Scootaloo's Dreamsby BroneyofnoelChaptersCh. 1 The AuditionCh. 2 Waking from a memory.Ch. 4 Boutique LockdownCh. 5 Cutie Mark CrusadersCh. 6 Secret PassionCh. 7 Caught!Ch. 8 Path to nowhereCh. 9 ConfessionsCh. 10 A surpriseCh. 11 All In Time (Part I)Ch.12 Shooting Star (Part II)Ch. 13 One Big Happy Family(Part III)Ch. 14 Flight and FriendCh. 15 A Proposal Apart from RealitySequel LinkAlternate Ending: StarCh. 3 Arriving in Ponyville...Ch. 16 Dreams Really Do Come TrueCh. 1 The Audition"Hello everypony...." I said to the cameras, I was nervous....I could dance in front of hundreds no sweat, but when it came to cameras and interviews, I was awful, "My name is Scootaloo, I am twelve years old and tonight, I will be dancing to the song Piano Portraits...by Roy Hoof." I finished my introduction, and I waited for the approval, and/or critiques of the judges. "Young filly," one of the judges perked up, he was older, but the lighting made anything else difficult to tell, "You seem nervous, do you know how many ponies are watching?" "No...No sir." I stuttered "There are six ponies watching you right now." he smiled, "Don't be nervous." I could tell he was a kind stallion; he must be a grandfather...or have another job that helps him be so kind. "It's not you, or them," I gestured to everypony else in the room, "Cameras make me nervous." "Well," he started, "What if we only keep one turned on?" "That would be nice." I said, and he gestured to have the cameras turned off, all but one facing right at me. "You may start anytime." he said, looking right at me. The music started, I leaped into the air, I let the music flow through me, through my spins, my dives, and my movement altogether, with each note my body moved differently...I was becoming one with the music, it was as if there was nopony else in the room. For the whole time I was dancing, I felt more alive than I ever had, not even flying matched this, not Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's love, not even my old scooter, this was unlike everything I had ever experienced. As the music died down, I did as well, on the final note I struck a pose with my left foreleg on the ground, nothing else, my mane stayed put right in its tie, and I had perfect balance. I let myself down, and looked at the judges, there faces were of amazement, except for the one kind judge, his face was just....pure surprise, as if he didn't expect that much from me, did I not look as if I could dance? Oh, it must be because I'm a Pegasus, and were not really the nimble type apparently. "How...." I gulped, "How did I do?" The first judge manually closed his jaw, and he cleared his throat, "That....was indescribable, it was pure...amazing!" he threw his hooves into the air. The second judge spoke up, "I think I speak for the board when I say, Miss Scootaloo, you have been accepted into the FillyDelphia Academy of Fine Arts." My heart skipped a beat, I was accepted! I knew I had to keep composure, but some of my enthusiasm escaped, a huge grin appeared on my face, and I jumped into the air a bit. My dreams were coming true, and this was step one. "Now, take this envelope to your parents." he said, handing me the envelope with the congratulatory note inside. I knew what I would do, I would surprise them, and I knew how to do it. They let me have time to regain my composure, and they helped me try to look sad, and it looked perfect, I saw my face's reflection...I looked depressed,...perfect. I slowly opened the door to the room, waiting to see me were the two ponies that cared about me the most...my two parents, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Of course they had adopted me, but I'll get to that later. Their smiling faces were almost too powerful to fake a frown to...almost.... "How'd it go kiddo?" Rainbow Dash asked me, I just handed her and Fluttershy the note. They hadn't read the note, but they could tell I was sad, so they just assumed. "Dear parents," Fluttershy read aloud to the three of us. "We....happy....accepted." are the words she read aloud, and then turned to me. I had a giant smile on my face, and they hugged me tightly, I felt the warmth, the warmth of family...it was amazing, just as amazing as last time. "I made it!" I exclaimed, I was so happy. "We're so proud of you!" Fluttershy said, probably as loudly as she could. "We are." Rainbow reassured as she hugged me. "So what do I do now?" I asked, smiles on all of our faces. "Wake up." Rainbow said, No NO! This couldn't be a dream. "No, this isn't a dream!" I said, panicking. "Yeah, I know, but I had to get ya back for that little joke earlier." Rainbow Dash giggle, I jumped up and tackled her. "I love you guys!" I said as me and Rainbow Dash wrestled. "We love you too." they said, almost in unison. After about ten or so minutes of laughing and playing, we walked out of the school, although I'm not the biggest fan of school, I've always wanted to dance here; I still can't believe I made it. "Well, I'm starving!" Rainbow said, "Where should we eat?" "Um....I don't know, you have any ideas Fluttershy?" I asked. "What about, since were in FillyDelphia, let's eat at one of the big, famous restaurants....to celebrate." she looked with a smile back to me. "Sounds awesome!" Rainbow flew about ten feet into the air. We walked around for a while, we could smell each smell from each restaurant, some were good, some were bad, and some were awful, like a Prench food place we walked by. After about an hour or so of walking around, we found the perfect restaurant, it was called Salad's and Such, the place was huge, it had like three floors of dining, plus a rooftop area. "Where would you like to sit Miss?" he asked us, I heard the kind, country accent. "Umm," Fluttershy debated options in her head, "Rooftop please." Rainbow's ears perked up at that, "Yay." she said happily. We climbed the spiral staircase; it had a red carpet and beautifully carved handrails. Once we arrived at the rooftop, I found out that it was more of a romantic area than family, which....I didn't really mind, although I am a tomboy filly, I really do like romantic things. Wow, I have changed a lot since I was little. The waiter sat us at a table near the corner of the building; we could overlook the city park, or the almost fully quiet streets. I sat across from Fluttershy and Rainbow, who were smiling at each other. "This is really nice Fluttershy; I like the open space up here." Rainbow said, and she nuzzled her a bit. 'You're welcome..." Fluttershy blushed. After a few minutes of conversation, most of which was on my day at the Academy, the waiter arrived back at our table. "I'm sorry ma'am, we were really busy downstairs, and now....what would you three like to drink?" "Tea please." Fluttershy said, and he nodded. "Me too." I said. "Aged Cider?" Rainbow asked. "We have two brands in stock, Apple Family, and Flimflam." "Apple Family." "We have some aged eight years, does that sound alright?" "Yes." Rainbow said, they had Apple Family Cider here? The waiter left, and about three minutes later he returned, on a tray were two teas and one bottle of cider with a glass. "Here you two are." He handed me and Fluttershy our two drinks. He put rainbow's glass on the table next, and popped off the cork of the bottle. "Half or full?" he asked. "Full please." He followed her instructions, and then gave her the drink. He pulled out a notepad, it was only then I realized he was a unicorn. "Now what would the three of you like to eat?" he asked us, oh, I forgot to look at the menu, crap...I shuffled through it quickly and found something. "And you miss?" he asked me. "Can I have the Grilled Zucchini Salad?" I asked. "Ah, fine choice." he said, and then walked off. I looked over at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, they were smiling at me. "What?" "We're just so proud of you." Fluttershy said. "I knew you had it in you." Rainbow said. "Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you." I walked over and hugged my mothers. Tonight would be amazing, I knew it.... Okay everypony, I'm trying out a new feel good story, this one should be my best, so yeah, and also...the next chapters will take place 4 years before this chapter... Ch. 2 Waking from a memory.4 years before the audition I woke up in the clubhouse, why I woke there you ask, it wasn't because we stayed the night out there, it was because I was an orphan and homeless. I sat up and stretched, I felt my back and wings pop a few times, I slept horribly that night, probably because of the rainstorm. I looked out of the window, the sun was barely over the mountains next to Ponyville, I had to hurry up and pack away the sheets before anypony knew I was here. They'd ask why I wasn't at home, where my home was, and who my parents were. The only problem was, I had no parents, I never did, maybe other than when i was born, but that was about it, everything I'd ever known was a Trottingham orphanage, right up until I ran away, the very dream I'd just had. I walked through the halls of the orphanage, it was about midnight, almost everypony else was asleep, except for me, my best friend Star, and one of the caretakers. Star was a little colt, he had a black mane, a brown coat, and blue eyes, me and him had been wanting to leave for so long, but we put it off until we were both at least 6 and a half, and yesterday was six months before his birthday, so we set off that night. Our plan was simple, jump out of the first floor window and land on the old couch that had been thrown out by the orphanage. "Star, this way." I whispered, we couldn't be caught, or we'd be beaten. He followed me, we were on the bottom floor. The only problem with this plan was that the older caretaker's desks was on this floor, the very one that was still awake. "Scoots....look." he pointed to the window, there was a note. I pulled down the note, and read it silently, You two little foals are about to be in a mess of trouble.... "Who's it from?" I asked, looking over at Star. "Me..." The caretaker, Miss Gluck, said menacingly. Star and I looked at each other, and then we ran, we an down the halls and up the stairs. We rammed and bucked through any obstacles, janitor carts, doors, anything. "Plan B?" he asked me as we were running. "Are you sure?" I asked, we both very well knew the risks. Our Plan B was just a larger version of the last plan, we could either jump off the roof onto another, or aim for the couch at the bottom. The problem with the second option was that the building was seven stories tall. "Let's go for the roof." I said as me and him made it to the rooftop. Miss Gluck was right behind us, we were about to jump, we could hear her snarling. "Jump!" I yelled as the two of us reached the edge. "NO!" Miss Gluck yelled in anger. We jumped, I looked over at Star, and he back at me, he had tears in his eyes, but I couldn't figure out why, until I noticed him dropping in altitude. Star had missed the jumping point, he had jumped too early...so he ran out of speed to early. "Scootaloo." he whispered. "Star!" I yelled, and reached a hoof out for him. He grabbed it, and it took us both down, I pulled him close to me, and we smashed through a window on the building beside us and rolled through the room. "C'mon!" he limped a bit, but shook it off. He opened the door to the hallway and we both ran out. We ran and ran, right up to the outskirts of Trottingham, right up to the train station. Star walked up to the booth, and tapped his hoof against the glass, an older pony sat up and looked down at him. "Hello." "Um yes," he started, "My mother is sick in Canterlot, and she sent me money to get on a train, so may I have two one way tickets?" "Two?" he questioned. "For me, and one for my sister." he gestured back at me, I tried to look sad, but I almost couldn't, I had escaped the orphanage. "Alright, that'll be forty-two bits." he said plainly as he rang up two tickets. "Okay." Star pulled out a small bag, in it was seventy six bits, all he had saved his entire life. The man exchanged the money for the two tickets, "Next train leaves at about 1, you've got about thirty minutes." he laid back into his chair. "Okay Scootaloo, we have thirty minutes." he said to me, looking me right in the eyes. What should we do?" I asked, we'd escaped, that was as far as I'd planned, obviously he'd planned further. "Just wait here, when the train comes, we'll go to Canterlot, then we'll plan more." We sat there, looking up at the sky, all of Princess Celestia's beauty, stretched out over an endless expanse. About ten minutes to one, the two of us stood near the tracks, from the distance, we could hear the train approaching the station. "Scootaloo...." Star said, looking at me. "What?" I asked him, he looked sad. "We're almost free." he smiled, and a tear dropped from his eye. That's when it hit me, we were co close to being free, being away from the orphanage, and we could live our own lives. The train pulled into the station, and the doors opened. Out stepped a large stallion with a ticket punch and a small tie. "Tickets?" he asked me, and I pointed to Star. "Ah, two," he punched one, "One for you," he gave it to Star, "And one for you." he handed the final one to me. We sat in the two seats farthest back from the front of the train, we wanted to see the city fall behind us. As the train started to leave, the city of Trottingham started to shrink away behind us, the only things in front of us were an endless expanse of forest, and time. We set ourselves free, the train was completely past the end of the station and me and Star relaxed. "Alright folks." the train intercom buzzed, "We have about seven hours until Canterlot, as always, the sleeper car is in back, you'll wake ten minutes before we reach Canterlot." "Star?" I asked him, "Do you want to sleep?" "Yeah," he yawned, "I'm really tired." "Me too." We both made our way back to the sleeper car, the beds were lined up on either side, it was way more comfortable than the orphanage beds. "Good night Star, I'm glad we made it." I said, my eyes closing. "Night Scootaloo, me too." I closed my eyes fully, and I fell into a world of dreams, amazing dreams of freedom, of peace, of amazement. It seemed almost instantaneous that i closed my eyes and I opened them the next morning, Star was staring out the window, his eyes wide, "Scootaloo?" he said uneasily. "What?" I asked, and I ran to the window. We could see the station, and it was surrounded by flashing lights and the royal police, we were in trouble, big trouble. "Star, we have to jump!" I yelled, we couldn't be captured, not when were this close. "Are you sure?" he asked me, there was no other way. "Yes." I said, closing my eyes. We ran to the back door, and opened it, in front of us the tracks sped by, but to our side was a soft looking field, we had to land there. "Jump right after me." he said, and checked over his shoulder at me. "i will." I said, we had less than five minutes to jump, we had to go. "GO!" he yelled, and he jumped off the side and flapped his wings quickly, sending him into the field. I followed suit, doing the same thing, I flapped them twice, and I landed about ten feet from him. "Star, come on!" I yelled. No response from Star..... I ran over to him, but I was greeted by a horrible sight. Star had hit a rock, he had landed wrong and hit a rock, and now.... Star was dead. I felt tears coming to my eyes, a few landed on his coat, they shown against it, and then I ran, I ran as fast as I could, I ran into the woods, away from Star, away from the train, away from my past. I wasn't free anymore, I was trapped, I had gotten my friend killed. I just ran until my legs collapsed from me crying, and I just laid there and cried next to a huge oak tree. Remembering that day made me cry every time, I can't remember how I got here, but I can remember the first day or two, they were almost as bad as the day Star had died, almost....nothing could make me more sad and depressed. ===================================================================================== Alright, Star dying is setting up a major plot , so don't hate for a depressed moment or two. Ch. 4 Boutique LockdownSweetie Belle and I rushed back to the Boutique, she held the key in her mouth. As we neared it, she looked at me, "You get the bottom stairs doors and windows, I'll get the top." Me on bottom, her on top, got it. We could see the boutique clearly now, it looked fine, phew. We rushed through the doors, she immediately ran up the stairs while I got started on the bottom floor, I closed window after window, I shut the back door, and locked it, then I did the same ot the front door. "Scootaloo! Help me!" Sweetie Belle yelled. I ran upstairs and looked at me, she was trying to get a huge window closed, there were six in the room. "Here!" I helped her push the pane closed, it screeched and came down with a thud. The two of us did the same for the other five windows, the whole boutique was completely locked, now we had to keep safe and keep cool. "So what do we do now?" she asked me. "Well, turn on the fans, it's gonna get hot in here." She ran downstairs, followed by me, to turn on the fans. The two of us, for extra precaution, did one more thing for safety. In dead center of the main room, the two of us used all the pillows in the boutique to make a six hoof tall fort, it had three holes in it, one for me to climb on top, one for Sweetie Belle to look out of, and one for the two of us to exit the fort, which probably wouldn't happen. "I'm hungry..." Sweetie Belle said, "Are you?" "Kind of...." I said, I was actually kind of hungry myself. "I can make some Macaroni and Cheese!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly. "Sounds good." I said, standing on top of the fort. Sweetie Belle could NOT make Macaroni and Cheese! First of all, she burned the water, which i didn't know you could do, and then she added too much cheese, so we ended up eating a bunch of extra cheesy noodles, well...not that bad actually. Sweetie Belle and I sat inside the fort, waiting for anypony to break down the door, then we would attack and defend to boutique. My eyes were drooping, I kept dozing off, I wouldn't be able to stay up much longer, we'd been up for.....a while, it was about seven now, so no sleep in 23 hours. "Sweetie Belle...." I said slowly, "I'm getting really tired, I can't stay up anymore." "C'mon then, come down here." I jumped down into the pillow fort form its roof, Sweetie belle designed a good inside, there wasn't really anyhting, but it did have another hole going to the first floor, and a bed. The bed was really only a couple of bed pillows with a blanket, but a bed none the less. "You can sleep there." "Thanks Sweetie Belle." "No problem," She yawned herself, "I might join you later, I'll be up for a little longer though." "Okay..." I yawned. I fell asleep, I had no dreams, but I slept amazingly. I felt myself getting more rested as I slept, and during that sleep, i felt some hits, not like punches, but some nudges. I woke up to sunlight shining in my face, ow...wait, sunlight...Nightmare was defeated! YAY! I looked over, and I saw Sweetie Belle next to me, she was all snuggled up in the blankets. I smiled and sat up on my haunches, the fort still stood strong, and the inside was still cool. I looked back over at Sweetie belle, she reached her hoof out to where I was sleeping, and it moved, looking for me. I had no choice but to lay back down and let it find me. It hugged me tight once it did. I wanted to resist, but I was powerless against this foreleg. "Morning." I said flatly, and then the foreleg relaxed. "Mmmmmm." Sweetie belle moaned, and then rolled over. "Wake up!" I poked her with my hoof. "No!" she giggled. "Fine, but I am!" I jumped out of bed. I trotted into the kitchen, Rarity was in there. "Hey Rarity!" I yelped with a voice crack. "Oh hello Scootaloo, is Sweetie belle awake?" "Yeah..." Sweetie Belle walked into the room slowly "What happened, why is the sun back?" I asked, and Rarity sat us down at the table. Rarity told us the story of her, and some ponies named Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, defeated Nightmare. She told us about the serpent, about the manticore, about the Shadowbolts, and about the final battle. "We finished the battle at the time the sun usually rises, and it turns out, Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia's little sister, Luna." Rarity finished, I was amazed, this was the best story ever, and it was true...which made it better. For the next seven weeks, I ate lunch at Rarity's, I started to try and get to know all of the ponies she'd mentioned, all of them were happy to make a new friend, even if it was me. The only two ponies that I hadn't been able to meet were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I walked up the narrow pathway, at the end of the path there was a small cottage. The cottage belonged to Fluttershy, I hoped she was home. "Hello?" I asked when I reached the door. "Go...go away, nopony is home!" I heard a frantic voice say from inside. "Fluttershy?" I asked I heard some locks buckle and a few latches remove, the door then opened, revealing a pale yellow mare with a pink mane and tail. She had three butterflies for a Cutie Mark, and she looked at me funny. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice scared and hesitant. "I'm Scootaloo, Rarity knows me." I said. "Oh.." she pawed at the ground. "Um, you really defeated a manticore?" I asked, and her cheeks went red. "Well yes but..." she was studdering. "That's awesome!" I jumped, and she ducked. "Please...don't yell." "Okay, so um, want to be friends?" I asked, putting on a big smile. "Sure.." she smiled kindly. "Yay, well I have to go..." I paused for a moment, "Know where I could find Rainbow Dash?" "Try looking at the clouds, she's usually resting on one." Fluttershy giggled a bit. One more chapter until we reach the 4 years in the past mark! So Close! Ch. 5 Cutie Mark CrusadersAs I walked away from Fluttershy's cottage, I became really nervous and really excited to meet Rainbow Dash. The way that Rarity had described her in the story...it was amazing! All the action, the strength, the selflessness! Sweet Luna, I wanted to meet her so bad, yet I wasn't sure what to be looking for aside from a rainbow mane, which wasn't very common, so that's what I'd scrounge around for. I looked around the clouds, mainly the low flying ones, for the rainbow mane, but all were empty. I kept searching all around Ponyville and even the Apple family farm, Rainbow wasn't anywhere that I could see. I saw it, a hint of a rainbow tail hanging from a cloud. It swayed back and forth with the breeze, so Rainbow must be asleep, either that or just being lazy. All of a sudden, the tail flipped and rolled a few times, still staying on the cloud, she was waking up. I started running as fast as I could towards the underbelly of the cloud, even using my small wings to propel me forward to the cloud. I saw two cyan hooves stretch above the surface of the cloud, then a rainbow mane rose up, followed by the rest of her body. I was almost under the cloud when I yelled, “Rainbow Dash!?” The mare turned around and looked down at me. I’m not sure why, but I felt a small spark. “Yeah?” she said as she descended towards me. “You’re amazing!” I said loudly. “Heh heh, thanks.” she put her hoof behind her head. “You really did all that stuff when you used the elements?” I asked, still excited. She recoiled a bit, but responded, “Yeah, who told you about that anyway?” “Rarity did! I’m friends with Sweetie Belle.” I said cheerfully. “Cool kid, I gotta go for weather duties.” Rainbow ruffled my mane, and then flew off. “Bye!” I waved my hoof, she was awesome! The speed that she flew off with was amazing, I’d never seen anypony fly like that. I trotted home, well...the cart that I’d found. I had, in the last week or so, found better pillows and blankets so I could be comfortable in there. -----------------------------------A few weeks later-------------------------------------------- Sweetie Belle and I walked towards Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara’s Cutie Mark party, Cutescinera I think, I couldn’t remember. When we got there, I saw a few other fillies and colts, only a couple of them were familiar, like Featherweight and Twist. The two of them were just mingling around the punch, listening to music, and talking to a few other of the ponies. All of a sudden, the music cut off and everypony looked over at the record player, right in front of it was the filly that Sweetie Belle had grabbed at the Summer Sun Celebration. “Wow, that is an amazing Cutie Mark!” Silver spoon said sarcastically as the two prissy fillies laughed at her. “Nice try Blank Flank!” Diamond Tiara spoke, but they said in unison by the end. We hid under a table, hoping to avoid ridicule from the two fillies. Once everypony started talking about how bad it was to be a blank flank, I spoke up, “You got a problem with blank flanks?” Everypony at the party gasped, and the two fillies in front of us shot to the sides. “I said,” I spoke louder, “You got a problem with blank flanks?” “The problem is,” Silver Spoon started, “She’s like, totally not special.” “No,” Sweetie Belle argued, “It means she’s full of potential.” “It means she could be great at anything!” I agreed, “The possibilities are, “I used a mocking tone,”Like endless!” “She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer, she could even be mayor of Ponyville someday!” Sweetie Belle chirped. “And she’s not stuck being stuck up like you two.” I said, pointing a hoof at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Ponies around them started to giggle and laugh at the two hostile fillies. “HEY, this is my party, why are you two on her side?” Diamond Tiara yelled. “Because..” Sweetie Belle and I raised our own blank flanks. “You don’t have your Cutie Marks either, I thought I was the only one!” AppleBloom said, astonished. “We thought we were the only two!” I said happily. “I for one,” Twilight said, “Think you three are very lucky fillies.” “Lucky?” Diamond questioned, “How can they be lucky?” Twilight recoiled a bit, but continued, “They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they’re meant to be!” “And they’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out!” Applejack said as she walked up, “Not just an afternoon.” Ponies murmured, and some of the smaller colts and fillies even ran up to her and asked her hundreds of questions. “Hey, what’s everypony doing, this is my party! Everypony is supposed to be paying attention to me!” Diamond yelled as she stomped her hooves. “Whatever, we still think they’re losers, right Diamond Tiara?” Silver Spoon said, “Bump Bump, sugar....lump...rump?” “Not now Silver Spoon!” Diamond said as they walked off. “My name’s Scootaloo!” I said to the filly that we’d rescued. “And I’m Sweetie Belle!” “AppleBloom!” she cheered. The party went on for quite some time, we didn’t see Diamond or Silver Spoon the whole time, near the end though the three of us decided to sit at a table and talk. “So i was thinking, now that we’re friends, I mean, we are friends right?” AppleBloom questioned. “How could we not be? We’re totally alike, we don’t have Cutie Marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy,” I started. “Totally crazy!” Sweetie belle said, and the three of us laughed. “Now that we’re friends, what if the three of us together find out who we are and what we’re supposed to be?” AppleBloom asked. “Oh Oh! We could form our own secret society!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m liking this idea!” I said. “A secret Society, yeah, we’ll need a name for it though!” AppleBloom said. “Cutie Mark 3?” “Cutastically fantastic?” “How about, The Cutie Mark Crusaders?” “It’s perfect!” I said. The three of us celebrated with some cookies from the party. A couple of weeks of crusading went by, but on one of the days, Applejack told us to follow her out to a deep part of the orchards. “Where are you taking' us?” AppleBloom asked. “We’re almost there youngins.” Applejack said. “I’ve never been here before.” Sweetie Belle said. “Ouch!” I yelped as a branch hit me. “Oh, sorry!” AppleBloom said. “There? Where? What? I don't even know what we're doing.” Sweetie belle said as she walked by the branch. “Here we are!” Applejack said as she stopped in front of a...treehouse? “What are we looking at?” AppleBloom asked. “I have no idea.” I answered. “What is that thing?