Miss Mary

by Picardy Third

Miss Mary

Scootaloo secured her purple helmet to her scalp with a quick movement. The feeling of the padded interior becoming one with her scalp was a feeling the filly was now all too used to, and she liked it. Scootaloo sometimes thought that she spent more time in her helmet than out of it, and considering it has saved her from a concussion on dozens of occasions, she was grateful for it.
The pale orange filly ran her hoof along the padded red handles of her trusty scooter. The worn handles had permanent imprints from where her hooves gripped it every day. This purple scooter had been through a lot, but it could not fail Scootaloo now. This was sure to earn Scootaloo her cutie mark! This time, the Cutie Mark Crusaders would not fail.
In front of Scootaloo was a wooden ramp at least as tall as she was, if not a little taller. It wasn’t anything Scootaloo hadn’t jumped before; heck, she had done much more impressive things than this! Her cutie mark didn’t rely on flashy stunts, though, at least not this time. Scootaloo gave a preparatory push with a rear hoof, not allowing herself to actually be propelled forward. All preparations made, Scootaloo was ready.
“Ready, girls!?” Scootaloo shouted from her spot with a confident smile.
“Ready!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle replied together. Sweetie belle was behind her sister’s video camera set up on a small tripod, pointed right at the top of the wooden ramp. Apple Bloom held a clapboard in her teeth.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders movie makers!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom chorused. Apple Bloom transferred the clapboard to her hooves and lifted the top. “Rocky Road’s Daring Escape, scene 4, action!” Apple Bloom lowered the clapper and a loud crack filled the air. All at once, a small crowd of fillies that had gathered around the scene fell silent and watched intently.
Scootaloo licked her lips once and gave a mighty push. Her little wings roared to life and propelled her forward in the same way she had been doing for years now. The speed boost she gained from this skill she mastered had made her scooter riding unmatchable by any of her friends, even the pegasi.
The ramp approached quickly. Scootaloo bent her legs and squinted, keeping the wind from blinding her. Even through her helmet, she could feel the wind blowing her mane back. Her tail waved frantically in the gust created behind her. She hit the edge of the ramp a little harder than expected and time seemed to slow down as she rode it to the top.
Scootaloo graced the top of the wooden ramp and soared into the air. She beat her wings furiously to propel herself higher. Something was wrong, though. Her scooter was quickly turning at an odd angle. Scootaloo panicked and tried to correct it, but ended up overcompensating and sending the scooter flying out from underneath her body.
“Oh crud…” Scootaloo muttered as the ground approached and she noticed she was going much faster than she thought.
“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie belle cried out right before Scootaloo face-planted in the grass with a dull ‘thud.’ A much worse sound to hear was the sound of breaking glass that echoed through the playground, forcing every filly and colt to gasp and look up in fear.
Scootaloo lifted her head and spat out a mouthful of dirt. She began to frantically spit everywhere, trying to clear her mouth of the awful taste. Her body ached everywhere and she felt like all her knees and possibly her stomach was bleeding, though not unbearably so. With her tongue lolled out, Scootaloo looked up and felt all the blood rush from her face.
The nearest window had a nice, big hole freshly driven through it. Shards of razor-sharp glass laid around the scene and still on the window pane, threatening to cut up any foal fool enough to tread over it. To make matters worse, Scootaloo watched as Cheerilee looked through the hole in the window and directly at Scootaloo. To say she looked livid would be a gross understatement.
“Uh oh…” Scootaloo muttered with her tongue still out of her mouth. As Cheerilee left the window and most likely went on her way to the playground, Scootaloo heard the sound of her friends hoofsteps approaching her.
“Scootaloo! Are you alright?!” Sweetie Belle shouted as the two fillies quickly ran up to their friend. The rest of the class gathered around Scootaloo in a tightly-packed circle.
“I’m fine, girls,” Scootaloo said bitterly. She let the muscles in her neck go limp and allowed her face to fall into the grass again. Her muffled voice sounded through the dirt, “I’ve never screwed up a jump like that before…”
“Don’t worry yer head about it,” Apple Bloom commented. She patted Scootaloo’s flank, “Yer alright, that’s what matters.”
The fillies and colts all noticed Cheerilee come storming out of the building, right toward where Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were on the ground together. As the teacher’s name implied, her demeanor was usually one of light-hearted happiness. At this time however, light-hearted happiness was not the choice descriptor. The crowd quickly broke up and created a path to allow Cheerilee access to the three fillies.
“Well, at least yer alright now,” Apple Bloom whispered, “After Miss Cheerilee gets ya…”
“Don’t say that, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle scolded. Scootaloo lifted her head and immediately made eye contact with her quickly approaching teacher. The purple mare’s gaze caused Scootaloo to avert her gaze in shame.
“Scootaloo!” Cheerilee hollered crossly, still approaching the scene. Scootaloo winced and stood, dusting herself off. She accidentally brushed her hoof against a scrape on her stomach and muttered a painful grunt.
“Yer bleedin’!” Apple Bloom cried. She prodded Scootaloo’s leg where an open wound was oozing crimson blood.
“YOWCH!” Scootaloo cried, hopping away from Applebloom, “No, really?” she barked sarcastically, shooting a glare at her now smiling friend. Sweetie Belle was planted firmly in place, looking at Cheerilee as she approached.
“Scootaloo…” Cheerilee repeated as she arrived at the three fillies. “WHAT have I told you about riding your scooter at recess?”
“I could get hurt or hurt somepony else,” Scootaloo recited monotonously to the ground like she had already said this a thousand times.
“And I don’t even know how, but you’ve managed to send your scooter sailing through my window!” Cheerilee said, then looked up and noticed the wooden ramp. Cheerilee’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Sweetie Belle hid the camera behind her body before Cheerilee could see it. The magenta school teacher closed her eyes and turned angrily back to Scootaloo.
“When did you build a ramp?!” Cheerilee cried out in disbelief. Applebloom scooted over to cover up where a hammer and an assortment of nails still littered the ground. Cheerilee shook her head and looked at Scootaloo once again, who bit her lower lip in a pathetic attempt to soften the blow.
“Come with me, Scootaloo, we need to talk to the principal,” Cheerilee instructed, turning to open up a path for Scootaloo to follow into the school. Scootaloo looked forward and gulped at the prospect of having to talk to the principal again.
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee…” Scootaloo muttered. She got up and followed Cheerilee into the school. The onlookers wore looks of horror as they watched their classmate enter the schoolhouse with their teacher like a prisoner marching to the electric chair. When the pair had left, the foals save for Applebloom and Sweetie Belle went back to their recess activities.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged anxious looks and turned back to the ramp that still stood facing the school. In hindsight, building an incline that faced the schoolhouse probably wasn’t the best idea. Applebloom kicked the side of the ramp with a hoof, observing how sturdy it was with satisfaction.
Sweetie Belle opened up the camera and pressed play. She tapped Applebloom’s back and got her to look at the camera screen with her. The two fillies watched together as Scootaloo flew off the ramp, lost control of her scooter, and winced as Scootaloo got herself a nice helping of earth in her face.
“Wow, Scoots was going fast…” Sweetie Belle commented, rewinding the tape in order to watch it again.
“No kiddin’,” Apple Bloom added with a grimace present on her face.
“You think she’s going to be alright?” Sweetie Belle wondered. She closed the camera and looked up to see her least favorite ponies approaching her and Applebloom.
“Are you kidding?” came the snobby voice of Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon in tow behind her, Diamond Tiara flipped her mane happily and trotted very close to Sweetie Belle with a skip in her step, “Miss Penny is probably going to expel her. She deserves it too.”
“Shut it, Diamond Tiara, she will not!” Apple Bloom retorted, stepping between Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara in a defensive pose.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised if Scootaloo isn’t in school tomorrow,” the spoiled pink filly said with a little squint and smirk in Apple Bloom’s direction to help drive her point home.
“Miss Cheerilee is too nice to let them expel Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said hopefully. Diamond Tiara just gave a confident ‘hmph’ and walked away alongside Silver Spoon with her snout in the air. Applebloom gritted her teeth and growled in Diamond Tiara’s direction.
“At least I hope so…” Sweetie Belle muttered to Apple Bloom. Applebloom simmered down slightly and nodded.

“Do you realize what could have happened if Miss Cheerilee had class in session?” the principal, Penny, asked Scootaloo demandingly from behind her desk. The filly was seated across from the principal’s desk in an unattractive office chair. Scootaloo had bandages wrapped around all four of her knees and her stomach was wrapped. A bandage had also been applied to her face where she had scraped her chin. Shockingly, this wasn’t the highest amount of bandages Scootaloo has ever had on at one time.
“Yes, Miss Penny,” Scootaloo replied in the same hushed fashion that she had been using since she had entered the office. She swung her rear hooves back and forth and refused to look up.
“These windows are expensive, Scootaloo,” Penny continued. She crossed her forehooves and shook her head between every sentence, “It’s going to be difficult to replace.”
“I know…” Scootaloo answered, each additional detail about the seriousness of her situation feeling like an additional fifty-pound weight being put on her body, driving her farther into a pit of despair.
From behind Scootaloo, the office door opened and Cheerilee poked her head while holding a phone in her hoof, “Scootaloo, I can’t get ahold of your mother, is there another number I can use?”
“My mom’s not home,” Scootaloo informed the ponies softly, still maintaining her staring contest with the ground.
“Do you have her work number?” Cheerilee continued.
