A Streetmare Named Desire

Scootaloo awoke with a jolt to the sound of her alarm clock jolting and jumping around her petite bedside table. She disdainfully stared at it for a solid 10 seconds before smashing the lever on top halting its ear-melting noise. It was a half hour earlier than when she usually awoke. But she was not phased by this, as she had the early-morning feeling of not knowing anything but the fact that she has to get to the bathroom, as is life. She stumbled into the dim-lit, cheaply-tiled room, not seeing herself in the mirror at first. She did a double-take though, when she did. She thought she looked gooooood, even with bed-head. She relieved herself, took a quick, cleansing shower, and re-did her wet mane the way Rarity had showed her. By now, she had started getting apprehensive of her appearance. And this is why she was up so early, so she could style her mane in a way that she wouldnt have to be apprehensive. She really wished she was a unicorn at that moment, as styling the back of her mane was a pain. Perhaps Applebloom or Sweetie Belle could help her out...Unless the two reacted to her the same way Rarity did. Reflecting on Rarity's words and body language, she was overtly negative towards Scootaloo's new look.

"What would Sweetie Belle think? The two are sisters, Rarity had probably already told her! She's going to be mad that I didn't consult her first!" She thought aloud. By now her siblings were stirring and she put on her saddlebags. She figured if her friends were going to hate her, she might as well get to school and find out before she tore herself apart in anticipation. Her heart thudded dully as trotted out her front door, starting her path to school. Her foster home was at the rim of ponyville, by the river. She had a straight shot through main street, over the bridge, past the market, and down the path where the schoolhouse was. She loved her morning ride, she got to see all the things that made the town pretty while feeling the wind flow through the holes in her helmet. She neglected to wear her signature helmet on this day in paticular in fear of damaging her mane. The sun was just rising from beyond the horizon when she was passing the bridge. Her breath was cold, from the frigid night air that had yet to be replaced by the warm day air. She shivered as she waved to a few townponies frolicking to their workplaces or stores, getting a smile and a wave from few, but still getting odd stares and gawks from others.

This didn't bother her, she didn't like the gawking ones anyway. She noticed those ones ostracizing her and other different ponies for a while now and thought down on them. Why do they get to judge other ponies based on what they look like or like to do? It didn't make sense to her, but she didn't dwell on the point. She was nearing the schoolyard now, and approaching it fast. She was around five minutes or so earlier than usual, early enough that the eggheads were already in class but the rest were yet to arrive. She chained up her scooter with a simple combination lock on a post and lounged outside the schoolhouse wall, imitating the Rampones and anxiously awaiting her best friends to show up.

Featherweight arrived shortly after she took her position on the wall and complimented her mane before heading inside, with a blush about his face. Scootaloo scratched her head and wondered why he ran away so quickly but decided to drop it as the dreaded Diamond Tiara and her toady Silver Spoon arrived. She did a double-take at Scootaloo and passive-aggresively spouted, "Well...It looks like someone offended the barberpony!" As she walked past. Silver Spoon let out a cackle and Diamond Tiara joined her in the laugh as they stepped inside. Scootaloo flipped them off by crossing her foreleg with her hoof at the elbow before fuming with a scowl against the wall she did it late enough that they didn't see it unfortunately. One of these days Diamond Tiara....POW! To the moon! She breathed deeply and let it go as a few short minutes later, Applebloom arrived at the schoolyard with a shocked look on her face. Coming up the trail Applebloom thought she recognized her friend but she could have bet that it wasn't her.

"Ho-ly hay..." She whispered approaching her pegasus friend.

"How do you like my new mane-cut Applebloom? I'm a punk-rocker now!" She spouted with a nervous smile, hoping to recieve praise instead of dreaded judgement.

"It's...Something alright." Applebloom turned her head to look at it from a different angle.

"You don't like it?" She asked, panic spreading across her face.

"Oh no no no. Ah didn't say that, it's just...What was wrong with your old mane?" Applebloom pondered aloud.

"Well, it wasn't punk, and I happen to like this style better." She replied, trying to regain control of the situation in her mind.

"Ah think you're starting to take this punk thing a liiiiiitle too far Scoots," Applebloom protested, trying to get her friend to see the light. Scootaloo was about to snap back at her when Sweetie Belle approached the two from behind with a cheery grin.

