MLPU: The Amazing Spider-Mare

Scootaloo had just hung the picture she took of the debate team when a basketball appeared out of nowhere and collided with her head, sending her glasses off her face causing her vision to go blurry.  “Morning Babs,” she said sarcastically, as the darker orange mare walked by her, her friends Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon following close behind.

“Good morning Scoots,” Babs sneered.  Suddenly Babs lunged at Scootaloo making the smaller mare jump.  Scootaloo shook off her shock but said nothing as her tormentor and her cronies strode away, laughing amongst themselves.

Scootaloo let out a sigh and finished hanging up the rest of her pictures and closed the glass protecting the cork board inside.

Scootaloo slid the glass door of the display case shut.  Her reflection stared back at her from the mostly transparent surface.  She had a messy purple mane and an orange coat. On her face was perched a pair of glasses. She didn’t really like the glasses, but without them she could barely see her own hoof in front of her face. Around her neck hanged a camera, her most prized possession.

Her morning encounters with Babs Seed were, unfortunately, a ritual.  It had all started back in fifth grade.  Scootaloo had been the only foal in her class not to earn her cutie mark.  Babs Seed and her friends immediately took advantage of this and would constantly ridicule her, calling her a blank flank.

However, fate had decided to smile on Scootaloo and she eventually did earn her cutie mark, which was a small red scooter. At first, Scootaloo hoped that this would bring Babs’ bulling to an end, but, Babs just found some new way to torment her.

Scootaloo sighed and grabbed the small red scooter strapped to her backpack, unfolded it, the wheels gliding across the white and blue linoleum driven forward by her buzzing wings.

“Scootaloo!” a teacher shouted her name, just as she was getting up to speed. Scootaloo jumped off her scooter and lifted it off the ground.

“Um, yes sir?” she asked, hoping that she wasn’t in any kind of major trouble.

“You wanna keep those wheels?”  The older stallion asked, glancing down at the scooter.

Scootaloo looked down at the scooter. “Um, yes sir.” She answered as she walked by.

“Then keep em off the ground,” her teacher said sternly.

“You got it sir,” Scootaloo said as she rounded a corner.  She jumped back on her scooter as soon as the teacher was out of sight.

She made her way outside to the open courtyard where most of Ponyville High alumni went to eat lunch or catch up on homework.There wasn’t a whole lot to look at.  A grassy hill covered the far side, students spread out along its length studying or horsing around.  In front of the school was a concrete walkway that led to the eating area.  There were only about twenty tables outside, the main cafeteria being indoors.  However it seemed most people liked to eat outside and would sit on the ground and eat as opposed to just having an indoor meal.

As Scootaloo scanned the area her eyes fell on a yellowish-grey pegasus colt with a brown mane that was reading a text book and writing in a notebook.  He seemed oblivious to everything around him.

Scootaloo reached for the camera hanging around her neck, zooming in on the colts face for a better look.

Just a few quick shots…nothing else really all that interesting. She thought. A commotion on the other side of the courtyard however, caught her attention and she turned to look in the direction of the noise.

A crowd of students were bunched up in a circle, all focused on one of the tables. Scootaloo couldn’t see what was happening over the crowd, but she had a good guess that the center of attention was.

Scootaloo sighed and pushed her way through the growing crowd.  She felt anger well up inside of her at the sight in front of her.

“Come on Dinky, eat your sandwich,” Babs sneered as she shoved a smaller grey mare’s face into a plate of what looked like brown mush.

“Babs, let Dinky go,” Scootaloo demanded, doing her best to sound authoritative.  Everyone gathered around the spectacle turned to look at her.

“Hey Scoots,” Babs said regarding the smaller pony. “Take a picture,” Babs smiled, pointing at the camera Scootaloo had around her neck. The grey unicorn below struggled again, only to get her face shoved down again by Babs, who was still looking at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo looked at Dinky.  The grey mare looked like she was almost in tears from the humiliation.  Scootaloo felt her heart harden a little in anger at the sight of the innocent filly being humiliated in one of the worst ways imaginable.

“No Babs, just let her up,” Scootaloo once said in the commanding of a voice as she could manage.

“Just take the picture Scoots,” Babs persisted, smiling, her voice now impatient.

Scootaloo tersely shook her head. “No. Now please let her go,” Scootaloo hesitated, doubting her own sanity over what she was about to say next, “Barbra.”  Everyone went silent at Scootaloo’s words. In background, someone could be heard whispering “Oh she’s gonna get it now.”

Babs smile disappeared, morphing into a look of blazing fury. She shoved the grey unicorn onto the ground.  She then made her way towards Scootaloo who was trying to get around Babs to check if Dinky was okay.  Before Scootaloo could take three steps however, Babs swiped a forehoof at her, sending her sprawling to the ground.  Babs then gave her a sharp kick to the side, her face a boiling rage.