“Work number?” Scootaloo asked, looking up into Cheerilee’s eyes quizzically. Cheerilee looked at Penny with a perplexed expression. The principal looked at Scootaloo with worry and leaned forward into her desk.
“Where is your mother?” Penny asked, now confused. Scootaloo shifted uncomfortably in her chair. This was a question she didn’t want to answer.
“I dunno… she takes these trips sometimes. She says it’s for business,” Scootaloo said, resuming her fixed stare on a spot near the bottom of Principal Penny’s desk.
“And she leaves you home… alone?” Penny asked slowly.
“Yeah… why?” Scootaloo asked defensively. If it was one thing she wanted to avoid, it was her teachers having pity on her living situation.
Cheerilee and Penny exchanged looks of concern for a second, then Cheerilee walked out of the room and replaced the phone. From inside the office, Scootaloo and Penny could hear Cheerilee greeting a pony that had just walked near the office, “Good afternoon, Mr. Filthy… er, Mr. Rich!”
Penny sighed and placed a hoof against her forehead. Scootaloo gulped once and looked up at the principal hopefully. Though she was silent for a few seconds, the filly knew that the principal was mere seconds away from dishing out a punishment. Scootaloo waited another moment before looking up at Penny and asking bluntly, “Am I in trouble?”
“Scootaloo, how many times has Miss Cheerilee asked you to not use your scooter during recess?” Penny asked.
“Only a few…” Scootaloo said, not hesitating in looking right back down at the ground.
“And why does she keep asking you to do that?” Penny continued.
“Because I could hurt myself or somepony else,” Scootaloo replied automatically.
“And has this happened before?” Penny replied.
“No!” Scootaloo quickly replied, looking into Penny’s eyes. Penny gave her a skeptical look and Scootaloo backed down, “I may have run over Silver Spoon once… and once I kicked my scooter and it accidentally hit Snails… and one time Apple Bloom fell off while I was carrying her on my back and she got a bloody snout…” Scootaloo listed off, each one becoming quieter than the last.
“I can’t just keep letting you do this, Scootaloo,” the principal said, shaking her head.
“You’re not going to take my scooter, are you?!” Scootaloo suddenly exclaimed desperately, jumping forward and slamming her front hooves down on the desk. Penny jumped back in surprise, but quickly resumed her calm and shook her head with a sigh.
“Scootaloo, I…” Principal Penny began, but the door opened again and Cheerilee walked in with a little smile on her face.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Cheerilee said. She cleared her throat, “Penny, can I talk to you out here quickly?”
Penny seemed to have difficulty deciding. She asked, “Can it wait?”
“It’s fairly important,” Cheerilee said, with a reassuring nod. Penny smiled at Scootaloo and nodded to Cheerilee.
“I suppose,” Penny replied. “I’ll be right back, Scootaloo.”
The door closed and Scootaloo was alone in the office. Scootaloo’s heart was still beating heavily. Her nervousness didn’t stem from the fact that she was in trouble. Scootaloo was used to being in trouble, but this was trouble unlike she had ever been in before. She had never caused property damage before. That was a whole new problem in itself. What if Penny forced Scootaloo into hard labor in order to pay for the damages?! Could she do that? Scootaloo didn’t mean to hurt anypony. Accidents happen, right?
Scootaloo could hear Cheerilee and Penny talking to Filthy Rich outside the door, but their voices were too muffled and hushed to make out words. The only thing that caught the small filly’s attention was the fact that they seemed to drop her name every few seconds. Scootaloo sighed and sank low into the chair. The office smelled like paper and ink, which was a smell Scootaloo associated with being in trouble. Being in trouble was the only time the filly would ever come near this office. She ran her hoof along the leather padded arms of the chair. There was a small rip in the right arm that Scootaloo began toying with.
The minutes ticked by and Scootaloo began getting bored and anxious. She knew that at any moment the principal would come back in and tell Scootaloo that she was confiscating her scooter. It was hard enough convincing her mother to buy the first scooter, now she wouldn’t be able to ride it! Her whole world was falling apart…
Finally, the door opened and Penny walked in with Cheerilee and Filthy Rich. Principal Penny had a confident smile on her face the likes of which Scootaloo did not like in the slightest. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she had a feeling that she was not going to like what came next.
“Alright, Scootaloo, we have a deal for you,” Penny said, her voice a little lighter. Scootaloo felt a glimmer of hope ignite within her. Cheerilee entered the room now, her face also happier. Scootaloo quickly realized that the small office was quite crowded with four ponies inside it. Cheerilee gestured to Filthy Rich.
“You know Mr. Rich, right?” Cheerilee asked. Scootaloo nodded, remembering him from Family Appreciation Day. Being Diamond Tiara’s father definitely did not make Scootaloo excited to see this stallion.
“Mr. Rich’s great aunt lives here in Ponyville,” Cheerilee said. This fact took Scootaloo a bit off guard, but Cheerilee continued, “And she’s been very lonely lately. We think that we have a way for you to get out of this one.”
“Okay?” Scootaloo said, honestly believing that this was just a fancy way of giving her detention.
“You are to visit Mr. Rich’s aunt after school every day for two hours,” Cheerilee instructed. Scootaloo was surprised at this. It wasn’t detention, but it didn’t sound any better!
“Two hours?!” Scootaloo protested, Cheerilee continued.
“For one week,” the magenta teacher finished.
“A week?!” Scootaloo retorted.
“You can either do this, or we confiscate your scooter and you have detention for a month,” Penny quickly said with a smirk. Scootaloo frowned and quietly mulled over how unfair these conditions were. In all honesty, they were simply giving her no choice! Scootaloo would have made a scene about this, but at this point she just wanted the ordeal to be over with.
“Fine,” Scootaloo finally said grumpily. The three adult ponies exchanged victorious looks to each other, just driving a stake through Scootaloo’s already bad mood.
“I think you’ll like my great-aunt. She’s always happy to meet new ponies,” Filthy Rich told Scootaloo. It was the first time he had spoken since he had entered the office with the two mares. His snobby-sounding voice rang a familiar tune in Scootaloo’s head, one that reminded her of the repulsive Diamond Tiara. Scootaloo could tell he was lying through his teeth, but didn’t comment. She just crossed her hooves with a ‘humph’ and sank into the chair.
“Great!” Cheerilee said happily. Her happiness was not making Scootaloo feel any better, “Tomorrow after school, meet Mr. Rich here and he’ll take you over,” she told the filly.
“Whatever…” Scootaloo muttered. The three adult ponies put on triumphant smiles and Scootaloo just sunk deeper into her chair.

“Ya have ta do what?” Apple Bloom asked incredulously. The three friends were now nestled in their clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres. It had certainly seen better days, what with plans of their unfinished movie scattered about arbitrarily, creating a chaotic mess. Scootaloo had discarded all of her bandages, preferring to let her wounds heal on their own, and adding to the pile.
“I have to visit some stupid old mare every day after school for two hours,” Scootaloo repeated grumpily, sprawled out on the floor with her injured chin against the wooden planks. The sensation of the hard surface on her scab hurt a little, but Scootaloo disregarded it in favor of staying tough.
“How are we gonna finish our movie now??” Sweetie Belle demanded from her position lying on her back.
“Hey, don’t make this my fault!” Scootaloo shouted back with a pointing, accusatory hoof.
“Why? It’s your fault!” Sweetie Belle retorted as she rolled over on her stomach and stared daggers at Scootaloo, who returned the unpleasant gesture.
“Is not!” Scootaloo jumped to her feet.
“Is too!” Sweetie Belle did the same.
“Girls!” Apple Bloom butted in. The two ceased in their verbal battle and turned their angry eyes on Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom jumped back in surprise, but quickly regained her composure and continued to act as the peacemaker as she strolled over to a crudely cut-out window.
“We can still finish the movie! We’ll just need ta work harder!” Apple Bloom instructed. Scootaloo nodded and joined Apple Bloom at said window.
“She’s right, we can still do this!” Scootaloo agreed. Sweetie Belle huffed and looked away, still slightly peeved at Scootaloo hindering their progress. Regardless, she joined her two friends at the window.
“We don’t have to do the jump scene at school, we can do it after school,” Apple Bloom said with wild gesticulations, as if she were preaching to a church.
“That is, after Scootaloo gets done with old what’s-her-face,” Sweetie Belle pointed out with a little smile.
“Miss Mary,” Scootaloo muttered bitterly.
“Right!” Apple Bloom said quickly to avoid confrontation, “And we can set it up right here on Sweet Apple Acres.”
“And this time I can get Scootaloo’s makeup just right!” Sweetie Belle added with a wide smile toward Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked horrified.
“Yeah! Why, with this extra time after school, we can all do our movie makeup right!” Applebloom agreed with a wide smile. Scootaloo had heard enough of this nonsense.
“I’m not wearing makeup!” Scootaloo protested.
“Oh yes you are!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both said with an evil look in their eyes. Out of nowhere, the two fillies suddenly had makeup brushes and eyeliner wands in their hooves: deadly weapons ready for battle. The orange filly certainly felt like she was about to be assaulted with heavy weaponry.
Scootaloo paled as her friends suddenly pounced at her with their girly makeup. The three friends landed in a pile on the wooden floor. Scootaloo’s already aching body sent shockwaves of pain through her, but she was laughing too hard to care. For the rest of their time together, the three fillies were deadlocked in a makeup war that would certainly not end well for poor Scootaloo…

Scootaloo walked into her house and immediately went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and giggled at the sight in front of her. She had received weird looks on the way home, but she didn’t realize how ridiculous she really looked. Now that she finally saw herself, she wondered how in the world she got home without somepony stopping her and laughing at her.
