you come into my home and tell me how to live my life!" "I'm looking out for Scootaloo because apparently nopony else is." "I never asked to be responsible—" "Well too bad, because you are. Now I don't care what you do with your life, but yours isn't the only one you're in charge of here." "If you care so much, why don't you just take her?" There was silence, and then Honeydew continued with a note of smugness in her voice. "Not so high-and-mighty now, are you?" Their voices were quieting down, and it was getting harder for Scootaloo to make out what they were saying. Rainbow Dash said something, but it was too muffled. "You think I haven't tried?" Honeydew's voice sounded sad now. That was the last thing Scootaloo heard that she could understand. She quietly closed her door and then climbed up onto her bed where she covered her face with her pillow and waited in darkness and silence.
Chapter 1Rainbow Dash was flying. She was soaring around the sky so fast that all anypony could see of her was the rainbow streak she left in her wake. Scootaloo, along with her friends Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, and most of the rest of Ponyville, was watching Rainbow Dash do a practice run for a routine she would be performing at the upcoming Cloudsdale Sky Rally. While Rainbow Dash's movements were too fast to follow for most of her audience, Scootaloo could see her perfectly. The young filly had learned how to watch her idol. Unlike the other spectators, she didn't try to follow Rainbow Dash with her eyes alone, and while Dash zoomed across everypony else's field of vision, Scootaloo was already turning her whole body, hopping around to follow Rainbow Dash. She never once lost sight. Scootaloo could see every move that Rainbow Dash made in the air: the beats of her wings, the way she alternately tucked her legs in or stretched them out to change her drag and center of mass, even the way her rainbow mane and tail rippled behind her. It was all crystal clear to the young filly. Rainbow Dash made a close pass along the ground, a move met with raucous applause. The gust of wind that followed her swept up a number of fliers that had been posted around. One of these fliers landed in Scootaloo's face so she couldn't see Rainbow Dash's next stunt. After pulling the flier off her face, Scootaloo had a look at it. "Junior Stuntpony Competition," it read. It was advertising an event being held next month in Manehattan, an event for young ponies like Scootaloo to show off their moves and compete for prizes. "Sweetie Belle! Applebloom! Look at this!" Scootaloo called to her friends and showed them the flier. Her small wings buzzed with excitement. "But Scootaloo, don't you do stunts all the time around here?" asked Applebloom. "Why would you want to go all the way to Manehattan to do them?" "Because look at the first place prize: two VIP tickets to a Wonderbolt show!" answered Scootaloo. "I can totally win that, easy. Rainbow Dash loves the Wonderbolts, so I know she'll want to go with me when I offer her the other ticket." Scootaloo read further down the page and then her excited grin faded. "Oh. Except there's a registration fee, and the deadline to register is in two weeks." "Can't you just ask your parents for that?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Now, Sweetie Belle," Applebloom said as she shifted her tone to a mock imitation of her sister's often stern demeanor. "It ain't right to just go asking for handouts all the time. A filly's gotta know the importance of hard work and earning the things you want." She perked up as an idea came to her. "I know! All three of us can work together to find a way to make enough money to pay for the registration fee, and maybe we'll find our cutie marks in the process." All three of them then cheered out in unison, "Cutie Mark Crusader Entrepreneurs!"
Chapter 2The Cutie Mark Crusaders wasted no time in getting started with their first venture into the world of capitalism: a lemonade stand. The stand itself was a simple construction; essentially an overturned crate for a table with a sign held aloft by two boards nailed on either side of the box. The materials, assembled by Applebloom, had been appropriated from the supply shed at Sweet Apple Acres. It was decorated with paints in a variety of colors and with simple curtains hanging along the sides—Sweetie Belle's contributions, "borrowed" from Rarity's shop. The sign read "Lemonade" in large bold letters, and even had the stereotypical backwards "e" in its spelling; a point that had been the subject of debate among the Crusaders. Applebloom thought that spelling it with backwards "e"s would appear quaint and attract more business, while Scootaloo argued that they should attempt to look professional. Sweetie Belle couldn't make up her mind on the matter, but eventually came up with the winning solution: they split the difference and wrote only the last "e" backwards. After they had finished constructing the stand, the young fillies set up shop in the middle of Ponyville where there was always plenty of foot traffic. The sun was shining bright and the sky was clear. It was a warm day, and after Scootaloo arrived, hauling a large wooden bucket full of fresh lemons (also appropriated by Applebloom from her family's farm) in the red wagon that she towed behind her scooter, the Crusaders were able to start mixing the lemonade. No sooner had they set their first pitcher on the stand than they had their first sale to a passing mare who smiled as she paid her two bits. Sales were slow, but steady for the first hour, and by Applebloom's estimate, they would earn enough to cover the registration fee for Scootaloo to enter the Junior Stuntpony Competition by sundown. That's when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up. Diamond's father, Filthy Rich, was with them, and he was helping—or, rather, he was overseeing the construction of their own lemonade stand. A small team of construction ponies under his employ quickly assembled a long counter made of solid oak which had been sanded, stained, sealed, and polished to a mirror shine. A large, sparkling sign went up over the counter, promoting the new rival stand, and its lower price of only a single bit. "Lemonade" was spelled with both "e"s facing the correct way, and all the letters were expertly carved into the wood. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn't even appear interested in running their own stand, as they brought reclining lawn chairs with them and sat far behind it where they wouldn't have to dirty their hooves. They had convinced Snips and Snails to operate the stand for them without any promise of compensation (something about "It will look good on your resume later.") Within minutes of the rival stand's completion, every pony in the town was buying their lemonade from Diamond and Silver. Theirs even came with ice, making it the perfect refreshment on a hot summer day. Rather than attempt to compete when they were so seriously outclassed, the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave up and hauled their ramshackle crate with its attached sign and curtains back to their treehouse. They abandoned their lemonade stand in back and swore never to speak of it again. They would just have to try something else tomorrow.
