Chapter Two
Scootaloo's Human
Bart and Scootaloo raced towards Evergreen Terrace, for the entity of the race, Bart held the lead, Scootaloo knew that she had no hope of winning if she didn't know the way, but she kept that to herself, it was her own fault that she neglected to ask him directions to his house, she kept close behind to keep the thrill of the race alive. During the race, she had to ask what his house looked like, so she knew that she could speed ahead when it came into view.
As soon as they past the house belonging to the Simpsons's next door neighbours the Flanders's, Scootaloo picked up speed and sped past Bart straight for the front door of 742. Quickly braking as she came into the approach, the only thing Bart could do was watch in awe as she passed him.
“Ha! I win!” cheered Scootaloo in victory.
“You cheated!” Bart shouted.
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-huh! You was behind me the entire race, how could you have gotten past me at the last minute?” Bart commented.
“Hey, I didn't know the way here, you never told me!” Scootaloo replied.
Bart couldn't argue with that, she was right. He was outsmarted, and by a magical talking pony of all things. Sure, he's used to being outsmarted, his sister, Lisa, and even his youngest sister, Maggie has outsmarted him a couple of times.
“...D'oh!” Bart grunted annoyingly.
Scootaloo got off her scooter, and took off her helmet placing them near one of the windows.
“So, how are we sneak me inside” asks Scootaloo.
“That'll be easy, you can pretend to be a plush doll” responds Bart.
“What? I'm no toy” Scootaloo replies with disgust in her voice.
“I know, but that way, it'll be easy for me to explain to my parents if they ever spotted you. If you're a plush doll, I can explain that you're a gift for my kid sister, Maggie. She can't talk, so as long as only me and her are in the room, you're free to move around. In other times, you'd be best hiding in the closet or under my bed.” Bart explains.
“Okay. I suppose that makes sense” says Scootaloo “But what if I'm not quick enough to be able to hide?”
“Then stay still, and do nothing until they leave.” replies Bart.
“Stay still?” wonders Scootaloo.
“Yeah. I won't be able to hide you going up the stairs, so I'll have still have to explain where I got you. I kinda promised my mom that I'd spend a little more time with Maggie, since she's been following me around the house for a while for some reason. So, she'll praise me for quote-unquote buying her a toy to play with, you'd earn my brownie points for it and maybe I won't be in so much trouble for getting in detention with Principal Skinner. If you stay still, no one will question it and think you're a doll for Maggie that she just left in my room. That will mean though you'd probably be picked up and taken to Maggie's room, at which point, if you want, you can sneak back into mine. Our rooms are only across the hall from each other.” comments Bart.
“Okay, that sounds like a good plan, but what about my scooter and helmet, where can we hide those?” asks Scootaloo.
“Follow me,” Bart says as he picks up Scootaloo's scooter and helmet then walks around the back of the house with Scootaloo following close behind. “we can hide them in my treehouse”
“You have a treehouse?” asks Scootaloo.
“Yeah. Milhouse and I read comic books in there most of the time,” Bart says as he approached the tree and started climbing up the trunk, he puts the Scooter and helmet down in a corner then climbs back down. “It's barely ever used by anyone else. So they should be safe there.”
Scootaloo notes that the treehouse Bart has is significantly different from the one that she and her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle use back in Ponyville. Bart's treehouse was high up into the branches the tree, it was built out of wood, and never painted so it maintained the brown colouring, there was no door or any actual closable windows either. The Cutie Mark Crusader treehouse meanwhile is more structurally sound thanks to repairs that Apple Bloom made to the hut, it was painted and had a few windows with a skylight for a telescope poking out. The doorway to the clubhouse actually had a door in it, so the clubhouse had some degree of privacy. Scootaloo also noted that the entrances to their respective treehouses were also different, while the Crusader treehouse had a ramp leading up to the door so they could just walk, Bart's had a series of planks nailed into the trunk of the tree, he had to climb up them to get access to the treehouse. Scootaloo thought that she probably wouldn't be able to climb the steps like Bart did, and unless she asked him for a ramp up it, the only way in for her would be to fly, which she knew she couldn't do and the only pony she ever wanted to teach her, Rainbow Dash was stuck back in Ponyville.