Her short, purple mane was sticking up at odd angles in various places and looked absolutely ridiculous. The makeup used to paint her face had to, of course, be of the absolute darkest shades in the known universe. Somehow, a good amount of eyeliner had ended up painting dark lines across her flank, a couple of which loosely resembled a smiley face.
After showering and quickly messing her mane up to get its usual bouncy curl on top, Scootaloo walked back out into the lonely house and sat at the kitchen table. Her hooves drummed against the table in an odd, unskilled rhythmic pattern for a minute or two. After this, she rested the front of her body on the surface of the table, breathing a few times.
“Bored already…” Scootaloo vocalized her thoughts.
She looked up and noticed for the first time a rolled-up piece of paper on the table. Scootaloo smiled and dragged the parchment over to her. This little piece of paper was a common thing now. Whenever Scootaloo’s mother went off on her business trips, she would send letters home on occasion. Scootaloo’s mother, being an earth pony, could send letters with magic if she enlisted the help of a unicorn or dragon. As her mother pointed out often, it was a very effective and cost-efficient means of communication.
Scootaloo was always happy to hear from her mom, but at the same time she was afraid of opening the letter for two reasons. The first reason was that Miss Penny had told Scootaloo that her mother would hear about the incident with the scooter. While her mother usually didn’t care too much whenever Scootaloo got in trouble, that didn’t make telling her any more pleasant.
The second reason was that usually when a letter was sent, it meant that her mom had to stay longer than expected. This was almost always the case. Scootaloo wondered from time to time why her mother didn’t just say she would stay for a week instead of four days. Avoiding this always just gave the filly false hope.
With a sigh, Scootaloo opened the letter and a good amount of shining, golden bits rolled out of it and scattered on the table. Sending money was also common. Scootaloo smiled and began reading, hoping for the best.

Scootaloo –
Hope you’re doing fine at home. I sent some money for food and other necessities, not for new scooter wheels. I will get you your scooter wheels when I come home, don’t worry. Also, I heard from
Miss Penny yesterday about your little incident at the school. I really wish you would stop trying to do these impossible stunts on your scooter, it scares me. I will repay the school for the damages, but please don’t let anything like this happen again. I also need to tell you that my meeting’s been delayed until the weekend, so I will have to stay a few extra days. Hang on, I’ll be home soon!
Love, Mom

Scootaloo let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and wiped a hoof across her forehead. Her mom’s reaction had been good, and she got money! But… her mom was going to be gone even longer. Scootaloo expected this by now, but it didn’t make it any better.

Scootaloo was beside Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as they walked through the schoolhouse after school the next day. Scootaloo’s mind filled with dread the moment she approached the office and saw Filthy Rich standing outside it. When the stallion noticed Scootaloo, he smiled and waved warmly.
“Remember to come by the farm after yer done, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom reminded her friend before they parted.
“We can try the jump again!” Sweetie Belle added happily. After this comment, the orange filly waved one last time and watched her friends leave the school. Scootaloo sighed and turned to Filthy Rich, who smiled down at the filly kindly. He was not smug or stuck-up like his daughter, which was a relief. Unfortunately, the daughter in question was soon to follow Scootaloo down the hall.
“Daddy! Why is Scootaloo with you?” Diamond Tiara inquired with mock-sweetness as she approached the pair. Scootaloo was scowling at Diamond Tiara, a detail the father was not ignorant of. Rich knew of his daughter’s attitude to a point, but there was a lot that he didn’t hear about. He certainly didn’t know exactly how much Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle disliked his daughter.
“Now that’s no way to greet your friend,” Rich scolded lightly. Scootaloo couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the notion that the annoying pink filly could be considered her ‘friend.’ Diamond Tiara put on a fake smile and turned her attention to Scootaloo.
“Sorry, daddy,” she said, her voice simply oozing insincerity, “Hello Scootaloo. Have fun in the office yesterday?”
Scootaloo’s scowl deepened, if that was possible.
“We are just walking Scootaloo to Aunt Mary’s house,” Rich said to his daughter. At the mention of the name, Diamond Tiara’s overly happy demeanor vanished and was replaced with a horror-struck face reminding Scootaloo of a pony who had just seen death himself.
“Aunt Mary?” Tiara whined, “Do I have to go?”
“We’re not visiting her, darling, just Scootaloo,” he explained. Diamond Tiara’s smug smile returned with a vengeance. This didn’t make Scootaloo feel any better.
From the schoolhouse, Scootaloo followed beside Mr. Rich and his bratty daughter until they reached Ponyville’s town center. They walked right through town, past all the merchants (including Apple Bloom’s big sister at an apple stand), and down a street Scootaloo had never been on before. While entering the canopy-like trees of this street, Scootaloo got a good look and realized exactly why it was she had never been on this street.
This street was one of the oldest in Ponyville, and so were the ponies that lived on it. The houses looked raggedy and dilapidated, and the few ponies that Scootaloo saw around their yards looked similar. Since Scootaloo only had one grandmother who lived in Hoofington, she had no reason to visit the elderly ponies on this street.
The three ponies walked at a moderate pace along the right sidewalk. About halfway down the street, they passed a small single-story white house with a very old stallion sitting on the front porch. Scootaloo, though mostly remaining on the sidewalk, accidentally put a single hoof down in the grass of this pony’s yard.
“Hey! Get offa my lawn you ruffian!” the aged stallion barked with a wheezy, albeit terrifying voice. Scootaloo quickly hopped back on the sidewalk and walked closer to Filthy Rich, who gave her a quick comforting glance an ushered her to keep walking. Diamond Tiara giggled with mirth.
A short walk after this point, the trio reached a pale yellow house that looked ramshackle and overgrown with vines and weeds. A black wrought-iron fence surrounded the property with intricate designs and a fancy gate opening to a cracked sidewalk that led to an even more vine-covered front porch.
“I’ll just wait here, daddy,” Diamond Tiara said sweetly.
“If you want,” Mr. Rich replied before bending his head over to grasp the gate latch. With a quick movement of his jaw, Filthy Rich opened the gate, letting it swing open with a sickening creak. Scootaloo turned toward Diamond Tiara quickly and saw her smile evilly and wave goodbye. Scootaloo growled and turned around. She took a deep breath as they stepped forward and toward the house. Scootaloo felt as she walked up the wooden porch steps that the whole place was going to fall apart at any second. Rich stopped in front of the door and opened the screen, proceeding to knock three times on the door.
“Who is it?!” a crotchety old voice was heard from behind the door. Scootaloo decided that she already didn’t like this mare.
“It’s Filthy Rich!” he said with an unusual cheekiness to his voice. Scootaloo got even more nervous at this. If this mare intimidated even a grown stallion, then why in Equestria were they sending her in there?
The door opened and the oldest-looking pegasus Scootaloo had ever seen in her life, even compared to Granny Smith, came into view. The mare had a pale blue coat that was missing hair in a few areas, namely over her cutie mark, which depicted what appeared to be a few wisps of wind and some clouds. Her hair was pure white with no evidence of any former color. Her eyes were tired and her legs were obviously weak, as demonstrated by the way they shook. The wings folded along her sides looked like they hadn’t breathed the open air in decades.
“How are you today, Mary Lou?” Mr. Rich asked kindly.
“That’s Miss Mary Lou to you, Filthy,” Miss Mary retorted. Filthy Rich hid his displeasure at being called by only his first name. Instead of acknowledging it like he usually did, he went straight to business.
“Miss Mary, do you remember the filly I talked about yesterday?” Filthy asked as a parent would speak to their foal.
“I’m not crazy in the head, Filthy, I can remember just fine,” the old pony said gruffly.
Again, Filthy ignored her, “Well, this here is Scootaloo,” he took a step to the side and gestured toward the orange filly, “she’s going to be visiting you after school for the next week.”
“She?” the old mare asked doubtfully. She drew unnecessarily close to Scootaloo for inspection. Scootaloo took a step back in surprise as Miss Mary focused her eyes on Scootaloo’s face.
“You look like a little colt,” she barked. Scootaloo scowled and let out a little snort. Mary continued, “Where’s your hair, filly?”
“I like keeping it short,” Scootaloo replied flatly. Miss Mary shook her head disapprovingly.
“That’s no way for a little filly to look,” she said.
“Sorry,” Scootaloo muttered sarcastically.
“Watch your mouth.”
Oh yeah, this was going fantastic.
“Okay!” Filthy Rich cut in, “Well, I hope the two of you have fun!”
He stepped back and went down the porch steps. Scootaloo whipped around and gave Filthy Rich an imploring glance, hopeful of any escape out of there. For a split second, it almost seemed like Filthy Rich was trying to come up with some excuse to get Scootaloo out of there, but this was not the case.
“Now, be nice and get to know each other a bit,” Filthy Rich said to Scootaloo, “You’ll have fun, I promise!”
“But…!” Scootaloo protested.
“See you later, Scootaloo!” Filthy Rich called. He walked down the sidewalk and joined his daughter at the gate, who had not turned her attention away from Scootaloo the whole time. Her smile didn’t seem to have faded either.
