It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #55 · 5:29pm Apr 6th, 2022
Some weeks, I have this planned out well in advance and specific choices I want to show off. Other weeks are like this one where I sit down, look at my prepared backlog, and throw it all out because I feel like featuring Scootaloo because damn it I can do that if I feel like it.
And I feel like it.
The more serious of the two is The Dream World Record by Impossible Numbers.
Originally spawned from the always-awesome Flashfic 150 contest (this month featuring the fifth anniversary prompt of "The Haunting",) the tale is narrated by an unseen storyteller speaking to their audience. Telling them of the legend of the pony they called Scootaloo.
A pegasus unable to fly, she instead took to her scooter like a demon. And she aimed to prove that she was just as good as one who could fly: she set out to be the first pony to circumnavigate the globe, and she was doing to do it by scooter.
But as things work out, that's not where her legend took her. No, the legend then talks about her second goal - circumnavigating the dream world. Setting out on a scooter into ride through every dream, every imagining. Cross all of them and then come back out the other side. To create what would become known as the Scootaloo Track - the rainbow road across the dreamscape.
For starters, I just absolutely love this story's style. It oozes panache and leans heavily into the storyteller legend vibe it's going for. I mean, look at this:
Imagine the whole town watching, breath bated, eyes on the mane cut with buzz-saws and the wings too small to hold her sheer will. Too small to tear off in the wind, too. Never judge a pegasus by her wings: always look for the grit in her teeth.
The whole story's full of that vibe and it's what really makes it sing.
Of course, the topic's great, too. Seeing Scoots go out there and be capital-A Awesome and living in legend afterwards is just damn cool, and it's a blast of a read. I love it when a character gets their shining spotlight moment like this. Particularly when it's so unique and so her.
On the other side of the coin, we veer into more Scootaloo the racer. Though this time it's a bit more comedic.
We arrive with Scootaloo, Formula One Driver by SockPuppet.
Also part of a contest (well, 'contest' as Admiral Biscuit's is more a challenge than anything else), this one's a shorter and far more comedic story. The premise is simple: it's the Grand Prix de Monaco. Cross-dimensional travel is a thing, and there are three Equestrian rookies in the field - Scootaloo, Rumble and Wind Sprint. And Scoots is in third going into the final lap.
There's not a ton to say in this one, aside from that it's a hoot. SockPuppet's racing passion shines through to step it up a level as the race finishes and the interviews kick off - both talking about the race itself and of the debate in allowing pegasi to drive alongside humans. And the whole thing wraps up with a punchline that still makes me giggle like a maniac two and a half years later. It was funny when Sock first floated it in discord before writing the story and it's still funny now. I expect I will never get tired of it.
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Ha! Big thanks, appreciated.
Rereads fic
I made her #3 by accident, but I'm going to claim that was because the actual #3 is the only Australian on the grid and it was an allusion to Scootadad.
I put Scootaloo in Renault because the black-and-yellow track suits were snazzy as hell and would have looked awesome on her.
And the next year Renault rebranded as Alpine* with pink and light blue, looking like a V6 turbo baby shower.
RIP Scootaloo.
* "Al-peen," not "al-pine."