Teros

Scootaloo lived in a world that was four blocks long.

It began at the intersection of Saddle Road and Mane Street, where she and her aunt Sunny Shower lived at the top of a three story apartment building. Beyond that, while the town of Ponyville extended in every direction, Scootaloo only went east. She’d walk down Mane Street, past Sugar Cube Corner and the rest of the town square, until she came to the Town Hall and made her way down the diagonal street to the left. One block down that road and she made it to the railroad station. From there, she crossed the tracks, climbed the hill, and entered the schoolhouse. There she stayed, for a little over seven hours a day, until the bell rang and the class poured out the doors. Then Scootaloo began her trek back across her little section of town, up the stairs of the apartment building, down the hall, through the kitchen and into her room.

Not quite the life of excitement and adventure she’d planned for herself.

Being a pony of twelve years, Scootaloo was just now moving beyond art projects and recess and into the realm of studying and testing. While there had been the occasional exam in earlier school years, she often blew off studying to the last minute and spent her afternoons hunting for cutie marks with her friends.

That life continued until their efforts paid off. Sweetie Belle discovered her gift for song and performance, and was sent off to a private school in Canterlot to better foster her talents. Apple Bloom—like most of her family—found herself exceptionally gifted in farming. But unlike the rest of the Apple clan, she’d been sent off to Appleloosa to help the growing town manage its apple orchards. Only Scootaloo had been left in Ponyville, stuck in her four blocks of routine.

And now that would all change, she told herself. School was finally out, which meant months of free days and no more dreary walks across town. Her friends would be returning to Ponyville, and with there help, Scootaloo knew that this would be the summer she proved her skills in daredevilry, earned her cutie mark and finally transferred to a flight school in Cloudsdale.

Step one of her master plan: fly. And for that, she was going to need a ramp. That’s where her friends came in.

“I’ve been back in Ponyville for less than two hours, and you’ve got me digging a hole,” Apple Bloom huffed as she tossed another shovel-full of dirt over her shoulder.

“So what?” Scootaloo said. She took a sip of lemonade and passed the icy drink to Sweetie Belle as the two of them sat in the shade of a giant oak tree. “Haven’t you been digging holes for months? You’re clearly the best pony for the job.”

“If I wanted to dig holes all summer, I’d have stayed in the desert. Plenty of dirt enough out there.”

Scootaloo lay down in the cool grass and grinned. “Well I’d love to help, but I gotta save my strength for the jump. Taking off of a ramp isn’t as easy as it looks.” She took another sip of lemonade. “By the way, we’re gonna need that hole to be a little wider to fit the support system I designed.”

“And I reckon I’m building the ramp and supports too?”

“Eh. Sweetie Belle can help.”

Their unicorn friend wasn’t amused. “If you want to explain to Rarity how I got all dirty and sweaty while wearing one of her favorite hats, be my guest.”

“Couldn’t you—y’know—take off the hat?”

“And get sunburned? I’ll pass, thank you very much.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes as Sweetie Belle adjusted her large blue hat adorned with ribbons and roses. Canterlot was certainly rubbing off on her.

She let out a yawn as she sat up to see Apple Bloom’s progress. Her friend’s entire lower body was hidden in the hole, leaving only her head and pink bow showing. She’d grown quite a bit in the past few years, so that the bow that had once been larger than her mane was now only half the size, tying the red hairs into a neat ponytail. “How’s it coming?” Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom glared at her, her face covered in dust. “How about you come over here and see for yourself?”

Shrugging, Scootaloo stood up and walked out from under the shade of the tree. The difference in brightness was harsh at first, so much so that Scootaloo had to squint her eyes so much that she could hardly see. By the time her vision adjusted, the hole was empty, and Apple Bloom had dropped the shovel at her hooves.

“What’s—woah!” She hadn’t even felt Apple Bloom’s shove until she was already falling. With a grunt, Scootaloo landed face first in a two foot deep hole of dust and dirt. Behind her, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a laugh, and Scootaloo couldn’t help but giggle at herself.

As the sun passed midday, Scootaloo completed the first hole and moved on to the second. She and her friends talked about school, home, and ponies they’d met over the past year. At one point, Sweetie Belle tried to turn the conversation to cute stallions, but when Scootaloo reminded her that their old classmate Featherweight was “single and looking to mingle,” Sweetie’s face had turned red and she pulled her hat down over her eyes. They all laughed once more, and kept talking.

Scootaloo hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this. Not the crusading for cutie marks or wild antics with her friends, but just talking with them. So much of her past year had been spent in silence, what with her aunt working two jobs and barely being home. To hear another pony’s voice that wasn’t asking about math problems was a great relief indeed.

“So girls, have either of you heard from—”

Clink.