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, welcome to your new clubhouse!” Applejack said proudly. After a moment of silence, Applejack continued, “Well, don’t thank me all at once.” “This was my clubhouse when I was your age. Sure it hasn't been used in a while, but it's empty and on a secluded, private part of the farm. And it's all yours. It just needs a little, uh... TLC.” Applejack said. “TLC as in Tender Loving Care or Totally Lost Cause?” I asked. “Well, maybe y’all will get you Cutie Marks when you discover your talent for...” Applejack yelled as she fell through the wall. We surrounded her, yet she continued, “Uh, house cleaning?” The rest of the day went by in a blur, us checking out everywhere we could think of to earn our Cutie Marks, the farm, SugarCube corner, the lake, the park, Rarity’s boutique, but something slowed down in the library. We were digging through the books in the library when we heard Spike say, “I had nothing to do with this.” “What’s going on in here?” Twilight said, accompanied by Cheerilee. “Well, we sure aren't getting our Cutie Marks for being librarians.” AppleBloom said, tossing a book beside her. “I should think not!” Spike said, causing a stare from Twilight, “What?” “Fillies, I think you're going about this the wrong way. Instead of trying to do things in areas you're not familiar with, why not try doing things in areas that you already like?” Twilight asked. “And I have a perfect place to start!” Cheerilee said, pulling a poster out of her saddlebag. “Showcase your talents, for all to see, at the annual Ponyville talent show!” The three of us read in segments. “There'll be all sorts of awards. Best dramatic performance, best comedy act, best magic act... Surely you can find your talent amidst all of these!” Cheerilee said. “This would be the perfect place to discover our talents!” AppleBloom said. With that, the three of us rushed off, we knew what we’d be doing, it would be a musical act, Sweetie belle would make the costumes, like rarity, AppleBloom would do the dance moves, and I would make the song. We rushed around town getting materials from Twilight, Rarity, Mr, Breezy, Applejack, and other ponies. Once we were back at the clubhouse, we got right to work on our performance. “Oh, ow!” AppleBloom said as she fell on me. “Ow, Apple Bloom! What are you doing?” I said as I got up, “Oh, I feel like I have four left hooves. I can't even spin right.” AppleBloom sighed. “Don't be silly. You just gotta keep your head forward until very the last minute, like this. See? Easy-peasy. You just gotta practice a bunch, that's all.” I said as I demonstrated a spin for her. “Wow! That does look easy. Thanks. Okay. Let's try this again.” AppleBloom tried to spin again, but alas, she fell again. “Keep practicing!” I said. “Will do!” AppleBloom said. The rest of the week went by quickly, the talent show passed, we won best comedy act, which we weren't going for, but it was a medal. I had ditched the cart to sleep in the clubhouse, and the three of us had become closer than ever. That was all a year and a half ago, a lot of interesting things had happened, the Rainbow Dash fan club had been started, Equestria almost ended...twice, and the three of us were at a royal wedding. BOOM! We’re at somewhat current time, at the -4 years mark at least, no I can start to gain steam, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter though! It took like three days to write. Also, Valve said no to the Cutie Mark 3, you know, cause of the number..... Ch. 6 Secret PassionTHIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS CHAPTER 2, IT IS RIGHT AFTER HER MEMORIES! I spun around to look back at the improvised bed, three blankets and a pillow, the same blankets I’d had since the cart a year and a half ago. I slid the blankets behind the two open boards in the floor, I’d found the little compartment when I dropped a brick and it broke a board. I put the pillow against the wall, where it stayed, unused by any of the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders. After I’d cleaned up my bed, I walked outside and looked around. The storm last night had done a pretty good amount of damage, a few apple trees were uprooted, some were hit with lightning, and it was a miracle that I’d survived all of that. I trotted down the stairs of the club house and looked back, it had taken some damage, but not major, just a few shingles missing here and there, a quick fix by AppleBloom. “Scootaloo? What’re ya doing here so early?” A surprised AppleBloom said as she turned the corner to see the clubhouse. “Uh,” I had to think of something, “I just came to see if the clubhouse was still here.” I questioned, but she seemed to buy it. “Well, there’s some on the roof, but I’ll take care of it!” she said, then pulled out a hammer and some shingles from her saddlebag. I walked away from AppleBloom working on the clubhouse; I was going to Fluttershy’s house, just like I usually do every day. We visited for an hour or two, but I’d never had the guts to tell her that I was an orphan living on my own in and un-insulated clubhouse, but maybe today I might, I had to do it for Star, it was 4 years ago today. Knock Knock Knock Fluttershy opened the door almost immediately; she usually did when I was here. “Hey Fluttershy.” I said happily. “Hello Scootaloo.” She gave me hug, just like usual. “How was last night, did you manage okay?” I asked her, I knew she had a problem with thunderstorms. “It was...scary.” her voice wavered, “I thought it might never end, how were you?” “It was bad; the clubhouse almost couldn’t hold it.” I put a hoof in my mouth, I’d just said clubhouse. “Clubhouse? Why would Applejack let you be in the clubhouse when that storm was coming?” Fluttershy questioned. “Umm, she, I...” I was in trouble now, now I couldn’t tell her about my life, “I gotta go!” With that, I shot out the door and grabbed my scooter. “Bye?” Fluttershy questioned to nopony. (Third person limited!) After a few minutes, Fluttershy had discussed the thought of Scootaloo in that storm with Angel, who responded by sending a message that she should talk to somepony else. She followed his advice and went to find the pony that was closest to her, Rainbow Dash. As she approached the park, where Rainbow usually practiced on Saturdays, she could see the cyan mare, flying and stunting about in the clouds. She would’ve just watched for awhile had it not been such a serious subject. “Umm, Rainbow?” Fluttershy called out calmly. Rainbow didn’t hear her, she just kept on practicing. “Rainbow Dash!” she yelled quietly. Again, Rainbow didn’t hear her. “Rainbow, could you maybe please come down here?” she asked, but again the cyan mare didn’t hear the barely audible sounds coming from Fluttershy “If they don’t fear you, make sure they hear you.” Fluttershy said to herself. She cleared her throat, “RAINBOW DASH, GET DOWN HERE!” This time, Rainbow heard, and was almost shot off course, by the scream. She descended towards Fluttershy, who was back to her calm self at the edge of the park. “Yeah Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, still hovering a bit. “Umm, we need to talk about Scootaloo.” “Yeah, sure, what is it?” Rainbow questioned, she wanted to get back to flying. “Scootaloo stayed out in the clubhouse in the storm last night.” Fluttershy said worriedly. “In that storm! That was one that I made, it was crazy, she could’ve been hurt, or worse!” Rainbow ended deeply. “I know,” Fluttershy paused, “That’s why I asked you about it, I asked if Applejack had let her, and she just ran off, it’s like she didn’t want to answer the question.” Fluttershy said, her mind puzzled by the situation. “Well then we have to talk to AJ about it!” Rainbow said, she no longer needed to finish her flying practice. “Okay...” Fluttershy said quietly. “Come on!” Rainbow grabbed her and flew to Applejack’s orchard. (Back to First Person!) I ran away from Fluttershy’s cottage, I can’t believe I almost gave it away, I knew I’d thought about telling her, tons of times! But, I just couldn’t, I didn’t know what to do. Well, I knew what I could do, I could go back to the clubhouse and practice my uh, secret passion, for a few hours, something that I hadn’t done in a while. I just had to make sure that AppleBloom was done working on the roof; after all, it had only been 10 or 15 minutes. I moved the brush from the path as I neared the clubhouse, the closer I got, the more the path’s debris multiplied. Right before I broke into the clearing, I heard AppleBloom leaving the roof. “Wheeooh!” she said, “That was mighty hard up there.” AppleBloom took the path that led to the barn when she left, letting me silently sneak into the clubhouse. I tip-hoofed up the steps, and almost silently closed the door. I looked over at the record player; I pulled out a record that was my favorite song to dance to . I always sang along with the first verse, it reminded me of Star. “I fly with the stars in the skies....” I sang, then my body moved like nothing it had before, I had new passion for some reason, maybe it was today’s date. The song made me want to slow dance more than anything, but today, I needed to put more passion and movement into it, I jumped, using my wings to flutter in the air for a moment or two, I kicked out, flipping my body through the air, and the spin, I used my wings to propel me right up to the point of floating. “In this moment I just feel so alive.” I finished, and put my head down, I could feel the crowds of millions cheering somewhere, but right now, right now was my time. In my mind I bowed, and walked off stage. The fans stormed all around me, I was in paradise. YAY~ Another chapter, also, hit up my pre-reader/Editor....Subtle Rampage! He's a pretty awesome author and friend, so yeah, his fic will do a complete crossover with mine eventually, you'll see! Ch. 7 Caught!(Third Person omniscient!) Applejack heard a heavy rustle, followed by a crashing sound coming from outside of the barn. She dropped the harness she was holding and rushed over to the area of origin of the sound. She found Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, both panting from the speed and the crash. “What are you two doing crashing about on my farm?” Applejack asked, Rainbow did this all the time, and frankly Applejack was getting tired of it. “What are we doing, what are you doing?” Rainbow said back. “I beg your pardon?” Applejack said sternly. “Why’d you let Scoots stay in the clubhouse during the storm last night?” Rainbow yelled, she really cared for the little filly. “I did not!” Applejack yelled, meanwhile, Fluttershy was hiding behind a tree nearby. “Well, she told Fluttershy that she did!” Rainbow pointed to Fluttershy, “Isn’t that right?” “Y-yes, but," Fluttershy spoke up, but was cut off by rainbow’s next outburst. “SEE!” “I didn’t know that Scootaloo stayed in that clubhouse.” Applejack said, “But I might know somepony who did.” she paused for a moment, “APPLEBLOOM!” Not a second later, the small cream colored filly appeared, “Yes ma’am, what’s wrong ma’am!” “Why was Scootaloo staying in the Cutie mark Crusaders’ clubhouse last night?” “Huh?” AppleBloom didn’t know, “Well, all I saw is that she was there real early and she said she just wanted to check on it.” “Real Early is right.” Applejack said. “So you don’t know why?” Rainbow asked. “Nope!” AppleBloom said. “Ugh!” “Umm, maybe is we go over there, we can find her and ask her herself.” Fluttershy pointed out to the trio of them. “Fluttershy! That’s a great idea!” Rainbow picked up Fluttershy and hugged her, which caused her to blush as well. With that, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack rushed towards the clubhouse, each of them hoping to find Scootaloo. After Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack ran off, AppleBloom decided to find Sweetie Belle. She hoped that she might have some answers. AppleBloom ran out of the barnyard and started heading towards town at tremendous speeds. She had to find Sweetie belle and find out why Scootaloo was sleeping in their clubhouse. She could see the boutique in the distance now, its carousel structure poking over the hill ever so slowly. She tried to run harder, but she couldn’t, reluctantly she kept her pace. “SWEETIE BELLE!” AppleBloom yelled as she arrived at the front door. Not three seconds later did the little filly meet AppleBloom at the front door. She looked at the heaving AppleBloom. “AppleBloom, are you okay?” “Scootaloo....clubhouse...trouble...hurry!” AppleBloom said. “What?” Sweetie Belle was flummoxed. AppleBloom took a deep breath, then continued, “ScootaloospentthenightattheclubhouseandnowFluttershy, Applejack, andRainbowaregoingtogether!” she said in a rush. “Slow down!” Sweetie Belle said loudly. “Scootaloo spent the night at the clubhouse and now Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, and Applejack are going to get her!” AppleBloom said slowly. “C’mon then, we have to help her!” Sweetie belle said as she ran past AppleBloom towards their clubhouse. The two fillies ran as fast as their little legs could carry them, but they knew that they wouldn’t make it before Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. (First Person) As the song finished, I struck a pose and unfurled my wings to make myself look like an angel. Although that was my favorite song to dance to, the next one made me feel the happiest. The song started playing, I almost couldn’t dance to it, and the words made me feel whole, like I mattered. I leaped and danced in a circle in the small space that I had. “I came to win...” I sang along as my wings propelled my small body a few inches off of the ground. When Nickel Tiara came in, I sped up my dancing, crossing the room in mere seconds, I was back doing what I loved. I edged towards the center of the floor, waiting for the chorus, when it hit, I sprang into action. “I came to win!” I breathed, and my little wings picked me up off of the ground, I spun in the air, creating a whirlwind that spun my mane around my face. I felt my tail touch back down to the floor, and I could hear the music dying down, I went in for my final move. I sped from hoof to hoof, leaving balance on each one, and at the final beat, I lowered my head and looked at the floor. I felt a tear fall from my face and I heard it hit the floorboard, I trotted over to the record player, and put a record that I struggled keeping composure with in. I heard the music begin, I broke, but I danced, I let the tears fly off in a hundred different directions as I danced, the song was powerful, too powerful against me. I danced fast, I wanted the memories to last forever, but I wanted them to end at the same time. “Brighter than a shooting...” I couldn’t sing that word, I could barely say it. Applejack had reached the clearing where the clubhouse was, she could hear music. She was followed not long after by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The three of them made their way silently up to the window of the clubhouse. Inside, they could see Scootaloo dancing...and....crying? “What in tarnation?” Applejack asked, but was quickly silenced by Rainbow Dash. “Watch.” Fluttershy said, causing the other two to look at her, “She’s crying to this song, let her finish.” “Fine.” Rainbow said, putting her hooves across her chest and sitting on her haunches. “I didn’t know that she could dance.” Applejack said. “Neither did I, I guess she kept it hidden to keep her tough filly reputation up.” Fluttershy said, coming to a realization. “Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow lightened up a bit. As the song ended, the three saw the filly sit down in the center of the room, facing away from them, crying her eyes out. “C’mon y’all, I reckon now’s about the right time.” Applejack said as she rose and headed towards the door. The other two obliged, around the same time, two fillies barreled into the open and looked up at the three mares, who looked right back. “Shhh.” Rainbow ordered, the two fillies nodded and didn’t move. Applejack paused at the door and allowed Fluttershy to open it. The door opened quietly to reveal a bawling Scootaloo sprawled out on the floor. Nopony moved, except Fluttershy, who silently flew over to Scootaloo and pulled her up into a hug. She just cried into Fluttershy’s coat as the two other mares entered the room. So we ended up with Scootaloo crying into Fluttershy's coat, how smile inducing. Ch. 8 Path to nowhereI cried into the pale yellow coat, I didn’t care if I’d been found here, I didn’t care if I’d been found here crying, I was broken, the memories of star were just too much for me. I felt myself being picked up into a tight, very familiar hug. “There there there.” the soft voice repeated, I thought I felt a few tears coming from her eyes. I felt us land and then wings around me, which made the hug even more loving and tight. She just cradled me for a few moments, and I opened my eyes to who I thought it was. Fluttershy looked right into my eyes, she saw the sadness in me melt away, her gaze was so....so kind, I’d never felt anything like it, it’s almost is as if she was my mom, or at least looked at me that way. “Fluttershy?” I asked weakly. “Shhh, it’s alright now, I’ve got you, and you can stop crying.” she smiled sadly. I realized I was still crying heavily, I wasn’t gasping; they were just freely streaming down my face into her coat. I could see her trying not to cry, I knew she was very emotional, and I was having an effect on her. “Fluttershy, don’t be sad.” I said, faking a smile, but she saw right through it, I could tell. She smiled a bit, and then continued speaking, “Scootaloo, I’m gonna put you down, and then you’re going to tell us why you were sleeping here last night.” “No!” I whispered loudly. “Why not?” she said, I felt her wings releasing me. “I can’t!” I said, I was about to cry again. I felt her fully release me, only then did I realize that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were watching, they must think I’m a wuss now. “Scootaloo, just tell us.” Rainbow said kindly. “Go on child.” Applejack agreed. “Please tell me...” Fluttershy said, almost asking. I hated lying to everypony, especially Fluttershy, but if that’s what it took to stay in Ponyville, that’s what I had to do. “Okay, the reason I stayed here last night was that I locked myself out of my house and my mom was out of town for the night.” I lied; it was a big lie too. “Why the hay did your mom let you stay alone?” Rainbow yelled. “She thinks I’m responsible enough for it.” Another lie, these were starting to eat at me. “Who does your mom think she is?! She can’t leave a little filly alone during a storm!” Rainbow yelled, she was angry, I could see it in her eyes, and hear it in her voice. “Don’t say anything bad about my mom!” I yelled back, that really hurt, and it made me angry. “Rainbow’s right, now we’ll have to talk to this here pony.” Applejack said looking into my eyes; I think she caught my lie. “Maybe Fluttershy should take me home.” I suggested, and before anypony said a word, Fluttershy interjected. “I can do that girls, maybe Scootaloo and I will have a little talk about this too.” "Alright, but keep an eye on her Fluttershy." Applejack said, she didn't sound angry or suspicious, but maybe she was hiding it from me. Fluttershy nodded, and then the two of us walked out of the clubhouse. I looked over and saw AppleBloom and Sweetie belle just looking at me, I could tell that they were hurt; I hadn’t told them something that could’ve killed me. We walked away from the clubhouse using the path that I snuck past AppleBloom earlier with. “Scootaloo, where do you live?” Fluttershy asked, looking over at me. “Over there.” I gestured over to the dirt path that held the cart. “There are not very many houses over there, are you sure?” she asked, looking puzzled. Really all there was about a half-dozen houses surrounded by a dark green grassy field. “Yeah, totally.” I said, I needed to tell her, but I just couldn’t. She nodded and sighed a bit, we continued over to the small grouping of houses. We stopped at the gate of the small community, and Fluttershy turned to me, “Scootaloo, which house?” That was it, I knew I had to tell her now, and I had to tell her the whole story, not just bits and pieces. I hoped she wouldn’t be mad at me. “None of them.” I said, putting my head down and looked at the grass blowing in the wind below me. “What?” she looked down at me. “None of them are mine; can I just tell you the story when we get to your cottage?” I said shamefully. “Alright.” she didn’t seem to be mad at all. The two of us spent the ten minute walk to her cottage in silence, the whole time though, I was trying to figure out a way to tell her. I knew that I had to tell her now, and she expected it as well. “I’m sorry.” I squeaked out. “C’mon Scootaloo, you’ll tell me when we get there.” Fluttershy said, taking a commanding position. We arrived at her cottage; I looked over at her and gulped, although it didn’t seem as if she was angry, it seemed as if....she really cared, or as if she was just feeling bad for me. The two of us sat on opposite chairs in her living room, and we just looked at each other for a few moments. I looked down for a moment, when I looked back up, Fluttershy wasn't in her chair, instead, I heard her call from the kitchen, “Tea?” “Yes please!” I called out; I was always polite around Fluttershy. She returned to the room with two cups of tea, she placed one beside me, and another beside the other end of the couch, where she now sat down. “Now Scootaloo, I know you lied to all of us earlier, and I’m glad that you’re about to tell me the whole story, but I want you to tell me everything.” she looked into my eyes, “It’s important that I know everything in this situation.” “Okay, I promise to tell you the truth this time.” I said, I was in for a wild afternoon, I didn’t know how Fluttershy would react to my life story; something that I’d never told her before. Hey everypony, so this chapter took forever to write, writers block i guess, so yeah, did you like the chapter? Ch. 9 Confessions“Go ahead Scootaloo.” Fluttershy urged kindly. I took a deep breath, I could just imagine Music playing in my head as I started to tell the story. “Well, when I was born 8 and a half years ago, my mom died giving birth to me, and my dad just left me at the hospital. I tried to research him a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t find him.” I paused for a moment, “Not long after I was born, a caretaker from a Manehattan orphanage, named Ms. Sunshine, came and picked me up and took me to the orphanage.” “Scootaloo, I didn’t know that....you were an orphan.” Fluttershy squeaked, and then hugged me. I was glad that she cared; I knew she would, but I was still glad that she did. “Ms. Sunshine cared for me almost personally for almost six years, but one day she didn’t come back, the other caretaker, Ms. Gluck, said that her disease, I can’t remember what it was, went terminal.” I said sadly, I loved Ms. Sunshine “When I was really young, maybe a couple years after I’d been born, I became friends with a little colt named Star, he was my best friend, black mane, brown coat, blue eyes, those deep blue eyes.” I paused, “Him and I, when we were about six and a half decided to run away from the orphanage, we hatched an amazing plan, or so we thought.” “What was it?” Fluttershy took a sip of her tea. “We kept a window on the second floor of the orphanage, and below it was an old couch, we had planned to jump down but then Miss Gluck heard of our plan, we had to do a last resort plan, the two of us jumped off of the seven story building.” Fluttershy gasped a bit. “I jumped off of the roof perfectly, but Star missed the jump and he started to fall, I grabbed his hoof and we crashed through a window on the sixth floor of the neighboring building.” I took a drink of my tea, “We held each other tight as we fell, and then we just ran out of the city, we were heading towards the train station.” “We got to the train station, and he bought two tickets, he made up a story about a mom, something neither of us had, and he took a train to Canterlot. I’ll have some trouble telling the next part.” I paused; this is where Star....where Star died. Fluttershy pulled me over beside her and hugged me, I continued. “The police were waiting at the station, so we had to jump from the train, I jumped second, and he’s the reason why I’m alive, I landed in the field and rolled. When I looked around, I saw him lying in the field. I ran over to him and I found his dead body, he’d hit a rock when he landed.” Tears were streaming from my eyes now; I didn’t want to remember my friend like that. “Scootaloo.....” Fluttershy let a tear or two fall from her own eyes. “I ran from him, I just ran, I didn’t stop until I made it here, I only planned to stay a couple of days, but that was before I met Sweetie belle, she and rarity were so nice, and I was being fed, it was amazing, I couldn’t just leave them.” I said, it was the truth. “I was living in that cart that was on the dirt path I showed you, I lived there until the CMC got the clubhouse form Applejack, I’ve been living there ever since.” I neared the ending of my story. “I’ve been coming here and watching Rainbow Dash practice her flying for enjoyment, I just...I just felt like you were my family.” I choked out the last words, I was telling the truth, I felt like Fluttershy was my mom, I wanted that to be true, but I knew it never would be. “Oh Scootaloo.” Fluttershy hugged me tight. After a few moments of silence, I looked up at her, she had her eyes closed, but she was smiling slightly, “What happens now?” I asked, I knew what would happen, she’d take me back to the orphanage and I’d never see anypony from here again. “I’m going to go and talk to Applejack and Rainbow Dash; we’ll decide what to do.” Fluttershy said calmly, “Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen, so you just sit here and watch Angel for me please.” Angel’s ears perked up a bit at that. “Okay...I will.” I said sadly. “Promise?” Fluttershy asked. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I said, she giggled. Fluttershy walked to the orchards, she looked around, wondering what to do, should she keep Scootaloo, or take her back to the orphanage, she didn’t know, It was nice that the little filly loved her and considered her family, but she wasn’t sure if she could raise a little filly on her own. “Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, “Where’s Scoots?” “She’s back at my cottage, but I need to talk to you and Applejack.” Fluttershy said quietly. “Ah’m here.” Applejack said as she walked out from behind the barn. “Okay, Scootaloo has been living here on her own for almost two years...” The two mares’ jaws dropped, “She said she ran away from an orphanage when she was six and she hates that place. But she also said she considers me a mom, what should I do?” Fluttershy ended with desperation. “Take her back to the orphanage where she belongs.” Applejack said solemnly. “It’s what’s best fro her, I know she’s my number one fan and all, but I think she should go back, she can be cared for there.” Rainbow said sadly. Fluttershy had her mind fully made up, even if a pony didn’t like it, she knew what she had to do. She slowly walked back to her cottage, debating on how to break the news to Scootaloo. Ch. 10 A surpriseOkay, Fluttershy just left, I have to get out of here! I can’t just wait and see what happens, what if she takes me back to Trottingham? I know I Pinkie Promised her that I would stay, but I can’t, I can’t risk it. I looked over at Angel, only to find that he was eyeing me, probably to see what I would do, I couldn’t let him see me leave, I had to find a way to sneak out. “I need to go upstairs, I think I left my....scooter up there.” That was the stupidest lie I ever told, but Angel seemed to buy it, he passed it off with a simple nod. I walked up the stairs carefully, i tried to look normal, but I think Angel knew what i was up to, he followed me up there. I had no choice, I rushed over to the window, I looked down, they were locked with a key, no luck. Behind me, I heard a jingle of keys, I turned and Angel had a keyring in his paw. “Can I have the keys?” I asked, “Please?” He shook his head and hopped down the stairs, taking the keys with him. Fluttershy said nothing bad would happen, what if she thought the orphanage was good? Ms. Gluck hated all of the fillies and colts that passed through the orphanage. She especially hated me because I tried to be happy, the same reason she hated Star. I closed the bedroom door, I wouldn’t go back to the orphanage....no matter what.... Fluttershy approached the train station, she needed to buy a couple of tickets. “Two tickets to Trottingham please.” Fluttershy said as she reached the window. “That’ll be 40 bits.” the stallion behind the counter said. Fluttershy pulled out a small bag of bits from her saddlebags, she counted out 40 bits and handed them to the cashier. “Here’s two tickets, next train leaves in an hour.” he said, handing her the two tickets. “Thank you.” she said quietly, and then she turned away. ‘I hope Scootaloo is still home...; Fluttershy thought to herself as she neared the outskirts of Ponyville. She walked around the edge of Ponyville, making sure that Scootaloo wasn’t running away, then she started towards her cottage. She reached it quickly and unlocked the front door. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked happily as she entered. There was no response, just a shuffle coming from upstairs. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy questioned as she walked up the stairs. Again a shuffle, but this one sounded like blankets ruffling. Fluttershy poked the door, it was unlocked, she pushed it open the entire way to reveal Scootaloo curled up in blankets, crying. “Scootaloo!” Fluttershy whispered loudly. “Why did you even care for me, everypony just wants to send me back anyway!” Scootaloo yelled, covering herself back up. “Scootaloo, I love you, and I’m doing what’s best, just trust me.” Fluttershy pleaded. “You know what, fine! Just take me back then.” Scootaloo said, she didn’t want to be in a town where nopony wanted her. “The train leaves in twenty minutes, we need to hurry if we’re going to make it.” Fluttershy said calmly, and then she picked Scootaloo up out of the bed. “Fine!” Scootaloo said angrily. “Angel, I’ll be back in a day or so, take care of the house while momma’s gone! Fluttershy said, and then closed the door. The two walked, Scootaloo half heartedly, to the train station, scootaloo looked around and took one last look at Ponyville. I looked around, taking one last look at Ponyville, I just knew it would be my last sights outside of the orphanage, I didn’t want to go back, I had nothing there, nohopes, no dreams, no Star. I’d be tormented by Miss Gluck to no end, she’d bring up Star every day, and my life would just be horrible. “Scootaloo, trust me, everything will be fine.” Fluttershy said as we reached the train station. “Okay.” I didn’t feel like talking, i had no reason to. “Look, there’s the train.” Fluttershy said sadly, which didn’t help my mood. The train pulled into the station, spraying water as it first entered. It slowed to a stop right in front of us, I could see some ponies about to get off, and some starting, just like us, to shuffle towards the doors to enter. We entered the train without incident, we sat in the very ack. “I hope Angel can watch the cottage while I’m gone.” Fluttershy said worriedly. “He’ll do fine.” I said, trying to cheer the both of us up. “You know I’m doing this because it’s best.” Fluttershy said, looking into my eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” I said sadly, I thought she loved me like a daughter, just like I thought of her as a mother. We remained silent for the rest of the seven hour train ride to Trottingham, from the time of afternoon until evening, from Ponyville’s outskirts to the same of Trottingham, from one side of Equestria to another. I must’ve dozed off sometime during the train ride because the last thing i remember after leaving Ponyville was the Baltimare, which was only an hour or two from Ponyville by train, and now I can see trottingham getting closer. “Scootaloo, please don’t run, please stay with me.” Fluttershy said, giving me a hug afterwards. I couldn’t lie to Fluttershy, “I will.” The train pulled into the station and it stopped, we looked around, there were different trains here, big and metal, almost like tubes. We departed the trains and walked over to the information desk. “What was your orphanage’s name?” “Umm, I think it’s the only one in Trottingham.” I said, not recalling the name. “Okay.” Fluttershy said as she reached the desk. “How may I help you?” the stallion behind the desk asked her. “Can you tell me where the orphanage is?” Fluttershy asked, hoping that Scootaloo was right. “Take the A3 train to 6th and Summit.” he said. “Thank you.” Fluttershy smiled. “No problem ma’am, NEXT!” he called out. “A3 to 6th and Summit.” Fluttershy said to me as we walked off. “Alright, we need that train!” I said, and I pointed to a tube train that had A3 emblazoned on the side. We rushed aboard, there were a few ponies on the train, but only one other that was as young as me, he stood at the opposite end of the train car. He had a dark blue coat, black mane, and he was wearing clothes, his wings were so, so big for his age, they even had multiple colors! When I was about to say something to the colt, he and his family left the train. The buzzer/intercom sounded, “Next stop, 6th and Summit.” “Get ready Scootaloo.” Fluttershy said nervously. The train moved through the tunnel we were in quickly, I looked out a window, but i only say darkness, and an occasional orange light to illuminate the tunnel. The train slowed to a stop and we came into a very well lighted area full of ponies, the doors opened and we left the train. The two of us walked through the station, it took about five minutes to make it to the city streets, once we were there, we could see the orphanage... It was exactly the same, the couch was still there too, the building we’d escaped through was there, the sign was just more worn, in fact, that seemed to be the only difference around the building. We looked both ways and then crossed the street, the street itself was busy, but that building just seemed to have some gloom around it, I could feel my old sadness and memories coming back to me. we entered the building, the doorbell sounded with a ‘ding’ as we entered, the old mare looked up from her paperwork, she smiled and looked at us, “Hello Miss,” she slowly looked down at me, “Young filly.” She spoke so kindly, she must’ve been hired after I left. “Scootaloo, go sit over there, I’ll talk with her.” Fluttershy said, she pointed to a small waiting area. i walked over to the area and that’s when i sw it, it was the window where Star and I escaped from, except now it was locked tight with a few padlocks. I looked around, Fluttershy was still talking with the old mare, and I looked beside me, there was a door that said ‘Enter Orphanarium’, I knew what was in there, so many orphaned colts and fillies...i had to talk to them. I opened the door silently, and crept in, the room I entered into was a common area, the group in there was my age, about ten or so of them, they were talking, drinking some juice, and sleeping. They seemed to ignore the fact that I entered the room, so i passed them by, right up until I saw a colt sitting alone at a table... .It was Star... Star was alive. Listen “STAR!” I ran over and jumped on him, encasing him in a hug. “Wha..?” he was caught off guard, by now the other ponies were watching us, even the two who were asleep had woken up and were now watching. “I can’t believe you’re alive!” I said, crying into his coat. “Who are you?” he asked. “You...You don’t remember me?” I asked, there wasn’t a way he could’ve forgotten me. “What is your name?” he said, looking into my eyes, “You seem familiar.” he put a hoof on my cheek. “Scootaloo, it’s me, scootaloo, we escaped together...” I said, the room went dead. Whispers of my name went around the room, each pony not breaking their gaze of the two of us. I saw it in his eyes, it clicked, he remembered me, the years we spnt togehter, the time we spent on the train, the failed escape from the train... “I thought...I thought you had died....” He breathed, I could see tears in his eyes. “I thought you did, when you hit that rock.” I stopped dead in my tracks, he put a hoof on the table, only it wasn’t a hoof, it was eta, he’d lost a foreleg in the jump. “I know I hit a rock, I’ve moved past it, I thought you’d died because when i woke up, you were gone, the police were surrounding me, I tried to run, but i couldn’t” he tilted his head to his prosthetic leg, “I got this about three days later, Miss Gluck was fired, and we got a nice old mare as a caretaker.” he smiled sadly. “The one in there.?” I asked. “Yeah, she’s real nice to us here, she was an orphan herself so she knows what it’s like for foals like us.” he shrugged. “Why haven’t you been adopted?” I asked, how couldn’t he have been, he’s so amazing! “Well, nopony really wants a three legged pony, so i’ve just been here since, what about you?” “Well, I’m...back, a pony brought me here to stay, i thought I could trust her...” the door opened to reveal Fluttershy, who looked around the room. “Scootaloo, c’mon, I need you for a second.” “I'll be right back Star!” I said as I left the room. She led me back to the front of the building, the older mare was smiling, “So you’re the one who let me work here?” “Yeah...” I said sheepishly. “It’s a shame we can’t spend more time together.” she said. “What?” I’d be here until i was adopted or i reached 16, what did she mean? “Scootaloo, sign here please.” Fluttershy said, pointing to a document on the countertop. I started to read the paper, EQUESTRIAN ADOPTION PAPER by signing this document, you herey agree to adopt _________________ and wish to care for them until they are of such age to care for themselves.... After a page or so of text, I saw something that made me want to cry, Signed Fluttershy “You,” I turned to Fluttershy, “You’re adopting me?” She just smiled, I jumped and pulled her into a hug, this was the greatest day of my life, I’d finally have a family! I had to go tell Star, he’d love it, Star would...... ...not be here with me. (Stop music) I signed the document and ran back to Star, with tears in my eyes, I started, “Star, i’m so sorry, i...” he put a hoof on my mouth. “Shh, Scootaloo, nothing bad will happen, I’ll always be here, if you ever need e,you know where to look.” he smiled a sincere smile, and then he did something I never expected. He kissed me, it wasn’t a mere peck on the cheek, he caught me off guard and went in full, I felt myself relax as I returned the gift, I never wanted it to end, but I knew it had to, I couldn’t keep myself in this moment, i had to leave with my new family. I broke the kiss and said something I hoped would come true, “I’ll find you a family that loves you, i promise.” He nodded and I left the room, I saw Fluttershy waiting by the door, I followed her out and waved to the older mare, she waved back, and I left the orphanage. Today was the first day of my new life, I had a loving mother, an amazing group of friends, and with Star alive, a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Ch. 11 All In Time (Part I)As we walked away from the orphanage, an idea hit me, I knew a pony who wanted a little colt, I just had to find a time to talk to her first. “Hey Fluttershy?” I asked, and then looked up at her. “Yes Scootaloo?” she stopped walking and looked at me. “Didn’t Derpy want a little colt to be a brother to Dinky?” “Well yes, but she can’t find a stallion to be with right now so I don’t see that...” she paused when I brought a huge smile on my face. “Scootaloo?” she questioned. “I need to talk to Derpy!” I said excitedly, the thought of Star living in Ponyville was awesome! “We’ll see her when she delivers the mail tomorrow, but we have to get home first, the train back leaves in thirty minutes!” Fluttershy said happily. “Are we taking the underground first?” I asked. “Yes, come on, we need to find A3....” Fluttershy looked around the station as she said that. She and I walked around the crowded station until we found an information map, we looked for the Trottingham Main Station, once we did, we looked what train we had to take, it was B9, not A3. “Fluttershy! Over there!” I yelled, pointing to an incoming train, it had its number and letter painted in green on its side. We hurriedly made our way over to and then inside the train. Inside our car, there were a lot of ponies dressed in suits. An intercom sounded throughout the entire train, “Next stop, 5th and Mane.” I looked over at Fluttershy; she seemed so relieved, as if she were relaxed that she adopted me. I was so happy that I finally had a mother who cared about me, and she seemed happy to have a daughter. The train slowed down and then finally stopped; the suited ponies, or at least most of them, left. I noticed a very familiar colt from earlier get on again with his family. I decided to walk over and talk to him. “Hi!” I said. The colt turned to me; his eyes seemed really...deep “Hey...” The colt said cautiously. Why was he so nervous, didn’t anypony ever say hi to him? “I saw you on the train earlier, what’s your name?” I asked, this colt seemed to pop up everywhere around Trottingham. “Red Tear....yours?” he asked, he seemed sweet. “Scootaloo!” I said happily. The train started to move again, and the intercom buzzed, “Next stop, Trottingham Mane Train Station.” I looked back at Fluttershy, who was eyeing the colt nervously. “Who’s that?” he asked. “That’s Flutt...my mom.” I said, I think she heard me say that, because she seemed to warm up quite a bit. “Cool, my mom’s at home.” he said, he looked out the window as we traveled above ground. “Where?” I pushed. “Right after the station.” He answered, and I felt the train slowing down as we approached the station. “Oh,” The train stopped, and the doors opened, “I have to go, maybe I’ll see you again.” “Maybe...” he said as I left the train. Fluttershy and I headed over to the train lines departing to the western half of Equestria; we searched for Ponyville’s express train. We looked for it, turns out Ponyville’s train is in the last gat, so we ran over to the ticket counter. Fluttershy gave the two tickets to the mare behind the counter and we boarded the train. When I sat in one of the seats, I realized how tired I was, today had honestly been really long, I went from being an orphan to being in a loving family, and I've been to Trottingham and back. I started to drift into a world of sleep when a thought hit me; I got up and walked over to Fluttershy. “Night mom, I love you.” I gave her a hug. She seemed to be taken aback by this, she responded warmly, “I love you too, sweet dreams.” I sat back down and leaned my head against the window, I fell asleep soon after to the rumble of the train. Fluttershy sat there, she’d adopted Scootaloo, was it an on the spot decision, did she just feel bad for the filly...NO, she wouldn’t let those thoughts into her head, she loved this little filly, she loved her with all her heart. She looked out of the window and watched Trottingham’s lights fade away behind the train, she didn’t know how she would explain her adopting Scootaloo to her friends, but she knew that with enough assurance, they’d eventually approve. Fluttershy looked back at Scootaloo, who was now sleeping heavily, she thought about what Scootaloo in the orphanage with that horrible Miss Gluck, the thought of her made Fluttershy sick, she decided to watch the scenery for a while. “Stubs?” An older stallion asked as he made his way through the train. “Here” Fluttershy handed the two ticket stubs to the stallion. He took a look at them and then handed them back to her, “Have a nice ride.” The stallion left the train car and continued his duty. Fluttershy took one last look out of the window before falling asleep. I awoke to the sound of the train’s whistle sounding as we entered Ponyville. I looked out the window, it was just beginning to become daylight, the weather team was clearing up clouds, today would be a bright and sunny day. I looked over and saw Fluttershy waking up as well, she rubbed her eyes lightly. Fluttershy stood up and stretched her wings a bit. “Morning.” I said happily. “Good morning.” she smiled again. “What are we going to do today?” “We have to tell the girls that I adopted you, then we’ll go on from there.” she answered, the two of us headed towards the exit. The train came to a stop right even with the platform, but something wasn’t right. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all standing on the platform, almost as if they were waiting for us. When the doors opened, Fluttershy and I walked out of the train car and we were greeted with some smiles, right up until Pinkie disappeared and popped out of barrel placed nearby, “Welcome back!” she said, throwing confetti everywhere. “How’d you girls know?” Fluttershy questioned. “Well Pinkie told us about six hours ago,” Twilight gestured to Pinkie, who squeed, “At first, we didn’t approve, but after an hour or so of explaining it, we finally said it was okay for you to adopt Scootaloo.” “Six hours ago?” I asked. “It takes time to cross Equestria!” Pinkie Pie interjected. The ponies all looked over at Pinkie, whose smile had returned by now. She started to talk, “Okay, I know it’s early, but there’s a super-duper party waiting for you two at Sugarcube corner!” The two of us had no choice, it’s not like we would’ve chosen differently, we headed with the group of ponies to Sugarcube corner. The group remained silent on the walk, but that changed when we opened the door. It was amazing, AppleBloom, Sweetie Belle, the Cakes, Spike, Derpy, and a few other ponies all jumped out in surprise for us. Everypony started talking to everypony else, I knew which pony I’d talk to first. I headed over to Derpy, who was eating a muffin beside the punch; she swallowed the muffin whole and looked at me, “Hiya Scootaloo!” “Derpy, you want a son right?” I asked, she seemed a bit down. “Yeah, but I can’t find a nice stallion.” she said sadly. “I know this nice colt in Trottingham, he’s an orphan and he needs a home.” I said, smiling. “Hmm, I never thought of adopting.” she put a hoof to her chin, “What’s his name?” “Star Chaser, he and I tried to escape the orphanage, but he got hurt when we jumped off a train.” “Where’s he at, I might go visit him.” Derpy said, her face lightening up. “He’s at the Trottingham Orphanage.” I said, she nodded. “Well, I gotta go, gotta make sure my little Muffin wakes up on time, and then I have to work!” Derpy said as she started to leave, “See you around!” “Hey, Scoots!” I turned around to see Rainbow smiling. “Yeah Rainbow?” I said excitedly. “Got you a little present, it’s for your room at Flutters.” Rainbow pulled out a tube with a bow on it. I took the gift and looked back at her, “What is it?” “Open it.” she said simply. I untied the bow and there was a small groove, I unrolled the fit, actually the tube was the gift, but it was not a tube, it was a poster. "That's awesome!" I couldn't believe that she actually bought me a poster. “It’s nothing mu...” I grabbed her in a hug, I didn’t know why, but I felt like hugging ponies since Star kissed me. The party was amazing, even thought it was really early, I had a lot of fun, the CMC were just happy that I was back in Ponyville. Once the party ended, I just hung out with Pinkie and the Cakes. Fluttershy followed rainbow outside of the bakery, they could still hear the party going on inside, it had wound down quite a bit, but it had a lot of life left in it. When the cyan mare finally stopped, she turned and looked at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, how are you going to take care of Scootaloo?” “I earn money from the Animal Society; I earn enough to care for anypony in need.” Fluttershy said calmly. “Yeah, for a day or two, you don’t earn enough bits to raise a filly on your own.” Rainbow said, sounding very concerned. “I...I can manage.” Fluttershy reassured herself. “No, you can’t! Listen, how about I help you raise Scootaloo, I make money that I don’t need, I could give it to you.” Rainbow said kindly. “You don't have to do that....I couldn’t...” Fluttershy said, she knew she had to accept. “Please, let me help you and my number one fan.” Rainbow inched towards Fluttershy. “Alright, but I can’t just take your bits.” Fluttershy sighed. “You’ll make it up to me.” Rainbow smiled, and flew to the sky, leaving Fluttershy to wonder, what did she mean? And so ends part one of three of All in Time…stay tuned for more! Ch.12 Shooting Star (Part II)Derpy thought of what Scootaloo had said at the party, true she did want a son, but the opinion of a small filly wasn’t enough to adopt a colt. She flew up to her cloud home and opened the door. “Momma!” Dinky jumped onto her, causing the both of them to fall to the soft clouds below them. “Morning! How did my little muffin sleep last night?” Derpy asked. “I slept awesome!” Dinky said as she jumped off of Derpy. “Breakfast?” Derpy asked. “Ummm, I gotta get to school, I’ll eat there!” Dinky said excitedly, she was happy Dinky was going to summer school, she felt better about working days. ‘I’ll fly you down to the ground, then I’ll have to get to work, can you walk?” Derpy asked, hoping for a ‘yes’. “Uh huh!” Dinky said excitedly. “Let’s go!” Derpy said, again, Dinky jumped onto her back. Derpy flew Dinky down to the ground, as soon as she landed; Dinky scampered off towards the school. Derpy went to work like any other day. She flew slowly to the post office and checked in. “What’s wrong Derpy?” Datenote said when he arrived. “Do you think I could raise a colt?” she asked solemnly. “You seem to raise Dinky well enough; I think you could handle a colt...” his eyes went wide, “Are you pregnant?” “No, it’s just...never mind.” Derpy said, she raised her head and started again, “Could Berry watch Dinky tonight?” “I’ll ask her, probably yes.” Note said. “Thanks, I need to go to Trottingham.” “You can have the day off, I’ll cover you.” Note smiled as he put his vest on. “Thanks Note.” she hugged him, “I’ll make it up to you!” He waved her off as she trotted towards the train station, she needed to see this colt, if Scootaloo was right, and he’d be a great addition to the family. “One ticket to Trottingham.” Derpy said to the stallion, he handed her the ticket, and she handed him the money. “Next train is arriving in five minutes, you just made It.” the stallion said happily. Derpy nodded and stepped onto the platform, she could see the small Ponyville express in the distance, the steam engine puffing away as it neared. The express train slowly pulled into the station, the ponies inside were rising up to leave the train. Derpy stood alongside the train waiting to board; she let the ponies inside depart before she did so. “Tickets?” The ticketer said as she boarded the train. “Here” Derpy said as she handed the stallion her ticket. “Thank you.” He gave her ticket back, she went to her seat. After the stallion had punched everypony’s tickets, the train slowly started to move, Derpy nodded off to the rumble of the train not soon after. “WOOOOOOO!” Derpy shot out of her deep sleep to the train whistle. The train was a mere minute from the Trottingham station. As the train pulled in, Derpy looked around the station, it was so.....advanced, she hadn’t been out of the Ponyville area in years, and she didn’t know that Equestria was becoming so advanced. As the ponies around her rose up from their seats, Derpy followed their actions and got off the train. She looked around, ‘Scootaloo said the A3 train there, and the B9 back’. The A3 train pulled past her as it slowed to a stop at its platform, she rushed over to the doors and boarded the train before it pulled away from the platform. An intercom sounded “Next Stop 6th and Summit.” The train moved slowly, but picked up speed as it sped through the tunnel towards the orphanage. It reached the station and Derpy departed from the train. “Go straight out and it should be across the street.” Derpy said aloud, remembering the directions she’d gotten. Derpy reached street level and sure enough across the street was the orphanage. She crossed the street and walked into the old building, behind the counter was an old mare. “Hello?” Derpy asked nervously. The older mare looked up, “Hello, welcome to Trottingham orphanage.” “May I see Star?” Derpy asked, not remembering the last name of the colt. “Star Chaser, why you’re the first pony to request him.” The mare said kindly, she walked back into a room. Was the colt a bad foal? Why hadn’t anypony asked for him before? “Here he is.” The older mare said smiling; behind her was the most humble colt she’d ever seen. His brown coat and blue eyes sending off a calming feeling, his black hair moves in waves with the breeze from the open window. Derpy looked at him, oh...she looked at his leg, or what was his leg, the metal and plastic prosthetic now taking its place, he smiled at her, taking her attention off of his leg. “Hi!” he said cheerfully. “Hi!” Derpy said happily. “What’s your name?” Star asked curiously. “Derpy, Scootaloo told me about you.” Derpy said, Star’s eyes went wide. “You know Scootaloo?” he said, his words full of wonder. “Yep.” Derpy said, she really didn’t know what to say. “I can see you two like each other.” the old mare said. “Uh-huh.” Star said. “Can I keep him?” Derpy asked, Star’s eyes went wide once again. “Come here, I’ll get the paperwork.” The mare said. Star ran up to Derpy and hugged her, “Thank you!” Derpy hugged him back, “I’m glad you’re happy.” Derpy and Star followed the older mare to her desk, where she pulled out a sheet that had information on Derpy, for her to fill out. Derpy filled the whole paper, the old mare looked it over and handed a final paper for Derpy and Star to sign. “Alright Star, do you want this mare to be your mother?” the old mare asked. “Yes!” Star said excitedly. “Vice-versa?” she looked at Derpy. “Yes.” she said, and she signed the bottom of the paper. “Star, go ahead.” Derpy said. Star signed the paper, the caretaker took it, and she said eight more words, “Take good care of Star, best of luck!” Derpy walked out of the orphanage, not alone, but with her new son. FINALLY, A NEW CHAPTER! Sorry it took so long guys, I’ll focus more, next chapter in 3- days. Ch. 13 One Big Happy Family(Part III)I woke up to a soft giggling, which wasn’t unusual in the six weeks I’d been living with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash had been staying over here helping Fluttershy raise me. I rose from my bed, moved the Wonderbolts blanket Rainbow had gotten me and hopped down to the floor. I felt my legs pop as I walked down the stairs and stretched my wings. I walked into the living room, but nopony was there, so I decided to walk on over to Fluttershy’s room. I opened the door to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nuzzling each other, so I did the one thing that came to my mind, “Eeewww!” I shouted and closed the door. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked up to see the door slam as Scootaloo ran away from them, as they looked into each other’s eyes. “We were only nuzzling.” Rainbow said simply. “Maybe we should tell her?” Fluttershy questioned, waiting for Rainbow’s approval. “Yeah...We probably should just tell her, but she probably pieced it together just now.” Rainbow giggled, Fluttershy blushed. “Alright, let’s go have a talk...” Fluttershy paused, “A family talk.” “Yep...” Rainbow said, an awkward silence fell upon the two. “C’mon!” Rainbow jumped off of Fluttershy’s bed and flew past the door, which flew open itself as she went by. “Okay...” Fluttershy smiled and followed Rainbow up to Scootaloo’s room. As the two approached the door, they could hear heavy breathing coming from Scootaloo’s room; they slowly opened the door to reveal Scootaloo breathing heavily under a blanket. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy said lightly, she didn’t respond. “I got it Fluttershy.” Rainbow whispered, she then turned back to the bed, “DOGPILE!” With Rainbow’s declaration, she flapped her wings and shot her self onto the curled up blanket on Scootaloo’s bed. Rainbow wrestled with the giggling little filly until she was taken out from under the blanket. “Got’cha!” Rainbow tickled Scootaloo. Fluttershy flew up onto the bed and sat by the pair of rough housing ponies. She took a deep breath and started, “Scootaloo, we need to talk.” My face flushed, “So you and Rainbow were nuzzling, cool.” I tried to avoid the conversation, but the two mares weren’t having any of that. “Well, you know that she’s been coming over for a while now, and she’s been helping raise you...” Fluttershy was trailing on and on. “Call me a second mom.” Rainbow said happily, Fluttershy blushed. Having two parents? And one being Rainbow Dash!?!? This was awesome! I mean, I expected it when I saw them this morning, but this was awesome! “Yay!” I hugged the two of them. They paused for a moment, but they hugged me back, it was the best hug I’d ever gotten, having two parents, even if they were only dating, was awesome! “Hey Scoots!” Rainbow said. “Yeah?” “What would ya say if I taught you how to fly?” Rainbow smirked. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” I was silenced by a cyan hoof in my mouth. “I get it, c’mon, let’s go!” Rainbow pulled Fluttershy and I out of the bed and down the hall. Rainbow Dash pulled the two of us downstairs and out of the cottage. “Where are we going?” I asked as Fluttershy gained control of her own flight ability. “My house!” Rainbow said excitedly. Rainbow Dash was holding onto me as we rocketed towards her house, Fluttershy was trying to keep speed with us, but her being....well, her meant that she slowly fell back behind us. I could see a large cloud home getting closer to us, it had a Rainbow waterfall, and it had some columns, was that her house? She started to slow down as we arrived at the floating home; she touched down and dropped me onto the soft clouds below. I bounced onto my hooves as some of the clouds broke my fall. “How do you like walking on clouds?” Rainbow asked. “It’s...” I stumbled, “Different.” “Ha, you’ll get used to it, trust Me.” she smiled. Fluttershy flew down and landed on the clouds, she looked at me, “First time on clouds?” “Yeah.” I blushed. “You’ll get used to it, trust me.” Rainbow said, smiling. “Alright.” I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Rainbow and I walked to the edge of the cloud, before I could do anything; she knocked me off with a bump of her foreleg. I started to fall off of the cloud when I heard Rainbow call out after me, “Flap your wings and you won’t die!” As much as her choice of words scared me, they were true, I flapped my wings, but I didn’t get much lift, I hoped that she could see that. I saw her shoot off of the cloud she was perched on, she flew straight towards me a grabbed me from my fall. I looked up at her as she flew off with me. “Right, start slower.” she almost joked, but maintained her serious face. “Yeah....” I felt so embarrassed. “Don’t worry scoots, you’ll get the hang of it soon enough, we just gotta start slow...” Rainbow dropped me off back at her house. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked as she neared me. “Yeah, we just have to start slower, and closer to the ground.” The rest of Rainbow’s practice session went by quickly with Fluttershy and I flying along the ground, I could really only buzz my wings, so she was doing most of the flying while Rainbow flew above. Okay guys, I apologize for the last two chapters, I realize that they’ve been super short, and super shitty, but what comes next will make it up to you, and I’ll have them out quick. The next chapter should be between 2,000 and 5,000 words and should be out by the 27th, no spoilers on its content yet. Chapter 15 should be out by the 31st; it shall have between 2,000 and 3,000 words and be out by the 31st. I blame writer’s block on the last two chapters; I hope that you’ll like the sequel....whoops, SPOILER! Ch. 14 Flight and FriendI woke up slowly. I didn’t want to wake up; the cloud bed I was sleeping on was too comfortable. I wiped my eyes, removing the ‘sleep’ that accumulated in them. I looked over to the side of me; I noticed what time the alarm said, 9:00 a.m. My eyes fully shot open, in the last month of my flight training, Rainbow had been making the two of us be awake at 8:30, her reasoning behind it was if she had to be up this early, so did I. I jumped out of the bed and looked out of the window. “C’mon Scoots, I’ve been waiting forever!” Rainbow called, she sounded slightly annoyed. “Coming Rainbow Dash!” I jumped out of the window and flapped my wings a couple times, I glided towards Rainbow. I landed in front of Rainbow, she smiled, “Looks like you’re getting gliding down, maybe today we could start....na.” “What?” I asked. “Nothing, it’s...just...Nah.” “Tell me!” I giggled. “Welllllllll we could, possibly...” Rainbow tried to hold in a laugh, but failed miserably, “Okay Scoots, would you like to start actually flying today?” “YES!” I jumped in the air, and spread my wings. They had grown exponentially since I started practicing, they were more than double the size they were a month ago. “Well then, follow me!” Rainbow spread her wings, she flapped them once and she sent herself through the layer of clouds about a hundred feet above us. “Okay wings, don’t fail me...” I prepped to launch off of her balcony. “Come on Scoots, just focus and push!” Rainbow raised a foreleg to the air. I closed my eyes and focused, I knew I could do it, I’d gained so much wingpower, Twilight said when I started I had .1, but a week ago she said I had 2.3. I did a test flap or two to make sure that I was in control. I looked up at the hole Rainbow had made in the clouds; I jumped and flapped my wings. Again and again I kept repeating the motion, it wasn’t much work, but it took focus, I cleared the gap easily and landed on the clouds. I took a defiant stance as Rainbow looked at me. “Alright Scootaloo, are you ready for real flying?” “Yes Rainbow sir!” I saluted....wait a minute, did I just say ‘Sir’? “Good, you’ll start by flying to the edge,” She pointed about 50 yards away, “And back again ten times.” “I don’t think I can....” Rainbow cut me off, “Don’t think! Fly!” I unfurled my wings and flew off, the small span of clouds passed under me quickly as I flew the ten lengths, once I finished my warm up flight; I turned to Rainbow, “What next?” “I’m going to go get a stopwatch, in the meantime, just hang out up here on the clouds.” Rainbow said, she flew down into her house. I walked around on the clouds for a moment, but I heard a familiar song start playing from somewhere below. An idea popped into my head, ‘What about dancing on clouds?’ My thought took over; I started to move around, just to see if I could keep my balance on a cloud. I tiphoofed along the top and jumped twice, my balance kept up, so I tried to do a full on dance. I stopped moving and looked at the cloudy expanse in front of me, this area would be perfect for what I had in mind. I reared up onto my back two. I moved along with the music, at first my hooves touched the cloud with every note played, but once I reached the high point, I opened my wings and spun myself in a circle, the movement of my wings was even taking me into the air! I touched down as the music went into its low point. “Sun begins to fall...” I sang along with the song for four words. As I continued with the song, I could feel my heart lightening up, almost if a weight had been lifted, it confused me at the same time though, what weights faced me now? My mind was able to focus on the feeling, it was on my flank, I knew nothing was there, but I could feel something about to happen.... (Stop the Music) “Scootaloo?” Rainbow called out, I tripped and landed on the clouds. I stood up and brushed the brushed myself off. I looked back at her, “Yeah?” “What were you doing?” Rainbow looked puzzled. I forgot, Rainbow hadn’t learned that I was a dancer, if Fluttershy had told her, she must’ve forgotten. “I was dancing to that....” I didn’t hear the music anymore “Dancing to what?” “I thought I heard a song, it was really loud too.” I tried to make an argument so she wouldn’t laugh, but alas no evidence supported me. “Bwhahahahaha....You crack me up kiddo!” Rainbow fell over laughing. “I’m serious!” I couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “You’re going crazy kid!” “No I’m not!” I huffed, “What are we doing now?” “I thought I might teach you to manipulate clouds, so when I’m not around, you can still have a platform to practice on.” “Sounds cool.” “Alright, so here’s what you have to do....” Rainbow started. Over the next three hours, Rainbow showed me again and again how to pull and push clouds without making them dissipate. By the end of our practice, I was able to fully form platforms of clouds. 7 hours later.... “Rainbow, thank you for watching Scootaloo while I was in Manehattan.” Fluttershy said. “No biggie, I taught her how to do more flying techniques and how to mess with clouds.” “OH! That’s nice.” Fluttershy said kindly. “I had fun!” I said as I walked into the room. “Well, I gotta get home; the weather team is preparing a huge rainstorm for tomorrow!” Rainbow threw her forelegs into the air. “Do you want to stay here?” Fluttershy asked. My cheeks went red as Rainbow’s wings shot out from their sides. I spoke up as rainbow was trying to put her wings back at her sides, “Uhh, Sweetie Belle asked if I could stay over.” It was a lie, but I was sure that I could convince Sweetie Belle to let me stay. “Umm,” Fluttershy debated over the idea for a moment, “I think that would be a good idea, do you?” She looked at Rainbow. “Yeah! Great...great idea.” Rainbow blushed. “So I guess I’ll go see Sweetie Belle then....”I back stepped out of the house. I closed the door and opened my wings; I looked over each one to make sure that I’d be able to fly. With my pre-flight checks done, I flew off from my house, leaving my flirting parents behind me. After three or four minutes of flying, I reached the Carousel Boutique; I landed in front of the large building and tapped on the door with my hoof. Rarity emerged from behind the door with a smile, “Welcome to Carou...Scootaloo, what are you doing here so late?” “Well Rainbow and Fluttershy....” I didn’t need to continue, Rarity nodded. “Ah yes, love...” Rarity looked up to the sky for a moment, “Come in, come in!” I followed Rarity into the boutique, she gestured for me to wait while she went to Sweetie Belle’s room to retrieve her. I looked around the room; I looked at the picture Sweetie had made Rarity before the SisterHooves Social awhile back. “Hey Scootaloo!” Sweetie chirped as she walked down the stairs in front of Rarity. “Hey Sweetie Belle, what’s up?” “Trying to get my Cutie Mark in dressmaking.” Rarity cringed at her words. “Sounds cool!” I said happily. “Yep, now hurry!” Sweetie Belle rushed upstairs back to her room. I ran up the stairs and slid into Sweetie’s room, who already had made a fort out of sheets pillows, and other bedding supplies. She popped her head out and turned to me, “Captain Chicken, come in!” “I’m not a chicken!” I jumped into the fort. I spun and jumped through the tangled mesh of sheets, one occasionally pulling me back, this continued until I finally caught Sweetie Belle. “Haha got you!” I teased, but then something I didn’t expect happened. Sweetie Belle’s horn lit up and an aura encased me, it felt like a feather was on every inch of my body. The aura, or Sweetie Belle rather, lifted me up and placed me down on her destroyed bed. “How did you do that?” I asked, amazed. I’d never seen Sweetie Belle do magic before. “I....don’t....know!” She panted. “That was so amazing!” I started, “You lifted me up and put me on your bed!” “I don’t know how I did that! I just was focusing on you holding me and...and ...it happened!” Sweetie threw her forelegs over her head and fell back onto a pillow. “Can you try to do it again?” I asked her, she popped off of the pillow. “Let me try, what should I try on?” “Umm, try it on the pillow!” I said excitedly. Sweetie Belle looked at the pillow, she closed her eyes and it looked like she was putting pressure on her head. To my amazement, her horn started to glow once again, this time the pillow raised and lowered. “You did it!” I said excitedly. “I did?” Sweetie said dizzily. “Yep!” The next three hours were spent talking about the adventures of Sweetie Belle lately and my flight training, at about ten, Sweetie and I arrived on the topic of Cutie Marks. “Did you get close at all lately?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Actually...” I started, her eyes went wide, “Today I felt something happening to my flank, it was really strange but I think it was my Cutie Mark.” “What were you doing?” “I was dancing to a love song on clouds...” I blushed. “Bwhaha, are you serious?” Sweetie Belle laughed. “Yeah, I really like dancing!” “Dancing, you?” Sweetie Belle calmed down, “I’m glad that you know what your talent is, but dancing is something that I never pictured for you!” “What about you, getting close?” “Well, I like singing now; I think that’s what I like!” She shrugged. “Sounds cool...” I yawned, “I’m getting tired.” “How are you tired, it’s only ten!” Sweetie Belle interjected. “Flying practices remember?” I looked at her sideways. “Oh....so, do you want to do anything else before we go to sleep?” She asked, I couldn’t think of anything. “Nah, I’m dead.” I flopped down on the pile of blankets and pillows that lay upon the floor. “Okay.” She sounded disappointed, but I was too tired. I slowly fell into a deep sleep, at first I didn’t dream, but after a while the dreaming started. I was running from a building I could remember something about a party going on inside, some sort of school party. The only problem was that the place the party was at didn’t look like a school; it looked like a sports complex. I looked at either side of my flank, I could see my wings, but for some reason I couldn’t use them to fly. After a minute of running, I actually felt tears running down my face. I stopped at a bench and just cried, I wasn’t sure why I was sad, but I was. “Scootaloo?” A pony walked up to me, he looked familiar. “Who are you?” I asked weakly. “It’s me, Sweetie Belle!” The pony’s face morphed into hers. I shot out of my dream and sat up. “What happened?” Sweetie Belle asked me, “You were crying!” “I don’t know, I was just running away from a party and crying.” We were both puzzled. I looked over at the window, it was still dark outside. “What time is it?” “Somewhere around six, I woke up to you asking me who I was and then I saw you crying.” Sweetie Belle yawned. “I'm not tired anymore, what do you want to do?” “Want to tell me about Star?” “We’re all friends; he’s been here for a month! What’s there to tell about him?” “Scootaloo, I see the way you look at him, you like him!” Sweetie smiled deviously. “Of course I like him; he’s one of my best friends!” I said, stating the obvious. “No!” Sweetie facehoofed, “You like him!” “Do not!” I shot back; a blush was taking over my cheeks. “You’re lying! And Blushing!” I was lying, but I didn’t want to tell anypony that I liked anypony else, that would make me look all sappy. “You’re a dancer, and you’re worried about being ‘sappy’? Sweetie asked, “How’d you....?” “Scootaloo, we’ve been friends for years, I can read you like an open book.” “Oh...” I trailed off. “So, what are you going to do?” Sweetie Belle inched closer to me. “I have no idea.....” Ch. 15 A Proposal Ch. 15 A Proposal I flew up into the clouds, away from the noise of the bustling little town. I laid out on a nice and fluffy Cumulus. I looked over at Apple Acres, the trees were producing their finest apples at about now, Applebuck season would start any day, which AppleBloom wouldn’t have any free time for a month or so. I’m not sure why, but when I lay on a cloud, I feel more mellow, something that would be considered “Out-Of-Character” for me. Since the sleepover with Sweetie Belle last weekend, I’d been thinking about everything, including Star. I’d decided not to go for it, mainly because he was just too good of a friend to lose. I laid my head down on a small mound of the cloud, the sun was warm, but the cool breeze made me shiver slightly. I laid on my back, letting my wings encase themselves in the cloud. The sun was at it’s highest, the time around noon, maybe one. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEErrrrrrrrrrrr!” somepony shouted as they flew into my cloud, dissipating it. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!” I screamed as I fell from my floating pedestal. I opened my wings and maneuvered them to pull me out of a dive. Once I recovered, I scanned the skies around me, nopony was there......except for a certain pegasi colt. “Star!!!” I yelled playfully, he was laughing so hard he was barely able to fly. “Yes?” he snickered. “I’m gonna get you!” With that, the two of us took off towards the skies above. I saw him directly in front of me; he was flying as fast as he could. Not fast enough. I pulled up beside him and looked him in the eye, and made a slashing motion with my hoof. He gulped and pulled backwards into a dive. I smiled, that’s just what I wanted him to do. I followed him movement down to the feather, except I was almost twice as fast. I saw the two of us approaching a cloud embankment, so I decided to make my move. With blazing speed, I tackled him, locking both our wings and sending us into the clouds. I held onto him until I felt the clouds under me, and then I let him go, which send him sliding along the cloud and leaving an impact area behind him. I shook a little bit and stood up; I opened my wings to check them for any damaged or torn feathers. After I found none, I proceeded to trot over to the moaning Star, who was upright, but very disoriented. “Had enough?” I breathed heavily. “Nope.” He joked. “You just can’t admit that I, Scootaloo, have bested you in sports.” I said proudly. “Oh yeah?” he raised his head to the sides. “Yeah.” I said victoriously. “Prove it!” He jumped and tackled me, taking the both of us down onto the cloud. “No problem.” I said whilst struggling to gain an advantage. We struggled, each of us trying to gain an advantage over the other, both of us wanted bragging rights to the friends we shared, and more importantly, I wanted to beat a colt at sports. “Come on, is that all you got/” I asked, my voice shaking from the pressure on my limbs. He half laughed, half breathed, the two of us were almost even, almost... I opened my wings and used them to put me on top and then hold his forelegs back behind his head. “One...” he struggled, “Two...” he pushed with all of his might, he wasn’t even breathing, “Three!” He let go of his struggle with a gigantic breath. His exhaled air hit me in the face and broke my concentration, which allowed him to knock me on my back and hold me down for a little while. “I win!” he joked. “You better be happy that I know you’re joking.” I smirked, he gulped. After a moment or two of silence, he finally spoke, “What’cha doing today?” “I’m just flying around, maybe beating up a colt or two.” I shot him a look. “Oh ha ha, I let you win.” “Rematch?” I asked, I wasn’t serious...unless he was. “No...No, it’s okay!” “Then follow me!” I spread my wings and jumped off of the cloud. I soared over the small town that I’d lived in for a few years, it had become much more friendly once I’d been adopted, I felt that if somepony found out, they’d send me back, but I was wrong...I was loved and accepted by most. I heard Star approaching me, so I slowed the pace at which I was flying. After he finally caught up with me, we started talking. “Star?” “Yeah Scoots?” “Could you help me with something?” “No problem,” he smiled, “What is it?” “Well, I think I know my special talent and all, but I need an audience to prove it...could you watch me....?” “Watch you do what?” he questioned warily. “Dance.” I said, embarrassed. “Oh, yeah...yeah, no problem!” “Really?!” I said excitedly, of all ponies, Star would be the one to see me through “Yeah!” “Then follow me!” I sped up tremendously, going almost as fast as I could, which still left Star behind, but still in visible range. I flew past the entire town, all the way over to Fluttershy’s cottage. I knocked on the door a couple of times before I opened. I ran to get the record player and a calm record to dance to. “Scootaloo?” Star said as he entered the cottage. “I’m coming!” I said, the record and its player on my back. “Where are we going to?” he asked, panting. “The meadow out back, I want you to see something.” “At least let me carry the record player.” he said, taking the player from me. I showed him to the large clearing in the woods behind the cottage, once we were there; I set the player on a tree stump and inserted the record. He sat on the log and I took my position in the short grass as the music started. ======================================================================= And alas, I have returned...and so have my associates and the story! Chapters should be coming out regularly now, maybe one every 3-4 days, maybe sooner ;D. To quote Thomas Fuller “A book that is shut is but a block” This isn’t a block....I’m just getting started. Apart from RealityPerhaps Scootaloo could've lived a different life.... "What?" An older, more mature Scootaloo asked the nothingness. "If you could live your life again, would you?" the nothingness spoke, confusing Scootaloo. "Why would I? I've had a great life!" she called out "What if it could've been different?" "How?" she asked. "That boy on the train, he never made it to the academy." Scootaloo remembered the boy on the train from her youth, a flush of sadness crossed her eyes. "Why not?" "He simply wasn't good enough." "But why would I change?" "Oh Scootaloo, you wouldn't be that selfish as to ruin everypony else's lives to save yours, would you?" the nothingness said evilly. "STOP!" she screamed, but nothing stopped, everything became ten times worse. "Just tell me you want a different life!" It said. "But...memories!" Scootaloo cried. "You won't have them, you'll have a new life, a new reality." After minutes of silence, she spoke up, "I'll do it." "Excellent!" the voice said as Scootaloo blacked out and instantly forgot everything that had happened since she received her Cutie mark. Author's Note Sequel? Sequel. Sequel LinkSequel is out, click this sentence to go to it! Alternate Ending: StarI walked off the stage of my last performance to a slew of ponies and paparazzi. After almost twenty seven years of dancing i was finally retiring to a life with my husband and hopefully have a few foals very soon. I was about to make the announcement in front of thousands who had gathered for my final dances. I passed dozens of reporters, each of which held a different camera which flashed at a different time, almost every millisecond of my walk from the performance hall to my room in the luxury hotel across the street was documented, although most of it didn't matter. I stood in the elevator, a select group of ponies surrounded me, including my husband, parents and the rest of the elements of harmony,all of us were happy that i was retiring, most of them were probably happier than i was. We were all either hugging each other or nuzzling as the elevator doors opened to the rear balcony, revealing a crowd of thousands of ponies, some of them holding signs, some yelling my name, but all were united as one. The crowd grew silent as I started to speak, "Everypony, tonight was the last dance in a major area that i ever plan to do, after spending my life focused on being the biggest and best in Equestria, I now plan on being a loyal mother, daughter, and wife to my wonderful family." The crowd stayed silent after my small sentiment, but one pony in the crowd yelled a sentence that I'll never forget; "Scootaloo, we all love and support you!" The crowd erupted with applause and whistling. I stood on the balcony holding my family and friends as I took in the limelight for one last time. Star walked up and started to speak, "I've known my wife for nearly forty five years not, the two of us have been through many tragedies, as well as many experiences that have changes us forever, but now we plan to take on the world as parents,I know that she is ready for it, I'm just hoping I am." The audience laughed as he did and as he left the balcony Star and I and our family walked away from the spotlight forever, we knew for once what was next, and we were proud of what was going to happen. The doors closed behind us and we departed from our family as they went to their own rooms, he and I headed for ours. "i love you Scootaloo." Star said as he kissed my nose. "I'll loveyou forever." I said as we closed our door. The two of us us would always be together, no matter through death, life, or somewhere in between. Ch. 3 Arriving in Ponyville...I walked into a small town, I looked around me, there was a Candy shop, a boutique, another candy shop, a library in a tree, a town hall, a spa, a marketplace, and a few other buildings. I continued walking around, I'd never seen os many ponies before, the only time I can remember being out of the orphanage was when we escaped....I escaped, two days ago. I walked into the library I saw a couch and went over to it and sat down, this was the softest thing I'd felt in almost three days, I closed my eyes and started to doze. I fell into a deep, nightmarish sleep, I remembered the bed on the train, and then Star's body, I wanted to wake up,but I couldn't, I couldn't leave him, not again. "AH!" I shot from the couch, i was sweating, and I had left a pool around the spot I slept. "Are you okay?" I heard a voice behind me ask. I turned around, and standing behind me was a small, white, unicorn filly. She had pink and Purple hair, but not as dark as mine. "Yeah, just a nightmare." I said, wiping my face. "Are you sure?" I shuddered, that was what he asked me before he died, but I nodded. "Yeah.." I shook it off. "My name's Sweetie Belle!" she blurted out. "Uh, Scootaloo..." I said, turning my head slightly. "I like that name, wanna hang out?" she asked me. More than anything now I needed food, I was so hungry! "Do you know where I could get something to eat?" I asked her. "Hmm, well you could come to my house, and my sister could make us something." she finished with a smile. "Sounds good, let's go!" i said cheerfully. I followed her outside, and she started heading towards the boutique, oh, that's where she lived...cool. I followed her up to the front door, and she opened it. "Rarity! I found a new friend! Can we have some lunch?" Sweetie belle yelled in the boutique. "Just a minute Sweetie Belle, I'm creating perfection!" Rarity yelled back form upstairs. "Come on, we'll wait in my room." Sweetie Belle said. I followed her up to her room, but before we could make it there, rarity said to us from the kitchen, "Sweetie Belle, bring your friend down to the kitchen." "Well, I'll show you later." Sweetie Belle said to me, and then she pulled me back downstairs. The two of us walked into the kitchen, and there was Rarity...I think. "Rarity..." Sweetie Belle said, "This is Scootaloo." Rarity was a white unicorn mare, she had blue hair, which was styled perfectly, and she had three diamonds for a Cutie Mark. She eyed me curiously. "Hi." I waved my hoof. "Hello....Scootaloo." she said slowly. The room was silent, nopony was talking, not me, not Rarity, and not Sweetie Belle. Why was Rarity acting this way, did I do something, did I say something? "Um Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle started, "I think she wants you to take a bath." I blushed, "Like here or?" "Here is fine, you can use Sweetie Belle's shower." Rarity said, going back to making us lunch. Sweetie Belle and I both walked upstairs, maybe I would get to see her room. She stopped by the door next to her room and said, "Here, go in here and turn the knob to the left, and then pull it out!" she smiled, "I'll get you a towel." "Okay." I said, and then I walked into the room, it was just a big shower, like the whole room, it was covered in white and blue tiles, and there was three shower heads. "Knob...knob...knob..." I found it. I followed her instructions and the second I pulled the knob out, three streams hit me, two streams of rinsing water, and one stream of soap. awesome, I juts had to move around to get washed,so I just started waving, and then leaping and spinning, the feeling was amazing, not just the water, the dancing too, I felt alive, i felt okay, I felt safe. "Got your towel!" I heard Sweetie Belle say form outside of the door. "Okay, i'm almost done!" I said, I felt so refreshed. I pushed the knob back in and turned it to the right, then I walked over to the door and grabbed my towel. After I washed myself off, I walked back downstairs and into the kitchen, the smell was amazing, it smelled like a salad, but it was grilled and I smelled something else, something sweet. I looked over at Rarity, she was setting out a grilled salad? And a small cupcake beside it, for each of us. "Hey Scootaloo." Sweetie belle said, she was sitting with a salad in front of her. "Hi.' I said. "So, Scootaloo?" Rarity started, "Where are you from?" Okay, I had to make up something...or I didn't, maybe I could stretch the truth. "I'm from Trottingham, I rode a train to Canterlot, and then I traveled here." I said, Rarity looked at me. "Oh, I haven't been to Trottingham in ages!" How is it now?" "It's fine, there's a lot more ponies." "I'd imagine," she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, "my true dream is to move to Canterlot and pursue my fashion career there." "You should pursue cooking instead." I said after I swallowed a bit, "It's amazing!" "Thank you Scootaloo, I'm self taught." WE ate the rest of the lunch with come little conversation, talking about our day today, about what rarity created, and about some other smaller things. Once we finished lunch, Rarity turned to me, "You should come back tomorrow for lunch, you're a delight!" "Thanks!" I said, "I will1" I trotted out of the boutique, and I walked back into town, "Now to find a shelter." I looked around, I would stay a few days, or at least until tomorrow. "Perfect!" I found an overturned, old chariot outside of town, it even had some blankets in it, this would be my home for now. On the chariot wall was a flier, it said the Summer Sun celebration was in three days, free food, free drink, and a chance to meet the princess. needed food, so I was going to go. I passed the next days doing the same thing, going to Sweetie Belle's for lunch, returning home for sleep, again and again, right up until the celebration. The night of the celebration, every pony in the town was packed into the town hall. As i walked in, I saw a pale yellow mare with a pink mane gesture to some birds, which started singing. "Fillies and Gentlecolts...." an older mare, I'm guessing the Mayor, started, "As mayor of Ponyville," Yep, she's the mayor, "It is my great pleasure to the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" There was a huge cheer at the end of her words, but she spoke again. "In a few minutes, our town will witness the magic of the sun rise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year." She paused, "And now it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria! Princess Celestia!" Rarity pulled a rope and the birds sounded, but nopony appeared. The crowd started to panic, and the Mayor reassured them, "Remain calm everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation." "She's gone!" Rarity yelled from atop the steeple. The crowd went into a slight panic, but then a blue mist started forming, was it her? No, it turned into a black alicorn, she had evil eyes, and evil body, she wasn't Celestia, who was she? "Oh my beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen you precious little, sun loving faces!" she said, even her voice sounded evil. Sweetie belle grabbed me and another filly and held us tight, we were all scared,somepony yelled out, "What did you do with our Princess?" She laughed, "Why, am I not royal enough for you?" "Don't you know who I am? Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She went to Rarity, "Do you not recall the legends, did you not see the signs?" "I did, and i know who you are!" A purple unicorn, one who I never met yelled out. "You're the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!" The whole crowd gasped, some ponies fainted, I almost did myself. "Well well well, somepony who remembers me." Nightmare said, "Then you also know why I'm here?!" "You're here to..to.." Nightmare laughed evilly, "Remember this day ponies, for it will be your last, from this moment on, the night will last FOREVER!" Lightning struck around her, and panic went through the crowd. Nightmare just laughed as we watched, I wondered if she was going to kill us all, but she didn't. "Cease her! Only she knows where the Princess is!" The mayor yelled, and Royal guards flew up to her. "Stand back you foals!" Nightmare struck them with lightning, then she disappeared into the mist and blew open the doors and flew away. "Sweetie Belle! Take Scootaloo back to the boutique, lock the doors and stay safe, I'm to follow Fluttershy." Rarity yelled at us, she was stressed. The two went back of the boutique, and followed rarity's orders, tonight would be a long night...literally. So, this chapter was hard to write, but i got it out for y'all! :Yay: Ch. 16 Dreams Really Do Come TrueAs the first beat sounded, I was off into the world of movement. I moved out of the center of the clearing towards the cottage. I spun once on my front left foreleg to face Star. The baseline kicked in, so I upped the rhythmic movements; Jumping, spinning rising, falling, I did it all. with each passing moment I felt stronger. Once I started my final spin, I felt so powerful, so amazed that I almost passed out..I dropped to tthe ground and landed on all four legs. (Stop the Music) “Whoooooo!” Star clapped his hooves as he cheered. I blushed, “Was I really that good?” He pointed at my flank, I looked down. The emptiness which once had occupied the area was gone, instead there was a set of dancing shoes with a checkmark between them. I fell over and started laughing, I had finally earned my Cutie mark. “FLUTTERSHY! RAINBOW!” I yelled. The two mares flew out of the house and landed beside the two of us, Rainbow rearing up into a fighting position. “Look!” I said frantically as I pointed to my flank. “Scootaloo!” Fluttershy grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. Rainbow Dash and Star joined in on the group hum, maybe Dreams really do come true.... Nah, Dreams come true. ________________________________10 years later________________________________________ "Scootaloo, are you ready?" "Never been better."i said, I was so nervous. "It'll be fine, see you in a few hours." Star said as he walked away. Not too many hours later did Scootaloo put on her dress and prepare for the next hour or three. She stood behind the doors as the music began to play. "Here comes the bride...." As the doors opened, I started walking, and none other than Star was standing in the grooms position. Dreams....are real.
