Chapter 12: Pegasus among the Leaves

When Scootaloo woke up, it was to see slitted cat eyes and puffed up feathers staring at her, upside down.
"Gah!" she flinched back and fell off her bed with a yelp.

"Caramel!" Glaze scolded his sister who was on the floor laughing, he sighed and went to help his pegasus sister up.
"Stop doing that," Scootaloo said to Caramel who rolled her eyes,
"Well I had to stop doing it to Glaze because he got used to it, Reese would make me use flowery shampoo if I do it to her, and Carrot Mash always acts extra mushy and treats me like a cub when I do it," she said the last part with a grumble, the Earth Pony never got scared at any of her antics, even when she had roared straight into his face once and he gave her a breath mint and pat on the head!

"I'm going down for breakfast," Scootaloo left the two to whatever argument and made her way downstairs, passing the rooms used for the daycare and heading straight towards the dining/family room that was connected to the kitchen. There were a total of four rooms for daycare, one room where they were dropped off and played games or slept, one room for a snack, the third for lessons and crafts, and the fourth room where all the foals under the age of two stayed.

It had been a huge adjustment, moving from the orphanage into a house full of griffins and only one other pony, there were a lot of things to get used to in the past few months.

"Scootaloo, good morning," Reese greeted her, the chocolate covered griffin was at the stove, the smell of eggs and meat filled the air and Scootaloo struggled to maintain a normal expression.

"Morning," she took a seat at the small dining table where Carrot Mash was looking through the newspaper, the couple took turns every morning on who cooks and who set the table, this morning was no different.

"I heard shouting upstairs, did Caramel do her thing again?" Carrot asked and Scootaloo grimaced,

"I wish she would stop, my bumps have new bumps," she rubbed the back of her head, the orange coated Earth pony sighed,

"I'll talk with her," he promised but they both know the griffin cub would still do it. Caramel and Glaze came down just as Reese set the food out. Scrambled eggs with cheese and sliced carrots in a bowl was in the middle, a bowl of rice next to it and two different plates of bacon, one made from hay the other from a pig. The griffins ate from the latter while Carrot and Scootaloo chose the non-meaty option.

"You know, bacon is not that bad," Caramel mentioned, but Scootaloo shook her head,

"I've seen pigs, I don't want to eat them," she shuddered, Reese shot her griffin charge a look,
"If Scootaloo doesn't want to eat the bacon its fine, but there is going to be chicken and fish tonight," she warned the pegasus filly who groaned,

"Great," she grumbled.

The daycare opened at nine so by eight thirty all the dishes were washed and put away and the children were allowed to live the house to wander around, it not being a school day and all.

"You okay Scootaloo?" Glaze asked, seeing the expression on his sister's face.
"I know meat is part of the house diet and all, but Reese never pushes Carrot Mash into eating the meat, only me," she was too afraid to say anything before, but now it was getting slightly distressing that the griffin wanted her to eat it so much.

"You know that we are half eagle and half lion, meat, of course, is going to be a part of our diet, but we aren't pushing it on you for no reason. Pegasus ponies need to eat meat, especially seafood, it's very important they have it in their diet," Scootaloo shook her head,

"Then why didn't she just say that instead of insisting I do it?" she demanded and Caramel appeared on her right, giving her a look,

"Because she didn't think she needed to, don't they serve fish at the orphanage to the pegasus there?" Glaze glared but his sister with talons ignored him as Scootaloo thought it over.

"Not really, we just eat what ponies normally eat, I've never seen fish on the dining table before," Caramel groaned.

"Of course, I'm guessing none of the staff were pegasus either," she shook her head, "Alright, let's go talk to an expert," Scootaloo thought about it.

"Rainbow Dash?!" she gasped in realization, excitement building, but was shot down at the dismissive gesture from the female cub.

"No, Trade Wind of course, and maybe Gabby or Zephyr, come on," they ran all the way to the cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, Scootaloo feeling a bit anxious because of how close it was to the Everfree Forest, but her siblings went ahead without any care so she forced herself to follow them.

They knocked on the door several times before Gabby answered it, blinking sleepily at all of them,

"Hey you guys, what's going on?" she asked, Glaze, stepped forward,

"Sorry for waking you Aunt Gabby, do you know where Trade Wind is?" the gentle griffin frowned,

"'I think she went over to Sweet Apple Acres, something about an appointment with Big Mac, she's been over there every day this past week," Caramel gasped,

"You don't think they are in a relationship do you?!" she stopped at the stares, "What?"

"Please don't jump to conclusions, those two are never going to happen, Trade Wind has said so herself she plans on setting him and-" she stopped and noticed their interested expressions, coughing, "Well look at the time, I think the post office where my part-time job is is calling me!" she zoomed off, leaving the door open.