Scootaloo glared at the stallion one last time before rejoining the old mare on the porch. She looked up at her new company and gave a little smile. The old mare coughed once and turned to walk into the house without giving Scootaloo any notice. Scootaloo had a slight hopefulness that Miss Mary would just forget that Scootaloo was there.
“Come in,” Mary said gruffly as she walked into her house.
No such luck. Scootaloo hung her head and walked slowly into the house, as if she were entering a prison. She followed Mary through the house. The entire house smelled of decay. The very walls seemed to be releasing the stench of age like a deadly gas. Scootaloo walked through slowly, paying little mind to the innumerable trinkets and curios that adorned the walls. There were pictures of a younger Miss Mary all over, most with other ponies that have most likely long since passed into the realm of memory.
The pictures certainly deceived the grumpy mare that was shakily walking in front of the filly, especially taking into account the difference in demeanor. The pictures of Miss Mary on the walls portrayed her as happy and carefree, while the Miss Mary here and now seemed quite the opposite. Scootaloo noticed a silver vase on a shelf that was right at her eye level. She took note of the way it reflected her face and moved on, following Mary Lou into the kitchen.
“I didn’t tell you to follow me into the kitchen,” Mary said grumpily. Scootaloo didn’t even attempt to guess how she was able to see that Scootaloo had entered the kitchen.
“Oh… sorry,” Scootaloo said half-heartedly, then turned and went back into the living room. She found a chair to sit in and plopped herself down in it. The cushion let out a puff of dust that flew into Scootaloo’s face and forced her to cough heavily and sneeze twice. Once she recovered from this fit, she tried to see what Mary was doing in the kitchen by craning her neck forward. From what she gathered, Mary was making tea silently.
Ugh… I hate tea… Scootaloo thought, though the filly decided that telling Miss Mary that would probably not be a good thing. Scootaloo’s wandering eyes were distracted once again by a trinket that was on a table beside the chair she was sitting in. It appeared to be a physics puzzle of some sort, as it had a lot of moving parts that were just begging to be set in motion.
From the kitchen, Scootaloo heard the loud whistle of a tea kettle. It made her ear twitch, but she blocked the annoying sound out of her head. Scootaloo scanned the living room a little more and took note of another thing: great, there’s no TV here…
Scootaloo let out a sigh and turned her attention back to the little physics puzzle on the table again. She slowly extended her hoof toward it and was about ready to set the device moving, when Miss Mary came out of the kitchen.
“Don’t you touch that!!” she barked, making Scootaloo jump in surprise and whip her head around. Scootaloo put on a huge fake smile and hid her hooves behind her back innocently. Mary scowled at the filly and walked forward with a tray and two cups of tea on her back.
“Don’t touch anything, you hear me?” Mary commanded. Scootaloo nodded fervently and sat straighter in the chair, as if her posture would make this situation better. Mary carefully transferred the tea tray from her back to a rather dull-looking coffee table and sat on an equally dusty and dilapidated couch.
The mare sat for a few seconds and didn’t say anything. Scootaloo looked back and forth with worry. Should she get up? Should she ask first? There seemed to be so many rules here that Scootaloo had never even thought of, let alone obeying. Miss Mary frowned again at Scootaloo and gestured to the tray.
“Well, come take a cup,” Mary said impatiently. Scootaloo didn’t argue. She quickly got up off the chair and got a cup of tea. Scootaloo then carefully sat back down in the chair, but not without Miss Mary saying warningly, “Don’t you spill a drop on that chair.”
“I won’t, don’t worry,” Scootaloo replied angrily.
“And watch your tone, young filly,” she said. Scootaloo ignored her and stared down at the dirty brown liquid in her cup with disgust. She bit her lip nervously and looked up again to watch as Mary took a sip of her own portion of the hot drink. The old mare let out a long breath of satisfaction and set the cup down on the tray again. She noticed that Scootaloo had yet to take a drink.
“Well, aren’t you going to drink your tea?” she asked Scootaloo impatiently.
“Oh, uh… sure,” Scootaloo said. She looked at the liquid again and gulped audibly. Well, here goes… Scootaloo thought. She slowly put the cup to her lips and took a sip. The herbal-tasting liquid mixed in her mouth and forced Scootaloo to scrunch up her face in displeasure. With a great heave, she forced herself to swallow and smack her tongue a few times.
“Mmm, good stuff,” Scootaloo managed to say through gritted teeth.
“If you don’t like it, just say so,” Miss Mary said flatly. Scootaloo sighed with relief.
“I’ve… never liked tea,” Scootaloo admitted.
“Bah! What kind of filly doesn’t like tea?” Mary said grumpily as she got up and swiped the cup out of Scootaloo’s hooves. Scootaloo looked down at her own legs and pouted a little. Yes, she had just gotten yelled at for not liking tea. Maybe she should’ve just stayed in detention.
“Now, tell me a bit about yourself,” Mary instructed as if she were a teacher giving a lecture. She set Scootaloo’s glass down on the tray with care and looked up at the filly. Scootaloo was particularly uncomfortable with the way the old mare looked at her, almost as if her face were pointing an accusatory hoof at her.
“Uh… my name’s Scootaloo,” she said, hoping that a simple name drop would be enough. Mary simply blinked once, apparently not having been satisfied with that answer, “I, uh… just started going to Miss Cheerilee’s elementary school last year.”
“Ah, Miss Cheerilee…” Mary commented with a bit of a lighter tone than before. Scootaloo began to think that the old mare would finally turn around and begin to be kinder now that they were in conversation. Her hopes were small, but she held tight to them.
“You know her?” Scootaloo asked hopefully, and a little intrigued.
“The poor, brave filly… forced to deal with children day in and day out,” Mary said with a scowl, waving her hoof as she spoke. Scootaloo sank into her chair a bit, but still felt that she could save this conversation.
“She likes us, though!” Scootaloo defended, “She said so herself!”
“Hmph,” Mary replied skeptically, reaching for her teacup again. Scootaloo was not pleased with how this was turning out. Mary stirred the liquid with the tip of her hoof for a second, then looked at the now silent filly for a second before instructing her: “Continue.”
“Oh… well, I, uh, like to ride my scooter!” Scootaloo said, hoping this would incite some interest. Surprisingly, it did. Mary stopped moving her cup on its way to her mouth and closed her lips. Her face moved in concentration, as if unsure of how to react to this new information.
“Scooter, huh?” Mary asked with an air of interest rather than disappointment or disapproval.
“Yeah, it’s a board with wheels and a handle,” Scootaloo explained.
“I know what a scooter is!” Mary replied roughly, seeming insulted. Scootaloo gulped at her mistake and stared at her hooves. It was downright impossible to say anything to this mare. Every single word out of Scootaloo’s mouth was wrong or undeserving of the mare’s precious time, it seemed.
“Oh, sorry,” Scootaloo said, “I, uh… can go really fast! I use my wings.”
Scootaloo hopped off the chair and flipped herself around, displaying her wings to the mare. She flapped them a few times, creating the familiar buzzing sound that emanated whenever she flapped them at a high speed as she usually did. She turned and looked at Mary’s face. The mare turned a critical eye to the wings and shook her head.
“You call those wings?” Mary asked, taking note of the tiny wings on Scootaloo’s back. Scootaloo stopped flapping slowly and dropped her head. For as long as Scootaloo had seen local pegasi fillies and colts learning to fly, Scootaloo had become resentful of her tiny wings. Outside of enhancing her scooter-riding ability, they usually proved to be useless in the filly’s eyes.
“Oh, yeah… they’re a little small,” Scootaloo said quietly, now a little hurt. Scootaloo had never expected the emotional trauma this visit would cause her. What was worse was how Mary seemingly took no notice of the pain that her words caused, instead sipping her tea casually.
“And you use them for the scooter?” Mary asked. Her tone in this sentence was lighter in comparison to her insult of the wings, but the filly didn’t take notice of this fact. Scootaloo didn’t like how Mary put special emphasis on calling her wings ‘them.’ It seemed to be a way to degrade the filly’s underdeveloped appendages even more.
“Yeah, I flap them and they make me go faster,” Scootaloo said softly. Thanks to Miss Mary’s harsh treatment, this was now felt like a useless talent to Scootaloo, as it had already sometimes felt.
“Interesting…” Miss Mary said, bringing her cup to her mouth and taking another sip. It was a cruel joke how the old mare seemed to suddenly have interest in this new bit of information, right after she got done insulting the very wings she was taking interest in. Scootaloo was already ready to go home, and they had barely even started.
The next two hours were the longest in Scootaloo’s life. Mary did not leave her couch for anything at all. Whenever Scootaloo suggested they go for a walk around the neighborhood or anything that involved leaving the room, the old mare would shoot down the idea and scold Scootaloo for being ‘stir-crazy.’
So, the old mare and Scootaloo sat and talked for the entirety of the two hours. This is a loose description of course, as the conversation was broken up between bouts of silence. Scootaloo avoided talking whenever possible, although she didn’t really have to try hard. Mary sat and drank her tea for the majority of the time, generally just ignoring Scootaloo’s presence. Scootaloo wasn’t complaining, but she had no idea how she would be able to go through an entire week of this.
Once the two hours’ time had passed, Scootaloo and Miss Mary exchanged a short, unemotional goodbye and regretful promise of return the next day. With her spirits at an all-time low, Scootaloo began walking back to her house alone. It was late afternoon now, and as the fall drew ever closer, so did sunset. Scootaloo had a good amount of walking ahead of her before she arrived, though. If she had thought to bring her scooter, the trip would have been no more than a few minutes.