Chapter 3Pulling weeds. That was Appleboom's big idea: They would go door-to-door around town, offering to do yard work for money. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle needed a lot of convincing to go along with it. Applebloom had plenty of experience working the fields on her family's farm, and to hear her tell it, it was some of the easiest work a pony could do. The potential of ending up with a weed-pulling cutie mark was the biggest concern. What eventually sold them on the idea, though, was when Applebloom pointed out that there would be exactly zero risk of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showing up to steal their customers away. "That would be quite a sight, for sure!" Sweetie Bell had said as the three of them shared a laugh. "Can you imagine Diamond Tiara doing work? For herself? With her hooves? I'd pay to see that!" Once they had finished laughing and were all firmly in agreement that seeing Diamond and Silver doing manual labor would be a sight worth paying to see, the Cutie Mark Crusaders set out for a day of hard work. It turned out that, while Sweet Apple Acres was certainly the agricultural center for the entire town, lots of ponies had small flower and/or vegetable gardens, and they were all more than happy to pay someone else to take care of them. The work wasn't even that bad once they got into it. It was all second nature to Applebloom, but Scootaloo picked it up easily enough. Even Sweetie Belle described it as "playing in the dirt" while remarking about her sister would probably faint if she ever had to do anything so common. By the late afternoon, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had visited several homes and spent an hour or so at each of them. They had nearly raised all the money they would need to send Scootaloo to the stuntpony competition; one more house would do it. And did they ever find the mother load: The final house they approached was owned by an old widow who rarely ever left her house, and had let her entire yard run rampant with every kind of weed that had ever been known to grow in Ponyville (and several others that the young fillies had never seen before). The old mare was stingy, and haggled the price down to half the hourly rate that everypony else had been paying—to be paid only when the entire yard was cleared. Still, though, with the amount of work her yard would require, it would be more than enough to cover Scootaloo's registration fee, so with only a few hours of daylight remaining, the Crusaders agreed and got to work. One of the most prolific weeds was thistle, and after only an hour of hard work, all those prickles had given the Crusaders sore hooves and mouths. They kept working through it, though, encouraged by reminding themselves that they were almost finished and then they could return their attentions to less back-breaking ways of earning their cutie marks. By the end of the day, with the sun resting low on the horizon, even Applebloom was exhausted. While Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat down to rest, Applebloom went up to the house and knocked on the door. She asked the old mare for their payment when she answered. "I told you I'd pay you when the job is done! I still see a weed in my yard. There!" said the old mare, pointing to a lone dandelion flower in an otherwise pristine yard. "You lazy kids aren't getting a cent out of me until you've finished." "I'll get it," Scootaloo said as she got to her hooves and trotted over to the dandelion. She ached all over, but what was one more little flower? She grabbed the stem in her teeth. "Make sure you get the root!" yelled the cantankerous old mare. "If you don't get the root, it'll just grow back and then I'll have a yard of nothing but weeds!" Scootaloo rolled her eyes and bit down lower on the plant, grabbing up as many of the leaves as she could before she started pulling. It was a stubborn little flower, but Scootaloo wasn't about to let a stupid plant get in her way now. She pulled harder, but still the dandelion wouldn't budge. She put her whole weight into the effort, and even started flapping her wings. Sweetie Belle, seeing the trouble her friend was having, grabbed one of the small garden trowels they had brought with them and went over to help. She pushed the trowel into the dirt under the dandelion. As soon as the blade cut through the weed's taproot, it no longer resisted Scootaloo's attempt to pull it out. Suddenly the young pegasus filly had every ounce of her own strength pulling her in one direction with nothing holding her back. Scootaloo went flying, completely out of control, and she crashed through the old mare's window. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both rushed to the window to look in on their friend; she was dazed, but unharmed, and as soon as the old mare was satisfied that she wouldn't be responsible for any medical bills, she began angrily demanding payment to fix her broken window. The day ended with the Crusaders giving up everything they had earned that day and going home with nothing but aching backs and shoulders for their trouble. Tomorrow, they agreed. Tomorrow they would find another way to earn that money.