"Well that was a bust," Caramel said, "Who wants to go to Sugarcube Corner?" she was grabbed and dragged behind them.

"Sweet Apple Acres," Glaze reminded her, huffing at her brother, Caramel crossed her arms as they dragged her all the way across town to Sweet Apple Acres.

On the way there they caught sight of other ponies going in the same direction and exchanged confused expressions.

"Is Sweet Apple Acres putting on an event and we haven't heard about it?" Glaze flew into the air to see what was going on while Caramel stayed down with Scootaloo.

Seeing her sister's longing expression as she stared at their brother, Caramel nudged her,
"Hey, you'll get to fly someday," Scootaloo's ears fell back,

"I've seen foals my age flying for years, and I can't even get off the ground," she had always been made fun of, being called a flightless pegasus in the orphanage and prospective parents had always passed her by, not wanting to deal with her at all.

"Hey, one way or another we are going to get you flying," her wings briefly touched Scootaloo's before moving away as Glaze came back, a bemused expression on his face,

"There's an Iron Pony contest, between Applejack and Rainbow Dash," and it was only the two of them again.

"Wow, that was as fast as she was on the scooter, I had almost forgotten she's a big fan of Rainbow Dash," Glaze shot his sister a dry look and flew off to catch up to the excited pegasus filly.

They found the rest of the Mane Six sitting in the bleachers, Twilight with a whistle and clipboard designating her as the referee and Fluttershy at the scoreboard. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were watching at the bottom, Titan in a baby carriage next to Rarity.
"Aunt Rarity, Aunt Pinkie Pie, what's going on?" the unicorn and earth pony looked down at them,

"Hello darlings, somehow Applejack and Rainbow Dash started this competition, ponies who heard about it came as well. If you are not here for the competition?" she left the question hanging, Glaze answered,

"We came looking for Trade Wind to ask her a question, but then Scootaloo heard about this so I'm guessing we have to wait for the entire thing to be over," he nodded to Scootaloo who was leaning against a fence, watching the proceedings with excitement.

"Oh! Trade Wind is in the barn with Big Mac, hey Rarity, why don't I watch Titan while you take them there," the unicorn spluttered as Pinkie disappeared with the foal, white coat turning pink as she looked at the interested gazes of the cubs, she was going to get back at Pinkie Pie for this!

"Oh fine, let's go," she led them away from the competition towards the large red barn where the sounds of hammering and sawing were.

"What are they doing in there," Caramel muttered pushing aside the door, her and Glaze gaped while Rarity looked exasperated.

"Are you two seriously renewing this?" she thought they got over it in high school!

On the left side of the barn was an apple red cart with four large wheels and a half apple with cider and zap apple jam on the sides. Big Mac was doing final touch ups on it and seemed to be making benches of some sort inside of it, his coat was covered in paint and he paused at the sound of the door opening.

Trade Wind was working on her own cart that had her Cutie Mark and seashells along the sides and it was painted a deep blue color.

"Hey Rarity," the pegasus greeted her with a small smile, pushing up her glasses before returning to attaching the harness to the cart.

"What are you two up to?" the unicorn demanded, the two cart builders looked sheepish.
"Well tomorrow is the Falling of the Leaves, and I thought it would be interesting to do a cart race with Big Mac here, for practice at the Festival," Caramel and Glaze spotted a whitetail in the loft and flew up to see Frost napping in the hay.

"Why is he up here?" Glaze poked his brother several times, causing him to twitch before annoyed blue eyes opened with a glare causing him to freeze (he thought it was only an inherited trait!)

"I was taking my nap." his voice was deep and the cubs backed away, paling and shivering in fear,

"You look busy, bye!" they flew down and hid under Trade Wind's carriage, shaking like leaves.

"'Your racing in the Running of the Leaves tomorrow?" Rarity was asking the two, a blush on her cheeks as she tried to ignore Big Mac's gaze.

"Yes, Fluttershy is participating with us, her cart is drying over there with the animals," she nodded to the back of the barn where a yellow cart with pink bats and butterflies with blue paws and fireflies, it was smaller and looked lighter than the other two.

"You got Fluttershy in on this?" Rarity stared at them in disbelief, but Trade looked unfazed this time.
"Well we do have to practice for the cart race at the Festival and since I'm in Ponyville, might as well represent the town right? Big Mac is going to be in the back with our fourth team member while I'll be in the front with Fluttershy as navigation, these carts are used as practice to test our individual endurance, we still don't have the materials for the Ponyville cart though. Oh, we'll need passengers to practice with tomorrow, and Big Mac still has the cart seat from last time," Trade trailed off innocently, Rarity narrowed her eyes before glancing at Big Mac who while stoic still managed to convey his hopefulness at her answer.