“You think you’re so funny Scoots?” Babs asked rhetorically.  “Come on make a joke.  Say something funny chicken!” She emphasized her shouts with a series of sharp kicks to Scootaloo’s side.

“Babs!” a voice shouted from the crowd.  Babs looked up and stopped kicking Scootaloo.

Scootaloo groaned and looked up. She was surprised to see that Babs’ expression suddenly changed to an almost frightened look. Scootaloo turned to see who had interrupted her beating.  It surprisingly turned out to be the Pegasus colt she had been watching before.

The unknown colt looked at Dinky and then Scootaloo, a disappointed look on his face.  “So, what did one of them say they wouldn’t do your homework for you?” he asked.  Babs was about to respond before the colt continued. “The same homework I showed you how to do last weekend, because your parents thought you needed a tutor?”

Babs shrugged and chuckled uneasily. “Um, well…”

The colt shook his head. “Babs, am I going to have to tell your parents again? I mean seriously?”

Babs bit her lip. “Um….no, no you don’t.” Scootaloo noticed that Babs’ cheeks were crimson with embarrassment.

“Then leave them alone and let’s get to class,” The colt said, his voice confident, a total opposite compared to his tiny frame. “And I mean everypony,” he continued turning to the crowd.  “Come on, shows over, nopony wants the principle right? Then we’re all going to have detention right?”  That last sentence seemed to do the trick, as the mob suddenly dispersed along with a grumbling Babs Seed, who shot Scootaloo a dirty look as if to say “This isn’t over.”

Once the group disappeared, the colt turned towards Scootaloo and Dinky and smiled sympathetically.

“You guys alright?” he asked, leaning down to pick up Scootaloo’s camera, handing it to her.

“Oh of course. Why do you ask?” Scootaloo asked a little sarcastically, as she took the camera from his and checked for any lasting damage.  The colt shrugged and rolled his eyes, turning to Dinky.

“What about you? You okay?” he asked helping the grey unicorn up.

“I’m okay, I guess,” Dinky said, sniffling as tears threatened to escape her eyes.

“Hey come on.  I’ll take you to get some hay fries after school,” He offered, smiling.  “Both of you,” he said looking to Scootaloo.

“Okay,” Dinky said timidly a small smile crossing her face.  “I have to go to Biology now, but can you meet me after school?”

“Sure thing,” he said, nodding at the unicorn.  “And you?” he turned towards Scootaloo, eyebrow raised.

“I’d love to, but I gotta help my aunt and uncle out with their little ones after school.  Uncle Carrot has trouble helping them with homework these days,” Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her neck out of relex.

Technically, that was true, but honestly Scootaloo mostly just didn’t want this guy asking her why she jumped in.  She herself wasn’t even sure of why she had gotten involved. She just did.

“You sure?” the colt asked.

“Well besides my own responsibilities, I’m not really supposed to go anywhere with strangers,” Scootaloo told him.

The colt’s eyes widened in realization.  “Oh sorry, I’m Featherweight,” he said introducing himself, laughing nervously at his mistake.  He held out a hoof to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo looked at the hoof cautiously.  This Featherweight seemed nice, but Scootaloo had had her share of false friends over the years. “And I’m Scootaloo.” she said simply, shaking his hoof after a brief hesitation.

Both of the Pegasi looked at Dinky expectantly.  Dinky looked back a little confused before a look of sudden realization crossed her face.  “Oh…uh, I’m Dinky.  Dinky Doo,” she finally replied, blushing slightly.

“Well it was really nice to meet you both.  Dinky, I’ll see you after class,” he said smiling at the unicorn.  “And I’ll see you around I guess,” he said, tipping his head at Scootaloo before he turned to go back to class.

Scootaloo was about to follow his example, but Dinky fidgeting in the corner of her eye caught her attention.  “You alright?” she asked, feeling rather concerned.

“Umm… Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you.  For stepping in when you did,” Dinky said nervously, biting her lip.

“Oh… uh sure, no problem. I’m sure anyone else would have done the same thing,” Scootaloo replied, modestly, smiling rather self-consciously.

“But they didn’t,” Dinky pointed out.  “They just watched and laughed,” she sighed, tears once more welling up in her eyes and threatening to stain her cheeks.  Scootaloo didn’t know what to say.

“Then you showed up.  I don’t know why Babs thinks you’re a chicken when you’re the only person around here willing to stand up to her alone,” Dinky finished, now smiling faintly.

Scootaloo’s smile faded at that last compliment.  “She calls me that because chickens don’t fly,” She said, as she hopped back on her scooter and rode away, not giving Dinky a chance to put the pieces together.