“Okay, ready to go inside?” asks Bart.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, from here on, until we get to my room, I'm going to have to carry you. Just to keep cover.” says Bart.
“Um... Okay”
Bart kneels down to pick up Scootaloo, it's a little awkward for the two, but eventually, Bart opens the back door to the house and walks in.
In the kitchen was Bart's mother, Marge. Marge wore a light green strapless dress, with a pair of red sandals, and a red pearl necklace around her neck. Her blue hair was kept up into a beehive. Scootaloo took one look at Marge and was rather surprised by her appearance. She once heard from Sweetie Belle about the time that Rarity's mane was once unwillingly restyled into a beehive by a travelling show-mare named Trixie. Scootaloo was staying with Rarity and Sweetie Belle at Carousel Boutique for a sleepover when that happened, Rarity made them both Pinkie Promise not say a word to anypony about it ever again. Because of Rarity's reaction she was surprised to see that Marge had no problems with it and because she swore to Pinkie Promise she didn't even dare bother to think about saying something to Bart about it. She didn't to incur the wrath of Pinkie Pie.
Scootaloo instead turned to take a look at the surroundings, and it wasn't too different mostly, from her own house, or even the layouts that Sweet Apple Acres and Carousel Boutique had. There was an odd device in the middle of the room though, in front of a couch. Scootaloo wondered what it was and reminded herself to ask Bart about it later.
“Bart! You're home late, where were you?” asks Marge.
“Um... I sort of got held up in detention.” says Bart, nervously.
“That's the sixth time this month!” replies Marge unhappy with what she was just been told, but she quickly noted that Bart was holding something. “Bart, what's that?” pointing to Scootaloo.
“Oh this, it's a plush doll that I found on my way home from school. I thought it might be something that Maggie would like to play with...” Bart says slightly nervous.
“That's sweet that you thought of her Bart, but are you sure that it doesn't belong to someone already?” asks Marge.
“Yeah. I found it by a dumpster.” replies Bart, thinking quickly on the spot, Scootaloo caught note of what he said.
“Okay Bart. Maggie's playing with Lisa at the moment, so why don't you take that doll to the bathroom and give it a wash quickly before giving it to her?” responds Marge.
“Sure... Mom.” Bart says before darting up the stairs.
Once Bart reached his bedroom he released Scootaloo and allowed her to take a look around before dumping his backpack on his bed.
“What was that, a dumpster? Really?” asks Scootaloo with a slight disgust in her tone of voice.
“Hey, I had to think of something. She's right, I couldn't just take something that to give to Maggie. I did that once before, with a teddy bear that belonged to the Richest Guy in Town, lets just say that it didn't end well for us.” responds Bart
“What happened?” she questions.
“Well, when he found out that we had it, he stopped at nothing to get it back. At first it was a simple matter of bribes, heh, dad even wanted three Hawaiian islands, good ones, not the leper ones mind you, and a recording studio for a hamburger commercial. But Maggie cried so he allowed her to keep the bear, lets just say that Mr. Burns wasn't happy about that, so he cut off the Beer supply to the town and also bought out every TV station in town, replacing the programs with terribly scripted sitcoms that he himself wrote and acted in with his suck-up assistant, and then finally, he simply tried to fight Maggie for the bear directly and lost.” Bart said trying to keep a straight face.
“Huh? Why's that funny, how old is Maggie?” asks Scootaloo.
“She's only one year old.” Bart replies with a large grin.
Scootaloo bursts out laughing like crazy. “BWAHAHAH! He lost to a one year old kid?! Hahaha. That's funnier than some of the pranks that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pull sometimes! Hahah. How old was this guy, who couldn't even beat Maggie?” she asks, still laughing.
“No one knows actually, it's ranged from eighty one to a hundred and four. One things clear though, he's been known to not have the strength to crush a paper cup. Some people refer to him as 'Skeletor' because of it.” says Bart.
That set Scootaloo off again. True, Mr. Burns is widely known for his incredible lack of strength, but somehow he can summon enough to do basic tasks when needed.
After calming down, Scootaloo observes Bart's room, noticing that there are plenty of posters and action figurines all of the same character, a man with a white coloured face, a large red nose, and pointed green hair, a purple shirt, and green trousers. The layout and content of Bart's room, reminded Scootaloo a lot of her own bedroom back in Ponyville regarding her decorations and posters of the Wonderbolts and a couple of Rainbow Dash.
