It's Tricky

Apple Bloom leaned forward on the bench, her chin settling against her hands. “Y’know somethin’, Scoots? I’m proud a’ ya. Ya got out in tha world, ya found some new friends, ya formed that stunt team ya always dreamed of, and yer travelin’ all over the place, earnin’ bits doin’ the impossible in epic stunt shows… Still, somethin’s been botherin’ me.”

Scootaloo adjusted her headset so she could hear Apple Bloom a little better. “What’s up?”

Apple Bloom pointed to the window, where the cloudy, snow-capped peak of Mount Mareu could be seen outside, only obscured by the passing propeller blades of the Daedalus brand chopper. “HOW IN THE HELL DIDJA AFFORD A FREAKIN’ HELICOPTER?!”

“Hard work and determination?” Sweetie Belle guessed. She was zipping up a white parka with a purple trim, while holding on to a pair of polka-dotted skis.

“Two out of three,” said Scootaloo. She snapped her goggles on and tightened her scarf. “Turns out, Velocentaur is getting really popular over in Neighpon. I struck a deal with a guy who was selling illicit merchandise, signed him on officially, and collected a pretty percentage of his earnings. Exchange rates got me a freakin’ mint. So, I decided to do a little Sunday shopping. Got myself some new decks, some video games, and, of course, a chopper!” She patted herself on the chest. “What’s up!”

“I think we’ve arrived at our destination, that’s what’s up,” said Sweetie Belle.

“What makes you say that?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie pointed a mittened hand at the light above the side door, which had just turned from red to green.

Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head and looked out the window. The chopper was still obviously high up, far away from any sort of landing zone. “But we ain’t slowin’ down. Think the light’s busted?”

“Nope.” Scootaloo unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up. She checked her belt buckles, bent her board, and tapped her shoes. “We’re exactly where we— or at least, I— need to be.”

“What, ain’t we gonna land?” Apple Bloom asked nervously.

Scootaloo laughed like she just heard a lewd joke. “Where would we land? It’s all snow down below.”

“What?!” Sweetie shouted, holding her cheeks in disbelief. “I thought we were going to the resort! Spike’s waiting for me at the pool! He has wine! And those Gold Divas chocolates, they’re, like, a hundred bits a box!”

Scootaloo tapped Sweetie Belle on her snout. “You’ll get your wine, whiner. We’re just a good thousand or so feet higher than you expected.” She strolled over to the door and laid out her board, slipping her feet into the bootstraps. “You comin’?”

“Hell no!” Bloom yelled. “Aren’t you gonna put on a helmet?”

“Hell no.” With a smirk, as well as a flip of her upswept mane, Scootaloo opened the door, causing a frigid draft to enter the inside of the chopper. “Rotormouth!” she yelled towards the cockpit.

The pilot signaled to Scootaloo. “Yep?”

Scootaloo gestured behind her with her thumb. “Take these pansies back down to the resort once I make the jump!” She quickly turned to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and mouthed, ‘Love you.’ She then took a step back towards the door, the front of her board hanging over the edge. She paused for a moment, then raised a finger. “You know…” She turned her head. “This speech is my recital...”

A small smile was shared between the three friends. Apple Bloom gripped the safety handle a bit tighter. “I think it’s very vital.”

Sweetie’s smile broadened as she winked at Scootaloo. “To rock—”

“A rhyme—” Apple Bloom bobbed her head.

“That’s right—”

“On time—”

Scootaloo pointed at her girls as she leaned back. “It’s Tricky is the title, here we go!” At the last word, the young daredevil let go and flipped into a freefall off the leeward side of the helicopter. A single gust of wind tore her out of view.

For a moment, fear gripped both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as they stood and craned their necks to look for their feathered friend. A moment later, and an echoey “Woooo!” reached their ears over the sound of the helicopter’s engines.

With a relieved sigh, Apple Bloom reached to the still open hatch and pulled it closed. “Alright Rotor, get us to that resort!” As the helicopter started to turn back down the mountain, she retook her seat beside Sweetie. “I can’t honestly tell if that skinny mare is stupid or amazing,” she said.

“Bloom, dearest, you need to broaden your horizons and stop picking between two options.” Sweetie offered a little smile. “Scootaloo is obviously stupidly amazing.”

It was just a mile away, further down the mountain slope, that two slender, beautiful mares were lazily skiing along the smoothest, shallowest patch of snow they could find; it was so shallow that the use of their ski poles was almost unnecessary. One of the mares, who happened to be Diamond Tiara, closed her eyes and smiled, welcoming the crisp, frozen air with open arms.

“I told you a getaway would be worth our time, Silvy,” she said. “And yet, what was it you said to me? That snow isn’t becoming of a young lady’s complexion?”

Silver Spoon, in an odd reversal of the usual disposition between her and her best friend, pouted and folded her arms. “I didn’t give any specific reason as to why I don’t like snow. I just don’t like it.”

“Well, you have to have a reason. Otherwise it’s just pointless pouting over powdered perfection.”

“Ugh, since when are you so cheery? What happened to the aloof, prettier-than-thou, kiss-my-hand supermodel that I fell in love with?” Silver Spoon moaned, pointing her ski pole at Diamond Tiara. “Stop being happy!”

Diamond Tiara used her pole to nudge Silver Spoon’s back down. “Look ahead and pay attention. I don’t want you to wipe out. A collision with a tree is also not good for one’s complexion. Now, I suggest you remove the third ski pole you somehow placed up your ass, because it's dragging you down.”

