Scootaloo Drops Her Ice Cream
*****
“Blegh! I got dirt in my mouth.” Scootaloo spit a patch of grass and wiped her mouth with a hoof. She wasn’t exactly fond of having dirt in her mouth, but she wasn’t totally disgusted. Plenty of earth ponies and pegasi do stuff with their mouths, anyway.
Scootaloo dragged a hoof to her forehead and wiped the sweat away, sighing. “Well, at least it’s all done now,” she said to herself. She looked around to see the fruits of her hard work. The yard was free from any weed and the lawn was mowed to perfection. The intense sunlight fed the previously sprinkled flowers and decorative plants. “Ms. Lyra, Ms. Lyra!” Scootaloo dashed to the front door and knocked the door. A mint colored unicorn greeted her with a smile.
“Oh, are you done, Scootaloo?” Lyra asked, peering outside at her garden. She was surprised of how fast the filly got the work done. Not only the weed was gone and the lawn was mowed, but she was also kind enough to water her flowers. “My, you’ve done an outstanding job, Scoots!” She smiled at the filly, who returned a grin.
“Yup! I did everything you told me to do!” Scootaloo nodded. “Got rid of the weeds, mowed the lawn and everything!” Drops of sweat began to descend from her forehead. Once again, she wiped them away with her hoof. The intense sunlight was only getting hotter and stronger.
“Well, thank you so much, Scootaloo.” Lyra looked inside her house and her horn illuminated. She levitated some bits and showed them to Scootaloo. “Now, here’s your payment, as we agreed.”
“Thank you, Ms. Lyra!” Scootaloo snatched the floating bits with her mouth and looked at the unicorn. “See yeh lateh,” she said and sprinted away from the house. Her next destination was Ponyville’s Park.
“Bye, Scoots. Take care!” Lyra smiled and waved a hoof, looking at Scootaloo getting out of sight. “Such a sweet little filly,” she whispered to herself before stepping back inside and closing the door.
*****
Can’t wait! Can’t wait! Scootaloo ran at full speed across the large streets of Ponyville. Her grin could have been bigger, but the gold coins in her mouth only allowed her to make an awkward smile, like if she had done something very bad. I’ll get the biggest, tastiest, yummiest… Her little legs wanted to go faster, but the dreadful heat was a heavy weight for her to carry. Soon enough, the sweat came back to her face, but her hooves were too busy to clean herself.
On her way, Scootaloo kept running into ponies that jumped back in reflex to avoid colliding with the full speed filly. She could feel her stamina dropping, and slowly, her pace decreased. Just… a little… longer, she panted, feeling as if her legs gained some weight, but she was so close already. She had already entered the park. Must… have… ice cream… She looked around the park; nothing but foals and ponies playing around or taking a stroll. She kept trotting, her legs giving up.
At long last, Scootaloo heard a bell chiming. There was no mistaking it. In all her life, that unmistakable sound could only mean one thing, and it was Frozen Scoop, the white unicorn with the mint colored mane who brings smiles to the foals’ faces with his scrumptious ice creams and popsicles.
Scootaloo looked around and spotted the little stand on one corner. Her eyes gleamed in joy as she ran towards the source of frosty smiles. Her worn legs seemed like if they had received a stamina boost for that last sprint to the ice cream pony. “Mr. Scoop!” Scootaloo squeaked, braking in front of the stand.
Frozen Scoop chuckled and greeted her with a smile. “Ah, Scootaloo, nice to see you in this awfully hot day. What can I do for my number one customer?”
Scootaloo placed the bits on top of the stand and looked at his merchandise. “I want an ice cream. A big vanilla ice cream! I’ve been craving for some ever since I woke up!”
“Ah, of course. Just a moment.” Scoop levitated an ice cream cone and opened up one of his containers. Cold steam rise from inside, as well as the fragrances of the plenty of flavors he had to offer. Not only vanilla, but strawberry, chocolate, lemon, coconut, you name it. He levitated a small silver scoop and took a big chunk from the vanilla container, placing the ball of ice cream on top of the cone. “Here you go, missy.” He gave Scootaloo the ice cream, levitating it in front of her.
Scootaloo took the ice cream with her hoof and gazed upon it. She looked at the creamy texture of the vanilla, which got softer thanks to the sunlight. In just a matter of seconds, she would be delighting her tongue with the amazing coolness of it. “Thanks, Mr. Scoop!”
“Enjoy yourself, Scootaloo. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go back to Ponyville. See you soon!” Frozen Scoop grabbed his cart and pushed it walking towards the exit of the park.
