//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End 
// Story: Scootaloo's Choice 
// by Always 777 
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Scootaloo’s Choice
By Always 777
Prologue

Anypony who has ever ventured far enough out into the world will tell you the same thing.  The real adventure is in the journey, not the destination. The journey is where everything happens; the thrills, the chases, the beautiful moments, even the tragedies or the misfortunes. Many travelers will tell that they preferred the wandering, the exploring, the wilderness, the sleeping in tents, the meals by a campfire, and the time spent with friends over the few moments where all of that comes to an end simply to say that you reached your objective. This opinion is true to one little blank-flank pony. Her name is Scootaloo. Her story starts one fateful day in Equestria as the dawn reaches over the land.

Part One
The Beginning of the End

Scootaloo awoke in her box, after another night of sadness and nightmares. She turned her head and swept her mane from her eyes to see the sun daring to show her its light. She smiled. After all she had been through, the break of day always seemed to be able to return the grin to her filly face. She slinked out of her cardboard abode and stretched out her wings. They were sore. More sore than usual. She reached back and rubbed the scars under her left wing. She let out a sigh of relief upon remembering that nobody had noticed them yet, but she hated thinking about them. She trotted down to the river to clean the dirt off of her neck and shoulders. Her box was getting too small to accommodate her growing body. She sighed again, then glanced at her flank and thought of her friends.
When Scootaloo finished washing herself off, she started toward Ponyville to meet the cute mark crusaders for another day of fun and adventure. This made her put a skip in her step; they made life worth living.  She was hopping like Pinkie Pie across town saying good morning and waving to all the shopkeepers opening for the day until she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo pranced up to the front door and knocked. She paused and wondered why nobody had ever come to see her, or even asked where she lived. Applejack opened the door and the thought evaporated from her mind like water in a fire.
“Well howdy there Scootaloo!” Applejack said excitedly, tipping her hat.
“Hi, Applejack! Is your sister around?” Scootaloo replied.
“Uh, which one?” She said, looking confused.
“Applebloom, who else?”
“Oh I know sugarcube, I’m just playin’ with ya. I’ll go fetch that little filly.”
Scootaloo smiled at applejack’s playful and upbeat attitude after she shut the door. A few moments later, Applebloom lazily meandered out onto the front walk, rubbing her eyes.
“Are you alright, Applebloom?”
“Oh I’m just awful tuckered. You’ve been comin’ by earlier and earlier the past few weeks.”
Scootaloo waited a moment for her to ask why, but she didn’t. 
“Come on Scootaloo, let’s go get Sweetie Bell, assuming that she ain’t still asleep.”
“Heh, maybe her super special talent is sleeping!” Scootaloo said in an attempt to cheer her friend up. It didn’t work.
“Yeah and maybe yours is wakin’ people up.”
Scootaloo took a step back with a shocked expression on her face. Applebloom stopped, and looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry Scootaloo. I shouldn’t have snapped atcha. C’mon, lets go get Sweetie Bell.”
The two friends set their course for Rarity’s fashion boutique; Sweetie Bell had been staying with her sister for a few weeks. Things weren’t going so well with their parents. Applebloom warned Scootaloo not to ask about it. Upon arrival, Scootaloo wondered why nobody ever asked about her parents, as well as her place of living. A loud noise from within the building snapped her back to reality. Rarity pulled the door open with one hoof while the other wiped her face as she sniffled.
“He… Hello girls. What can I do for you?” She said with difficulty.
Applebloom didn’t consider that it wasn’t the best time for Rarity and went straight to her interests.
“Is Sweetie Bell here?” She asked.
“Yes.” Rarity replied with a deep sniffle. Scootaloo recognized the look in her eye. It was a look all to familiar to her. Before she could say anything, Rarity shut the door and Sweetie Bell emerged, looking far less than happy. Her stride was much more stomp than walk; and Scootaloo was concerned for her friend. She was about to ask if Sweetie Bell was okay, but she remembered that Applebloom had told her not to talk about it, as her discontent most likely involved her parents.
