//------------------------------// // Chapters 1 & 2 // Story: Earning Your Wings // by nickyv917 //------------------------------// *dingaling* "Hey, Mr. Cake. What's up?", Scootaloo asked, as she took in a deep, sugary breath. "Oh, good afternoon, Scootaloo. What can I do for you today?", replied Mr. Cake. As Scootaloo browsed the Cakes' food gallery, nothing leaped out at her. She knew that she and her friends had a lot of fun planned, and she needed to be at her best. "I need something that'll give me tons of energy. Applebloom, Sweetie, and I have big plans for today. You got anything in mind?" "Mmmm.", Carrot pondered. "I have something that might be what you have in mind, but it'll be a totally new creation. You got some time to wait?" "Sure.", Scootaloo shrugged. "I'm not meeting up with them for a while. Take your time." "Great." Carrot turned to the kitchen and shouted toward the back, "Hey, Pinkie. Start preparing prototype #19. We're going full scale." After hearing a clearly audible "WOO-HOO", Mr. Cake stepped into the back to aid Pinkie with the new creation, leaving Scootaloo in the front room. She looked around the lobby at all the confectioneries lining the walls. Jars filled to the lid with jelly beans. Candy canes in the vase in the corner. Muffins and cookies on a nearby ledge. Gingerbread creations in a glass cabinet. Scootaloo licked her lips and got a mini-sugar rush. "Heh, no wonder Pinkie's so hyper.", Scootaloo muttered to herself. Suddenly, she heard a tiny giggle in the far corner of the room. The Cakes' baby girl, Pumpkin Cake was playing inside her little playpen. She was barely a month old, but she was already using her magic to stack a pile of lettered blocks. "So, you must be one of the new twins. Aren't you just the most adorable thing ever?", said Scootaloo, doing her best baby-talk, while ruffling Pumpkin's mane. "Hey, where's your little brot...". That's all Scootaloo could get out before she had to duck. Pumpkin's twin, Pound Cake was whizzing around the lobby. He wasn't flying that fast, but it looked like he was flying with almost no effort. At the sight of the Cakes' winged prodigy, Scootaloo's jaw dropped and heart sunk. "Are you kidding me? How can a baby already know how to fly, and I can't even stay airborne for more than three seconds?", Scootaloo thought. Her mind was racing at a million miles per minute. "What am I doing wrong?" "Am I ever going to figure out how to fly?" "If Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon find out about this, I'll never hear the end of it." But then, her mind focused. "This ends today." She confidently walked out the door, and headed for the outskirts of town. "OK, Scootaloo. Here it is. The quintuple-chocolate boysenberry-jelly filled ultra-donut!" Mr. Cake announced, coming out the kitchen. "Scootaloo?" Pinkie peered out of the kitchen, with her normally-poofy hair in a net, and asked "Where'd she go?" "I have no idea, I hope we didn't take too long.", he replied, while peering out the front door in search of the bronze filly. "Well, what do we do with this?", Carrot asked, looking at the delicious creation. Pinkie's eyes lit up and she quickly responded, "I'LL EAT IT!!!" Carrot mildly panicked. "Not after what happened with the prototype!" --- "So, have ya talked to Pipsqueak yet?", asked Apple Bloom, between sips of her milkshake. "Not yet, but the school ball isn't for another few weeks", replied Sweetie Belle. "I'll ask him soon." "You might wanna hurry. Word 'round the printin' press is that Silver Spoon's had her eye on him," warned Apple Bloom. Sweetie's eyes shot open. "Yea, I'll ask him tomorrow before school." From around the corner, the two fillies heard a buzzing sound. It sounded like Scootaloo on her scooter, except it sounded like she was straining to pull something. Sure enough, when Scoots turned the corner, she was towing a load of equipment stacked higher than her. Among the supplies were a couple of mattresses, climbing boots, a full-sized trapeze net, some trapeze swings, and a battle-ready, non-party-related, full-sized cannon, complete with several long fuses and a couple charges. Scootaloo drove up to the other Crusaders and parked her scooter next to her friends with a look of pride on her face. The others could tell she had something big planned, but judging by the equipment she was hauling, it wasn't going to be pretty. "I may regret asking this, but what's with all the firepower?" Sweetie asked with a clear sense of worry to her voice. She and the others had tried going extreme for their cutie marks in the past, and they never ended well. "Well, you girls know Blast Cap?", asked Scootaloo, excitedly. "I don't think so", replied Sweetie. "Is he that old, creepy guy with only one eye and the wooden leg?", pondered Apple Bloom. "That's him. He hooked me up with all of this great stuff." "Scootaloo, didya ever wonder why he's missin' them parts?" Scootaloo thought about it for a second, "I don't know, it never came up." "Can someone please tell me who this Blast Cap is? You know I hate being out of the loop like this", chimed in Sweetie Belle. "Applejack told me a lil' bit about him. He lives on the edge of the Everfree Forest, sellin' bootleg explosives." "And I think we'll need that kind of power for our next cutie mark attempt", Scootaloo said, trying to finish Apple Bloom's sentence. "Which is...", the two fillies said in unison. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, CIRCUS PERFORMERS", shouted Scoots. Normally, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would be more than ready to jump into whatever it took to get their cutie mark. But, if it meant looking like Blast Cap, it wasn't worth it. They're plenty of other safer ways to get their cutie mark. The only problem was telling Scootaloo that they didn't want to go. It's been a long time since Scootaloo had been this excited for a mission. "Gee, that sounds like... fun. But, I have to... um... WORK ON ZAP APPLES. Yea, I'm really close to getting my cutie mark for zap apples." "But, wasn't zap apple season was over a month ago?", inquired Scootaloo. "Ummmm, zap apples are magic. They don't go bad", Apple Bloom said. But, in her head, she was thinking, "PleasebelievemePleasebelievemePleasebelievemePleasebelieveme". "Fair enough", said Scootaloo. "If you're that close to your cutie mark, go for it." "Great, thanks, see ya later", Apple Bloom said quickly as she ran off. "Well, Sweetie, it's you and me, just like old times. You ready to get shot out of a cannon for your cutie mark?" "Um, actually, I'm going to be helping Rarity today", Sweetie stuttered out. "What're you two doing?", wondered Scootaloo. Sweetie thought, "OK, how did Apple Bloom do this?". "Um, we're collecting... zap... gems?" "Zap gems?", said Scootaloo with an air of skepticism. "Yea, zap gems. They're basically like regular gems, except if you aren't wearing plastic gloves, they'll zap you", said Sweetie, knowing she had successfully completed the stupidest lie ever. Scootaloo sighed, "Ok, Sweetie. Have fun with Rarity." "What?", said Sweetie, stunned that Scoots actually believed her. Not giving Scootaloo a chance to respond, Sweetie bolted before Scootaloo could tell her dumb that fib was. Knowing she was on her own, she scooted off to the Everfree Forest ready to earn her cutie mark.