"GOOD MORNING!" She belted at the two with an adorable voice crack, the white unicorn jumping off the ground for emphasis. The two unaware schoolfillies screeched in fright and jumped in opposite directions. Scootaloo ended up in a bush, while Applebloom had ended up hugging the trunk of the nearby tree.

"Why'd you girls freak out like that?" Sweetie asked innocently, throwing them a big smile. Scootaloo groaned and climbed out of the bush gingerly, making sure her hair was still in place. Not noticing Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle tried to pry Applebloom off of the tree, asking her, "What where you two doing outside of the School? Class is starting in five minutes!" Applebloom finally released her grasp and pointed at Scootaloo, who was approaching the tree. Sweetie Belle followed Applebloom's hoof until her jaw dropped.

"Oh my C..." Applebloom bumped her foreleg, "Uhhh...I really like your mane?" She grinned sheepishly. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You said that about Smartypants, too." She pronounced, deflating and stepping away from her friends with a frown. She tensed a second later as a set of white forelegs wrapped around her neck and held onto her.

"Scootaloo, i'm not saying i don't like it, it looks...great, it's just that it's a little too..." She plans out her next words carefully. "Extreme for you?"

Applebloom shook her head in Scootaloo's direction followed by Scootaloo shaking Sweetie off of her back. She pouted and said, "You guys, why can't you grasp this? I want to be punk, I am a punk, it's who I am now. I'm going to do things because they're right to do, not because othe ponies want me to. I will do my hair this way to signify so. And if it takes being radical to get my point across, then that's what it will take."

Her friends stood there in a stunned silence, up to the point where Applebloom stepped forward to her new punk friend. She had determination smeared across her face, "Scootaloo...Snap out of it! You always do this, you see something that some other pony is doing and you tell Rainbow Dash about it, an' if she approves o' it, you copy it!" Applebloom growled, letting her feelings on the matter spill, trying only to talk some sense into her.

Now it was Scootaloo's turn to stand there, mouth agape. She thought what she was going to say through while Sweetie Belle backed away from her friends, not wanting to get sucked into the conflict. Scootaloo noticed her slinking into the background and dropped what she was thinking. Desperate for reassurance, she looked at Sweetie Belle with a strained look.

"Sweetie belle...That's not true right? ...Right?"

Sweetie Belle chuckled awkwardly, "Well...Ya see.." She was saved however by a reverbrating bell signifying that class was starting. The three forgot their squabbles for an instant and rushed to get into the schoolhouse. There, their teacher was closing the door again. This time Scootaloo shot through it before it had to be stopped by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo quickly glanced around the room at the class. Most looked up at her with amazement. Snips and Snails even clapped at her mane-cut with dumb bravado. Jaxx was back in class again and looked up to see the filly. He considered her for a second before giving an impressed look. Then he looked back down at the graffiti he was making into his desk.

She gracefully stumbled over to her seat by Jaxx, her blood pumping fast from all the attention she was getting. Not ten seconds after she had sat down, Cherilee had stopped talking to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle about punctuality and Scootaloo felt a piece of paper nudge her elbow. She looked up at the deliverer, right into those blood-red eyes. The last time she had seen them, they had been cold eyes, but now they seemed warm with a little bit of a glint to them. She looked away and blushed, hoping Cherilee didn't see them. Their teacher was busy readying the board with simple arithmetic and paid no attention to them. Scootaloo tentatively opened the note, feeling Jaxx look at her reaction. The note read:

"I really like the new look, wanna have lunch with me to talk about some things?"

Not wanting to show how giddy she was at the offer, she curtly nodded in his direction. Jaxx was satisfied with her answer and he looked back to his graffiti, finishing the anarachy symbol in black on his desk. Scootaloo didn't notice this however as she gleefullyyet silently squeed in her head. She wasn't sure why she was so excited about it but her head was light and her heart was thumping erratically. She turned her head to her other side to tell Applebloom the good news but stopped herself with her mouth open. She darted her eyes down, hoping Applebloom didn't see her.

She pretended she didn't notice Scootaloo, she later found, but she in fact did. She went through the rest of the few hours of school before lunch with a conflict in her head. She lost one of her friends, possibly two today. Her friends that made her who she was, over this fad. But she looked to the right however and something told her in her mind that something was happening, she couldn't put a hoof on the feeling but she liked it. So in a wash of emotions time flew between classes where she sat, un-moving, un-learning; only thinking. That is...Until the bell rang for lunch.