*sigh* "So long as you don't go too fast," Titan enjoyed it the last time he got a cart ride, she wouldn't mind doing it with him this time.

"Great, so you two will ride with Big Mac, Pinkie Pie will be announcing in her weather balloon again, Twilight said she was interested in running, um Applejack and Rainbow Dash will also be in the race. Gabby is part of the refreshment crew with Zephyr, I don't suppose you know anyone who'd be interested in a cart ride?" at this point, Caramel and Glaze appeared in front of her with wide grins,

"We want to!" they chorused, a soft me too! coming from the upper loft.

"I'll see what I can do," Rarity had a good idea about it.

Next Morning
"Sorry about yesterday you guys, we went all the way to see Trade Wind about a question and I kind of went off," Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head, but Glaze and Caramel were sheepish as well.

"Yeah, well it is not like we are not at fault either, we got so excited by the carts and stuff that we totally forgot, come on, we can ask her on the way," they arrived at the starting line where ponies were staring at the carts in interest. Big Mac was stretching himself onto the side while Trade Wind and Fluttershy were doing it on the other one.

"We're here!" Caramel and Glaze looked between the carts in concentration, "Which one do we go on?" Glaze muttered, feeling a bit conflicted about it. Red hair popped up as a filly with a yellow coat peered at them with orange-red eyes.

"Well Ahm riding with my brother, Rarity, and Titan, we got the room for one more, oh I'm Applebloom," she added not recognizing Scootaloo who introduced herself in return.

"Hm, I know Frost is going to pick Fluttershy to ride with and a griffin cub per cart is a good idea, I'll go with Big Mac," Glaze hopped in and took a seat next to Applebloom.

"Guess that means we're with Trade Wind, looks like there's already a filly for Fluttershy's cart," Caramel pointed at the small unicorn filly chatting with an excited Frost, both stopped talking at their approach.

"Hey Caramel, hey Scootaloo, are you riding in one of the carts today as well?" Scootaloo nodded,

"Yeah, hey Sweetie Belle, back in town again?" she'd seen the filly around a few times but with her parents living in a different town, it was rare that she got to see her.

"Yep, Mom and Dad are on another one of their trips and I'm staying with Rarity for a while until they come back, I would ride with them, except Big Mac kind of likes to go fast sometimes. Do either of you want to join us?" she questioned but they shook their heads,

"Nah, one griffin cub per cart will make it interesting, and we have some questions for Trade Wind anyways, come on Taloo, let's go," the pegasus followed after her with an annoyed expression.

"I said not to call me that!" they entered the blue cart and made themselves comfortable before the race could start.

Rainbow and Applejack arrived and stared at the carts with different expressions,

"Hold on, I thought this was a running of the leaves thing, why are there carts here?" Rainbow demanded while Applejack sighed,

"Ooh boy, this is going to be interesting, Big Mac hasn't been racing for a while but he looks mighty excited," he was even wearing one of those helmets that had bottles on either side, "So that's where some of the extra cider went," she huffed, deciding not to get into it with her brother and went to get a number, thoughts on beating Rainbow Dash in a fair race.

The three with the carts were in the back of the group and all of the passengers got in,
"Taking pictures for the road Paris?" Trade asked lightly upon seeing the Diamond Dog sitting with the two in her cart,

"I promised I would, she hates cart rides," nodding in understanding, Trade attached the harness and stretched out her wings before folding them.

"Hey Trade Wind?" Caramel asked after Scootaloo nudged her, glaring at the orange filly, "Eating meat is good for pegasus right? It's not bad or anything?" Trade Wind hummed,

"I assume this has to do Scootaloo not eating any meat and such?" the silence was telling, "Despite our mostly vegetarian diet, there are other things that help us strengthen our bodies. For pegasus eating fish is the best thing to do as it strengthens our wing muscles with the right vitamins, other meats like chicken or pork can also help in a way depending on what you do with it. But if it freaks you out, I'd suggest just sticking with the fish," the race started and once the other racers ran she started trotting,

"Aren't you going to run?" Scootaloo asked, a bit disappointed even as she thought over the mare's words.

"'Not until the racers in front are way ahead of us, we're not racing them but each other and it'll be kind of dangerous for us with carts to try and get past them. Don't worry, we'll speed up when the time comes," there was the shuttering of the camera as Paris took pictures and the girls oohed at their surroundings.

"So do you eat pork?" Scootaloo asked,

"I do,"

"And it doesn't freak you out?"

"Nope,"

"But why pigs are cute," there was a shudder from their guide.