Chapter 4Over the course of a week, Scootaloo and her friends tried a variety of different jobs in an effort to raise enough money to send Scootaloo to the Junior Stuntpony Competition in Manehattan next month. The Cutie Mark Crusader Courier Service had exactly one client, and after the Crusaders lost the package, it didn't seem fair to charge for it. At least, unlike their attempt at yardwork, they didn't end up having to pay for it in the end since, as their customer readily admitted, shipping fireworks in a hastily taped-together paper bag and entrusting it to a bunch of young fillies had probably been the first mistake made that day. Ponyville's mayor had briefly employed the girls to fill in for her vacationing secretary. But an argument broke out when competing contractors ended up scheduled to meet with the mayor at the same time, each assured that his was the winning bid for the job of renovating the town hall. The Crusaders made an attempt at selling their services as conflict mediators, but the mayor instead made the wise decision to send everypony home and simply wait until her secretary returned. Pet sitting was suggested at one point, but after Sweetie Belle pointed out that they had tried that once already and it hadn't turned out very profitable, they skipped the idea and moved on to the next one: Cutie Mark Crusader Building Inspectors. Surprisingly to the young fillies, there was more to that job than simply showing up at ponies' houses, issuing citations, and demanding payment. The mayor was not happy about having to deal with the numerous complaints she had received on her day off, and strongly encouraged the Crusaders to not try their hooves at any more civil service jobs. The Crusaders tried a few other things after that, but could no longer find anypony willing to pay them by then. It was at this point that they decided to give up on making money for themselves. "I think we've learned the value of hard work by now," Applebloom said with a note of resignation. "I'm mighty sorry, Scootaloo, but I guess we're just not cut out for making money on our own." "At least we know we gave it our best shot," said Sweetie Belle as she put a comforting hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "So there's no shame in asking your parents to pay the registration fee now." Applebloom nodded in agreement. "And hey, once you're there, we know you'll win for sure. Ain't nopony better on a scooter than you. You'll be watching the Wonderbolts with Rainbow Dash in no time!" Scootaloo forced a smile for her friends. "Thanks." She heaved a sigh and looked up into the sky which was already starting to turn orange as the sun neared the horizon. "I better get home. I'll see you later," she said as she put on her helmet and hopped onto her scooter. She waved goodbye to her friends as she rolled off. Once her friends were out of sight, though, Scootaloo stepped off her scooter and simply walked it home instead. She didn't really feel like riding anymore; it only reminded her of what she no longer held out hope of going to. "Scootaloo, is that you?" called a voice as soon as Scootaloo came in the front door of her home. "Yeah, it's me, Honeydew. Is there anything for dinner?" Scootaloo called back. "I see I'm still not getting anywhere with asking you to call me 'mom,' am I?" muttered the mare as she rolled over on the couch and reached for a freshly-rolled smoke on the coffee table. "There's sandwich stuff in the kitchen," she said through gritted teeth as she held the smoke in her lips while lighting it. "Make one for me will you?" The bread was stale, and the daisies and alfalfa sprouts were starting to wilt. Scootaloo took one look at them and decided she wasn't that hungry anyway. She didn't bother making a sandwich for Honeydew, and quietly went upstairs to her room. She locked the door and slumped down on top of her bed. Not tired enough to fall asleep, the young filly just lay there and stared up at the poster of Rainbow Dash on her wall while the sun went down outside her window.
Chapter 7The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at their treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were busy talking about something, but Scootaloo didn't pay attention to what. She was sitting by herself in the corner with her back against the wall while she tossed a ball into the air. Scootaloo watched the ball as it rose up above her, nearly touching the ceiling before slowing to a stop. It hovered there at the peak of its arc for only an instant, and then sped up rapidly to fall back into Scootaloo's waiting hooves. Each time she caught it, she tossed it up again. The ball had pretty colors—a whole rainbow swirled around on its rubber surface, and the way it would spin when Scootaloo threw it made the colors mix together in different ways each time. Sometimes there was more blue and green, sometimes red and orange. If she got it spinning fast enough, the ball turned some shade of off-white. Scootaloo started wondering about the ball: Was it a ball because it was round? Or was it round because it was a ball? It wasn't perfectly round, though; it had tiny little raised bumps all over to make it grip better, and there was a seam that ran all the way around the middle, and there was a dimple in the seam so it could be inflated. None of that was visible except up-close, though, so did that make the ball more round when it was far away? Did that make it less of a ball up-close? "Earth to Scootaloo!" Applebloom hollered. "Huh?" Scootaloo turned her head to face her friends, forgetting about the ball she had in the air. It came down right on top of her head and bounced away while the young filly rubbed a hoof where it had hit her. "Are you alright, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't really hurt." "That's good, but I meant besides that," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle approached. "You seem kinda out of it today. Something bothering you?" "You're not upset because we couldn't make the money you needed for the competition, are you?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What? No. No. I'm not upset. I'm . . . um . . . I was just thinking. I was thinking about, um . . ." Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an answer. She quickly settled on her scooter, propped against the wall by the door. "About a new trick I wanna do on my scooter. That's all I was doing." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a look with each other briefly before they asked Scootaloo what the trick was and if she would show it to them. "Oh. It's, uh, not ready yet," Scootaloo said. "I'm still figuring out how I'm going to do it exactly. But you can bet you two will be the first to see it when it's ready." She forced a wide grin and hoped that her friends wouldn't ask her more about it. Much to Scootaloo's relief, her friends shrugged and let the matter go. "Come on," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle headed for the door. "We're going to go meet Featherweight. He said he'd show us his camera, so maybe we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Photographers." Scootaloo got up to follow her friends, but as she glanced out the window, she thought about what time it was. It was early afternoon, so Honeydew had probably woken up and gotten hungry by now. There was no food left in the house, so she'd have to go out to get more. That meant the house would be empty, and Scootaloo could swipe another one of those cigarettes. "Scootaloo, are you coming?" called Sweetie Belle. She and Applebloom were already at the bottom of the ramp while Scootaloo was just standing in the doorway. "You two go without me. I forgot, I have to go, um . . . wash windows." "Wash windows? Are you still trying to earn money for that competition?" Applebloom asked. "Do you want our help?" "No. I gave up on that already—gave up on trying to earn money for it, I mean. And no, you go have fun with Twist—" "Featherweight." "Right. That's who I meant. You go have fun. I just have chores to do." "I thought you said you were going to wash windows," said Sweetie Belle. "Huh? Oh. My chores are washing windows. That's what I meant." Scootaloo forced a dry laugh while she walked her scooter down the ramp from the treehouse. "Anyway, gotta go. Bye!" She couldn't get moving fast enough once she was on the ground. Scootaloo sped off on her scooter, leaving her friends behind. "I think there's something wrong with her," Sweetie Belle said as she watched Scootaloo disappear into the distance. "It ain't just you," said Applebloom. "Something's eating at that filly. Let's go tell Featherweight we'll have to take a rain check, and then we'll check up on Scootaloo."