Ch. 1 The Audition"Hello everypony...." I said to the cameras, I was nervous....I could dance in front of hundreds no sweat, but when it came to cameras and interviews, I was awful, "My name is Scootaloo, I am twelve years old and tonight, I will be dancing to the song Piano Portraits...by Roy Hoof." I finished my introduction, and I waited for the approval, and/or critiques of the judges. "Young filly," one of the judges perked up, he was older, but the lighting made anything else difficult to tell, "You seem nervous, do you know how many ponies are watching?" "No...No sir." I stuttered "There are six ponies watching you right now." he smiled, "Don't be nervous." I could tell he was a kind stallion; he must be a grandfather...or have another job that helps him be so kind. "It's not you, or them," I gestured to everypony else in the room, "Cameras make me nervous." "Well," he started, "What if we only keep one turned on?" "That would be nice." I said, and he gestured to have the cameras turned off, all but one facing right at me. "You may start anytime." he said, looking right at me. The music started, I leaped into the air, I let the music flow through me, through my spins, my dives, and my movement altogether, with each note my body moved differently...I was becoming one with the music, it was as if there was nopony else in the room. For the whole time I was dancing, I felt more alive than I ever had, not even flying matched this, not Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's love, not even my old scooter, this was unlike everything I had ever experienced. As the music died down, I did as well, on the final note I struck a pose with my left foreleg on the ground, nothing else, my mane stayed put right in its tie, and I had perfect balance. I let myself down, and looked at the judges, there faces were of amazement, except for the one kind judge, his face was just....pure surprise, as if he didn't expect that much from me, did I not look as if I could dance? Oh, it must be because I'm a Pegasus, and were not really the nimble type apparently. "How...." I gulped, "How did I do?" The first judge manually closed his jaw, and he cleared his throat, "That....was indescribable, it was pure...amazing!" he threw his hooves into the air. The second judge spoke up, "I think I speak for the board when I say, Miss Scootaloo, you have been accepted into the FillyDelphia Academy of Fine Arts." My heart skipped a beat, I was accepted! I knew I had to keep composure, but some of my enthusiasm escaped, a huge grin appeared on my face, and I jumped into the air a bit. My dreams were coming true, and this was step one. "Now, take this envelope to your parents." he said, handing me the envelope with the congratulatory note inside. I knew what I would do, I would surprise them, and I knew how to do it. They let me have time to regain my composure, and they helped me try to look sad, and it looked perfect, I saw my face's reflection...I looked depressed,...perfect. I slowly opened the door to the room, waiting to see me were the two ponies that cared about me the most...my two parents, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Of course they had adopted me, but I'll get to that later. Their smiling faces were almost too powerful to fake a frown to...almost.... "How'd it go kiddo?" Rainbow Dash asked me, I just handed her and Fluttershy the note. They hadn't read the note, but they could tell I was sad, so they just assumed. "Dear parents," Fluttershy read aloud to the three of us. "We....happy....accepted." are the words she read aloud, and then turned to me. I had a giant smile on my face, and they hugged me tightly, I felt the warmth, the warmth of family...it was amazing, just as amazing as last time. "I made it!" I exclaimed, I was so happy. "We're so proud of you!" Fluttershy said, probably as loudly as she could. "We are." Rainbow reassured as she hugged me. "So what do I do now?" I asked, smiles on all of our faces. "Wake up." Rainbow said, No NO! This couldn't be a dream. "No, this isn't a dream!" I said, panicking. "Yeah, I know, but I had to get ya back for that little joke earlier." Rainbow Dash giggle, I jumped up and tackled her. "I love you guys!" I said as me and Rainbow Dash wrestled. "We love you too." they said, almost in unison. After about ten or so minutes of laughing and playing, we walked out of the school, although I'm not the biggest fan of school, I've always wanted to dance here; I still can't believe I made it. "Well, I'm starving!" Rainbow said, "Where should we eat?" "Um....I don't know, you have any ideas Fluttershy?" I asked. "What about, since were in FillyDelphia, let's eat at one of the big, famous restaurants....to celebrate." she looked with a smile back to me. "Sounds awesome!" Rainbow flew about ten feet into the air. We walked around for a while, we could smell each smell from each restaurant, some were good, some were bad, and some were awful, like a Prench food place we walked by. After about an hour or so of walking around, we found the perfect restaurant, it was called Salad's and Such, the place was huge, it had like three floors of dining, plus a rooftop area. "Where would you like to sit Miss?" he asked us, I heard the kind, country accent. "Umm," Fluttershy debated options in her head, "Rooftop please." Rainbow's ears perked up at that, "Yay." she said happily. We climbed the spiral staircase; it had a red carpet and beautifully carved handrails. Once we arrived at the rooftop, I found out that it was more of a romantic area than family, which....I didn't really mind, although I am a tomboy filly, I really do like romantic things. Wow, I have changed a lot since I was little. The waiter sat us at a table near the corner of the building; we could overlook the city park, or the almost fully quiet streets. I sat across from Fluttershy and Rainbow, who were smiling at each other. "This is really nice Fluttershy; I like the open space up here." Rainbow said, and she nuzzled her a bit. 'You're welcome..." Fluttershy blushed. After a few minutes of conversation, most of which was on my day at the Academy, the waiter arrived back at our table. "I'm sorry ma'am, we were really busy downstairs, and now....what would you three like to drink?" "Tea please." Fluttershy said, and he nodded. "Me too." I said. "Aged Cider?" Rainbow asked. "We have two brands in stock, Apple Family, and Flimflam." "Apple Family." "We have some aged eight years, does that sound alright?" "Yes." Rainbow said, they had Apple Family Cider here? The waiter left, and about three minutes later he returned, on a tray were two teas and one bottle of cider with a glass. "Here you two are." He handed me and Fluttershy our two drinks. He put rainbow's glass on the table next, and popped off the cork of the bottle. "Half or full?" he asked. "Full please." He followed her instructions, and then gave her the drink. He pulled out a notepad, it was only then I realized he was a unicorn. "Now what would the three of you like to eat?" he asked us, oh, I forgot to look at the menu, crap...I shuffled through it quickly and found something. "And you miss?" he asked me. "Can I have the Grilled Zucchini Salad?" I asked. "Ah, fine choice." he said, and then walked off. I looked over at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, they were smiling at me. "What?" "We're just so proud of you." Fluttershy said. "I knew you had it in you." Rainbow said. "Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you." I walked over and hugged my mothers. Tonight would be amazing, I knew it.... Okay everypony, I'm trying out a new feel good story, this one should be my best, so yeah, and also...the next chapters will take place 4 years before this chapter...
Ch. 2 Waking from a memory.4 years before the audition I woke up in the clubhouse, why I woke there you ask, it wasn't because we stayed the night out there, it was because I was an orphan and homeless. I sat up and stretched, I felt my back and wings pop a few times, I slept horribly that night, probably because of the rainstorm. I looked out of the window, the sun was barely over the mountains next to Ponyville, I had to hurry up and pack away the sheets before anypony knew I was here. They'd ask why I wasn't at home, where my home was, and who my parents were. The only problem was, I had no parents, I never did, maybe other than when i was born, but that was about it, everything I'd ever known was a Trottingham orphanage, right up until I ran away, the very dream I'd just had. I walked through the halls of the orphanage, it was about midnight, almost everypony else was asleep, except for me, my best friend Star, and one of the caretakers. Star was a little colt, he had a black mane, a brown coat, and blue eyes, me and him had been wanting to leave for so long, but we put it off until we were both at least 6 and a half, and yesterday was six months before his birthday, so we set off that night. Our plan was simple, jump out of the first floor window and land on the old couch that had been thrown out by the orphanage. "Star, this way." I whispered, we couldn't be caught, or we'd be beaten. He followed me, we were on the bottom floor. The only problem with this plan was that the older caretaker's desks was on this floor, the very one that was still awake. "Scoots....look." he pointed to the window, there was a note. I pulled down the note, and read it silently, You two little foals are about to be in a mess of trouble.... "Who's it from?" I asked, looking over at Star. "Me..." The caretaker, Miss Gluck, said menacingly. Star and I looked at each other, and then we ran, we an down the halls and up the stairs. We rammed and bucked through any obstacles, janitor carts, doors, anything. "Plan B?" he asked me as we were running. "Are you sure?" I asked, we both very well knew the risks. Our Plan B was just a larger version of the last plan, we could either jump off the roof onto another, or aim for the couch at the bottom. The problem with the second option was that the building was seven stories tall. "Let's go for the roof." I said as me and him made it to the rooftop. Miss Gluck was right behind us, we were about to jump, we could hear her snarling. "Jump!" I yelled as the two of us reached the edge. "NO!" Miss Gluck yelled in anger. We jumped, I looked over at Star, and he back at me, he had tears in his eyes, but I couldn't figure out why, until I noticed him dropping in altitude. Star had missed the jumping point, he had jumped too early...so he ran out of speed to early. "Scootaloo." he whispered. "Star!" I yelled, and reached a hoof out for him. He grabbed it, and it took us both down, I pulled him close to me, and we smashed through a window on the building beside us and rolled through the room. "C'mon!" he limped a bit, but shook it off. He opened the door to the hallway and we both ran out. We ran and ran, right up to the outskirts of Trottingham, right up to the train station. Star walked up to the booth, and tapped his hoof against the glass, an older pony sat up and looked down at him. "Hello." "Um yes," he started, "My mother is sick in Canterlot, and she sent me money to get on a train, so may I have two one way tickets?" "Two?" he questioned. "For me, and one for my sister." he gestured back at me, I tried to look sad, but I almost couldn't, I had escaped the orphanage. "Alright, that'll be forty-two bits." he said plainly as he rang up two tickets. "Okay." Star pulled out a small bag, in it was seventy six bits, all he had saved his entire life. The man exchanged the money for the two tickets, "Next train leaves at about 1, you've got about thirty minutes." he laid back into his chair. "Okay Scootaloo, we have thirty minutes." he said to me, looking me right in the eyes. What should we do?" I asked, we'd escaped, that was as far as I'd planned, obviously he'd planned further. "Just wait here, when the train comes, we'll go to Canterlot, then we'll plan more." We sat there, looking up at the sky, all of Princess Celestia's beauty, stretched out over an endless expanse. About ten minutes to one, the two of us stood near the tracks, from the distance, we could hear the train approaching the station. "Scootaloo...." Star said, looking at me. "What?" I asked him, he looked sad. "We're almost free." he smiled, and a tear dropped from his eye. That's when it hit me, we were co close to being free, being away from the orphanage, and we could live our own lives. The train pulled into the station, and the doors opened. Out stepped a large stallion with a ticket punch and a small tie. "Tickets?" he asked me, and I pointed to Star. "Ah, two," he punched one, "One for you," he gave it to Star, "And one for you." he handed the final one to me. We sat in the two seats farthest back from the front of the train, we wanted to see the city fall behind us. As the train started to leave, the city of Trottingham started to shrink away behind us, the only things in front of us were an endless expanse of forest, and time. We set ourselves free, the train was completely past the end of the station and me and Star relaxed. "Alright folks." the train intercom buzzed, "We have about seven hours until Canterlot, as always, the sleeper car is in back, you'll wake ten minutes before we reach Canterlot." "Star?" I asked him, "Do you want to sleep?" "Yeah," he yawned, "I'm really tired." "Me too." We both made our way back to the sleeper car, the beds were lined up on either side, it was way more comfortable than the orphanage beds. "Good night Star, I'm glad we made it." I said, my eyes closing. "Night Scootaloo, me too." I closed my eyes fully, and I fell into a world of dreams, amazing dreams of freedom, of peace, of amazement. It seemed almost instantaneous that i closed my eyes and I opened them the next morning, Star was staring out the window, his eyes wide, "Scootaloo?" he said uneasily. "What?" I asked, and I ran to the window. We could see the station, and it was surrounded by flashing lights and the royal police, we were in trouble, big trouble. "Star, we have to jump!" I yelled, we couldn't be captured, not when were this close. "Are you sure?" he asked me, there was no other way. "Yes." I said, closing my eyes. We ran to the back door, and opened it, in front of us the tracks sped by, but to our side was a soft looking field, we had to land there. "Jump right after me." he said, and checked over his shoulder at me. "i will." I said, we had less than five minutes to jump, we had to go. "GO!" he yelled, and he jumped off the side and flapped his wings quickly, sending him into the field. I followed suit, doing the same thing, I flapped them twice, and I landed about ten feet from him. "Star, come on!" I yelled. No response from Star..... I ran over to him, but I was greeted by a horrible sight. Star had hit a rock, he had landed wrong and hit a rock, and now.... Star was dead. I felt tears coming to my eyes, a few landed on his coat, they shown against it, and then I ran, I ran as fast as I could, I ran into the woods, away from Star, away from the train, away from my past. I wasn't free anymore, I was trapped, I had gotten my friend killed. I just ran until my legs collapsed from me crying, and I just laid there and cried next to a huge oak tree. Remembering that day made me cry every time, I can't remember how I got here, but I can remember the first day or two, they were almost as bad as the day Star had died, almost....nothing could make me more sad and depressed. ===================================================================================== Alright, Star dying is setting up a major plot , so don't hate for a depressed moment or two.
Ch. 4 Boutique LockdownSweetie Belle and I rushed back to the Boutique, she held the key in her mouth. As we neared it, she looked at me, "You get the bottom stairs doors and windows, I'll get the top." Me on bottom, her on top, got it. We could see the boutique clearly now, it looked fine, phew. We rushed through the doors, she immediately ran up the stairs while I got started on the bottom floor, I closed window after window, I shut the back door, and locked it, then I did the same ot the front door. "Scootaloo! Help me!" Sweetie Belle yelled. I ran upstairs and looked at me, she was trying to get a huge window closed, there were six in the room. "Here!" I helped her push the pane closed, it screeched and came down with a thud. The two of us did the same for the other five windows, the whole boutique was completely locked, now we had to keep safe and keep cool. "So what do we do now?" she asked me. "Well, turn on the fans, it's gonna get hot in here." She ran downstairs, followed by me, to turn on the fans. The two of us, for extra precaution, did one more thing for safety. In dead center of the main room, the two of us used all the pillows in the boutique to make a six hoof tall fort, it had three holes in it, one for me to climb on top, one for Sweetie Belle to look out of, and one for the two of us to exit the fort, which probably wouldn't happen. "I'm hungry..." Sweetie Belle said, "Are you?" "Kind of...." I said, I was actually kind of hungry myself. "I can make some Macaroni and Cheese!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly. "Sounds good." I said, standing on top of the fort. Sweetie Belle could NOT make Macaroni and Cheese! First of all, she burned the water, which i didn't know you could do, and then she added too much cheese, so we ended up eating a bunch of extra cheesy noodles, well...not that bad actually. Sweetie Belle and I sat inside the fort, waiting for anypony to break down the door, then we would attack and defend to boutique. My eyes were drooping, I kept dozing off, I wouldn't be able to stay up much longer, we'd been up for.....a while, it was about seven now, so no sleep in 23 hours. "Sweetie Belle...." I said slowly, "I'm getting really tired, I can't stay up anymore." "C'mon then, come down here." I jumped down into the pillow fort form its roof, Sweetie belle designed a good inside, there wasn't really anyhting, but it did have another hole going to the first floor, and a bed. The bed was really only a couple of bed pillows with a blanket, but a bed none the less. "You can sleep there." "Thanks Sweetie Belle." "No problem," She yawned herself, "I might join you later, I'll be up for a little longer though." "Okay..." I yawned. I fell asleep, I had no dreams, but I slept amazingly. I felt myself getting more rested as I slept, and during that sleep, i felt some hits, not like punches, but some nudges. I woke up to sunlight shining in my face, ow...wait, sunlight...Nightmare was defeated! YAY! I looked over, and I saw Sweetie Belle next to me, she was all snuggled up in the blankets. I smiled and sat up on my haunches, the fort still stood strong, and the inside was still cool. I looked back over at Sweetie belle, she reached her hoof out to where I was sleeping, and it moved, looking for me. I had no choice but to lay back down and let it find me. It hugged me tight once it did. I wanted to resist, but I was powerless against this foreleg. "Morning." I said flatly, and then the foreleg relaxed. "Mmmmmm." Sweetie belle moaned, and then rolled over. "Wake up!" I poked her with my hoof. "No!" she giggled. "Fine, but I am!" I jumped out of bed. I trotted into the kitchen, Rarity was in there. "Hey Rarity!" I yelped with a voice crack. "Oh hello Scootaloo, is Sweetie belle awake?" "Yeah..." Sweetie Belle walked into the room slowly "What happened, why is the sun back?" I asked, and Rarity sat us down at the table. Rarity told us the story of her, and some ponies named Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, defeated Nightmare. She told us about the serpent, about the manticore, about the Shadowbolts, and about the final battle. "We finished the battle at the time the sun usually rises, and it turns out, Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia's little sister, Luna." Rarity finished, I was amazed, this was the best story ever, and it was true...which made it better. For the next seven weeks, I ate lunch at Rarity's, I started to try and get to know all of the ponies she'd mentioned, all of them were happy to make a new friend, even if it was me. The only two ponies that I hadn't been able to meet were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I walked up the narrow pathway, at the end of the path there was a small cottage. The cottage belonged to Fluttershy, I hoped she was home. "Hello?" I asked when I reached the door. "Go...go away, nopony is home!" I heard a frantic voice say from inside. "Fluttershy?" I asked I heard some locks buckle and a few latches remove, the door then opened, revealing a pale yellow mare with a pink mane and tail. She had three butterflies for a Cutie Mark, and she looked at me funny. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice scared and hesitant. "I'm Scootaloo, Rarity knows me." I said. "Oh.." she pawed at the ground. "Um, you really defeated a manticore?" I asked, and her cheeks went red. "Well yes but..." she was studdering. "That's awesome!" I jumped, and she ducked. "Please...don't yell." "Okay, so um, want to be friends?" I asked, putting on a big smile. "Sure.." she smiled kindly. "Yay, well I have to go..." I paused for a moment, "Know where I could find Rainbow Dash?" "Try looking at the clouds, she's usually resting on one." Fluttershy giggled a bit. One more chapter until we reach the 4 years in the past mark! So Close!
Ch. 5 Cutie Mark CrusadersAs I walked away from Fluttershy's cottage, I became really nervous and really excited to meet Rainbow Dash. The way that Rarity had described her in the story...it was amazing! All the action, the strength, the selflessness! Sweet Luna, I wanted to meet her so bad, yet I wasn't sure what to be looking for aside from a rainbow mane, which wasn't very common, so that's what I'd scrounge around for. I looked around the clouds, mainly the low flying ones, for the rainbow mane, but all were empty. I kept searching all around Ponyville and even the Apple family farm, Rainbow wasn't anywhere that I could see. I saw it, a hint of a rainbow tail hanging from a cloud. It swayed back and forth with the breeze, so Rainbow must be asleep, either that or just being lazy. All of a sudden, the tail flipped and rolled a few times, still staying on the cloud, she was waking up. I started running as fast as I could towards the underbelly of the cloud, even using my small wings to propel me forward to the cloud. I saw two cyan hooves stretch above the surface of the cloud, then a rainbow mane rose up, followed by the rest of her body. I was almost under the cloud when I yelled, “Rainbow Dash!?” The mare turned around and looked down at me. I’m not sure why, but I felt a small spark. “Yeah?” she said as she descended towards me. “You’re amazing!” I said loudly. “Heh heh, thanks.” she put her hoof behind her head. “You really did all that stuff when you used the elements?” I asked, still excited. She recoiled a bit, but responded, “Yeah, who told you about that anyway?” “Rarity did! I’m friends with Sweetie Belle.” I said cheerfully. “Cool kid, I gotta go for weather duties.” Rainbow ruffled my mane, and then flew off. “Bye!” I waved my hoof, she was awesome! The speed that she flew off with was amazing, I’d never seen anypony fly like that. I trotted home, well...the cart that I’d found. I had, in the last week or so, found better pillows and blankets so I could be comfortable in there. -----------------------------------A few weeks later-------------------------------------------- Sweetie Belle and I walked towards Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara’s Cutie Mark party, Cutescinera I think, I couldn’t remember. When we got there, I saw a few other fillies and colts, only a couple of them were familiar, like Featherweight and Twist. The two of them were just mingling around the punch, listening to music, and talking to a few other of the ponies. All of a sudden, the music cut off and everypony looked over at the record player, right in front of it was the filly that Sweetie Belle had grabbed at the Summer Sun Celebration. “Wow, that is an amazing Cutie Mark!” Silver spoon said sarcastically as the two prissy fillies laughed at her. “Nice try Blank Flank!” Diamond Tiara spoke, but they said in unison by the end. We hid under a table, hoping to avoid ridicule from the two fillies. Once everypony started talking about how bad it was to be a blank flank, I spoke up, “You got a problem with blank flanks?” Everypony at the party gasped, and the two fillies in front of us shot to the sides. “I said,” I spoke louder, “You got a problem with blank flanks?” “The problem is,” Silver Spoon started, “She’s like, totally not special.” “No,” Sweetie Belle argued, “It means she’s full of potential.” “It means she could be great at anything!” I agreed, “The possibilities are, “I used a mocking tone,”Like endless!” “She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer, she could even be mayor of Ponyville someday!” Sweetie Belle chirped. “And she’s not stuck being stuck up like you two.” I said, pointing a hoof at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Ponies around them started to giggle and laugh at the two hostile fillies. “HEY, this is my party, why are you two on her side?” Diamond Tiara yelled. “Because..” Sweetie Belle and I raised our own blank flanks. “You don’t have your Cutie Marks either, I thought I was the only one!” AppleBloom said, astonished. “We thought we were the only two!” I said happily. “I for one,” Twilight said, “Think you three are very lucky fillies.” “Lucky?” Diamond questioned, “How can they be lucky?” Twilight recoiled a bit, but continued, “They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they’re meant to be!” “And they’ve got all the time in the world to figure it out!” Applejack said as she walked up, “Not just an afternoon.” Ponies murmured, and some of the smaller colts and fillies even ran up to her and asked her hundreds of questions. “Hey, what’s everypony doing, this is my party! Everypony is supposed to be paying attention to me!” Diamond yelled as she stomped her hooves. “Whatever, we still think they’re losers, right Diamond Tiara?” Silver Spoon said, “Bump Bump, sugar....lump...rump?” “Not now Silver Spoon!” Diamond said as they walked off. “My name’s Scootaloo!” I said to the filly that we’d rescued. “And I’m Sweetie Belle!” “AppleBloom!” she cheered. The party went on for quite some time, we didn’t see Diamond or Silver Spoon the whole time, near the end though the three of us decided to sit at a table and talk. “So i was thinking, now that we’re friends, I mean, we are friends right?” AppleBloom questioned. “How could we not be? We’re totally alike, we don’t have Cutie Marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy,” I started. “Totally crazy!” Sweetie belle said, and the three of us laughed. “Now that we’re friends, what if the three of us together find out who we are and what we’re supposed to be?” AppleBloom asked. “Oh Oh! We could form our own secret society!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m liking this idea!” I said. “A secret Society, yeah, we’ll need a name for it though!” AppleBloom said. “Cutie Mark 3?” “Cutastically fantastic?” “How about, The Cutie Mark Crusaders?” “It’s perfect!” I said. The three of us celebrated with some cookies from the party. A couple of weeks of crusading went by, but on one of the days, Applejack told us to follow her out to a deep part of the orchards. “Where are you taking' us?” AppleBloom asked. “We’re almost there youngins.” Applejack said. “I’ve never been here before.” Sweetie Belle said. “Ouch!” I yelped as a branch hit me. “Oh, sorry!” AppleBloom said. “There? Where? What? I don't even know what we're doing.” Sweetie belle said as she walked by the branch. “Here we are!” Applejack said as she stopped in front of a...treehouse? “What are we looking at?” AppleBloom asked. “I have no idea.” I answered. “What is that thing?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, welcome to your new clubhouse!” Applejack said proudly. After a moment of silence, Applejack continued, “Well, don’t thank me all at once.” “This was my clubhouse when I was your age. Sure it hasn't been used in a while, but it's empty and on a secluded, private part of the farm. And it's all yours. It just needs a little, uh... TLC.” Applejack said. “TLC as in Tender Loving Care or Totally Lost Cause?” I asked. “Well, maybe y’all will get you Cutie Marks when you discover your talent for...” Applejack yelled as she fell through the wall. We surrounded her, yet she continued, “Uh, house cleaning?” The rest of the day went by in a blur, us checking out everywhere we could think of to earn our Cutie Marks, the farm, SugarCube corner, the lake, the park, Rarity’s boutique, but something slowed down in the library. We were digging through the books in the library when we heard Spike say, “I had nothing to do with this.” “What’s going on in here?” Twilight said, accompanied by Cheerilee. “Well, we sure aren't getting our Cutie Marks for being librarians.” AppleBloom said, tossing a book beside her. “I should think not!” Spike said, causing a stare from Twilight, “What?” “Fillies, I think you're going about this the wrong way. Instead of trying to do things in areas you're not familiar with, why not try doing things in areas that you already like?” Twilight asked. “And I have a perfect place to start!” Cheerilee said, pulling a poster out of her saddlebag. “Showcase your talents, for all to see, at the annual Ponyville talent show!” The three of us read in segments. “There'll be all sorts of awards. Best dramatic performance, best comedy act, best magic act... Surely you can find your talent amidst all of these!” Cheerilee said. “This would be the perfect place to discover our talents!” AppleBloom said. With that, the three of us rushed off, we knew what we’d be doing, it would be a musical act, Sweetie belle would make the costumes, like rarity, AppleBloom would do the dance moves, and I would make the song. We rushed around town getting materials from Twilight, Rarity, Mr, Breezy, Applejack, and other ponies. Once we were back at the clubhouse, we got right to work on our performance. “Oh, ow!” AppleBloom said as she fell on me. “Ow, Apple Bloom! What are you doing?” I said as I got up, “Oh, I feel like I have four left hooves. I can't even spin right.” AppleBloom sighed. “Don't be silly. You just gotta keep your head forward until very the last minute, like this. See? Easy-peasy. You just gotta practice a bunch, that's all.” I said as I demonstrated a spin for her. “Wow! That does look easy. Thanks. Okay. Let's try this again.” AppleBloom tried to spin again, but alas, she fell again. “Keep practicing!” I said. “Will do!” AppleBloom said. The rest of the week went by quickly, the talent show passed, we won best comedy act, which we weren't going for, but it was a medal. I had ditched the cart to sleep in the clubhouse, and the three of us had become closer than ever. That was all a year and a half ago, a lot of interesting things had happened, the Rainbow Dash fan club had been started, Equestria almost ended...twice, and the three of us were at a royal wedding. BOOM! We’re at somewhat current time, at the -4 years mark at least, no I can start to gain steam, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter though! It took like three days to write. Also, Valve said no to the Cutie Mark 3, you know, cause of the number.....