Once Scootaloo reached the end of the old mare’s street that opened up to the main square, she happened upon Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle just outside of Carousel Boutique. The two fillies looked sad and angry about something or another, but Scootaloo didn’t care. If it was anypony she wanted to see at that very moment, it was Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
“Hey, girls!” Scootaloo called from a short distance away. The stationary pair’s faces brightened when they saw their friend approach. Scootaloo picked up her pace a little to avoid an awkward wait before they could talk at a reasonable level.
“We got kicked out of the boutique again.” Sweetie Belle informed Scootaloo with a little hint of irritation evident in her voice. It seemed that Sweetie Belle got booted from her sister’s boutique a lot. Apple Bloom never got kicked off the farm, but then again that was her home. Apple Bloom did have a history of being asked to leave the apple stand, though.
“That Rarity’s a piece o’ work,” Apple Bloom remarked. Scootaloo nodded in agreement. Sweetie Belle kicked a rock with her hoof and let out a little grunt. She turned and looked up at the purple-and-white boutique and sighed.
“I love my sister, but sometimes she can be frustrating…” Sweetie Bell e admitted. Frustrating seemed to be a bit of an understatement, Scootaloo thought.
“Try spending the afternoon with a grumpy old mare,” Scootaloo said irritably.
“Was it bad?” Applebloom asked cautiously. By some silent agreement, the three fillies began walking in the direction of Scootaloo’s house, if just to get away from the boutique where they were now banned for the day.
“Bad?! Bad is putting it lightly! That old mare’s got nothing good about her! She just sat there and insulted me for two hours!” Scootaloo shouted, attracting the attention of a few nearby ponies.
“Aw… I’m sorry, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle comforted.
“She called me a colt!” Scootaloo exclaimed with outrage.
“A colt?” Apple Bloom echoed with a similar emotion.
“And she made fun of my stupid wings!” Scootaloo said with a bite directed toward her small wings. Scootaloo looked at her wings as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both looked at each other nervously. Their friend didn’t get worked up over a lot of things, but her wings were definitely a soft spot. They had learned early on to never insult Scootaloo’s wings, or talk about them much for that matter.
“Ah’m really sorry, Scootaloo…” Apple Bloom said what Sweetie Belle had already.
“And the worst part is, I have to be there every day this week!” Scootaloo continued as if her friends weren’t even there and this was just her very own journal entry, “And the weekend, and some of next week too!”
“The weekend?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Did I stutter?” Scootaloo shot back.
“Scootaloo, c’mon now, we’re jus’ tryin’ ta make you feel better,” Apple Bloom said. At this point, Scootaloo’s house was only a short distance away.
“Guh!” Scootaloo grunted out, hanging her head, “I know, I’m sorry.”
“Is your mom home?” Sweetie Belle asked when the house came within a hundred feet of the three walking fillies. Scootaloo looked up and saw her house approaching. Again, Scootaloo felt her head droop a little.
“No,” she said.
“Ya wanna come over?” Apple Bloom asked, “Mah sister says yer always allowed inta our house.”
“Okay, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said without even considering, which cheered her up a bit, “I’ll come over.”
They began to walk past Scootaloo’s house when Scootaloo stopped suddenly and her head shot up. She smiled and ran back toward her house. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with questioning glances and then followed Scootaloo with their eyes as she ran toward her house.
“What is it, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I’ll be right there, just let me grab something!”

“Woohoo!!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shouted from their spot in the red wagon racing behind Scootaloo’s scooter. Scootaloo was propelling the three forward with her wings buzzing as they usually do, giving the three fillies speed they normally wouldn’t have been able to accomplish with leg power alone. The wind whipped back the part of her mane sticking out from the helmet, forcing it up and making permanent the curl that was already always there.
A few minutes of riding passed and the three were at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. The scooter and wagon barreled down the long pathway up to the house and upon arrival Scootaloo came to a screeching halt, making her friends lurch forward and nearly falling out of the red wagon. The dust cloud that was created cleared to reveal the orange-colored older sister of Apple Bloom just leaving their house. The mare seemed surprised to see the three fillies, but put on a smile regardless.
“Well hey there, girls!” Applejack greeted happily with a wave of her hoof. Apple Bloom wasted no time piping up with a request.
“Hey, sis! Can we go play in the clubhouse?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Aw, shoot Apple Bloom, ya know you don’t have ta ask me permission. Go have fun!” Applejack replied.
“Okay!” Applebloom returned excitedly. Scootaloo flared her small wings and prepared to take off, but Applejack stopped them.
“Hold on there, sugar!” Applejack yelled. Scootaloo’s scooter moved forward an inch and stopped. The three fillies listened as Applejack spoke, “Ah’m goin’ to the market ‘fore all the shops close up fer the night. Y’all be careful, now.”
“We will!” The three replied in perfect unison. Applejack then turned her attention to Scootaloo and used this opportunity to voice a concern that she had in the back of her head.
“Scootaloo, is yer mom home?” Applejack asked. Scootaloo looked down sadly and shook her head while Apple Bloom chimed in.
“Ah was just about ta ask if she could stay the night!” Apple Bloom said, obviously covering up the fact that she had forgotten to ask. Applejack, though concerned, simply resorted to doing the nicest possible thing and keeping an eye on Scootaloo in her mother’s absence.
“Shoot, stay a couple nights! We love havin’ ya over, Scoots,” Applejack said with a soft smile in Scootaloo’s direction.
“Thanks, Applejack,” Scootaloo replied happily, then she kicked her wings out once again and went flying off toward the clubhouse with her two friends in tow, leaving a concerned Applejack in yet another cloud of dust. As the fillies rode away, Scootaloo turned her head slightly to Apple Bloom in order to speak, while still keeping an eye on the path in front of them.
“I thought we were just gonna go play inside!”Scootaloo shouted over the wind.
“There’s still daylight! Ah wanna get another shot at that jump scene!” Apple Bloom shouted back.
“I have my sister’s camera, too!” Sweetie Belle added, holding up the black recording device as evidence.
“Let’s do it!” Scootaloo agreed, and the fillies sped off toward the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse as the sunset began to fall.

Scootaloo sat in class the next day with an ice pack attached firmly to her right foreleg. A whole new set of fresh cuts and scrapes adorned her small body, which did not go unnoticed by Miss Cheerilee. Near the beginning of the day, the magenta pony walked past Scootaloo and stopped to examine the new injuries. She looked her over quickly and shook her head, sighing.
“Scootaloo, just because you can’t do these dangerous stunts at school doesn’t mean you should go do them at home.” Cheerilee instructed with worry evident in her voice.
“Why?” Scootaloo asked uninterestedly.
“Because you’re going to hurt yourself!” Cheerilee replied, then looked at Scootaloo’s injuries again, “…worse than you already have.”
“Okay… sorry,” Scootaloo said quickly to end the conversation. Cheerilee snapped her mouth shut in frustration and continued walking to the front of the classroom again. Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sitting beside her with a shrug. They both shrugged back and smiled. Scootaloo returned the smile and even laughed a little.
At the end of the relatively uneventful day, Scootaloo bade farewell to her two friends and went directly on her way to Miss Mary’s home. Scootaloo thought ahead this time and brought her scooter along. The trip across town only took a few minutes this time, but Scootaloo realized that the faster she rode, the quicker she would have to be at Mary’s house.
With a sigh, Scootaloo reached Miss Mary’s street and sped down it. With the daunting idea of spending the next two hours cooped up in the old mare’s house, Scootaloo realized exactly how happy riding her scooter made her feel. The way her admittedly small wings pushed the air behind her and propelled her forward at unheard of speeds put a chill up her spine unparalleled to any other feeling.
When she was about half way down the street, she heard, “Hey! Slow down!” coming from the old stallion from the previous day on his porch. Scootaloo shot him a quick scowl and kept going without another thought. She reached Miss Mary’s house in no time and skidded to a halt in front of it, leaving four short black lines in the pavement behind her. Scootaloo hopped off the scooter and opened the latch to the gate. Unfortunately, Miss Mary was already on her porch, waiting.
“What is that?!” Scootaloo heard from ahead. It was Miss Mary, pointing a shaking, accusatory hoof in Scootaloo’s direction. Scootaloo checked herself for any possible injuries that would have attracted attention, but found no new ones. She then looked at her scooter and back up at the old mare with confusion.
“My… scooter?” Scootaloo asked.
“Get it off my property!” Mary demanded, “Now!”
“Wait, what?” Scootaloo asked, still a bit confused and a little insulted.
“Out!!!” Mary screamed.
“Okay, okay!” Scootaloo shouted back. Completely lost as to Miss Mary’s reasoning for purging the scooter from her yard, Scootaloo simply decided to take the road that would avoid confrontation. She took the scooter and set it down on the other side of the fence.
“That’ll do for now, but I don’t want to see that thing again,” Miss Mary growled.
“Whatever…” Scootaloo muttered as she walked slowly toward the house.
“And watch your manners, young lady,” Mary scolded. At this point, the last thought on Scootaloo’s mind was following orders from a mare who was forcing Scootaloo to hide away her passion.
“Yes, ma’am.” Scootaloo replied sarcastically.
Miss Mary grunted, “Foals these days…” she muttered. Scootaloo walked past her and into the house with a hung head. Miss Mary followed her and went straight to her spot on her living room couch. Once again, there was tea, which Scootaloo ignored. Mary picked up one of her cups and began to sip slowly. Scootaloo went to sit in her chair again, but Mary stopped her with a short sound.