Chapter 8The plan had been perfect: Honeydew was out of the house, so it was simple to find her stash and take one of the poison joke cigarettes. It was such a perfect opportunity, Scootaloo decided to help herself to a second one for later. She hurried up to her room where she closed the door and drew the curtains across her window. Scootaloo hid one cigarette under her mattress and lit up the other one. The first hit burned her throat, but not as bad as the first time last night. Scootaloo was able to hold back the coughing until she had taken a full breath of smoke. The first time she tried it, she had coughed so hard she nearly threw up, but this time was better. After a few deep breaths to steady herself, she was ready for more. She had just brought the cigarette back to her lips when she heard hooves stomping up the stairs. Then came Applebloom's voice from the hallway, "Scootaloo? You up here?" Scootaloo hastily dropped the cigarette onto the floor and ground it under her hoof to put it out just in time to keep it hidden as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle opened the door and came into her room. She put on a wide grin and said, "Oh hey, you two. What're you doing here? I thought you were busy." "We were worried about you, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said. "It's not like you to run off like that. Is something wrong?" "Wrong? No. Why would anything be wrong?" Scootaloo's eyes darted back and forth between her two friends. Did they always stand so far apart? "Well you said you had to wash windows, but it don't much look like that's what you're doing. And I—" Applebloom stopped and sniffed at the air. Her nose wrinkled. "What's that smell? You're not playing with matches again are you, Scootaloo? Indoors?" "What smell? I don't smell anything. Do you smell anything, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked. "Oh no," Sweetie Bell said. "You're not getting me with that again. Last time I said I smelled something you said 'she who smelt it dealt it' and blamed it on me." Scootaloo snorted and laughed as she remembered that incident. "Yeah. But this time it was Applebloom who smelt it." She looked over at Applebloom. Scootaloo felt her face stretching as she smiled and laughed raucously while pointing her hoof. "Whoever spoke it broke it." "I did not! That's not even what I'm talking about. I—" "She who denied it supplied it!" chimed Sweetie Belle with a laugh of her own. She was pleased to be on the other side of the joke this time. Applebloom shot her a cross look, though, which immediately quashed any intention to continue the crude rhyming game. Scootaloo was still giggling uncontrollably though. Applebloom sighed. "Alright, fine. You're having a good time without us. Let's go, Sweetie Belle. We'll see if Featherweight still wants to show us his camera." And with that, Scootaloo's friends left. Scootaloo locked her door after they were gone, and peeked out her window from around the curtain. She waited until she saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walking away from the house before she salvaged what she could of the cigarette she had stomped on. She'd only had one hit off it and already her wings felt lighter than air. Soon she would be soaring again, and she couldn't wait.
Chapter 10Ponyville was quiet at night, which made it easy for Applebloom to go unnoticed as she made her way across town, having snuck out after her big sister had tucked her in for the night. She was determined to do something, even if she didn't have any idea what that something would be. She arrived at Scootaloo's house; it was dark and silent, like every other house in town. Applebloom circled around the house to where she could look up at the window to her friend's room. It was wide open. "Scootaloo?" Applebloom called out, careful to not be too loud. After a moment, her attention was drawn up above the window to the roof where she heard the sound of hooves on shingles. "Applebloom?" Scootaloo called back as she peeked out over the edge of the roof. "What are you doing all the way down there?" "What are you doing up on the roof? How did you get up there anyway?" "I climbed," Scootaloo answered, pointing a hoof toward a decorative lattice that ran up the side of the house right next to her window. Applebloom followed suit and climbed the lattice up to meet her friend. Scootaloo helped pull her up onto the roof before she returned to lying on her back and staring up at the night sky. Applebloom watched her put something between her lips; the end of it glowed bright orange as she took in a breath through it. "What are you doing up here?" asked Applebloom. Scootaloo breathed out, sending up a small plume of wispy smoke that seemed to glow in the dim light of the half moon. "I wanted a better look at the sky," she answered. "Isn't it beautiful? It's full of stars, but it's also so empty, and it goes on forever." "Scootaloo . . . what is that?" Applebloom asked as she watched her friend take another drag off the poison joke cigarette. "Something I swiped from Honeydew. It's incredible. Here." Scootaloo sat up and held out the smoldering cigarette. "You gotta try it." "I don't know, Scootaloo. Something just don't seem right about this. Is this why you were acting funny all day today? I don't think I wanna be like that, and I don't think you should neither." Scootaloo withdrew her offer and took another drag for herself—a long one so Applebloom could watch it burn down almost to her lips. "I've never felt this good before," she said as she breathed out another cloud of smoke. "What's so wrong about that? I thought you were my friend." "I am your friend! Why do you think I snuck out and came all the way out here in the middle of the night? I'm worried about you." "Well I'm fine. Never better. You can stop worrying now. Maybe you should run along back home before you get in trouble with your big sister." Applebloom clenched her jaw and then sighed, shaking her head. She carefully climbed back down the lattice. Once on the ground, she glanced back up at the roof and saw Scootaloo's head peeking over the side again. "Applebloom?" Scootaloo called down to her. "You won't tell anypony, will you?" Without an answer, Applebloom hurried home.