Ch. 6 Secret PassionTHIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS CHAPTER 2, IT IS RIGHT AFTER HER MEMORIES! I spun around to look back at the improvised bed, three blankets and a pillow, the same blankets I’d had since the cart a year and a half ago. I slid the blankets behind the two open boards in the floor, I’d found the little compartment when I dropped a brick and it broke a board. I put the pillow against the wall, where it stayed, unused by any of the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders. After I’d cleaned up my bed, I walked outside and looked around. The storm last night had done a pretty good amount of damage, a few apple trees were uprooted, some were hit with lightning, and it was a miracle that I’d survived all of that. I trotted down the stairs of the club house and looked back, it had taken some damage, but not major, just a few shingles missing here and there, a quick fix by AppleBloom. “Scootaloo? What’re ya doing here so early?” A surprised AppleBloom said as she turned the corner to see the clubhouse. “Uh,” I had to think of something, “I just came to see if the clubhouse was still here.” I questioned, but she seemed to buy it. “Well, there’s some on the roof, but I’ll take care of it!” she said, then pulled out a hammer and some shingles from her saddlebag. I walked away from AppleBloom working on the clubhouse; I was going to Fluttershy’s house, just like I usually do every day. We visited for an hour or two, but I’d never had the guts to tell her that I was an orphan living on my own in and un-insulated clubhouse, but maybe today I might, I had to do it for Star, it was 4 years ago today. Knock Knock Knock Fluttershy opened the door almost immediately; she usually did when I was here. “Hey Fluttershy.” I said happily. “Hello Scootaloo.” She gave me hug, just like usual. “How was last night, did you manage okay?” I asked her, I knew she had a problem with thunderstorms. “It was...scary.” her voice wavered, “I thought it might never end, how were you?” “It was bad; the clubhouse almost couldn’t hold it.” I put a hoof in my mouth, I’d just said clubhouse. “Clubhouse? Why would Applejack let you be in the clubhouse when that storm was coming?” Fluttershy questioned. “Umm, she, I...” I was in trouble now, now I couldn’t tell her about my life, “I gotta go!” With that, I shot out the door and grabbed my scooter. “Bye?” Fluttershy questioned to nopony. (Third person limited!) After a few minutes, Fluttershy had discussed the thought of Scootaloo in that storm with Angel, who responded by sending a message that she should talk to somepony else. She followed his advice and went to find the pony that was closest to her, Rainbow Dash. As she approached the park, where Rainbow usually practiced on Saturdays, she could see the cyan mare, flying and stunting about in the clouds. She would’ve just watched for awhile had it not been such a serious subject. “Umm, Rainbow?” Fluttershy called out calmly. Rainbow didn’t hear her, she just kept on practicing. “Rainbow Dash!” she yelled quietly. Again, Rainbow didn’t hear her. “Rainbow, could you maybe please come down here?” she asked, but again the cyan mare didn’t hear the barely audible sounds coming from Fluttershy “If they don’t fear you, make sure they hear you.” Fluttershy said to herself. She cleared her throat, “RAINBOW DASH, GET DOWN HERE!” This time, Rainbow heard, and was almost shot off course, by the scream. She descended towards Fluttershy, who was back to her calm self at the edge of the park. “Yeah Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, still hovering a bit. “Umm, we need to talk about Scootaloo.” “Yeah, sure, what is it?” Rainbow questioned, she wanted to get back to flying. “Scootaloo stayed out in the clubhouse in the storm last night.” Fluttershy said worriedly. “In that storm! That was one that I made, it was crazy, she could’ve been hurt, or worse!” Rainbow ended deeply. “I know,” Fluttershy paused, “That’s why I asked you about it, I asked if Applejack had let her, and she just ran off, it’s like she didn’t want to answer the question.” Fluttershy said, her mind puzzled by the situation. “Well then we have to talk to AJ about it!” Rainbow said, she no longer needed to finish her flying practice. “Okay...” Fluttershy said quietly. “Come on!” Rainbow grabbed her and flew to Applejack’s orchard. (Back to First Person!) I ran away from Fluttershy’s cottage, I can’t believe I almost gave it away, I knew I’d thought about telling her, tons of times! But, I just couldn’t, I didn’t know what to do. Well, I knew what I could do, I could go back to the clubhouse and practice my uh, secret passion, for a few hours, something that I hadn’t done in a while. I just had to make sure that AppleBloom was done working on the roof; after all, it had only been 10 or 15 minutes. I moved the brush from the path as I neared the clubhouse, the closer I got, the more the path’s debris multiplied. Right before I broke into the clearing, I heard AppleBloom leaving the roof. “Wheeooh!” she said, “That was mighty hard up there.” AppleBloom took the path that led to the barn when she left, letting me silently sneak into the clubhouse. I tip-hoofed up the steps, and almost silently closed the door. I looked over at the record player; I pulled out a record that was my favorite song to dance to . I always sang along with the first verse, it reminded me of Star. “I fly with the stars in the skies....” I sang, then my body moved like nothing it had before, I had new passion for some reason, maybe it was today’s date. The song made me want to slow dance more than anything, but today, I needed to put more passion and movement into it, I jumped, using my wings to flutter in the air for a moment or two, I kicked out, flipping my body through the air, and the spin, I used my wings to propel me right up to the point of floating. “In this moment I just feel so alive.” I finished, and put my head down, I could feel the crowds of millions cheering somewhere, but right now, right now was my time. In my mind I bowed, and walked off stage. The fans stormed all around me, I was in paradise. YAY~ Another chapter, also, hit up my pre-reader/Editor....Subtle Rampage! He's a pretty awesome author and friend, so yeah, his fic will do a complete crossover with mine eventually, you'll see!
Ch. 7 Caught!(Third Person omniscient!) Applejack heard a heavy rustle, followed by a crashing sound coming from outside of the barn. She dropped the harness she was holding and rushed over to the area of origin of the sound. She found Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, both panting from the speed and the crash. “What are you two doing crashing about on my farm?” Applejack asked, Rainbow did this all the time, and frankly Applejack was getting tired of it. “What are we doing, what are you doing?” Rainbow said back. “I beg your pardon?” Applejack said sternly. “Why’d you let Scoots stay in the clubhouse during the storm last night?” Rainbow yelled, she really cared for the little filly. “I did not!” Applejack yelled, meanwhile, Fluttershy was hiding behind a tree nearby. “Well, she told Fluttershy that she did!” Rainbow pointed to Fluttershy, “Isn’t that right?” “Y-yes, but," Fluttershy spoke up, but was cut off by rainbow’s next outburst. “SEE!” “I didn’t know that Scootaloo stayed in that clubhouse.” Applejack said, “But I might know somepony who did.” she paused for a moment, “APPLEBLOOM!” Not a second later, the small cream colored filly appeared, “Yes ma’am, what’s wrong ma’am!” “Why was Scootaloo staying in the Cutie mark Crusaders’ clubhouse last night?” “Huh?” AppleBloom didn’t know, “Well, all I saw is that she was there real early and she said she just wanted to check on it.” “Real Early is right.” Applejack said. “So you don’t know why?” Rainbow asked. “Nope!” AppleBloom said. “Ugh!” “Umm, maybe is we go over there, we can find her and ask her herself.” Fluttershy pointed out to the trio of them. “Fluttershy! That’s a great idea!” Rainbow picked up Fluttershy and hugged her, which caused her to blush as well. With that, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack rushed towards the clubhouse, each of them hoping to find Scootaloo. After Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack ran off, AppleBloom decided to find Sweetie Belle. She hoped that she might have some answers. AppleBloom ran out of the barnyard and started heading towards town at tremendous speeds. She had to find Sweetie belle and find out why Scootaloo was sleeping in their clubhouse. She could see the boutique in the distance now, its carousel structure poking over the hill ever so slowly. She tried to run harder, but she couldn’t, reluctantly she kept her pace. “SWEETIE BELLE!” AppleBloom yelled as she arrived at the front door. Not three seconds later did the little filly meet AppleBloom at the front door. She looked at the heaving AppleBloom. “AppleBloom, are you okay?” “Scootaloo....clubhouse...trouble...hurry!” AppleBloom said. “What?” Sweetie Belle was flummoxed. AppleBloom took a deep breath, then continued, “ScootaloospentthenightattheclubhouseandnowFluttershy, Applejack, andRainbowaregoingtogether!” she said in a rush. “Slow down!” Sweetie Belle said loudly. “Scootaloo spent the night at the clubhouse and now Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, and Applejack are going to get her!” AppleBloom said slowly. “C’mon then, we have to help her!” Sweetie belle said as she ran past AppleBloom towards their clubhouse. The two fillies ran as fast as their little legs could carry them, but they knew that they wouldn’t make it before Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. (First Person) As the song finished, I struck a pose and unfurled my wings to make myself look like an angel. Although that was my favorite song to dance to, the next one made me feel the happiest. The song started playing, I almost couldn’t dance to it, and the words made me feel whole, like I mattered. I leaped and danced in a circle in the small space that I had. “I came to win...” I sang along as my wings propelled my small body a few inches off of the ground. When Nickel Tiara came in, I sped up my dancing, crossing the room in mere seconds, I was back doing what I loved. I edged towards the center of the floor, waiting for the chorus, when it hit, I sprang into action. “I came to win!” I breathed, and my little wings picked me up off of the ground, I spun in the air, creating a whirlwind that spun my mane around my face. I felt my tail touch back down to the floor, and I could hear the music dying down, I went in for my final move. I sped from hoof to hoof, leaving balance on each one, and at the final beat, I lowered my head and looked at the floor. I felt a tear fall from my face and I heard it hit the floorboard, I trotted over to the record player, and put a record that I struggled keeping composure with in. I heard the music begin, I broke, but I danced, I let the tears fly off in a hundred different directions as I danced, the song was powerful, too powerful against me. I danced fast, I wanted the memories to last forever, but I wanted them to end at the same time. “Brighter than a shooting...” I couldn’t sing that word, I could barely say it. Applejack had reached the clearing where the clubhouse was, she could hear music. She was followed not long after by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The three of them made their way silently up to the window of the clubhouse. Inside, they could see Scootaloo dancing...and....crying? “What in tarnation?” Applejack asked, but was quickly silenced by Rainbow Dash. “Watch.” Fluttershy said, causing the other two to look at her, “She’s crying to this song, let her finish.” “Fine.” Rainbow said, putting her hooves across her chest and sitting on her haunches. “I didn’t know that she could dance.” Applejack said. “Neither did I, I guess she kept it hidden to keep her tough filly reputation up.” Fluttershy said, coming to a realization. “Yeah, I guess.” Rainbow lightened up a bit. As the song ended, the three saw the filly sit down in the center of the room, facing away from them, crying her eyes out. “C’mon y’all, I reckon now’s about the right time.” Applejack said as she rose and headed towards the door. The other two obliged, around the same time, two fillies barreled into the open and looked up at the three mares, who looked right back. “Shhh.” Rainbow ordered, the two fillies nodded and didn’t move. Applejack paused at the door and allowed Fluttershy to open it. The door opened quietly to reveal a bawling Scootaloo sprawled out on the floor. Nopony moved, except Fluttershy, who silently flew over to Scootaloo and pulled her up into a hug. She just cried into Fluttershy’s coat as the two other mares entered the room. So we ended up with Scootaloo crying into Fluttershy's coat, how smile inducing.
Ch. 8 Path to nowhereI cried into the pale yellow coat, I didn’t care if I’d been found here, I didn’t care if I’d been found here crying, I was broken, the memories of star were just too much for me. I felt myself being picked up into a tight, very familiar hug. “There there there.” the soft voice repeated, I thought I felt a few tears coming from her eyes. I felt us land and then wings around me, which made the hug even more loving and tight. She just cradled me for a few moments, and I opened my eyes to who I thought it was. Fluttershy looked right into my eyes, she saw the sadness in me melt away, her gaze was so....so kind, I’d never felt anything like it, it’s almost is as if she was my mom, or at least looked at me that way. “Fluttershy?” I asked weakly. “Shhh, it’s alright now, I’ve got you, and you can stop crying.” she smiled sadly. I realized I was still crying heavily, I wasn’t gasping; they were just freely streaming down my face into her coat. I could see her trying not to cry, I knew she was very emotional, and I was having an effect on her. “Fluttershy, don’t be sad.” I said, faking a smile, but she saw right through it, I could tell. She smiled a bit, and then continued speaking, “Scootaloo, I’m gonna put you down, and then you’re going to tell us why you were sleeping here last night.” “No!” I whispered loudly. “Why not?” she said, I felt her wings releasing me. “I can’t!” I said, I was about to cry again. I felt her fully release me, only then did I realize that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were watching, they must think I’m a wuss now. “Scootaloo, just tell us.” Rainbow said kindly. “Go on child.” Applejack agreed. “Please tell me...” Fluttershy said, almost asking. I hated lying to everypony, especially Fluttershy, but if that’s what it took to stay in Ponyville, that’s what I had to do. “Okay, the reason I stayed here last night was that I locked myself out of my house and my mom was out of town for the night.” I lied; it was a big lie too. “Why the hay did your mom let you stay alone?” Rainbow yelled. “She thinks I’m responsible enough for it.” Another lie, these were starting to eat at me. “Who does your mom think she is?! She can’t leave a little filly alone during a storm!” Rainbow yelled, she was angry, I could see it in her eyes, and hear it in her voice. “Don’t say anything bad about my mom!” I yelled back, that really hurt, and it made me angry. “Rainbow’s right, now we’ll have to talk to this here pony.” Applejack said looking into my eyes; I think she caught my lie. “Maybe Fluttershy should take me home.” I suggested, and before anypony said a word, Fluttershy interjected. “I can do that girls, maybe Scootaloo and I will have a little talk about this too.” "Alright, but keep an eye on her Fluttershy." Applejack said, she didn't sound angry or suspicious, but maybe she was hiding it from me. Fluttershy nodded, and then the two of us walked out of the clubhouse. I looked over and saw AppleBloom and Sweetie belle just looking at me, I could tell that they were hurt; I hadn’t told them something that could’ve killed me. We walked away from the clubhouse using the path that I snuck past AppleBloom earlier with. “Scootaloo, where do you live?” Fluttershy asked, looking over at me. “Over there.” I gestured over to the dirt path that held the cart. “There are not very many houses over there, are you sure?” she asked, looking puzzled. Really all there was about a half-dozen houses surrounded by a dark green grassy field. “Yeah, totally.” I said, I needed to tell her, but I just couldn’t. She nodded and sighed a bit, we continued over to the small grouping of houses. We stopped at the gate of the small community, and Fluttershy turned to me, “Scootaloo, which house?” That was it, I knew I had to tell her now, and I had to tell her the whole story, not just bits and pieces. I hoped she wouldn’t be mad at me. “None of them.” I said, putting my head down and looked at the grass blowing in the wind below me. “What?” she looked down at me. “None of them are mine; can I just tell you the story when we get to your cottage?” I said shamefully. “Alright.” she didn’t seem to be mad at all. The two of us spent the ten minute walk to her cottage in silence, the whole time though, I was trying to figure out a way to tell her. I knew that I had to tell her now, and she expected it as well. “I’m sorry.” I squeaked out. “C’mon Scootaloo, you’ll tell me when we get there.” Fluttershy said, taking a commanding position. We arrived at her cottage; I looked over at her and gulped, although it didn’t seem as if she was angry, it seemed as if....she really cared, or as if she was just feeling bad for me. The two of us sat on opposite chairs in her living room, and we just looked at each other for a few moments. I looked down for a moment, when I looked back up, Fluttershy wasn't in her chair, instead, I heard her call from the kitchen, “Tea?” “Yes please!” I called out; I was always polite around Fluttershy. She returned to the room with two cups of tea, she placed one beside me, and another beside the other end of the couch, where she now sat down. “Now Scootaloo, I know you lied to all of us earlier, and I’m glad that you’re about to tell me the whole story, but I want you to tell me everything.” she looked into my eyes, “It’s important that I know everything in this situation.” “Okay, I promise to tell you the truth this time.” I said, I was in for a wild afternoon, I didn’t know how Fluttershy would react to my life story; something that I’d never told her before. Hey everypony, so this chapter took forever to write, writers block i guess, so yeah, did you like the chapter?
Ch. 9 Confessions“Go ahead Scootaloo.” Fluttershy urged kindly. I took a deep breath, I could just imagine Music playing in my head as I started to tell the story. “Well, when I was born 8 and a half years ago, my mom died giving birth to me, and my dad just left me at the hospital. I tried to research him a couple of years ago, but I couldn’t find him.” I paused for a moment, “Not long after I was born, a caretaker from a Manehattan orphanage, named Ms. Sunshine, came and picked me up and took me to the orphanage.” “Scootaloo, I didn’t know that....you were an orphan.” Fluttershy squeaked, and then hugged me. I was glad that she cared; I knew she would, but I was still glad that she did. “Ms. Sunshine cared for me almost personally for almost six years, but one day she didn’t come back, the other caretaker, Ms. Gluck, said that her disease, I can’t remember what it was, went terminal.” I said sadly, I loved Ms. Sunshine “When I was really young, maybe a couple years after I’d been born, I became friends with a little colt named Star, he was my best friend, black mane, brown coat, blue eyes, those deep blue eyes.” I paused, “Him and I, when we were about six and a half decided to run away from the orphanage, we hatched an amazing plan, or so we thought.” “What was it?” Fluttershy took a sip of her tea. “We kept a window on the second floor of the orphanage, and below it was an old couch, we had planned to jump down but then Miss Gluck heard of our plan, we had to do a last resort plan, the two of us jumped off of the seven story building.” Fluttershy gasped a bit. “I jumped off of the roof perfectly, but Star missed the jump and he started to fall, I grabbed his hoof and we crashed through a window on the sixth floor of the neighboring building.” I took a drink of my tea, “We held each other tight as we fell, and then we just ran out of the city, we were heading towards the train station.” “We got to the train station, and he bought two tickets, he made up a story about a mom, something neither of us had, and he took a train to Canterlot. I’ll have some trouble telling the next part.” I paused; this is where Star....where Star died. Fluttershy pulled me over beside her and hugged me, I continued. “The police were waiting at the station, so we had to jump from the train, I jumped second, and he’s the reason why I’m alive, I landed in the field and rolled. When I looked around, I saw him lying in the field. I ran over to him and I found his dead body, he’d hit a rock when he landed.” Tears were streaming from my eyes now; I didn’t want to remember my friend like that. “Scootaloo.....” Fluttershy let a tear or two fall from her own eyes. “I ran from him, I just ran, I didn’t stop until I made it here, I only planned to stay a couple of days, but that was before I met Sweetie belle, she and rarity were so nice, and I was being fed, it was amazing, I couldn’t just leave them.” I said, it was the truth. “I was living in that cart that was on the dirt path I showed you, I lived there until the CMC got the clubhouse form Applejack, I’ve been living there ever since.” I neared the ending of my story. “I’ve been coming here and watching Rainbow Dash practice her flying for enjoyment, I just...I just felt like you were my family.” I choked out the last words, I was telling the truth, I felt like Fluttershy was my mom, I wanted that to be true, but I knew it never would be. “Oh Scootaloo.” Fluttershy hugged me tight. After a few moments of silence, I looked up at her, she had her eyes closed, but she was smiling slightly, “What happens now?” I asked, I knew what would happen, she’d take me back to the orphanage and I’d never see anypony from here again. “I’m going to go and talk to Applejack and Rainbow Dash; we’ll decide what to do.” Fluttershy said calmly, “Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen, so you just sit here and watch Angel for me please.” Angel’s ears perked up a bit at that. “Okay...I will.” I said sadly. “Promise?” Fluttershy asked. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I said, she giggled. Fluttershy walked to the orchards, she looked around, wondering what to do, should she keep Scootaloo, or take her back to the orphanage, she didn’t know, It was nice that the little filly loved her and considered her family, but she wasn’t sure if she could raise a little filly on her own. “Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, “Where’s Scoots?” “She’s back at my cottage, but I need to talk to you and Applejack.” Fluttershy said quietly. “Ah’m here.” Applejack said as she walked out from behind the barn. “Okay, Scootaloo has been living here on her own for almost two years...” The two mares’ jaws dropped, “She said she ran away from an orphanage when she was six and she hates that place. But she also said she considers me a mom, what should I do?” Fluttershy ended with desperation. “Take her back to the orphanage where she belongs.” Applejack said solemnly. “It’s what’s best fro her, I know she’s my number one fan and all, but I think she should go back, she can be cared for there.” Rainbow said sadly. Fluttershy had her mind fully made up, even if a pony didn’t like it, she knew what she had to do. She slowly walked back to her cottage, debating on how to break the news to Scootaloo.