“Bye, Mr. Scoop!” Scootaloo then turned her stare back at the ice cream. “At long last… all my hard work pulling out those horrible weeds and mowing finally paid out!” Her only thought was to bite on the frozen ball of ice. “Ice creams always taste extra special on really hot days!” She wasn’t going to stand and eat it, though. A well-deserved ice cream could only be enjoyed on a great park bench. Luckily, for her, there was one right behind her. “Now, let’s go and—”
Scootaloo turned her body, unaware of the tragic event that was going to take place right after doing so. As soon as her body spun, one of her legs tripped, causing her front hoof to lose grip of the precious frozen treasure it was carrying. She didn’t have time to react. Everything happened too fast. She only felt as something slipped out from her hoof. She looked down at her hoof, which was supposed to be carrying certain ice cream, yet there was none to be found. Her fears were confirmed as soon as she stared to the ground, where she saw the horrid scene. Her ice cream, the one she had worked hard for, was splattered all over the floor.
Scootaloo didn’t know what to do. Her mind went blank, still processing what just took place. She wanted to say something, but a knot in her throat prevented her from doing it. She wanted to scream, to yell, to kick something, but she found herself unable to do it. She didn’t move, her eyes still looking at the wasted treat. A watery and itchy sensation ran through her eyes. A tear leaked out of it, but she didn’t feel it. She didn’t even feel the ridiculous heat anymore.
Her world stopped.
*****
“I’m bored…” Rainbow Dash grunted, looking down at Ponyville from above. It was her daily flying routine, but nothing out of the ordinary had happened since she woke up, thing that annoyed her. “Argh, I wish there were something interesting to do.” She flew above Ponyville’s Park, where she spotted somepony familiar. “Hey, isn’t that…”
Rainbow decreased her speed and slowly pulled her body down. She landed relatively close from where the familiar pony was standing, or rather, lying. Scootaloo was on a park bench, hooves on her face and sobbing. A little puddle of water formed below the bench. “Hey, kid. What’s up?”
As soon as Scootaloo heard that characteristic rash voice, she raised her head. “R-Rainbow…?”
“Hey, why are you crying? Did someone steal your lunch money?” Rainbow walked towards the filly. She had never seen her that sad before, not even when she was sorry about that incident with the school newspaper.
Scootaloo answered with a whimper, covering her face once again with her hooves.
“C’mon, kid. What’s the matter?” Rainbow tapped the filly’s head. “If you’ll keep crying like a baby, ponies will think you’re a softy!”
“M-my… i-ice…” Scootaloo sniffled. She pointed one of her hooves to the other side of the road, where the dropped ice cream was. It was no longer a ball of ice, though. Most of it was already melted due the heat.
Rainbow looked to where Scootaloo’s hoof pointed. “Oh, don’t tell me you dropped your ice cream.” Rainbow could have laughed, but she didn’t. She looked back at Scootaloo and sat on the bench, tapping head with her hoof once again. “Hey, it’s all right. It happens to everypony.”
“No! It’s not all right!” Scootaloo exclaimed, looking at Rainbow Dash with the tears still leaking like cascades from her eyes. “I- I broke my hooves working for that ice cream, and-and…” She whimpered, clenching her teeth to hold back any more of her anger. She threw herself at Rainbow and pressed her face against her chest, crying out loud.
“Hey, hey! Snap out of it!” Rainbow pushed her away, holding her by the shoulders. “It’s just ice cream. It’s not the end of the world!”
Scootaloo sniffled. Sure, it was easy for Rainbow to say. It wasn’t her ice cream that dropped. “B-but…”
“What do you say if I invite you for an ice cream? Just promise me that you’ll stop crying, okay? I won’t accept the fact that my number one fan is a crybaby.” Rainbow tilted her head and looked down at the floor. “Besides… I don’t like to see ponies crying,” she whispered.
“R-really? You… you will invite me for an ice cream?” Scootaloo sobbed. Did she hear all right? Was Rainbow Dash really going to invite her for an ice cream? This had to be the best day ever, regardless if her ice cream was now ants’ food. The only way it could get better would be if she got her cutie mark.
“Sure. Just wipe those tears away and let’s go to Sugarcube Corner. I’m sure Pinkie can give you an extra special treat just for you,” Rainbow said, climbing down the bench. “What do you say, kid?”
“O-okay!” Scootaloo did as instructed and dried her face from both sweat and tears. She smiled for the first time since the tragedy occurred. A smile of satisfaction displayed on her face, knowing that her idol would invite her for an ice cream. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash!” She hugged Rainbow, who rolled her eyes and returned the hug, quickly breaking it.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, let’s go.” Rainbow was thinking about flying, but she remembered that somepony hadn’t learned yet. Maybe she could help the squirt with that problem, someday. But for now, she was going to give her probably the best dessert of her life.
“Yay!” Scootaloo skipped alongside Rainbow. The huge sadness she felt moments ago was replaced with excitement about sharing a tasty treat with Rainbow Dash.
“Heh,” Rainbow chuckled. She stared at the filly, then at the splattered ice cream. “Well, I guess I don’t want you to go through what I went when I was a filly.”
“Huh, what do you mean?”
“Let's just say I know better than anypony how you feel about dropping an ice cream.”