Chapter 11Scootaloo stayed up on the roof through most of the night. She let herself forget about Applebloom's intrusion, and she instead gazed up into the night sky and lost herself among the stars. It was nearly dawn when she climbed back down into her bedroom. She tucked herself into bed and fell asleep right away. It was several hours later when Honeydew woke up on the couch, where she had fallen asleep right about the time Scootaloo had been climbing up onto the roof. After rolling over a few times, Honeydew decided it was time to get up. She yawned and stretched her back as she got up, and she then went into the kitchen to make a sandwich. She made two—one for herself, and one for Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, food!" called Honeydew from the bottom of the stairs. When there was no answer, Honeydew shrugged and left Scootaloo's sandwich on a plate on the stairs. She returned to the couch where she ate her sandwich and then lay down to take a nap. Honeydew's nap was interrupted when she opened her eyes to find Scootaloo rummaging through her stash of poison joke cigarettes. "What the hell are you doing?" she yelled at Scootaloo as she pulled the young filly away and shoved her into the corner of the couch. "I was only looking," said Scootaloo. "Don't you lie to me! You were stealing from me, weren't you?" Honeydew glared down at Scootaloo. "Weren't you?" she repeated, louder. Scootaloo pursed her lips and then stood up defiantly. Her small wings flared up at her sides. "Yeah, I was. So what? It's not like you even would have noticed. What do you even care what I do anyway?" "Don't you take that tone with me. I'm in charge here, and as long as you're under my roof, you'll follow my rules. This"—Honeydew pointed to the poison joke on the coffee table—"is not for you." "What's the big deal anyway? You do it all the time." "That's different. And I don't have to explain myself to you. You're grounded. Go to your room." Scootaloo locked eyes with Honeydew. She didn't move. "Go to your room now," Honeydew repeated. "Or . . . or I'll spank you." Scootaloo laughed. "Spank me? What do you think I am? A baby foal?" Her patience exhausted, Honeydew grabbed Scootaloo by her foreleg and bodily pulled her over to the stairs. "Upstairs. Now. Or if you want to keep acting like a baby, so help me, I'll treat you like one." The look in Honeydew's eyes was clear: Scootaloo could shut up and go upstairs or things would escalate. Scootaloo shut up and went upstairs to her room. Her final act of defiance was to slam her door as loudly as she could just as she heard Honeydew yell up the stairs to not slam the door. The house was silent after that. It was in that silence that Scootaloo made up her mind to run away. Honeydew was right: as long as she lived here. . . Scootaloo climbed out her window and down the lattice. Once on the ground, she got on her scooter and sped away from Honeydew's house.
Chapter 12Actually running away had been easy, but with no idea where to go and no plan for what to do, Scootaloo's new-found freedom quickly turned into several hours of boredom. She avoided Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, figuring that they wouldn't want to spend time with her anymore, and Applebloom would probably just tell her to go home anyway. As it got dark outside, Scootaloo started to consider going home because she had nowhere to sleep. But going home would be to admit defeat, and she'd have to put up with Honeydew forever. After some deliberation, Scootaloo made her way to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had already gone home for the day, so Scootaloo had it all to herself. And that's where she settled down for the night. "Scootaloo? Scootaloo, wake up. Scootaloo!" Scootaloo's eyes snapped open; she rolled over and stood up, surprised to see Applebloom and Sweetie Belle staring at her. Bright sunlight shined in through the windows of the treehouse. "What in the hay are you doing here? Did you sleep here?" Applebloom asked. "We went to your house to see if you wanted to join us today, but Honeydew said you were grounded. Just what is going on with you?" Scootaloo blinked a few times, her eyes still adjusting to the bright daylight. "Sorry," she grunted. "I meant to leave before you two showed up. I'll just go. . ." "Go where? Home?" "Pffft," Scootaloo snorted. "Where Honeydew can yell at me and ruin my life? Forget that. I'm flying solo from now on. See you later . . . maybe. I'll try not to be here when you get here tomorrow." Applebloom blocked the way toward the door. "Now hold on a second there. This treehouse is for all of us, but if you're just gonna ditch us, then I don't think you should come here anymore—and you definitely can't be living here, Scootaloo." "You can't tell me what to do." "Well, I reckon I just did. What are you gonna do about it?" Scootaloo had enough. She struck out with her forehoof and connected squarely with Applebloom's cheek. Applebloom fell over, but she got up quickly and hit Scootaloo back hard enough to knock her down in turn. Sweetie Belle shrieked. She went to try to help Scootaloo up, but Scootaloo shoved her away to get up on her own. "Okay, you both hit each other. Now you're even. No reason to keep fighting, right?" Sweetie Belle said. "Right?" Applebloom and Scootaloo both lunged at each other and tumbled around on the floor, kicking and screaming at each other. When Sweetie Belle nearly got kicked herself, she gave up on trying to pull her friends apart and instead ran outside to get a grown-up to help. And she didn't have to go far before she spotted someone; lazily drifting by on a small cloud above was Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow!" Sweetie Bell yelled up at her. She waved her forelegs and yelled again, "Rainbow! Help!" Luckily, Rainbow Dash wasn't napping or she might not have heard the young filly calling out to her. When she saw the scared look on Sweetie Belle's face, she knew something was wrong and quickly flew down to meet her. Sweetie Belle was too upset to be able to explain what was wrong, so she just ran back to the treehouse with Rainbow Dash right behind her. Back inside the treehouse, Applebloom and Scootaloo were still fighting and their struggle had knocked over all the toys and furniture they kept there. Rainbow Dash saw what was happening and rushed over to pull the two apart. Sweetie Belle got in Applebloom's way to keep her from charging back in while Rainbow Dash had to wrap her forelegs around Scootaloo and hold her until she calmed down. Both fillies were bruised and bleeding—Scootaloo from a split lip and a notch torn in her ear, and Applebloom from a broken nose. Once everypony quieted down, Rainbow Dash asked, "What's going on here? You girls are supposed to be friends." "Some friend you are!" yelled Scootaloo. "You're the one who's been ditching us so you can be alone and smoke all day," blurted Applebloom. "Smoking?" Rainbow Dash looked down at Scootaloo. "You're smoking?" Her tone struck a note of shame in the young pegasus filly; it wasn't accusatory or angry—Rainbow Dash was disappointed. Scootaloo suddenly couldn't bear to be around her idol anymore. She wriggled her way out of Rainbow Dash's hold on her and ran out the door before anypony could catch her. Scootaloo ran. Blood and tears trickled down her face. She didn't care where she was going. She just picked a direction and kept running.