Ch. 10 A surpriseOkay, Fluttershy just left, I have to get out of here! I can’t just wait and see what happens, what if she takes me back to Trottingham? I know I Pinkie Promised her that I would stay, but I can’t, I can’t risk it. I looked over at Angel, only to find that he was eyeing me, probably to see what I would do, I couldn’t let him see me leave, I had to find a way to sneak out. “I need to go upstairs, I think I left my....scooter up there.” That was the stupidest lie I ever told, but Angel seemed to buy it, he passed it off with a simple nod. I walked up the stairs carefully, i tried to look normal, but I think Angel knew what i was up to, he followed me up there. I had no choice, I rushed over to the window, I looked down, they were locked with a key, no luck. Behind me, I heard a jingle of keys, I turned and Angel had a keyring in his paw. “Can I have the keys?” I asked, “Please?” He shook his head and hopped down the stairs, taking the keys with him. Fluttershy said nothing bad would happen, what if she thought the orphanage was good? Ms. Gluck hated all of the fillies and colts that passed through the orphanage. She especially hated me because I tried to be happy, the same reason she hated Star. I closed the bedroom door, I wouldn’t go back to the orphanage....no matter what.... Fluttershy approached the train station, she needed to buy a couple of tickets. “Two tickets to Trottingham please.” Fluttershy said as she reached the window. “That’ll be 40 bits.” the stallion behind the counter said. Fluttershy pulled out a small bag of bits from her saddlebags, she counted out 40 bits and handed them to the cashier. “Here’s two tickets, next train leaves in an hour.” he said, handing her the two tickets. “Thank you.” she said quietly, and then she turned away. ‘I hope Scootaloo is still home...; Fluttershy thought to herself as she neared the outskirts of Ponyville. She walked around the edge of Ponyville, making sure that Scootaloo wasn’t running away, then she started towards her cottage. She reached it quickly and unlocked the front door. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy asked happily as she entered. There was no response, just a shuffle coming from upstairs. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy questioned as she walked up the stairs. Again a shuffle, but this one sounded like blankets ruffling. Fluttershy poked the door, it was unlocked, she pushed it open the entire way to reveal Scootaloo curled up in blankets, crying. “Scootaloo!” Fluttershy whispered loudly. “Why did you even care for me, everypony just wants to send me back anyway!” Scootaloo yelled, covering herself back up. “Scootaloo, I love you, and I’m doing what’s best, just trust me.” Fluttershy pleaded. “You know what, fine! Just take me back then.” Scootaloo said, she didn’t want to be in a town where nopony wanted her. “The train leaves in twenty minutes, we need to hurry if we’re going to make it.” Fluttershy said calmly, and then she picked Scootaloo up out of the bed. “Fine!” Scootaloo said angrily. “Angel, I’ll be back in a day or so, take care of the house while momma’s gone! Fluttershy said, and then closed the door. The two walked, Scootaloo half heartedly, to the train station, scootaloo looked around and took one last look at Ponyville. I looked around, taking one last look at Ponyville, I just knew it would be my last sights outside of the orphanage, I didn’t want to go back, I had nothing there, nohopes, no dreams, no Star. I’d be tormented by Miss Gluck to no end, she’d bring up Star every day, and my life would just be horrible. “Scootaloo, trust me, everything will be fine.” Fluttershy said as we reached the train station. “Okay.” I didn’t feel like talking, i had no reason to. “Look, there’s the train.” Fluttershy said sadly, which didn’t help my mood. The train pulled into the station, spraying water as it first entered. It slowed to a stop right in front of us, I could see some ponies about to get off, and some starting, just like us, to shuffle towards the doors to enter. We entered the train without incident, we sat in the very ack. “I hope Angel can watch the cottage while I’m gone.” Fluttershy said worriedly. “He’ll do fine.” I said, trying to cheer the both of us up. “You know I’m doing this because it’s best.” Fluttershy said, looking into my eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” I said sadly, I thought she loved me like a daughter, just like I thought of her as a mother. We remained silent for the rest of the seven hour train ride to Trottingham, from the time of afternoon until evening, from Ponyville’s outskirts to the same of Trottingham, from one side of Equestria to another. I must’ve dozed off sometime during the train ride because the last thing i remember after leaving Ponyville was the Baltimare, which was only an hour or two from Ponyville by train, and now I can see trottingham getting closer. “Scootaloo, please don’t run, please stay with me.” Fluttershy said, giving me a hug afterwards. I couldn’t lie to Fluttershy, “I will.” The train pulled into the station and it stopped, we looked around, there were different trains here, big and metal, almost like tubes. We departed the trains and walked over to the information desk. “What was your orphanage’s name?” “Umm, I think it’s the only one in Trottingham.” I said, not recalling the name. “Okay.” Fluttershy said as she reached the desk. “How may I help you?” the stallion behind the desk asked her. “Can you tell me where the orphanage is?” Fluttershy asked, hoping that Scootaloo was right. “Take the A3 train to 6th and Summit.” he said. “Thank you.” Fluttershy smiled. “No problem ma’am, NEXT!” he called out. “A3 to 6th and Summit.” Fluttershy said to me as we walked off. “Alright, we need that train!” I said, and I pointed to a tube train that had A3 emblazoned on the side. We rushed aboard, there were a few ponies on the train, but only one other that was as young as me, he stood at the opposite end of the train car. He had a dark blue coat, black mane, and he was wearing clothes, his wings were so, so big for his age, they even had multiple colors! When I was about to say something to the colt, he and his family left the train. The buzzer/intercom sounded, “Next stop, 6th and Summit.” “Get ready Scootaloo.” Fluttershy said nervously. The train moved through the tunnel we were in quickly, I looked out a window, but i only say darkness, and an occasional orange light to illuminate the tunnel. The train slowed to a stop and we came into a very well lighted area full of ponies, the doors opened and we left the train. The two of us walked through the station, it took about five minutes to make it to the city streets, once we were there, we could see the orphanage... It was exactly the same, the couch was still there too, the building we’d escaped through was there, the sign was just more worn, in fact, that seemed to be the only difference around the building. We looked both ways and then crossed the street, the street itself was busy, but that building just seemed to have some gloom around it, I could feel my old sadness and memories coming back to me. we entered the building, the doorbell sounded with a ‘ding’ as we entered, the old mare looked up from her paperwork, she smiled and looked at us, “Hello Miss,” she slowly looked down at me, “Young filly.” She spoke so kindly, she must’ve been hired after I left. “Scootaloo, go sit over there, I’ll talk with her.” Fluttershy said, she pointed to a small waiting area. i walked over to the area and that’s when i sw it, it was the window where Star and I escaped from, except now it was locked tight with a few padlocks. I looked around, Fluttershy was still talking with the old mare, and I looked beside me, there was a door that said ‘Enter Orphanarium’, I knew what was in there, so many orphaned colts and fillies...i had to talk to them. I opened the door silently, and crept in, the room I entered into was a common area, the group in there was my age, about ten or so of them, they were talking, drinking some juice, and sleeping. They seemed to ignore the fact that I entered the room, so i passed them by, right up until I saw a colt sitting alone at a table... .It was Star... Star was alive. Listen “STAR!” I ran over and jumped on him, encasing him in a hug. “Wha..?” he was caught off guard, by now the other ponies were watching us, even the two who were asleep had woken up and were now watching. “I can’t believe you’re alive!” I said, crying into his coat. “Who are you?” he asked. “You...You don’t remember me?” I asked, there wasn’t a way he could’ve forgotten me. “What is your name?” he said, looking into my eyes, “You seem familiar.” he put a hoof on my cheek. “Scootaloo, it’s me, scootaloo, we escaped together...” I said, the room went dead. Whispers of my name went around the room, each pony not breaking their gaze of the two of us. I saw it in his eyes, it clicked, he remembered me, the years we spnt togehter, the time we spent on the train, the failed escape from the train... “I thought...I thought you had died....” He breathed, I could see tears in his eyes. “I thought you did, when you hit that rock.” I stopped dead in my tracks, he put a hoof on the table, only it wasn’t a hoof, it was eta, he’d lost a foreleg in the jump. “I know I hit a rock, I’ve moved past it, I thought you’d died because when i woke up, you were gone, the police were surrounding me, I tried to run, but i couldn’t” he tilted his head to his prosthetic leg, “I got this about three days later, Miss Gluck was fired, and we got a nice old mare as a caretaker.” he smiled sadly. “The one in there.?” I asked. “Yeah, she’s real nice to us here, she was an orphan herself so she knows what it’s like for foals like us.” he shrugged. “Why haven’t you been adopted?” I asked, how couldn’t he have been, he’s so amazing! “Well, nopony really wants a three legged pony, so i’ve just been here since, what about you?” “Well, I’m...back, a pony brought me here to stay, i thought I could trust her...” the door opened to reveal Fluttershy, who looked around the room. “Scootaloo, c’mon, I need you for a second.” “I'll be right back Star!” I said as I left the room. She led me back to the front of the building, the older mare was smiling, “So you’re the one who let me work here?” “Yeah...” I said sheepishly. “It’s a shame we can’t spend more time together.” she said. “What?” I’d be here until i was adopted or i reached 16, what did she mean? “Scootaloo, sign here please.” Fluttershy said, pointing to a document on the countertop. I started to read the paper, EQUESTRIAN ADOPTION PAPER by signing this document, you herey agree to adopt _________________ and wish to care for them until they are of such age to care for themselves.... After a page or so of text, I saw something that made me want to cry, Signed Fluttershy “You,” I turned to Fluttershy, “You’re adopting me?” She just smiled, I jumped and pulled her into a hug, this was the greatest day of my life, I’d finally have a family! I had to go tell Star, he’d love it, Star would...... ...not be here with me. (Stop music) I signed the document and ran back to Star, with tears in my eyes, I started, “Star, i’m so sorry, i...” he put a hoof on my mouth. “Shh, Scootaloo, nothing bad will happen, I’ll always be here, if you ever need e,you know where to look.” he smiled a sincere smile, and then he did something I never expected. He kissed me, it wasn’t a mere peck on the cheek, he caught me off guard and went in full, I felt myself relax as I returned the gift, I never wanted it to end, but I knew it had to, I couldn’t keep myself in this moment, i had to leave with my new family. I broke the kiss and said something I hoped would come true, “I’ll find you a family that loves you, i promise.” He nodded and I left the room, I saw Fluttershy waiting by the door, I followed her out and waved to the older mare, she waved back, and I left the orphanage. Today was the first day of my new life, I had a loving mother, an amazing group of friends, and with Star alive, a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.
Ch. 11 All In Time (Part I)As we walked away from the orphanage, an idea hit me, I knew a pony who wanted a little colt, I just had to find a time to talk to her first. “Hey Fluttershy?” I asked, and then looked up at her. “Yes Scootaloo?” she stopped walking and looked at me. “Didn’t Derpy want a little colt to be a brother to Dinky?” “Well yes, but she can’t find a stallion to be with right now so I don’t see that...” she paused when I brought a huge smile on my face. “Scootaloo?” she questioned. “I need to talk to Derpy!” I said excitedly, the thought of Star living in Ponyville was awesome! “We’ll see her when she delivers the mail tomorrow, but we have to get home first, the train back leaves in thirty minutes!” Fluttershy said happily. “Are we taking the underground first?” I asked. “Yes, come on, we need to find A3....” Fluttershy looked around the station as she said that. She and I walked around the crowded station until we found an information map, we looked for the Trottingham Main Station, once we did, we looked what train we had to take, it was B9, not A3. “Fluttershy! Over there!” I yelled, pointing to an incoming train, it had its number and letter painted in green on its side. We hurriedly made our way over to and then inside the train. Inside our car, there were a lot of ponies dressed in suits. An intercom sounded throughout the entire train, “Next stop, 5th and Mane.” I looked over at Fluttershy; she seemed so relieved, as if she were relaxed that she adopted me. I was so happy that I finally had a mother who cared about me, and she seemed happy to have a daughter. The train slowed down and then finally stopped; the suited ponies, or at least most of them, left. I noticed a very familiar colt from earlier get on again with his family. I decided to walk over and talk to him. “Hi!” I said. The colt turned to me; his eyes seemed really...deep “Hey...” The colt said cautiously. Why was he so nervous, didn’t anypony ever say hi to him? “I saw you on the train earlier, what’s your name?” I asked, this colt seemed to pop up everywhere around Trottingham. “Red Tear....yours?” he asked, he seemed sweet. “Scootaloo!” I said happily. The train started to move again, and the intercom buzzed, “Next stop, Trottingham Mane Train Station.” I looked back at Fluttershy, who was eyeing the colt nervously. “Who’s that?” he asked. “That’s Flutt...my mom.” I said, I think she heard me say that, because she seemed to warm up quite a bit. “Cool, my mom’s at home.” he said, he looked out the window as we traveled above ground. “Where?” I pushed. “Right after the station.” He answered, and I felt the train slowing down as we approached the station. “Oh,” The train stopped, and the doors opened, “I have to go, maybe I’ll see you again.” “Maybe...” he said as I left the train. Fluttershy and I headed over to the train lines departing to the western half of Equestria; we searched for Ponyville’s express train. We looked for it, turns out Ponyville’s train is in the last gat, so we ran over to the ticket counter. Fluttershy gave the two tickets to the mare behind the counter and we boarded the train. When I sat in one of the seats, I realized how tired I was, today had honestly been really long, I went from being an orphan to being in a loving family, and I've been to Trottingham and back. I started to drift into a world of sleep when a thought hit me; I got up and walked over to Fluttershy. “Night mom, I love you.” I gave her a hug. She seemed to be taken aback by this, she responded warmly, “I love you too, sweet dreams.” I sat back down and leaned my head against the window, I fell asleep soon after to the rumble of the train. Fluttershy sat there, she’d adopted Scootaloo, was it an on the spot decision, did she just feel bad for the filly...NO, she wouldn’t let those thoughts into her head, she loved this little filly, she loved her with all her heart. She looked out of the window and watched Trottingham’s lights fade away behind the train, she didn’t know how she would explain her adopting Scootaloo to her friends, but she knew that with enough assurance, they’d eventually approve. Fluttershy looked back at Scootaloo, who was now sleeping heavily, she thought about what Scootaloo in the orphanage with that horrible Miss Gluck, the thought of her made Fluttershy sick, she decided to watch the scenery for a while. “Stubs?” An older stallion asked as he made his way through the train. “Here” Fluttershy handed the two ticket stubs to the stallion. He took a look at them and then handed them back to her, “Have a nice ride.” The stallion left the train car and continued his duty. Fluttershy took one last look out of the window before falling asleep. I awoke to the sound of the train’s whistle sounding as we entered Ponyville. I looked out the window, it was just beginning to become daylight, the weather team was clearing up clouds, today would be a bright and sunny day. I looked over and saw Fluttershy waking up as well, she rubbed her eyes lightly. Fluttershy stood up and stretched her wings a bit. “Morning.” I said happily. “Good morning.” she smiled again. “What are we going to do today?” “We have to tell the girls that I adopted you, then we’ll go on from there.” she answered, the two of us headed towards the exit. The train came to a stop right even with the platform, but something wasn’t right. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all standing on the platform, almost as if they were waiting for us. When the doors opened, Fluttershy and I walked out of the train car and we were greeted with some smiles, right up until Pinkie disappeared and popped out of barrel placed nearby, “Welcome back!” she said, throwing confetti everywhere. “How’d you girls know?” Fluttershy questioned. “Well Pinkie told us about six hours ago,” Twilight gestured to Pinkie, who squeed, “At first, we didn’t approve, but after an hour or so of explaining it, we finally said it was okay for you to adopt Scootaloo.” “Six hours ago?” I asked. “It takes time to cross Equestria!” Pinkie Pie interjected. The ponies all looked over at Pinkie, whose smile had returned by now. She started to talk, “Okay, I know it’s early, but there’s a super-duper party waiting for you two at Sugarcube corner!” The two of us had no choice, it’s not like we would’ve chosen differently, we headed with the group of ponies to Sugarcube corner. The group remained silent on the walk, but that changed when we opened the door. It was amazing, AppleBloom, Sweetie Belle, the Cakes, Spike, Derpy, and a few other ponies all jumped out in surprise for us. Everypony started talking to everypony else, I knew which pony I’d talk to first. I headed over to Derpy, who was eating a muffin beside the punch; she swallowed the muffin whole and looked at me, “Hiya Scootaloo!” “Derpy, you want a son right?” I asked, she seemed a bit down. “Yeah, but I can’t find a nice stallion.” she said sadly. “I know this nice colt in Trottingham, he’s an orphan and he needs a home.” I said, smiling. “Hmm, I never thought of adopting.” she put a hoof to her chin, “What’s his name?” “Star Chaser, he and I tried to escape the orphanage, but he got hurt when we jumped off a train.” “Where’s he at, I might go visit him.” Derpy said, her face lightening up. “He’s at the Trottingham Orphanage.” I said, she nodded. “Well, I gotta go, gotta make sure my little Muffin wakes up on time, and then I have to work!” Derpy said as she started to leave, “See you around!” “Hey, Scoots!” I turned around to see Rainbow smiling. “Yeah Rainbow?” I said excitedly. “Got you a little present, it’s for your room at Flutters.” Rainbow pulled out a tube with a bow on it. I took the gift and looked back at her, “What is it?” “Open it.” she said simply. I untied the bow and there was a small groove, I unrolled the fit, actually the tube was the gift, but it was not a tube, it was a poster. "That's awesome!" I couldn't believe that she actually bought me a poster. “It’s nothing mu...” I grabbed her in a hug, I didn’t know why, but I felt like hugging ponies since Star kissed me. The party was amazing, even thought it was really early, I had a lot of fun, the CMC were just happy that I was back in Ponyville. Once the party ended, I just hung out with Pinkie and the Cakes. Fluttershy followed rainbow outside of the bakery, they could still hear the party going on inside, it had wound down quite a bit, but it had a lot of life left in it. When the cyan mare finally stopped, she turned and looked at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, how are you going to take care of Scootaloo?” “I earn money from the Animal Society; I earn enough to care for anypony in need.” Fluttershy said calmly. “Yeah, for a day or two, you don’t earn enough bits to raise a filly on your own.” Rainbow said, sounding very concerned. “I...I can manage.” Fluttershy reassured herself. “No, you can’t! Listen, how about I help you raise Scootaloo, I make money that I don’t need, I could give it to you.” Rainbow said kindly. “You don't have to do that....I couldn’t...” Fluttershy said, she knew she had to accept. “Please, let me help you and my number one fan.” Rainbow inched towards Fluttershy. “Alright, but I can’t just take your bits.” Fluttershy sighed. “You’ll make it up to me.” Rainbow smiled, and flew to the sky, leaving Fluttershy to wonder, what did she mean? And so ends part one of three of All in Time…stay tuned for more!
Ch.12 Shooting Star (Part II)Derpy thought of what Scootaloo had said at the party, true she did want a son, but the opinion of a small filly wasn’t enough to adopt a colt. She flew up to her cloud home and opened the door. “Momma!” Dinky jumped onto her, causing the both of them to fall to the soft clouds below them. “Morning! How did my little muffin sleep last night?” Derpy asked. “I slept awesome!” Dinky said as she jumped off of Derpy. “Breakfast?” Derpy asked. “Ummm, I gotta get to school, I’ll eat there!” Dinky said excitedly, she was happy Dinky was going to summer school, she felt better about working days. ‘I’ll fly you down to the ground, then I’ll have to get to work, can you walk?” Derpy asked, hoping for a ‘yes’. “Uh huh!” Dinky said excitedly. “Let’s go!” Derpy said, again, Dinky jumped onto her back. Derpy flew Dinky down to the ground, as soon as she landed; Dinky scampered off towards the school. Derpy went to work like any other day. She flew slowly to the post office and checked in. “What’s wrong Derpy?” Datenote said when he arrived. “Do you think I could raise a colt?” she asked solemnly. “You seem to raise Dinky well enough; I think you could handle a colt...” his eyes went wide, “Are you pregnant?” “No, it’s just...never mind.” Derpy said, she raised her head and started again, “Could Berry watch Dinky tonight?” “I’ll ask her, probably yes.” Note said. “Thanks, I need to go to Trottingham.” “You can have the day off, I’ll cover you.” Note smiled as he put his vest on. “Thanks Note.” she hugged him, “I’ll make it up to you!” He waved her off as she trotted towards the train station, she needed to see this colt, if Scootaloo was right, and he’d be a great addition to the family. “One ticket to Trottingham.” Derpy said to the stallion, he handed her the ticket, and she handed him the money. “Next train is arriving in five minutes, you just made It.” the stallion said happily. Derpy nodded and stepped onto the platform, she could see the small Ponyville express in the distance, the steam engine puffing away as it neared. The express train slowly pulled into the station, the ponies inside were rising up to leave the train. Derpy stood alongside the train waiting to board; she let the ponies inside depart before she did so. “Tickets?” The ticketer said as she boarded the train. “Here” Derpy said as she handed the stallion her ticket. “Thank you.” He gave her ticket back, she went to her seat. After the stallion had punched everypony’s tickets, the train slowly started to move, Derpy nodded off to the rumble of the train not soon after. “WOOOOOOO!” Derpy shot out of her deep sleep to the train whistle. The train was a mere minute from the Trottingham station. As the train pulled in, Derpy looked around the station, it was so.....advanced, she hadn’t been out of the Ponyville area in years, and she didn’t know that Equestria was becoming so advanced. As the ponies around her rose up from their seats, Derpy followed their actions and got off the train. She looked around, ‘Scootaloo said the A3 train there, and the B9 back’. The A3 train pulled past her as it slowed to a stop at its platform, she rushed over to the doors and boarded the train before it pulled away from the platform. An intercom sounded “Next Stop 6th and Summit.” The train moved slowly, but picked up speed as it sped through the tunnel towards the orphanage. It reached the station and Derpy departed from the train. “Go straight out and it should be across the street.” Derpy said aloud, remembering the directions she’d gotten. Derpy reached street level and sure enough across the street was the orphanage. She crossed the street and walked into the old building, behind the counter was an old mare. “Hello?” Derpy asked nervously. The older mare looked up, “Hello, welcome to Trottingham orphanage.” “May I see Star?” Derpy asked, not remembering the last name of the colt. “Star Chaser, why you’re the first pony to request him.” The mare said kindly, she walked back into a room. Was the colt a bad foal? Why hadn’t anypony asked for him before? “Here he is.” The older mare said smiling; behind her was the most humble colt she’d ever seen. His brown coat and blue eyes sending off a calming feeling, his black hair moves in waves with the breeze from the open window. Derpy looked at him, oh...she looked at his leg, or what was his leg, the metal and plastic prosthetic now taking its place, he smiled at her, taking her attention off of his leg. “Hi!” he said cheerfully. “Hi!” Derpy said happily. “What’s your name?” Star asked curiously. “Derpy, Scootaloo told me about you.” Derpy said, Star’s eyes went wide. “You know Scootaloo?” he said, his words full of wonder. “Yep.” Derpy said, she really didn’t know what to say. “I can see you two like each other.” the old mare said. “Uh-huh.” Star said. “Can I keep him?” Derpy asked, Star’s eyes went wide once again. “Come here, I’ll get the paperwork.” The mare said. Star ran up to Derpy and hugged her, “Thank you!” Derpy hugged him back, “I’m glad you’re happy.” Derpy and Star followed the older mare to her desk, where she pulled out a sheet that had information on Derpy, for her to fill out. Derpy filled the whole paper, the old mare looked it over and handed a final paper for Derpy and Star to sign. “Alright Star, do you want this mare to be your mother?” the old mare asked. “Yes!” Star said excitedly. “Vice-versa?” she looked at Derpy. “Yes.” she said, and she signed the bottom of the paper. “Star, go ahead.” Derpy said. Star signed the paper, the caretaker took it, and she said eight more words, “Take good care of Star, best of luck!” Derpy walked out of the orphanage, not alone, but with her new son. FINALLY, A NEW CHAPTER! Sorry it took so long guys, I’ll focus more, next chapter in 3- days.
Ch. 13 One Big Happy Family(Part III)I woke up to a soft giggling, which wasn’t unusual in the six weeks I’d been living with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash had been staying over here helping Fluttershy raise me. I rose from my bed, moved the Wonderbolts blanket Rainbow had gotten me and hopped down to the floor. I felt my legs pop as I walked down the stairs and stretched my wings. I walked into the living room, but nopony was there, so I decided to walk on over to Fluttershy’s room. I opened the door to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy nuzzling each other, so I did the one thing that came to my mind, “Eeewww!” I shouted and closed the door. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked up to see the door slam as Scootaloo ran away from them, as they looked into each other’s eyes. “We were only nuzzling.” Rainbow said simply. “Maybe we should tell her?” Fluttershy questioned, waiting for Rainbow’s approval. “Yeah...We probably should just tell her, but she probably pieced it together just now.” Rainbow giggled, Fluttershy blushed. “Alright, let’s go have a talk...” Fluttershy paused, “A family talk.” “Yep...” Rainbow said, an awkward silence fell upon the two. “C’mon!” Rainbow jumped off of Fluttershy’s bed and flew past the door, which flew open itself as she went by. “Okay...” Fluttershy smiled and followed Rainbow up to Scootaloo’s room. As the two approached the door, they could hear heavy breathing coming from Scootaloo’s room; they slowly opened the door to reveal Scootaloo breathing heavily under a blanket. “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy said lightly, she didn’t respond. “I got it Fluttershy.” Rainbow whispered, she then turned back to the bed, “DOGPILE!” With Rainbow’s declaration, she flapped her wings and shot her self onto the curled up blanket on Scootaloo’s bed. Rainbow wrestled with the giggling little filly until she was taken out from under the blanket. “Got’cha!” Rainbow tickled Scootaloo. Fluttershy flew up onto the bed and sat by the pair of rough housing ponies. She took a deep breath and started, “Scootaloo, we need to talk.” My face flushed, “So you and Rainbow were nuzzling, cool.” I tried to avoid the conversation, but the two mares weren’t having any of that. “Well, you know that she’s been coming over for a while now, and she’s been helping raise you...” Fluttershy was trailing on and on. “Call me a second mom.” Rainbow said happily, Fluttershy blushed. Having two parents? And one being Rainbow Dash!?!? This was awesome! I mean, I expected it when I saw them this morning, but this was awesome! “Yay!” I hugged the two of them. They paused for a moment, but they hugged me back, it was the best hug I’d ever gotten, having two parents, even if they were only dating, was awesome! “Hey Scoots!” Rainbow said. “Yeah?” “What would ya say if I taught you how to fly?” Rainbow smirked. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” I was silenced by a cyan hoof in my mouth. “I get it, c’mon, let’s go!” Rainbow pulled Fluttershy and I out of the bed and down the hall. Rainbow Dash pulled the two of us downstairs and out of the cottage. “Where are we going?” I asked as Fluttershy gained control of her own flight ability. “My house!” Rainbow said excitedly. Rainbow Dash was holding onto me as we rocketed towards her house, Fluttershy was trying to keep speed with us, but her being....well, her meant that she slowly fell back behind us. I could see a large cloud home getting closer to us, it had a Rainbow waterfall, and it had some columns, was that her house? She started to slow down as we arrived at the floating home; she touched down and dropped me onto the soft clouds below. I bounced onto my hooves as some of the clouds broke my fall. “How do you like walking on clouds?” Rainbow asked. “It’s...” I stumbled, “Different.” “Ha, you’ll get used to it, trust Me.” she smiled. Fluttershy flew down and landed on the clouds, she looked at me, “First time on clouds?” “Yeah.” I blushed. “You’ll get used to it, trust me.” Rainbow said, smiling. “Alright.” I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Rainbow and I walked to the edge of the cloud, before I could do anything; she knocked me off with a bump of her foreleg. I started to fall off of the cloud when I heard Rainbow call out after me, “Flap your wings and you won’t die!” As much as her choice of words scared me, they were true, I flapped my wings, but I didn’t get much lift, I hoped that she could see that. I saw her shoot off of the cloud she was perched on, she flew straight towards me a grabbed me from my fall. I looked up at her as she flew off with me. “Right, start slower.” she almost joked, but maintained her serious face. “Yeah....” I felt so embarrassed. “Don’t worry scoots, you’ll get the hang of it soon enough, we just gotta start slow...” Rainbow dropped me off back at her house. “Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked as she neared me. “Yeah, we just have to start slower, and closer to the ground.” The rest of Rainbow’s practice session went by quickly with Fluttershy and I flying along the ground, I could really only buzz my wings, so she was doing most of the flying while Rainbow flew above. Okay guys, I apologize for the last two chapters, I realize that they’ve been super short, and super shitty, but what comes next will make it up to you, and I’ll have them out quick. The next chapter should be between 2,000 and 5,000 words and should be out by the 27th, no spoilers on its content yet. Chapter 15 should be out by the 31st; it shall have between 2,000 and 3,000 words and be out by the 31st. I blame writer’s block on the last two chapters; I hope that you’ll like the sequel....whoops, SPOILER!