Scootaloo stopped before hopping up to the chair and looked at the old mare. Mary set down her cup and looked at Scootaloo sternly. A few seconds of silence passed where it seemed that the old mare were looking over the filly in harsh judgment. Scootaloo became slightly nervous that Mary would remain locked in that position forever. Thinking on that, the filly realized that wouldn’t exactly be the worst outcome.
“I’d like you to clean my back room,” Mary said finally, her expression unchanging.
“Your… back room?” Scootaloo asked in mild disbelief.
“Yes. My back room. It’s been horribly messy for a long time and I haven’t been able to do a thing about it,” Mary said with little emotion.
Scootaloo groaned, “Fine. What do you want me to?”
Mary scowled at Scootaloo’s disrespectful tone, “Make it look nice, don’t break anything, and don’t start poking around!” Mary said accusingly. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and walked out of the living room. Across the hallway there was a door open. She entered this room and looked around. The room was messy, sure, but not too bad. The job wouldn’t be too difficult.
“This one here?” Scootaloo asked, poking her head out of the door. She was just able to make out Miss Mary’s body in the living room across.
“No, not that one!” Mary shouted back, “That room’s not dirty at all! Go down the hall!”
Not dirty, huh? Scootaloo said mentally, taking a last look at the disheveled room. Scootaloo went down the hall, passed the bathroom, and opened a door to the last room. The door swung halfway open and was stopped by… something. Scootaloo fought her way past the door and into the room, and upon taking one look at the room that lay before her, she lost all ability to conjure an emotion in response to the sight.
If anything in that room could have been messy, it was. There were piles of clothes everywhere, dresser drawers strewn about with various objects in them, cardboard boxes with old trinkets in them (some of which were ripped open and their contents spilled on the floor), and all sorts of items of every kind all over the floor.
“Well?” Mary called from her living room.
“It’s gonna take me all week to clean this!” Scootaloo complained. As the words left her mouth, she realized exactly what she had said. Realistically, if she could keep herself occupied with the task of cleaning, she could avoid the mare completely. It was perfect!
“Well then you best get started!” Mary shouted back. Scootaloo grinned and walked forward, stepping over the first few objects: an old stuffed bear, some socks, and a couple books. Scootaloo sighed and began sifting through the objects in the room with little discrimination.
She started off moving all the clothes into one big pile on one side of the room. That task in itself took a good twenty minutes. All books were moved to a different pile underneath the window on the far side of the room. Toys were made into another pile, and unidentifiable objects were put in a final pile. All the dresser drawers were stacked and moved out of the way for the time being. Once all this was completed, at least an hour and a half had passed, and Scootaloo had gotten thirsty.
“Hey, Miss Mary?” Scootaloo asked, entering the living room. Mary looked up from a set of socks she was crocheting.
“Hm?” She responded gruffly.
“Can I get a glass of water, please?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yes,” Miss Mary said. She put down her project and got up from the couch. She and Scootaloo moved to the kitchen and she got a glass from a cabinet. She opened the freezer and pulled out an ice tray, plopped in three cubes, and poured some water into the glass.
“Go ahead and finish this glass, then you can get back to work,” Mary said, leaving Scootaloo in the kitchen and returning to the living room to work on her crochet project. Scootaloo reveled in the not-so-horrible response from Miss Mary and began to drink her water. Once the glass was completed, Scootaloo went back through the house and into the back room, where her piles were laid out in front of her.
As she passed the book pile, she noticed something in the pile that caught her eye. There was a large, forest-green book that looked very old. The cover depicted a raised image of a daisy. Scootaloo knew what this was: a photo album. Perhaps it was a fascination with seeing Miss Mary at a time where she wasn’t so… well, old, but something drew Scootaloo to the album and she opened it.
The first thing that caught Scootaloo’s mind was that all the pictures seemed to be in black and white. Scootaloo stifled a laugh at a picture of Miss Mary and her family when she was a filly. They all wore ridiculous formal attire and looked completely stoic. Scootaloo turned the page and saw a few more old pictures of a much happier Miss Mary in her youth.
“What are you doing?” came Mary’s rough voice from the door way. Scootaloo turned with a start and looked up at the old mare shooting her an accusatory stare.
“Oh… s-sorry, I got curious,” Scootaloo said, standing up quickly.
“I told you not to go poking around! Now what were you looki - “ Mary stopped when she looked at the book. Mary quickly stepped down and swooped up the book, closing it firmly.
“Something wrong?” Scootaloo asked.
“Nothing. Get back to work,” Mary said, leaving the room with the book. Scootaloo watched as Mary walked out of the messy back room and presumably into her bedroom. The sound of a door closing roughly hit Scootaloo’s ears. The confused filly stared after her quizzically for a few moments and returned to the room, ready to continue with her cleaning.

“Then, she took the book back into her bedroom and I didn’t see her again until I left,” Scootaloo explained to Apple Bloom upon her return. The pair was sitting in the Apple Family dining room waiting for Applejack to bring out dinner. Being with her two friends was always nice, but Scootaloo was particularly enjoying this time spent at Sweet Apple Acres with Apple Bloom and her family.
“Well, if she was just hidin’ in her room like that, why didn’t ya just leave then?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo absorbed the question and felt silly for not having thought of that herself.
“That’s a good question…” Scootaloo said.
“Now Apple Bloom,” Applejack interjected while entering the dining room with a pair of steaming plates, “That would have been rude t’ ol’ Miss Mary. Scootaloo was right to stay.”
“Like she deserves any kindness,” Scootaloo muttered. A plate was set in front of her piled high with an assortment of steamed vegetables. The multitude of darkened colors and shades that adorned the place was unlike any dish her mother had ever served her. This was the kind of quality food Scootaloo had come to expect whenever she stayed at Apple Bloom’s.
“Ugh, sis! Why’d you have ta put spinach in here!” Apple Bloom whined upon seeing the food. Applejack just glared at her sister in response. Scootaloo had much different opinions. She stared over the plate with hungry eyes and her tongue hanging out.
“Scootaloo, ya always have t’ remember ta be nice, no matter what. It’ll get ya far someday.” Applejack lectured, choosing to ignore Apple Bloom’s distaste.
“Yeah, yeah…” Scootaloo said quickly, obviously not letting Applejack’s lesson sink in. She moved on to what was really on her mind quickly, “Wow, this food looks amazing!”
“Except fer the spinach…” Apple Bloom commented with disgust.
“Well, Ah’m glad you think so!” Applejack said happily, “Don’t yer mom ever make ya a fresh garden meal like this? We sell these same veggies down at the market.”
“Nah, we usually just have a pizza or something,” Scootaloo said, grabbing a spinach leaf with her teeth and gobbling it down hungrily. Apple Bloom stuck her tongue out and made retching sounds.
“You behave, young filly,” Applejack scolded her sister. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and began picking spinach leaves out of her meal. Applejack continued, “Well, tha’s too bad. Maybe she don’t know how ta cook. You tell yer mom t’ come by anytime and Ah’ll show her how ta make this right here.”
“That would be great!” Scootaloo replied with a mouth full.
“Chew and swallow first,” Applejack said sternly. Scootaloo swallowed the veggies and looked at Applejack sheepishly. Applebloom had her mouth full with a wad of lettuce and giggled lightly. Applejack shook her head and walked back into the kitchen, where she and Big Macintosh were eating and talking together.
“You know what I think?” Scootaloo said before taking another bite. Apple Bloom looked at her with interest and Scootaloo continued, “I think she’s hiding something in that book.”
“Like what?” Apple Bloom asked. What indeed. Scootaloo didn’t have the faintest idea why Mary would have been trying to hide the book away from her.
“I dunno… why else would she have reacted like that?” Scootaloo asked, voicing her one argument on the subject.
“Maybe she was just embarrassed?” Apple Bloom offered.
“I don’t know… something doesn’t smell right.”
“Aw… Ah thought ya liked mah cookin’,” Applejack interrupted again, suddenly appearing from the kitchen behind Scootaloo. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other for a second before bursting out laughing. Applejack smiled at her bit of humor and returned to the kitchen.
After dinner, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom went up to Apple Bloom’s room and leisurely passed the time until bed. Once that time came, the two fillies got situated in their respective beds: Apple Bloom in her own bed and Scootaloo in a makeshift bed on the floor.
“So, Sweetie Belle’s gonna be stayin’ with her sister this weekend,” Apple Bloom said while Scootaloo was getting ready for bed.
“Really? I’m sure Rarity’s happy about that,” Scootaloo commented sarcastically. Apple Bloom laughed and nodded.
“Ah was thinkin’ we could finish up our movie this weekend!” Apple Bloom said.
“Well, I gotta visit that old mare for two hours, but that won’t be a problem,” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah, you can just do that early an’ we’ll have the rest of the days to do whatever,” Apple Bloom replied.
“And I’ll be able to nail that jump!” Scootaloo said confidently.
“Yeah you will!” Apple Bloom replied enthusiastically.
“Girls!” Applejack’s voice echoed through the house. “Go ta bed!”
“Sorry, sis!” Apple Bloom shouted in reply. She giggled and turned back to her bed.
“Night, Scootaloo.”
“Goodnight, Apple Bloom.”