Chapter 13After telling Sweetie Belle to take Applebloom home, Rainbow Dash set off after Scootaloo. She had lost sight of the young filly, but after a quick circle above the treetops she spotted Scootaloo running through the apple orchard. Rainbow Dash didn't try to stop her right away; instead, she followed Scootaloo from above and waited until the filly tired herself out. Scootaloo stopped running and slumped against the base of an apple tree to catch her breath, and that's when Rainbow Dash swooped in for a landing. Too exhausted to keep running, Scootaloo turned away and hid her face against the tree. "Leave me alone," she said, sobbing. "I'm not going anywhere, not until you tell me what's going on. Why were you and Applebloom fighting? What's this about you smoking? Talk to me, Scootaloo. I'm trying to help you." "I just wanted to impress you. I saw this flyer for a stunt competition and the prize was a pair of Wonderbolts tickets. I thought if I could win, you could go with me. But I'm such a failure I couldn't even earn the money to enter. Then I tried one of Honeydew's cigarettes and. . ." Scootaloo looked over her shoulder at her wing. "I felt like I was flying. It was more than I ever dreamed of. I didn't want to do anything else, but then Honeydew caught me stealing more from her, so I ran away and now Applebloom's mad at me, and you'll never want to spend time with me again." Rainbow Dash balked; she didn't know what she should have expected, but things suddenly sounded far more complicated than she was prepared to handle. But she saw that now, more than ever, the young filly who idolized her needed her help, and Rainbow Dash was never one to shy away from a challenge. "Of course I'll still spend time with you," she said as she moved closer and sat down next to Scootaloo. She put her hoof on the filly's back. "You don't need to do anything special to impress me." "I don't?" "I'll hang out with you anytime. But fighting with your friends and smoking. . . whatever it is Honeydew has. . . those are bad things, and you can't just run away from them. Come on; I'm going to help you make things right. First stop: you're gonna apologise to Applebloom." Rainbow Dash lifted Scootaloo up onto her shoulders and carried her up into the air. Together, they flew off toward the farmhouse. Applebloom was sitting at the kitchen table. She had nearly an entire roll of gauze stuffed up each of her nostrils and was holding an ice pack over her left eye. She had to sit leaning forward to keep the blood from her broken nose from draining down her throat and she had to breathe through her mouth. Applejack and Rainbow Dash went into the living room where they could be out of the way, but close-by in case the two fillies weren't finished fighting. Scootaloo climbed into the chair on the opposite side of the table from her friend. "I'm sorry I hit you," she said hesitantly. Applebloom pulled the ice pack away from her face, revealing a dark, puffy bruise in the shape of Scootaloo's hoof. "Applejack says she's got half a mind to ground me but reckons getting beat up is enough of a lesson." She brought a hoof up to her cheek and flinched. "You got a mean right hoof. Did you give me a black eye? It feels like I got a black eye." "It's around only half your eye. What about me?" Scootaloo leaned over the table and turned her head to give her friend a better look at her. "Oh, you got a real nice shiner." Applebloom held out her ice pack, but Scootaloo declined the offer. "Doesn't it hurt?" Applebloom asked as she put the ice pack back on her face. "Nah. My ear is killing me though. How bad is it?" "Well, it ain't bleeding no more. It's not so bad; you'll probably have a really cool notch to make you look tough." Applebloom started to laugh, but that made her nose hurt, so she stopped. "So are we still friends?" Scootaloo asked after a silent pause. Applebloom didn't answer right away. She wanted to forgive Scootaloo, but it didn't seem like it was that simple. "I reckon that's up to you," she said eventually. "You acted like we didn't care about you or wouldn't understand if you were having trouble. The way I see it, you're the one who stopped being our friend." "I know. I'm sorry." Scootaloo sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking." She put her head down on the table and covered her face under her forelegs. "Well, next time try trusting us." Applebloom smiled across at her friend and she peeked out from between her hooves. "We are your friends after all." "Alright, it sounds like you two patched things up," said Rainbow Dash as she and Applejack came into the kitchen. "Let's go, Scootaloo. I'm taking you home and I'm gonna have a talk with Honeydew."