"No, they are not, pigs deserve to be meat," Paris snorted as Trade went into a rant under her breath,

"Great, you got her started, she really hates pigs," she informed the two, settling down for a brief break before she would start up again.

Frost and Sweetie Belle enjoyed their ride, the filly looking awed at the colorful leaves while Frost let the wind brush against his feathers,

"Are you two having fun?" Fluttershy was behind Big Mac and Trade Wind who despite going slow still got ahead of her, not like the yellow pegasus minded.

"Yeah, this is pretty cool, I didn't know you were a cart racer," Fluttershy giggled.

"Well I'm not normally, but this is a good way to build muscle and I was preparing on making a rescue cart for my rounds," especially one that didn't break down because of a wrong turn. Being a rescue pony was hard work and sometimes required a strength beyond hers,

"Do you think I'm old enough to do the Rescue Seminar, they are accepting griffins now right?" Frost asked anxiously, he so wanted to be like his big sister, no offense to Zephyr but the only thing he's interested in learning from his big brother is Wing Chun.

"I'm afraid they raised the regulations, you'll have to wait till you've graduated general school and do a vetting process under one of the instructors. It seems there have been those taking advantage of the seminar to do things not very nice to other ponies. The age limit has also been decided at age 13," Frost groaned,

"That's not fair! You were twelve when you did it and Trade Wind was 10 when she was with you, and she graduated early. So even if I skip grades I won't be able to do it, I'll have to wait five years!" he was only 8 and a half!

"Wow, it must be cool being a Rescue Pony," Sweetie Belle thought out loud, Fluttershy hummed,

"Its a noble occupation, but one must think about their reasons for being a rescue pony, I had a whole year to think about if I wanted to be a rescue pony or not once I got my Cutie Mark. Trade Wind helped me discover how to do it," she said warmly, Sweetie Belle glanced at the pegasus flank and sighed,

"I wish I had my Cutie Mark," she said miserably, Frost patted her on the shoulder,

"Griffins don't get Cutie Marks," he reminded her and she shuddered,

"I don't know whether to feel sorry about that," she said apologetically, not able to imagine the possibilities of not getting a Cutie Mark.

Apple Bloom switched her attention from the view to the cart,

"I didn't know you were this good at carpentry Big Mac, this cart is pretty well made," she saw his ears flick in interest,

"Thanks," he said simply, Rarity smiled,

"Actually his interest in building carts came from when his family built Trade Wind a cart to take with her, Fluttershy, and Lyra to the Rescue training. Of course, the whole racing thing didn't come up until University when it got suggested as a sport, do you know the first race your brother did he had put so many extra touches on his cart it ended up sinking into mud," Applebloom giggled,

"Aren't you supposed to be good at math?" she asked her brother amused, noting in interest how his ears were redder than before.

"Sorry Big Mac, but I'm sure Applebloom would be interested in hearing about the University and what her older brother had been up to while he attended," Applebloom looked eager, Glaze a step behind her as he too wanted to hear about the school.

"Oh! Isn't it true you had a Wonderbolt as one of the P.E. teachers? Or that a dragon was the chef in the kitchen, Big Mac only wrote short letters about it," she pouted, very interested in learning about her brother's school, maybe she could go there?

About halfway through Big Mac suddenly broke into a run, Trade Wind and Fluttershy doing the same as well. The occupants held tight at the sudden speed, though with Sweetie Belle and Frost, Fluttershy had only increased her speed half as much as the other two.

They ran all the way to the finish line, passing a rising dust cloud with orange and blue hooves and passing the finish line, the fillies and cubs cheering with raised hooves/claws.

"Let's do that again!" Glaze rolled his eyes at Caramel's shout and hopped out of the cart, helping Applebloom get down and doing the same with Rarity who had Titan in her magical aura.

"Thank you darling, and thank you, Big Mac, it was a lovely ride," the Earth Pony blushed at the compliment and went to the nearest refreshment stand, completely forgetting to detach the cart as ponies hopped out of the way.

"You two going to kiss yet?" Rarity turned completely red and spun around to Trade Wind who was giving her a grin, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

"Mind your own business, your imagining things, oh would you look at the time let's go, Sweetie Belle, dinner should be ready soon," the filly yelped as she was picked up in her sister's aura and they took off.

"Nice try Trade Wind, but it's going to take more than that to get them to budge," Lyra said amused, her own number still on her Cutie Mark.

"Yeah, I know," Trade watched Princess Celestia approach Applejack and Rainbow Dash and almost jumped at a poke on her shoulder.

"That was quite a race," a familiar voice stated and she turned to Dream Catcher who looked kind of nervous, "I don't suppose we could add cart racing to the lessons?" Trade Wind smiled.