Scootaloo was back in Mary’s house on a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun was out and the birds chirped overhead. The weather ponies had been telling everypony that this weekend would be one to really get out and enjoy, and yet here Scootaloo was cleaning some old mare’s back room. The fact that one of the room’s windows constantly allowed golden rays of sunshine into the room didn’t make this any better.
Scootaloo had now put all of the books back on a shelf and was working on folding the clothes and putting them in the closet. She was only about half way through the shirts and was going crazy. She looked longingly up at the window and sighed.
I can’t be indoors like this for too much longer, I’ll lose my mind! Scootaloo thought. She looked toward the door and noted that Mary hadn’t checked on her in quite some time. Because of yesterday, Miss Mary had suddenly become less trusting in Scootaloo and had to come check on her every few minutes to make sure she wasn’t snooping around. She hadn’t heard Mary’s footsteps in awhile, though, so Scootaloo decided to take her water break now in order to check on everything.
Scootaloo walked out into the living room and saw that Mary was passed out on the couch. Well, first Scootaloo checked to make sure she was alive. When she was, in fact, breathing, Scootaloo sighed with relief and went into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She drank down the water quickly and even chanced taking yet another glass. When the second glass was finished, Scootaloo walked back into the living room and was startled when Miss Mary let out a loud snore.
Her heart rate now sky high, Scootaloo walked toward the hallway and paused when she passed Miss Mary’s bedroom. The green photo album was sitting in plain sight on her nightstand. What was it that Mary was hiding in that album, anyway? It couldn’t be that bad, right? Scootaloo took another look at the unconscious Miss Mary and decided that it couldn’t hurt to get another look.
Scootaloo cautiously entered the messy bedroom and sauntered up to the nightstand. Scootaloo dragged the book down onto the floor and opened it. She found the page she had last been on and turned it over. On the next page was a picture of an adult Miss Mary holding a pale green infant pegasus with a small, white mane.
Wonder whose baby that is, Scootaloo thought. Most of the pictures on the next page depicted that same infant with Mary eating, playing, and doing other things that baby fillies did. The pegasus foal was adorable and appeared to be an energetic little filly, oftentimes smiling jovially as she apparently flew around Miss Mary’s head.
Is it hers? Scootaloo asked herself. She got through some pages of pictures and saw that after a certain point, pictures of the filly stopped and there were no more. When Scootaloo noticed this, she got confused. A few pages later, and the pictures stopped entirely, leaving a good twenty more empty pages in the thick photo album.
“I told you to keep your nose out of my business.”
Scootaloo gasped and whipped around. Miss Mary was standing behind her, shaking mad. Scootaloo looked down and closed the book slowly, then picked it up and handed it to her. Mary took the album and set it down on the nightstand.
“Get out of my house.” Mary instructed, “Now.”
“But, I-“
“I said get out,” Mary said, raising her voice a little.
“Miss Mary, I’m sorry, I won’t-“
“GET! OUT!” Mary hollered, “NOW!”
Scootaloo looked up in fear and then ran. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her from the house and down the street. She stayed on the sidewalk the entire time, galloping as fast as the wind. She accidentally stepped on the grass of that old stallion’s lawn and received a yell from him, but ignored him and continued running.
Scootaloo stopped when she reached the end of the street and stifled a sob, then she ran through town toward Sweet Apple Acres. Ponies looked at her with concern when she passed them, but she didn’t care. Right now, she just wanted to be with her friends, and nopony was going to stop her. Nopony, that is, except for a mare that Scootaloo didn’t see in front of her as she ran.
WHAM!
Scootaloo ran headfirst into somepony, knocking both of them over. Groceries spilled everywhere and Scootaloo felt a nice new scrape form on her flank. Scootaloo collected herself and looked up with horror and gasped.
“Miss Cheerilee! I’m so sorry!”
Sure enough, the magenta mare that was Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle’s school teacher was now lying in a heap of spilled groceries in front of Scootaloo. The teacher lifted her head up to see Scootaloo and sighed with a little smile.
“It’s quite alright, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said when she was able to pick herself back up. She began collecting her groceries when she noticed that Scootaloo was crying.
“Scootaloo! Are you alright?” Cheerilee asked.
“Oh? Me? I’m… I’m fine,” Scootaloo said, sniffing once and wiping a tear out of her eye.
“What’s wrong, Scootaloo?” Cheerilee asked, bending down to be eye level with the filly.
“It’s that stupid Miss Mary!” Scootaloo cried out. Cheerilee recoiled at the sudden burst of noise and glanced around cautiously. “She’s a horrible mare!”
“Now, Scootaloo, you shouldn’t say things like that!” Cheerilee scolded lightly.
“I don’t care anymore! Give me detention and take my scooter, I…” Scootaloo stopped and reconsidered, “Well, don’t take my scooter, please. I just don’t wanna have to go back there.”
“Scootaloo, what happened?” Cheerilee asked softly.
“I was cleaning her house like she asked me to and I found this old picture album,” Scootaloo explained quickly, “She put it in her room and I went in there and started looking at it while she was sleeping, and she kicked me out!”
“Is that all? Scootaloo…”
“That’s not all! She’s constantly insulting me and bossing me around! I hate her!” Scootaloo shouted, causing a new wave of tears to begin falling.
“That’s enough, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee stopped her. Scootaloo breathed heavily and looked up at Cheerilee’s stern face. The older mare softened and sighed down at Scootaloo. The filly was worked up unlike Cheerliee had ever seen her before. Cheerilee had her doubts about whether telling Scootaloo to visit Mary was really such a good idea, but kept to her instincts and decided to instead try to salvage the situation as was possible.
“Scootaloo, I want you to go back there tonight and apologize. If she doesn’t get any better, you can come talk to me and we’ll think of something else,” Cheerilee said.
“But-!”
“No buts!” Cheerilee said, “I want you to do this, and do it soon.”
“Okay, Miss Cheerilee,” Scootaloo said, defeated.
“Everything will be okay, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said comfortingly, “Just promise me you’ll try your best to make things better. I’ll see you in class on Monday, okay?”
“Okay, Miss Cheerilee,” Scootaloo replied. Cheerilee smiled and walked away with her groceries. Scootaloo groaned and turned to look down the street she had just come down. She slowly turned around and began walking through the market once again, returning to Miss Mary’s house to try to make things better.
For some reason, the absence of her scooter just made everything worse. Scootaloo felt more complete while she was riding it. Admittedly, it was just a wooden board with four wheels, but somehow it acted as an agent to allow Scootaloo’s mind to be eased. Without it, she just became more nervous.
A few minutes of slow, tedious walking later, Scootaloo was in front of Miss Mary’s front gate once again. Scootaloo felt a sinking pit in her stomach as she opened the latch and let the creaky gate swing open. It was as if she were a prisoner walking to the electric chair, ready to accept her own demise. Scootaloo swallowed hard before knocking three times on the wooden door.
A few muffled noises of shuffling hooves were heard behind the door and moments later it opened to reveal the old mare whom Scootaloo had resentfully spent the last few days with. Upon seeing Scootaloo, her eyes instantly narrowed and she glared.
“What do you want?” She asked bitterly.
“I’m sorry I went through your album, Miss Mary,” Scootaloo said, “I won’t do it again.”
“You’re right you won’t,” Mary said sternly. Mary seemed to mull something over in her head, then got out of the doorway, “Come on in.”
Scootaloo felt a mix of emotions as she re-entered the house. Yes, she was happy that Miss Mary had accepted her apology… sort of. She was also a little upset that she basically just committed herself to staying with the old mare for the rest of the week. Scootaloo heard Miss Mary sniff behind her. As Scootaloo entered the house, she saw the photo album lying open on the coffee table. Scootaloo put two and two together quite quickly.
“Are you… crying, Miss Mary?” Scootaloo asked hesitantly.
“N-no! No, I’m fine,” Miss Mary quickly said. Scootaloo felt the irony in the fact that she had just used the same response with Cheerilee. Mary walked over to her couch and closed the photo album slowly, not looking at any of the pictures inside. Scootaloo couldn’t help but see a few tears fall and land on the wooden table. She contemplated slipping into the back room and leaving the old mare alone, but what Miss Cheerilee said echoed inside her.
“Promise me you’ll try your best to make things better”
Scootaloo walked over to the couch and sat beside the mare. To Scootaloo’s surprise, Miss Mary didn’t move or object. The filly expected to be shooed to the other room or told not to sit on the couch, but no such commands were issued. Mary just stared at the album. There was definitely something to this photo album, something that Scootaloo felt meant much more than she could have ever anticipated.
“You wanna talk about it?” Scootaloo asked cautiously. She didn’t know what she was doing, or whether she was helping at all. Scootaloo had never been good at comforting other ponies. She just went with the flow and hoped that everything worked out in the end.
“No, it’s quite alright, please go back to cleaning the back room,” Mary said, then pointed at the hallway. The almost kind-sounding reply was such a contrast that Scootaloo felt the need to press on.
“Mary, please,” Scootaloo said, “I know I may not be grown up, but I am a good listener.”
Mary looked at Scootaloo, as if contemplating, then opened the photo album a few pages in: to the first page that featured the pale green baby filly. Scootaloo took a good look at some of these pictures again then looked back at Mary, ready for an explanation.
“Her name was… Daisy Dash,” Mary said, “She was my daughter.”
“She’s adorable,” Scootaloo commented.
“She was beautiful,” Mary said, “She was my little blooming flower, eager to take on the world.”
Miss Mary turned the page and revealed the next group of pictures. “She was everything I ever wanted in a child… strong, energetic, kind… just perfect. As a single mother, she was the best child I could have asked for to raise.”