Chapter 15"Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash spoke softly as she opened the door to Scootaloo's room; she hadn't gotten an answer when she had knocked. The young filly was asleep on her bed with her head buried under a pillow. Rainbow Dash sat down on the corner of the bed and gently shook Scootaloo to wake her up. Scootaloo groaned. She was sore all over now that the adrenaline from her fight with Applebloom had worn off. She pulled her head out from under her pillow and sat up. If not for her aching bruises, she might have believed the last few days to have been nothing but a bad dream. "Hey, kiddo. How you feeling?" Scootaloo held a hoof to her temple and flinched. "Sore." "Yeah, that'll happen when you pick a fight with a farmpony." Rainbow Dash chuckled knowingly as she thought of one of her own scuffles with Applejack. She took a deep breath. "So I worked things out with Honeydew for you." "She doesn't even want me here." "That's not true." "Yes it is. She hates me." Rainbow Dash put her wing around Scootaloo. "She doesn't hate you. Honeydew has her own problems, and she just doesn't know how to help with yours." "I'm grounded forever, aren't I?" "Not forever, but Honeydew insisted that you need to learn there are consequences for your actions. Personally, I think you figured out that part already, but it's not really up to me. What I'm worried about is that you might not understand what you did wrong—it's like doing a new stunt; if you mess it up somehow, you'll know about it pretty fast, but if you don't know what went wrong, you'll keep getting hurt. You know what I mean?" Scootaloo thought about that. She knew what Rainbow Dash was talking about—she'd fallen off her scooter dozens of times when trying something new. As she looked up at Rainbow Dash, she realized that even her idol must have crashed at least as many times for each of the complex and spectacular stunts that she now does flawlessly. "What did I do wrong?" "Well, I don't know all the details, but the big one is the smoking. That stuff is poison joke, and it affects everypony differently. It can be really dangerous, and you could get hurt in ways nopony can predict." "It made me feel so good, though." "So good that you stopped caring about your friends? So good that you ran away and got in a fight with Applebloom?" Scootaloo started to realize what went wrong. "Oh." She looked down at the floor, ready to accept that she deserved to be grounded. "So how long?" "One week. That'll give you enough time to figure out the details of what went wrong so you can avoid it in the future." Rainbow Dash let that sink in for a few seconds before she finally gave Scootaloo the good news. "And you'll be free in time to practice for the junior stuntpony competition." "But I couldn't earn the money for the registration fee." "That's why I'll be sponsoring you, and I'll help you practice your routine." Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched Scootaloo's face light up. She tousled the little filly's mane. "I'll see you in a week."
Chapter 16The week that Scootaloo was grounded for was possibly the shortest week of her entire life. At Rainbow Dash's suggestion, the young filly passed the time by exercising as much as she had the energy for. And she had a lot of energy; Rainbow Dash's promise to sponsor her at the competition and to help her train for it gave her something to work toward. Every time Scootaloo began to feel tired, she reminded herself what her idol had done to help her. Scootaloo was determined to not let Rainbow Dash down. Once Scootaloo was free to leave the house, her first stop was the Crusaders' treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were there, and they were happy to see their friend again. Scootaloo didn't stay long, though; she already had plans to meet with Rainbow Dash to start practicing. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle offered to come along to watch and cheer her on, but Scootaloo asked them not to. "I'm gonna be trying some new tricks, and it'll take me a while to get right," Scootaloo told her friends. "I think you two have seen me screw up enough lately. But I'll let you know when I've got my routine ready to show off." Scootaloo's friends understood, and they wished her luck with their farewell hugs. To Scootaloo's surprise and disappointment, Rainbow Dash didn't want her to try anything new for her first day of training. "You've got great enthusiasm, kid. I like that. But enthusiasm alone won't win you first place. You wanna win, don't you?" "Of course!" Scootaloo bounced, and her small wings buzzed. "That's what I like to hear! You've already got a lot of talent. I knew that much already, but I didn't realize just how much until I spent the last week trying to find anypony in town who knew as much about scooters as you do. It turns out that you're it, kid. So to start out I want you to just show me everything you know already. Start with the most basic tricks you can do. Those will be the building blocks for the fancy stuff, and you need to be able to do them without even thinking about it before we can move on to harder stuff." That made sense to Scootaloo, but it also changed the way she looked at her idol: Rainbow Dash had always seemed so naturally awesome at everything she did, but now Scootaloo could see that there had always been a lot more about Rainbow Dash than she had ever seen before. She imagined Rainbow Dash practicing the building blocks of aerial stunts while she demonstrated her own basics on her scooter. There was a strange realization within that: Rainbow Dash hadn't always been this awesome. In a way, Scootaloo felt as though some of the magic and wonder she had held for her idol was now lost, but at the same time she felt encouraged—Scootaloo could become that awesome too. All it would take was practice, and it was suddenly within reach.
Chapter 5Scootaloo couldn't sleep. The sun had gone down hours ago, and all she had done since going to bed was to lie there alone in the dark. She couldn't bear to look at her poster of Rainbow Dash any more; it only reminded her of what she couldn't have. She wished she had never seen that flier about the stuntpony competition. "Why did I have to get my hopes up?" Scootaloo sat up and started punching her pillow. "Why did they have to encourage me?" Her voice became a growl as she thought of her friends. She threw one last punch into her pillow then buried her face in it to muffle a scream. Scootaloo lay there silently for a while after that, catching her breath. They had no idea how hard the last week had been on her. Each day had been one let-down after another. Giving up had been a relief. Now Scootaloo could just forget about the whole thing. She only hoped that her friends would forget about it too, so they wouldn't ask her why she's not in Manehattan competing for those tickets next month. Scootaloo didn't want to have to lie to her friends about why, though she had already picked out a good one: "I don't really need the tickets, so I figured I'd let some other kid win them." "I bet he'll be real happy," Scootaloo said to herself. Scootaloo's stomach growled; a wilted daisy and alfalfa sandwich was starting to sound pretty appetizing. So the young filly got out of bed and went downstairs. When she got to the kitchen, however, she found that Honeydew had used up the last of it for herself. All that was left was half a loaf of stale bread, and half a sandwich on the coffee table. Scootaloo went over to claim that last half for herself, and there she found Honeydew asleep on the couch, as was not uncommon for the mare. Also on the table was a small bag with dried flower buds in it. Scootaloo had no way of knowing, but they were poison joke flowers, harvested before they bloomed—it was their pollen that caused the magical joke effects for which the flowers had been named. In the ashtray on the table was a poison joke cigarette that Honeydew had lit shortly before falling asleep. It had smoldered down about a third of the way since then, and its end still glowed faintly while a wispy trail of smoke rose off it and swirled in the air. Scootaloo looked at it curiously. She glanced at Honeydew to make sure she was still sleeping before taking both the sandwich and the cigarette back to her room.