Ch. 14 Flight and FriendI woke up slowly. I didn’t want to wake up; the cloud bed I was sleeping on was too comfortable. I wiped my eyes, removing the ‘sleep’ that accumulated in them. I looked over to the side of me; I noticed what time the alarm said, 9:00 a.m. My eyes fully shot open, in the last month of my flight training, Rainbow had been making the two of us be awake at 8:30, her reasoning behind it was if she had to be up this early, so did I. I jumped out of the bed and looked out of the window. “C’mon Scoots, I’ve been waiting forever!” Rainbow called, she sounded slightly annoyed. “Coming Rainbow Dash!” I jumped out of the window and flapped my wings a couple times, I glided towards Rainbow. I landed in front of Rainbow, she smiled, “Looks like you’re getting gliding down, maybe today we could start....na.” “What?” I asked. “Nothing, it’s...just...Nah.” “Tell me!” I giggled. “Welllllllll we could, possibly...” Rainbow tried to hold in a laugh, but failed miserably, “Okay Scoots, would you like to start actually flying today?” “YES!” I jumped in the air, and spread my wings. They had grown exponentially since I started practicing, they were more than double the size they were a month ago. “Well then, follow me!” Rainbow spread her wings, she flapped them once and she sent herself through the layer of clouds about a hundred feet above us. “Okay wings, don’t fail me...” I prepped to launch off of her balcony. “Come on Scoots, just focus and push!” Rainbow raised a foreleg to the air. I closed my eyes and focused, I knew I could do it, I’d gained so much wingpower, Twilight said when I started I had .1, but a week ago she said I had 2.3. I did a test flap or two to make sure that I was in control. I looked up at the hole Rainbow had made in the clouds; I jumped and flapped my wings. Again and again I kept repeating the motion, it wasn’t much work, but it took focus, I cleared the gap easily and landed on the clouds. I took a defiant stance as Rainbow looked at me. “Alright Scootaloo, are you ready for real flying?” “Yes Rainbow sir!” I saluted....wait a minute, did I just say ‘Sir’? “Good, you’ll start by flying to the edge,” She pointed about 50 yards away, “And back again ten times.” “I don’t think I can....” Rainbow cut me off, “Don’t think! Fly!” I unfurled my wings and flew off, the small span of clouds passed under me quickly as I flew the ten lengths, once I finished my warm up flight; I turned to Rainbow, “What next?” “I’m going to go get a stopwatch, in the meantime, just hang out up here on the clouds.” Rainbow said, she flew down into her house. I walked around on the clouds for a moment, but I heard a familiar song start playing from somewhere below. An idea popped into my head, ‘What about dancing on clouds?’ My thought took over; I started to move around, just to see if I could keep my balance on a cloud. I tiphoofed along the top and jumped twice, my balance kept up, so I tried to do a full on dance. I stopped moving and looked at the cloudy expanse in front of me, this area would be perfect for what I had in mind. I reared up onto my back two. I moved along with the music, at first my hooves touched the cloud with every note played, but once I reached the high point, I opened my wings and spun myself in a circle, the movement of my wings was even taking me into the air! I touched down as the music went into its low point. “Sun begins to fall...” I sang along with the song for four words. As I continued with the song, I could feel my heart lightening up, almost if a weight had been lifted, it confused me at the same time though, what weights faced me now? My mind was able to focus on the feeling, it was on my flank, I knew nothing was there, but I could feel something about to happen.... (Stop the Music) “Scootaloo?” Rainbow called out, I tripped and landed on the clouds. I stood up and brushed the brushed myself off. I looked back at her, “Yeah?” “What were you doing?” Rainbow looked puzzled. I forgot, Rainbow hadn’t learned that I was a dancer, if Fluttershy had told her, she must’ve forgotten. “I was dancing to that....” I didn’t hear the music anymore “Dancing to what?” “I thought I heard a song, it was really loud too.” I tried to make an argument so she wouldn’t laugh, but alas no evidence supported me. “Bwhahahahaha....You crack me up kiddo!” Rainbow fell over laughing. “I’m serious!” I couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “You’re going crazy kid!” “No I’m not!” I huffed, “What are we doing now?” “I thought I might teach you to manipulate clouds, so when I’m not around, you can still have a platform to practice on.” “Sounds cool.” “Alright, so here’s what you have to do....” Rainbow started. Over the next three hours, Rainbow showed me again and again how to pull and push clouds without making them dissipate. By the end of our practice, I was able to fully form platforms of clouds. 7 hours later.... “Rainbow, thank you for watching Scootaloo while I was in Manehattan.” Fluttershy said. “No biggie, I taught her how to do more flying techniques and how to mess with clouds.” “OH! That’s nice.” Fluttershy said kindly. “I had fun!” I said as I walked into the room. “Well, I gotta get home; the weather team is preparing a huge rainstorm for tomorrow!” Rainbow threw her forelegs into the air. “Do you want to stay here?” Fluttershy asked. My cheeks went red as Rainbow’s wings shot out from their sides. I spoke up as rainbow was trying to put her wings back at her sides, “Uhh, Sweetie Belle asked if I could stay over.” It was a lie, but I was sure that I could convince Sweetie Belle to let me stay. “Umm,” Fluttershy debated over the idea for a moment, “I think that would be a good idea, do you?” She looked at Rainbow. “Yeah! Great...great idea.” Rainbow blushed. “So I guess I’ll go see Sweetie Belle then....”I back stepped out of the house. I closed the door and opened my wings; I looked over each one to make sure that I’d be able to fly. With my pre-flight checks done, I flew off from my house, leaving my flirting parents behind me. After three or four minutes of flying, I reached the Carousel Boutique; I landed in front of the large building and tapped on the door with my hoof. Rarity emerged from behind the door with a smile, “Welcome to Carou...Scootaloo, what are you doing here so late?” “Well Rainbow and Fluttershy....” I didn’t need to continue, Rarity nodded. “Ah yes, love...” Rarity looked up to the sky for a moment, “Come in, come in!” I followed Rarity into the boutique, she gestured for me to wait while she went to Sweetie Belle’s room to retrieve her. I looked around the room; I looked at the picture Sweetie had made Rarity before the SisterHooves Social awhile back. “Hey Scootaloo!” Sweetie chirped as she walked down the stairs in front of Rarity. “Hey Sweetie Belle, what’s up?” “Trying to get my Cutie Mark in dressmaking.” Rarity cringed at her words. “Sounds cool!” I said happily. “Yep, now hurry!” Sweetie Belle rushed upstairs back to her room. I ran up the stairs and slid into Sweetie’s room, who already had made a fort out of sheets pillows, and other bedding supplies. She popped her head out and turned to me, “Captain Chicken, come in!” “I’m not a chicken!” I jumped into the fort. I spun and jumped through the tangled mesh of sheets, one occasionally pulling me back, this continued until I finally caught Sweetie Belle. “Haha got you!” I teased, but then something I didn’t expect happened. Sweetie Belle’s horn lit up and an aura encased me, it felt like a feather was on every inch of my body. The aura, or Sweetie Belle rather, lifted me up and placed me down on her destroyed bed. “How did you do that?” I asked, amazed. I’d never seen Sweetie Belle do magic before. “I....don’t....know!” She panted. “That was so amazing!” I started, “You lifted me up and put me on your bed!” “I don’t know how I did that! I just was focusing on you holding me and...and ...it happened!” Sweetie threw her forelegs over her head and fell back onto a pillow. “Can you try to do it again?” I asked her, she popped off of the pillow. “Let me try, what should I try on?” “Umm, try it on the pillow!” I said excitedly. Sweetie Belle looked at the pillow, she closed her eyes and it looked like she was putting pressure on her head. To my amazement, her horn started to glow once again, this time the pillow raised and lowered. “You did it!” I said excitedly. “I did?” Sweetie said dizzily. “Yep!” The next three hours were spent talking about the adventures of Sweetie Belle lately and my flight training, at about ten, Sweetie and I arrived on the topic of Cutie Marks. “Did you get close at all lately?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Actually...” I started, her eyes went wide, “Today I felt something happening to my flank, it was really strange but I think it was my Cutie Mark.” “What were you doing?” “I was dancing to a love song on clouds...” I blushed. “Bwhaha, are you serious?” Sweetie Belle laughed. “Yeah, I really like dancing!” “Dancing, you?” Sweetie Belle calmed down, “I’m glad that you know what your talent is, but dancing is something that I never pictured for you!” “What about you, getting close?” “Well, I like singing now; I think that’s what I like!” She shrugged. “Sounds cool...” I yawned, “I’m getting tired.” “How are you tired, it’s only ten!” Sweetie Belle interjected. “Flying practices remember?” I looked at her sideways. “Oh....so, do you want to do anything else before we go to sleep?” She asked, I couldn’t think of anything. “Nah, I’m dead.” I flopped down on the pile of blankets and pillows that lay upon the floor. “Okay.” She sounded disappointed, but I was too tired. I slowly fell into a deep sleep, at first I didn’t dream, but after a while the dreaming started. I was running from a building I could remember something about a party going on inside, some sort of school party. The only problem was that the place the party was at didn’t look like a school; it looked like a sports complex. I looked at either side of my flank, I could see my wings, but for some reason I couldn’t use them to fly. After a minute of running, I actually felt tears running down my face. I stopped at a bench and just cried, I wasn’t sure why I was sad, but I was. “Scootaloo?” A pony walked up to me, he looked familiar. “Who are you?” I asked weakly. “It’s me, Sweetie Belle!” The pony’s face morphed into hers. I shot out of my dream and sat up. “What happened?” Sweetie Belle asked me, “You were crying!” “I don’t know, I was just running away from a party and crying.” We were both puzzled. I looked over at the window, it was still dark outside. “What time is it?” “Somewhere around six, I woke up to you asking me who I was and then I saw you crying.” Sweetie Belle yawned. “I'm not tired anymore, what do you want to do?” “Want to tell me about Star?” “We’re all friends; he’s been here for a month! What’s there to tell about him?” “Scootaloo, I see the way you look at him, you like him!” Sweetie smiled deviously. “Of course I like him; he’s one of my best friends!” I said, stating the obvious. “No!” Sweetie facehoofed, “You like him!” “Do not!” I shot back; a blush was taking over my cheeks. “You’re lying! And Blushing!” I was lying, but I didn’t want to tell anypony that I liked anypony else, that would make me look all sappy. “You’re a dancer, and you’re worried about being ‘sappy’? Sweetie asked, “How’d you....?” “Scootaloo, we’ve been friends for years, I can read you like an open book.” “Oh...” I trailed off. “So, what are you going to do?” Sweetie Belle inched closer to me. “I have no idea.....”
Ch. 15 A Proposal Ch. 15 A Proposal I flew up into the clouds, away from the noise of the bustling little town. I laid out on a nice and fluffy Cumulus. I looked over at Apple Acres, the trees were producing their finest apples at about now, Applebuck season would start any day, which AppleBloom wouldn’t have any free time for a month or so. I’m not sure why, but when I lay on a cloud, I feel more mellow, something that would be considered “Out-Of-Character” for me. Since the sleepover with Sweetie Belle last weekend, I’d been thinking about everything, including Star. I’d decided not to go for it, mainly because he was just too good of a friend to lose. I laid my head down on a small mound of the cloud, the sun was warm, but the cool breeze made me shiver slightly. I laid on my back, letting my wings encase themselves in the cloud. The sun was at it’s highest, the time around noon, maybe one. “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEErrrrrrrrrrrr!” somepony shouted as they flew into my cloud, dissipating it. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!” I screamed as I fell from my floating pedestal. I opened my wings and maneuvered them to pull me out of a dive. Once I recovered, I scanned the skies around me, nopony was there......except for a certain pegasi colt. “Star!!!” I yelled playfully, he was laughing so hard he was barely able to fly. “Yes?” he snickered. “I’m gonna get you!” With that, the two of us took off towards the skies above. I saw him directly in front of me; he was flying as fast as he could. Not fast enough. I pulled up beside him and looked him in the eye, and made a slashing motion with my hoof. He gulped and pulled backwards into a dive. I smiled, that’s just what I wanted him to do. I followed him movement down to the feather, except I was almost twice as fast. I saw the two of us approaching a cloud embankment, so I decided to make my move. With blazing speed, I tackled him, locking both our wings and sending us into the clouds. I held onto him until I felt the clouds under me, and then I let him go, which send him sliding along the cloud and leaving an impact area behind him. I shook a little bit and stood up; I opened my wings to check them for any damaged or torn feathers. After I found none, I proceeded to trot over to the moaning Star, who was upright, but very disoriented. “Had enough?” I breathed heavily. “Nope.” He joked. “You just can’t admit that I, Scootaloo, have bested you in sports.” I said proudly. “Oh yeah?” he raised his head to the sides. “Yeah.” I said victoriously. “Prove it!” He jumped and tackled me, taking the both of us down onto the cloud. “No problem.” I said whilst struggling to gain an advantage. We struggled, each of us trying to gain an advantage over the other, both of us wanted bragging rights to the friends we shared, and more importantly, I wanted to beat a colt at sports. “Come on, is that all you got/” I asked, my voice shaking from the pressure on my limbs. He half laughed, half breathed, the two of us were almost even, almost... I opened my wings and used them to put me on top and then hold his forelegs back behind his head. “One...” he struggled, “Two...” he pushed with all of his might, he wasn’t even breathing, “Three!” He let go of his struggle with a gigantic breath. His exhaled air hit me in the face and broke my concentration, which allowed him to knock me on my back and hold me down for a little while. “I win!” he joked. “You better be happy that I know you’re joking.” I smirked, he gulped. After a moment or two of silence, he finally spoke, “What’cha doing today?” “I’m just flying around, maybe beating up a colt or two.” I shot him a look. “Oh ha ha, I let you win.” “Rematch?” I asked, I wasn’t serious...unless he was. “No...No, it’s okay!” “Then follow me!” I spread my wings and jumped off of the cloud. I soared over the small town that I’d lived in for a few years, it had become much more friendly once I’d been adopted, I felt that if somepony found out, they’d send me back, but I was wrong...I was loved and accepted by most. I heard Star approaching me, so I slowed the pace at which I was flying. After he finally caught up with me, we started talking. “Star?” “Yeah Scoots?” “Could you help me with something?” “No problem,” he smiled, “What is it?” “Well, I think I know my special talent and all, but I need an audience to prove it...could you watch me....?” “Watch you do what?” he questioned warily. “Dance.” I said, embarrassed. “Oh, yeah...yeah, no problem!” “Really?!” I said excitedly, of all ponies, Star would be the one to see me through “Yeah!” “Then follow me!” I sped up tremendously, going almost as fast as I could, which still left Star behind, but still in visible range. I flew past the entire town, all the way over to Fluttershy’s cottage. I knocked on the door a couple of times before I opened. I ran to get the record player and a calm record to dance to. “Scootaloo?” Star said as he entered the cottage. “I’m coming!” I said, the record and its player on my back. “Where are we going to?” he asked, panting. “The meadow out back, I want you to see something.” “At least let me carry the record player.” he said, taking the player from me. I showed him to the large clearing in the woods behind the cottage, once we were there; I set the player on a tree stump and inserted the record. He sat on the log and I took my position in the short grass as the music started. ======================================================================= And alas, I have returned...and so have my associates and the story! Chapters should be coming out regularly now, maybe one every 3-4 days, maybe sooner ;D. To quote Thomas Fuller “A book that is shut is but a block” This isn’t a block....I’m just getting started.
Apart from RealityPerhaps Scootaloo could've lived a different life.... "What?" An older, more mature Scootaloo asked the nothingness. "If you could live your life again, would you?" the nothingness spoke, confusing Scootaloo. "Why would I? I've had a great life!" she called out "What if it could've been different?" "How?" she asked. "That boy on the train, he never made it to the academy." Scootaloo remembered the boy on the train from her youth, a flush of sadness crossed her eyes. "Why not?" "He simply wasn't good enough." "But why would I change?" "Oh Scootaloo, you wouldn't be that selfish as to ruin everypony else's lives to save yours, would you?" the nothingness said evilly. "STOP!" she screamed, but nothing stopped, everything became ten times worse. "Just tell me you want a different life!" It said. "But...memories!" Scootaloo cried. "You won't have them, you'll have a new life, a new reality." After minutes of silence, she spoke up, "I'll do it." "Excellent!" the voice said as Scootaloo blacked out and instantly forgot everything that had happened since she received her Cutie mark. Author's Note Sequel? Sequel.
Alternate Ending: StarI walked off the stage of my last performance to a slew of ponies and paparazzi. After almost twenty seven years of dancing i was finally retiring to a life with my husband and hopefully have a few foals very soon. I was about to make the announcement in front of thousands who had gathered for my final dances. I passed dozens of reporters, each of which held a different camera which flashed at a different time, almost every millisecond of my walk from the performance hall to my room in the luxury hotel across the street was documented, although most of it didn't matter. I stood in the elevator, a select group of ponies surrounded me, including my husband, parents and the rest of the elements of harmony,all of us were happy that i was retiring, most of them were probably happier than i was. We were all either hugging each other or nuzzling as the elevator doors opened to the rear balcony, revealing a crowd of thousands of ponies, some of them holding signs, some yelling my name, but all were united as one. The crowd grew silent as I started to speak, "Everypony, tonight was the last dance in a major area that i ever plan to do, after spending my life focused on being the biggest and best in Equestria, I now plan on being a loyal mother, daughter, and wife to my wonderful family." The crowd stayed silent after my small sentiment, but one pony in the crowd yelled a sentence that I'll never forget; "Scootaloo, we all love and support you!" The crowd erupted with applause and whistling. I stood on the balcony holding my family and friends as I took in the limelight for one last time. Star walked up and started to speak, "I've known my wife for nearly forty five years not, the two of us have been through many tragedies, as well as many experiences that have changes us forever, but now we plan to take on the world as parents,I know that she is ready for it, I'm just hoping I am." The audience laughed as he did and as he left the balcony Star and I and our family walked away from the spotlight forever, we knew for once what was next, and we were proud of what was going to happen. The doors closed behind us and we departed from our family as they went to their own rooms, he and I headed for ours. "i love you Scootaloo." Star said as he kissed my nose. "I'll loveyou forever." I said as we closed our door. The two of us us would always be together, no matter through death, life, or somewhere in between.
Ch. 3 Arriving in Ponyville...I walked into a small town, I looked around me, there was a Candy shop, a boutique, another candy shop, a library in a tree, a town hall, a spa, a marketplace, and a few other buildings. I continued walking around, I'd never seen os many ponies before, the only time I can remember being out of the orphanage was when we escaped....I escaped, two days ago. I walked into the library I saw a couch and went over to it and sat down, this was the softest thing I'd felt in almost three days, I closed my eyes and started to doze. I fell into a deep, nightmarish sleep, I remembered the bed on the train, and then Star's body, I wanted to wake up,but I couldn't, I couldn't leave him, not again. "AH!" I shot from the couch, i was sweating, and I had left a pool around the spot I slept. "Are you okay?" I heard a voice behind me ask. I turned around, and standing behind me was a small, white, unicorn filly. She had pink and Purple hair, but not as dark as mine. "Yeah, just a nightmare." I said, wiping my face. "Are you sure?" I shuddered, that was what he asked me before he died, but I nodded. "Yeah.." I shook it off. "My name's Sweetie Belle!" she blurted out. "Uh, Scootaloo..." I said, turning my head slightly. "I like that name, wanna hang out?" she asked me. More than anything now I needed food, I was so hungry! "Do you know where I could get something to eat?" I asked her. "Hmm, well you could come to my house, and my sister could make us something." she finished with a smile. "Sounds good, let's go!" i said cheerfully. I followed her outside, and she started heading towards the boutique, oh, that's where she lived...cool. I followed her up to the front door, and she opened it. "Rarity! I found a new friend! Can we have some lunch?" Sweetie belle yelled in the boutique. "Just a minute Sweetie Belle, I'm creating perfection!" Rarity yelled back form upstairs. "Come on, we'll wait in my room." Sweetie Belle said. I followed her up to her room, but before we could make it there, rarity said to us from the kitchen, "Sweetie Belle, bring your friend down to the kitchen." "Well, I'll show you later." Sweetie Belle said to me, and then she pulled me back downstairs. The two of us walked into the kitchen, and there was Rarity...I think. "Rarity..." Sweetie Belle said, "This is Scootaloo." Rarity was a white unicorn mare, she had blue hair, which was styled perfectly, and she had three diamonds for a Cutie Mark. She eyed me curiously. "Hi." I waved my hoof. "Hello....Scootaloo." she said slowly. The room was silent, nopony was talking, not me, not Rarity, and not Sweetie Belle. Why was Rarity acting this way, did I do something, did I say something? "Um Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle started, "I think she wants you to take a bath." I blushed, "Like here or?" "Here is fine, you can use Sweetie Belle's shower." Rarity said, going back to making us lunch. Sweetie Belle and I both walked upstairs, maybe I would get to see her room. She stopped by the door next to her room and said, "Here, go in here and turn the knob to the left, and then pull it out!" she smiled, "I'll get you a towel." "Okay." I said, and then I walked into the room, it was just a big shower, like the whole room, it was covered in white and blue tiles, and there was three shower heads. "Knob...knob...knob..." I found it. I followed her instructions and the second I pulled the knob out, three streams hit me, two streams of rinsing water, and one stream of soap. awesome, I juts had to move around to get washed,so I just started waving, and then leaping and spinning, the feeling was amazing, not just the water, the dancing too, I felt alive, i felt okay, I felt safe. "Got your towel!" I heard Sweetie Belle say form outside of the door. "Okay, i'm almost done!" I said, I felt so refreshed. I pushed the knob back in and turned it to the right, then I walked over to the door and grabbed my towel. After I washed myself off, I walked back downstairs and into the kitchen, the smell was amazing, it smelled like a salad, but it was grilled and I smelled something else, something sweet. I looked over at Rarity, she was setting out a grilled salad? And a small cupcake beside it, for each of us. "Hey Scootaloo." Sweetie belle said, she was sitting with a salad in front of her. "Hi.' I said. "So, Scootaloo?" Rarity started, "Where are you from?" Okay, I had to make up something...or I didn't, maybe I could stretch the truth. "I'm from Trottingham, I rode a train to Canterlot, and then I traveled here." I said, Rarity looked at me. "Oh, I haven't been to Trottingham in ages!" How is it now?" "It's fine, there's a lot more ponies." "I'd imagine," she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, "my true dream is to move to Canterlot and pursue my fashion career there." "You should pursue cooking instead." I said after I swallowed a bit, "It's amazing!" "Thank you Scootaloo, I'm self taught." WE ate the rest of the lunch with come little conversation, talking about our day today, about what rarity created, and about some other smaller things. Once we finished lunch, Rarity turned to me, "You should come back tomorrow for lunch, you're a delight!" "Thanks!" I said, "I will1" I trotted out of the boutique, and I walked back into town, "Now to find a shelter." I looked around, I would stay a few days, or at least until tomorrow. "Perfect!" I found an overturned, old chariot outside of town, it even had some blankets in it, this would be my home for now. On the chariot wall was a flier, it said the Summer Sun celebration was in three days, free food, free drink, and a chance to meet the princess. needed food, so I was going to go. I passed the next days doing the same thing, going to Sweetie Belle's for lunch, returning home for sleep, again and again, right up until the celebration. The night of the celebration, every pony in the town was packed into the town hall. As i walked in, I saw a pale yellow mare with a pink mane gesture to some birds, which started singing. "Fillies and Gentlecolts...." an older mare, I'm guessing the Mayor, started, "As mayor of Ponyville," Yep, she's the mayor, "It is my great pleasure to the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" There was a huge cheer at the end of her words, but she spoke again. "In a few minutes, our town will witness the magic of the sun rise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year." She paused, "And now it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria! Princess Celestia!" Rarity pulled a rope and the birds sounded, but nopony appeared. The crowd started to panic, and the Mayor reassured them, "Remain calm everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation." "She's gone!" Rarity yelled from atop the steeple. The crowd went into a slight panic, but then a blue mist started forming, was it her? No, it turned into a black alicorn, she had evil eyes, and evil body, she wasn't Celestia, who was she? "Oh my beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen you precious little, sun loving faces!" she said, even her voice sounded evil. Sweetie belle grabbed me and another filly and held us tight, we were all scared,somepony yelled out, "What did you do with our Princess?" She laughed, "Why, am I not royal enough for you?" "Don't you know who I am? Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She went to Rarity, "Do you not recall the legends, did you not see the signs?" "I did, and i know who you are!" A purple unicorn, one who I never met yelled out. "You're the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!" The whole crowd gasped, some ponies fainted, I almost did myself. "Well well well, somepony who remembers me." Nightmare said, "Then you also know why I'm here?!" "You're here to..to.." Nightmare laughed evilly, "Remember this day ponies, for it will be your last, from this moment on, the night will last FOREVER!" Lightning struck around her, and panic went through the crowd. Nightmare just laughed as we watched, I wondered if she was going to kill us all, but she didn't. "Cease her! Only she knows where the Princess is!" The mayor yelled, and Royal guards flew up to her. "Stand back you foals!" Nightmare struck them with lightning, then she disappeared into the mist and blew open the doors and flew away. "Sweetie Belle! Take Scootaloo back to the boutique, lock the doors and stay safe, I'm to follow Fluttershy." Rarity yelled at us, she was stressed. The two went back of the boutique, and followed rarity's orders, tonight would be a long night...literally. So, this chapter was hard to write, but i got it out for y'all! :Yay:
Ch. 16 Dreams Really Do Come TrueAs the first beat sounded, I was off into the world of movement. I moved out of the center of the clearing towards the cottage. I spun once on my front left foreleg to face Star. The baseline kicked in, so I upped the rhythmic movements; Jumping, spinning rising, falling, I did it all. with each passing moment I felt stronger. Once I started my final spin, I felt so powerful, so amazed that I almost passed out..I dropped to tthe ground and landed on all four legs. (Stop the Music) “Whoooooo!” Star clapped his hooves as he cheered. I blushed, “Was I really that good?” He pointed at my flank, I looked down. The emptiness which once had occupied the area was gone, instead there was a set of dancing shoes with a checkmark between them. I fell over and started laughing, I had finally earned my Cutie mark. “FLUTTERSHY! RAINBOW!” I yelled. The two mares flew out of the house and landed beside the two of us, Rainbow rearing up into a fighting position. “Look!” I said frantically as I pointed to my flank. “Scootaloo!” Fluttershy grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. Rainbow Dash and Star joined in on the group hum, maybe Dreams really do come true.... Nah, Dreams come true. ________________________________10 years later________________________________________ "Scootaloo, are you ready?" "Never been better."i said, I was so nervous. "It'll be fine, see you in a few hours." Star said as he walked away. Not too many hours later did Scootaloo put on her dress and prepare for the next hour or three. She stood behind the doors as the music began to play. "Here comes the bride...." As the doors opened, I started walking, and none other than Star was standing in the grooms position. Dreams....are real.