“Uh… So girls, um… what do you want to try today?” Scootaloo said in another attempt to bring her companion’s spirits up, but it resulted in failure.
“I would like to try having a normal family, that would be great!” said Sweetie Bell. Applebloom took a step forward.
“You want to have a normal family? Try livin’ with an antisocial stallion as strong as Hercules, a crazy old lady who can hardly remember her name, and a sister who does nothin’ but buck apples and talk about how great her friends are, always meetin’ Princess Celestia and havin’ great adventures!”
Scootaloo was hurt by her statement, and started to edge her way across the street. Sweetie Bell followed as she said:
“At least your family isn’t always fighting, or arguing over the dumbest little things all the time!” 
Applebloom followed across the street, and they continued walking into town, drawing a bit of a crowd with their argument. 
“Girls, can’t me just…” Scootaloo was cut off by Applebloom.
“No we can’t Scootaloo!” She turned back to Sweetie Bell and went on to say:
“Stop tryin' to make us feel bad for you, Sweetie Bell! Y’all are a bigger drama queen than your sister!” Some of the ponies in town gasped.
“You keep my sister out of this! It’s not like I’m talking about your sister, the apple-crazed farmer who can’t do anything except kick trees!” More ponies showed their shock, but not to their fight.
“Well at least she does something useful! Not just sittin’ in front of a bench makin’ clothes for ponies who can afford them!” Scootaloo was starting to feel weight in her eyes; her words were choked as she tried in futility to break up the fight. Colgate approached Applebloom from behind to warn her of something, but she ignored her and continued yelling.
“Hey, girls, now is not the time!” Yelled Octavia. The crowd of ponies, which had reached a considerable size, backed away from the crusaders, who didn’t heed Octavia’s warning. Scootaloo backed up slowly into a wall, feeling as if she were about to cry, she started to panic and breath heavier. Nurse Coldheart looked her in the face with a horrified expression, and pointed upwards. Scootaloo froze, and tilted her head back. A piece of the upper floor of Sugar Cube Corner had been damaged, and was falling off. She opened her eyes as wide as she could, and stopped breathing.
“Hey! Get out of the way!” Shouted Caramel, finally getting Applebloom and Sweetie Bell’s attention. They looked to see the wall, about to plummet and crush their friend, who was frozen in fear. Applebloom didn’t know what to do. She just opened her mouth in shock and put her hoof out toward Scootaloo. The wall slab creaked and cracked, inching out of place faster and faster. Scootaloo swallowed what she expected to be the last saliva she ever would, and took what she expected to be her final breath. A strange feeling came over her. A feeling of content, a strange sort of happiness. She had never had a family, a place to live, or wings that worked. But at least now she wouldn’t have to suffer any longer.
The slab of brick and mortar fell; she closed her eyes and prepared herself to die. The only words she could muster were:
“I’m so sorry.” 
Scootaloo felt a hard smack, as she had expected, but from the side. She tumbled to the ground with something on top of her; but it wasn’t nearly heavy enough to be the wall. Not to mention that she was still alive. She opened her eyes... it was Sweetie Bell. She had saved Scootaloo’s life. They were both in shock from what just transpired. They just looked into each other’s eyes, speechless. All of the ponies started stamping their hooves and cheering for the filly that had saved Scootaloo’s life. Sweetie Bell climbed off of her and helped her to her hooves. 
“Oh my… oh my god… you saved me Sweetie Bell, you saved my life! You reacted so fast, how did you do it?”
“I… I don’t know, it just sort of came to me, I had to do something to rescue you.”
“Mother of Celestia!” Applebloom chimed in. The other crusaders turned their attention to her. She pointed to Sweetie Bell’s backside. Scootaloo slowly put her attention to her friend’s flank, she froze with… what was it, excitement? Happiness? Fear? Anger? She didn’t know, all she could see was the yellow lightning bolt, which had appeared on Sweetie Bell’s side. She had gotten her cutie mark.