All three of them heard it. Apple Bloom shot up and over to the second hole where Scootaloo was digging, and even Sweetie Belle made her way out of the shade, hat swaying in the breeze.

“Did you find something?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I-I’m not sure,” Scootaloo said. She placed the shovel outside the hole and knelt down, inspecting the dirt. It certainly didn’t look like anything was there.

“Well don’t just stop digging, dummy!” Sweetie Belle said. “Maybe it sank a little, whatever it is.”

“Could just be a rock, y’know,” Apple Bloom joked, patting her on the back.

Sweetie Belle jumped. “Hey, wash your hooves before you touch me! You’re just as dirty as Scootaloo is!”

Scootaloo didn’t hear any of it. She pushed more and more earth to the sides of the hole, so that they built little hills where thin layers of dirt slid down, so that the more she dug, the quicker the hole filled itself. That’s when she began throwing it out of the hole entirely, hoofful by hoofful, while Sweetie Belle screamed and dodged the soil barrage.

Then, she saw it. The tip of a cylinder, unmarked and completely white. As she pulled it out, she noticed it had a cap on the bottom end, the rim of which was lined with a shimmering golden seal. As Scootaloo held the thing, her friends’ heads appeared over each her shoulders, staring.

“What is it? Lemme see!” said Apple Bloom, reaching for the cylinder. Sweetie Belle didn’t ask, she just snatched it up with her magic and pulled it from Scootaloo’s hooves.

“H-Hey!” Scootaloo shouted, jumping out of the hole. Dirt coated every part of her body, and Sweetie Belle took a few nervous steps back.

“I just wanted to look,” she said.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Well so did I, but you didn’t see me just up and take it.”

“You were totally trying to take it from Scootaloo before I did!”

“Did not!’

“Did too!”

“Girls!” Scootaloo snapped. Immediately, her friends were silent, exchanging only a dirty glare before turning to her. “I think it opens,” she said, taking the cylinder from Sweetie Belle. Wrapping one foreleg around the body and another around the cap, Scootaloo pulled and with a pop, the two came apart.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom clambered over each other to see. While they fought for the best view, Scootaloo turned the cylinder over and out dropped a rolled up piece of paper.

“Oh, what do you suppose it is?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well there’s an easy enough way to find out,” Scootaloo said. She dropped the cylinder, unraveled the scroll, and found herself staring at what looked like a hoof drawn map of Equestria and the surrounding lands. The paper was so large that even with her forelegs outstretched, Scootaloo couldn’t open it all the way, causing the scroll to sag. Different places on the map were marked with various symbols, and in the top left corner was a series of concentric circles, decorated with markings similar to those on the map.

“Omigosh omigosh omigosh!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, jumping up and down. “A treasure map! Girls, we found a treasure map! Maybe it leads to jewels or gold or something else that’s really, really shiny!”

Apple Bloom was freaking out as well. “We gotta show my sis! She’ll never believe it!”

Only Scootaloo was silent, eyes studying the paper before her. “Girls,” she spoke calmly, “I don’t think we should tell anypony about this.”

Both her friends stopped in their excitement and looked at her, puzzled. “Why wouldn’t we?” asked Apple Bloom. “If we show this to Applejack, she and her friends may be able to figure it out and—”

“That’s just it, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. Some feeling was welling up within her, growing stronger and stronger as she studied the circles. “She didn’t find this map. Rarity didn’t find it, Applejack didn’t find it, even Rainbow Dash didn’t find it. We did.” She rolled the paper back up as her friends exchanged confused looks. “If there’s anything we know about cutie marks, it’s that they’re tied to destiny. I’ve been searching for mine for longer than anypony we know, and now something like this drops into my hooves?”

"So what, you're just gonna take off? What about school?"

"And what about your aunt?" Sweetie Belle added. "There's no way Sunny would let you go treasure hunting, let alone by yourself."

Turning away, Scootaloo placed the map back in its container and sat down. What her friends said was true—Sunny would never in a million years let her leave Ponyville alone. Granted, this wouldn't be the first time she'd snuck out of town without her aunt's knowledge, though in previous years she'd never been gone more than a night. If she followed this map, there's no telling where she'd wind up, when she'd be back—if she'd be back.

"Y-Yeah," Scootaloo said. "Yeah, you're both right. Sunny wouldn't let me leave. Even if she did, it's not like I'd be able to make heads or tails of this old thing."

"Best leave it to the adults," Apple Bloom said.

The three of them began the walk back to town, having entirely forgotten an afternoon of hole-digging and ramp-building. Each agreed they'd show the map to Applejack the following day, and that Scootaloo would be the one to take it home for the night.

As she said her goodbyes and made her way back to the corner of Saddle and Mane, she clutched the map a little tighter under her wing.