Silver Spoon grumbled some derogatory words under her breath. She seemed determined to not enjoy herself on account of wanting to be elsewhere. “Fine… But I want it on record that I only came here to be with you. Also, I’m pretty sure I hate you now.”

Diamond Tiara chortled to herself. “I hate you too, dearest. But if you insist, we can rest for a while.”

Silver Spoon’s pout subsided a little bit. She looked down the slopes and took in the welcome view of the resort, a sprawling, multi-floored establishment that merged with the mountainside, branching off into several cottages. It was split down the middle by the slope, allowing riders to pass through and continue downwind. A few riders exchanged high-fives with their friends on the overhanging bridges as they passed by.

The two mares coasted to a stop by the front steps to the central lounge. Diamond Tiara stepped out of her skis with grace and poise, while Silver Spoon had to yank on her boot to get one of her skis off. “Bragginragginfraggin…” She flailed her hand at Diamond. “Help?”

“You are so helpless.” Diamond reached for Silver’s boot. “Give it to me.”

“Phrasing, boom…” Silver raised her stuck foot up to Diamond with a questioning look. “We still say that, right?”

“Yes, dearest, we still say, er, that…” Diamond tugged on the boot, but it didn’t come off. Tugs two and three didn’t fare much better. “Wow, damn thing’s lined with super glue. And velcro. And every other... ergh... adhesive under the friggin’ su-gah! There we go!” As Diamond Tiara pulled the boot away from Silver Spoon’s leg, she lifted it up high and cheered. “Yeah! Suck it, mountain! I am Mistress Tiara, destroyer of boots!”

“Uh, I think the high altitude is messing with your head,” said Silver Spoon.

Diamond raised her finger to retort, but she didn’t get the chance. A blur of black, orange and purple slammed into her, sweeping her off her feet and bringing her to the ground. Scootaloo was flung out of her bootstraps, and her face ended up planted into the snow.

Diamond was the first to get up, hopping to her hooves as though she wasn’t even hit in the first place. “Son of a…!” She turned around and shook her head as she saw Scootaloo, who rolled over and pumped her arms into the air.

“FUCK YEAH!” the daredevil cheered, though her scarf was covering her face, turning her voice into a muffled mess that sounded like “FERK YRRGH!” She ripped her scarf off. “Holy shit! That was amazing! There had better be a tattoo parlor here, ‘cause I’m getting a double-diamond insignia stamped right above my—”

“Hey!” Diamond Tiara folded her arms as she stood over Scootaloo. “Have you lost your mind?”

Scootaloo didn’t have a care in the world. She lay on her back, sweeping her arms and legs to make a snow angel. “Lost it years ago, babe… Why are you blushing?”

Diamond looked away. “I just got a faceful of snow, and don’t change the subject. You’d better hope nothing’s broken.”

“You’re standing. Your face is intact. Hope nothing happened downstairs, otherwise you’re out of a job.” Scootaloo bent her legs and leaped off of the ground, landing on her hooves. “You’re seriously okay though, right?”

“Huh?” Diamond Tiara did a double take and looked at herself. She patted her stomach, hips, shoulders, arms and legs, then fasted her fur cap over her head. “Y-Yes, I’m quite fine. And yourself?”

“Thanks to adrenaline and denial, I’m immortal!” Scootaloo flexed her arm, pulling down her jacket sleeve and showing off her arm. As she covered herself back up, she looked over Diamond Tiara, focusing on her skis. “Something tells me you don’t own those.” She kneeled down and examined the tribal pattern. She noticed a tag spelling out Mareu Mountain Lounge - Apparatus On Loan. “Are these rentals? Are you renting?”

“I’m rent with disgust that you’d suggest such a thing.” Diamond Tiara sighed. “Who buys something without giving it a test run? You’re a stuntmare. You rent motorcycles.”

Scootaloo laughed. “I’m just giving you shit, Di. I’m glad I gave you a new hobby.” She was bemused and slightly relieved to see Diamond Tiara chortling as well. “Thanks for making use of the tickets I sent you. The rest of the Crusaders are so used to my stunts that they don’t get all knobbly in the knees like you do.”

“Celestia’s wounds, you’re so full of it, you featherhead.”

Scootaloo gave a small laugh as she handed over Di’s skis, kicking her snowboard into the air and catching it her arms. “If I wasn’t, I’d probably be sitting scared shitless in Ponyville or somethin’. I don’t care what others think, and I don’t care what the math says; my math says I’m smokin’ hot and filthy rich, so just step up and call me ‘Daddy!’”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Diamond Tiara scoffed.

Scootaloo licked her lips. “Mmm, that’s the spirit, baby girl.”

The bespeckled bystander brusquely barrelled into the conversation with a shove of the delinquent daredevil.

They had almost forgotten about Silver Spoon, but her impatience had become audible enough to call attention to her. “Yeah, sorry, but we’re not following half the shit coming out of your mouth, so I’m gonna go find a nice hot bath and a nice hot bellhop to scrub me down.”

Scootaloo flashed a devious grin. “Spike’s at the pool with a bottle of wine, waiting for his princess, if you want an easy time of it.”

“Thank you kindly.” Silver Spoon stretched her arms above her head as she stepped away from the conversation. “Di, you coming?”

Diamond Tiara turned back to Scootaloo. “Actually, I wanted to ask if Scootaloo here wanted a pot?”

Scootaloo’s devious grin intensified.

“Of coffee, Madame Radical.”

“Well, ever since I met Fluttershy’s new friends…”

“Offer’s slipping away.”

“Okay, okay. To the lounge.”