Chapter 6Scootaloo was flying. The wind itself carried her aloft like a feather. Above her were the boundless heavens, a bright blue sky that went on forever, and every direction was up. Scootaloo flapped her wings; they were full-grown and strong. Every beat of her wings sent her higher into the open sky. She soared slowly at first, feeling the air rushing all around her, but the higher her wings brought her, the faster she went. The whole sky, in all its infinite beauty, belonged to Scootaloo. Time itself passed at her whim; in one moment the sky was as bright and warm as any clear summer day, and in the next it was the middle of the night, and the sky was full of stars. The stars danced with Scootaloo, swirling around her and pushing her higher still. They swept her up into a bright column of light which exploded into a bright sunny day once again. Faster. Scootaloo wanted to go faster, and no sooner had the desire occurred to her than it became reality. She no longer felt the wind on her face or whipping through her mane. She became nothing but a pair of graceful wings rising ever higher into a sky that no longer resembled the familiar heavens above Equestria—the day, the night, the sun and the stars all melted together and wrapped themselves around Scootaloo. Her wings made her one with the sky. Scootaloo was home at last. Scootaloo was in her room. Half of a stale daisy sandwich lay untouched on the nightstand. Scootaloo lay on her back in bed and stared up at the ceiling with the butt of a poison joke cigarette clutched between her lips. The end of it glowed bright orange as she took a final drag off of it. The smoldering end burned down to her lips and singed her before going out, but she didn't even flinch. To Scootaloo, the cigarette wasn't there. She had only her wings carrying her up into the sky; her wings were all she needed.
Chapter 9Applejack and Big Macintosh were sitting at the kitchen table having one of their arguments where they yelled at each other but kept their voices down so Granny Smith wouldn't hear. Big Mac was doing most of the yelling; he was usually the quiet one in the family, but when he was cross about something, boy would he let you know about it. Sometimes when he really got going, he'd bring up things from two or three months prior, as though he'd been saving them up to get all his yelling done in one go. Applebloom never understood what they argued about—this time it was something about somepony leaning on the farm—but she did know it was a bad time to interrupt them when they were like that. Still, she was certain that what she needed help with was important enough, and they could go on fighting all night long if she waited. "Applejack? I need some help," Applebloom said as she climbed up into the chair next to her big sister. The table was covered from one end to the other in papers, none of which held any meaning to the young filly, but Applejack felt it necessary to casually turn a few of them face-down when she heard Applebloom. Big Mac closed his mouth abruptly in the middle of his rant, and he and Applejack briefly shared a silent look. After that, Big Mac lowered his head and became interested in examining the linoleum floor tiles while Applejack turned to face her little sister and smiled at her. "Whatcha need help with, sugarcube?" Applebloom fidgeted in her seat and idly rubbed her forehooves together. "I think something's wrong with Scootaloo, but I don't know what. She was acting all weird today, and she lied to me and Sweetie Belle about why she didn't want to hang out with us." Big Mac quietly slipped out of the room while Applejack took a moment to consider this and then sighed. "Well, you know you three are together all the time. Do you think that she maybe just wants some time to herself?" Applebloom stood up in her chair. She knew it that wasn't it; she knew something was wrong, but she couldn't explain it right. All she could do was ask, "But why would she lie about it?" Applejack reached over and put her hoof on her little sister's shoulder to calm her down. "Sometimes ponies lie because they're afraid the truth will sound bad, even when it really ain't. If Scootaloo wants some time to herself, just let her have it. She'll come back to y'all when she's ready. Okay?" It wasn't really a satisfying answer; Applebloom was still convinced that something was wrong, but she resigned herself to having to figure it out on her own. "Okay," she said, sighing. "Try not to worry yourself about it too much," Applejack said as she leaned over to hug her sister. "Now you run along and get ready for bed. I'll be along to tuck you in shortly." She kissed Applebloom on her forehead and sent her on her way.
Chapter 14Honeydew was mad. "What the hell are you doing out of your room!" she yelled. She reached for Scootaloo to drag her back inside, but Rainbow Dash got in the way. "Don't you lay a hoof on her," Rainbow Dash said as she pushed her way inside the house. Scootaloo came in behind her, but kept her distance. "You can't come in here. And you have no right to tell me how—" "I'm here to help Scootaloo, and you and me are going to have a talk about what you're doing wrong here." "Don't you judge me! That little delinquent doesn't need help; she needs a good spanking to straighten her out!" Honeydew leaned around Rainbow Dash to level her gaze at Scootaloo. "I told you what would happen. So help me—" Rainbow Dash kept herself in the way and spread her wings out to block Honeydew's line of sight. "Go up to your room, Scootaloo. I'll come talk to you when I'm done here," she said over her shoulder. Scootaloo hesitated, but only briefly. She hurried up the stairs and closed the door to her room behind her. After a moment to catch her breath, though, she opened the door a crack so she could listen to what was going on downstairs. Honeydew's voice was loud and clear. "How dare you come into my home and tell me how to live my life!" "I'm looking out for Scootaloo because apparently nopony else is." "I never asked to be responsible—" "Well too bad, because you are. Now I don't care what you do with your life, but yours isn't the only one you're in charge of here." "If you care so much, why don't you just take her?" There was silence, and then Honeydew continued with a note of smugness in her voice. "Not so high-and-mighty now, are you?" Their voices were quieting down, and it was getting harder for Scootaloo to make out what they were saying. Rainbow Dash said something, but it was too muffled. "You think I haven't tried?" Honeydew's voice sounded sad now. That was the last thing Scootaloo heard that she could understand. She quietly closed her door and then climbed up onto her bed where she covered her face with her pillow and waited in darkness and silence.