For Bart, he knew that he couldn't avoid it. He had somehow found a talking pony, it was clear to him that she was from another dimension or something, he's read plenty of comic books to know how things like that can happen. Though his favourite fictional event to happen would be to be caught in a nuclear explosion and gain super powers similar to Radioactive Man, his favourite comic book series. He felt that maybe he should just challenge Scootaloo on how she came to Springfield.
“So uh, Scootaloo, I know I said that I'd help you out, but there's just one thing I need to know...” says Bart, nervously. Unsure on how to exactly ask her. It might be a touchy subject for her, since she's in a foreign world. Even if she does seem rather chipper for someone in a strange world. “How exactly did you end up in Springfield?”
“Well... you see... me and my friends were taking a break from working on our usual crusade to find our Cutie Marks.” replies Scootaloo
“A what-ie Mark?” asks Bart
“Cutie Mark” Scootaloo responds. “They're a mark that we earn when we discover our special talent. I don't have mine yet, but neither do my friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. We formed a group, 'The Cutie Mark Crusaders' we're on a crusade, a mission to find what ours are together. How could you not know that?” she asks.
“Well...” Bart says pausing. Unsure on what to make to make of what he was just told. The only “marks” he's heard of someone earning are tattoos, and he knows all too well how someone gets one of those, his mother too, since she had to pay a large amount of the families Christmas money to get the one Bart wanted removed. At least that Christmas didn't turn out too bad with Santa's Little Helper jumping into his fathers arms. He finished “...we don't have those here” there was a chance that these so-called “Cutie Marks” and tattoos could be two different things.
“You don't have Cutie Marks?” she asks.
“Nope.” he says.
“No cutie marks? Does that mean that I can't get mine while I'm here?” she says worried.
“The hell do I know. I can only say that you might. It's worth a shot if you get the chance, I suppose” Bart says, trying to ease her worry, which seems to have worked since her attitude changes instantly. “So carry on, you were with your friends and then what happened?”
“Me and Sweetie Belle decided to work on our flying and magic. I'm a Pegasus who can't fly yet, even when all the other foals in my class can. I get teased quite a lot for it.” says Scootaloo with a depressed tone.
“And what about your friend, Sweetie Belle?”
“She's kind of the same as me, except with her Magic, she's a unicorn who can't use magic.” she replies with the same depressed tone.
“Unicorns, oh geez” Bart thought “Lisa would have a field day with Scootaloo's friends. Then again, she'd have a field day with Scootaloo anyway”
“And your other friend, Apple Bloom, there's nothing holding her back?” Bart wonders.
“Compared to me and Sweetie Belle, no. She has her own problems to deal with being an Earth Pony working on the farm. But she doesn't get bullied like me and Sweetie Belle do.”
“Why is that?” asks Bart.
“Each race of pony has set definitions in society. The Unicorns use Magic, and the Pegasi fly, neither of which Sweetie Belle and I can do. The Earth Ponies grow and harvest the food, which is quite easy for Apple Bloom.” says Scootaloo. “Anyway, to practice both Flying and Magic at the same time, it would work that I would climb a tree and then jump out, trying to fly, if that were to fail, then Sweetie Belle would try to catch me with her magic.”
“And that didn't work out too well I assume” says Bart.
“Duh. While Sweetie Belle did manage to catch me, she lost control and must have accidentally teleported me here.” she says.
“Oh.” says Bart flatly. “Well... then, there's nothing I can do to help you out.” says Bart
“What do you mean, nothing you can do? You said you would help me!” says Scootaloo loudly.
“Keep your voice down!” says Bart “I said I'd help keeping you safe. I can't help you get home because there's no such thing as magic here. Unless you count card tricks.”
“Oh.” Says Scootaloo, apologetically “Sorry.”
“Don't worry.” Bart responds. “So, all I can say is that you'll have to wait until someone realises where you are.”
“That shouldn't take long!” Scootaloo says excitedly. “Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle have probably already gone to Twilight, who's probably looking up spells in her stupid library, trying to find me”
“Well. Until then you're welcome in my room. Just don't mess anything up” Bart replies.