Miss Mary heaved a great sigh and her tone changed ever so slightly, to one that was darker and almost hesitant to continue.
“But… when she was only nine years old…” Mary gulped and turned the page. There were a few pictures of the filly on this page, now about as old as Scootaloo was now. Mary sniffed and continued, “She became very sick. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with her and she just kept getting worse.”
Scootaloo looked at the filly on the page, getting a little sick to the stomach, “Only one week before her tenth birthday… she died,” Mary let out a shaky sigh and looked down sadly. Scootaloo looked at her with a horrified expression, “She was so young…”
“I’m so sorry… I had no idea,” Scootaloo said quietly. Miss Mary ran a hoof across the page, over the picture. When she lifted it up, Scootaloo noticed what she hadn’t before: it was a picture of Miss Mary beside her daughter in a hospital. Daisy Dash’s mane was messy and thin and her eyes looked tired. Any normal glance at the picture would have thought that the filly had just been to the hospital for any normal reason.
“You… remind me of her, Scootaloo,” Mary said. It was the first time Mary had ever use Scootaloo’s name. This was a step forward, certainly.
“I do?” Scootaloo asked humbly.
“Mmhmm,” Mary said. She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry… I haven’t looked at these pictures in years. It’s been so long…”
“It’s okay, Miss Mary. I won’t leave,” Scootaloo said. The filly placed a hoof over the old mare’s in a comforting gesture. Mary’s eyes lit up and she turned to give Scootaloo a somewhat surprised look, as if she didn’t expect Scootaloo to treat her with such kindness. Mary then took the filly by surprise and pulled her into a tight hug. Scootaloo was shocked by this at first, but quickly regained herself and hugged back. It was a powerful moment for the young filly.
“Thank you, Scootaloo,” Mary whispered. Scootaloo smiled and nodded.
“You’re welcome,” she replied.
Mary then pulled out of the hug and glanced around quickly. She cleared her throat and seemed to be searching for words to say. Scootaloo looked up at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. For the first time since Scootaloo met the mare, she actually smiled.
“I’m sorry I was hard on you before,” Mary said. Her voice was still gruff, but to Scootaloo it sounded lighter and… happier. It was truly a night-and-day difference. Was she really just keeping all these feelings about her daughter cooped up all this time?
“It’s okay,” Scootaloo said, waving a hoof.
“It’s just… you act so much like Daisy did, and your scooter…” Mary said. Scootaloo gave her a confused glance, “She… loved to ride her scooter. She was so good at it… I was certain that it would become her cutie mark someday.”
“Really?! Cool!” Scootaloo exclaimed, her face lighting up.
“Seeing the scooter reminded me of her, but I think I’ll be fine from now on. If you want to ride it again tomorrow, that’s fine,” Mary said, smiling, “I just overreacted.”
“Thanks!” Scootaloo said, “I love riding it too… it’s really the only thing these stupid wings are good for,” Scootaloo shot her wings a glare.
“Now, don’t say that,” Mary said. Scootaloo saw a look of guilt flash over Mary’s eyes. She sighed, “I’m sorry for insulting your wings. They are fine. You say you use them to propel your scooter? That’s very interesting. I don’t know any pegasi that have ever thought of that.”
Scootaloo smiled and looked at her wings again. For the first time, she looked at them in appreciation rather than disgust. Were there any other pegasi in Ponyville that use their wings on a scooter? She thought not.
“Listen… your two hours are up now. Why don’t you come back tomorrow and we can start over?” Miss Mary asked.
“Okay,” Scootaloo said happily. She hopped down from the couch and walked toward the door, honestly a little disheartened that she had to leave after such a breakthrough, “See you tomorrow!”
“Goodbye, Scootaloo,” Miss Mary said from the couch.
Scootaloo walked home with her head held high. She made a mental note to thank Miss Cheerilee at school on Monday.

Scootaloo found herself staring down the wooden ramp once again the next day. Sweetie Belle was at the ready on the other end with the camera aimed at Scootaloo. Apple Bloom was running around trying to line up the shot. She ran back to Sweetie Belle and found the right place. She nodded. Sweetie Belle pointed at Scootaloo and screamed, “Action!”
Scootaloo licked her lips and kicked off with full force. Her wings began beating frantically, propelling herself forward toward the wooden ramp for a third time. She would nail this jump this time! This was an easy jump, after all! Those last two times were just flukes!
Scootaloo hit the ramp and drove herself up it, into the air. Scootaloo’s angle was perfect, her speed was not too fast, and her landing was going to be perfect. She could feel it! Scootaloo felt an instantaneous inspiration and kicked her scooter to the side. It sailed around the handle and right back under her hooves in just enough time to catch it and land perfectly. Scootaloo rode out of camera shot and skidded to a halt.
“Cut!” Apple Bloom cried. Scootaloo removed her helmet and was tackled into a group hug.
“Ya did it!” Apple Bloom shouted.
“Way to go, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle added. “And cool trick, too!”
“Aw, it was easy!” Scootaloo boasted. The girls separated and laughed together. Their work completed, the trio began walking from where the ramp was setup by the clubhouse and headed toward Apple Bloom’s house.
“That shot just about wraps up this movie!” Apple Bloom said happily. “We jus’ need ta put it all together and we’ll have our cutie marks!”
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Movie Makers!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted together.
“So, Scootaloo, how’s the whole thing with Old Mary going?”
“She’s actually really nice when you get to know her,” Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stopped suddenly out of surprise.
“Really?” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both retorted.
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I mean, sure she was a bit grouchy at first, but…” Scootaloo began to think, “She lost her daughter when the filly was only 9 years old… she’s been living alone all that time; of course she’s going to be a little grumpy!”
“She lost her daughter?” Apple Bloom asked, horrified.
“Yeah...” Scootaloo said sadly. “Apparently I remind her of Daisy.”
“Her name was Daisy?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Daisy Dash,” Scootaloo clarified.
“Like Rainbow Dash!” Sweetie Belle pointed out.
“Yeah, kinda like Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo agreed. She looked up in the sky and smiled, “Just like Rainbow Dash.”
Scootaloo rode her scooter over to Mary’s house once they returned to Apple Bloom’s house. She went down the street with great speed and slowed to a stop in front of the gate like usual. Scootaloo opened the gate and walked in with the scooter in tow. She parked it right by the front steps and went to knock on the door. Mary was waiting for her.
“Hello, Scootaloo!” Miss Mary greeted happily. Scootaloo smiled back. This was new!
“Hi, Miss Mary!” Scootaloo said, cautiously optimistic.
“I see you brought your scooter this time,” Mary noticed.
“Yeah, you said I could, remember?” Scootaloo asked, a little worried that the mare had forgotten.
“I certainly did,” Mary agreed. Scootaloo then looked into the house and nodded with relief.
“So, I think I’ll go ahead and go back to cleaning the back room then?” Scootaloo asked.
“Oh… it’s fine, that room’ll never be clean,” Mary said. “Why don’t you just come in and sit down?”
“Okay!” Scootaloo replied.
Scootaloo and Miss Mary sat down and began to talk together the way they should have been the whole time. They joked, laughed, and related. It truly was uplifting for the pair. It certainly didn’t feel like a punishment anymore.
Scootaloo had no idea how the old mare managed it, but she seemed to completely turn herself around in the span of just a day. It couldn’t have been anything Scootaloo did; she didn’t do anything! But, somehow, someway, Miss Mary had turned into a completely new pony, and Scootaloo was overjoyed.
“You wanna see some of my tricks?” Scootaloo asked at one point. Mary looked a little apprehensive, but nodded. Scootaloo brought Miss Mary outside and had her sit down on the porch while the filly snatched up her scooter. Scootaloo kicked off the ground with excitement in her heart and rode out onto the street. It wasn’t every day that she got to show off her moves to somepony, considering her friends pretty much already knew what she could do.
“Check this out!” Scootaloo cried out confidently. She then propelled herself forward and hopped up. Her wings kept her elevated for a short while and she kicked the board around the handlebar in a similar style to the way she did when she launched off the wooden ramp earlier that day. The scooter board sailed around the handlebars and righted itself before Scootaloo landed perfectly on it, continuing forward.
Mary clapped and let out a happy cheer. Scootaloo smiled and turned around to try another one. She pulled up on the handlebars and performed a wheelie, holding it steady for a long time before slamming the front of her scooter back down and riding it out. Mary clapped again.
Scootaloo then picked up speed and jumped up against Miss Mary’s metal fence. She landed on the top edge of the fence gate and stalled for a few seconds, letting her front wheels balance on the steel with amazing control. While situated above the gate, she waved at the mare watching the show from her porch. Mary waved back happily and watched as Scootaloo hopped off the fence and landed again on the pavement. Scootaloo rode away furiously and skidded around so that she was facing the fence again.
Scootaloo then sped up again and jumped completely off her scooter, letting it fly independently underneath her. She spun once in the air, letting her front legs fold into her body in a pirouette-style spin and landed back on the board of her scooter. With great speed, she grabbed the handles and pulled the scooter around to come skidding to a halt in front of the closed fence gate. Miss Mary erupted in a flurry of loud cheers.
“That was wonderful!” Mary called.
“Thanks!” Scootaloo replied. She still couldn’t believe that Mary had suddenly become so friendly and enthusiastic. Scootaloo almost thought that the mare had completely gone crazy, but she didn’t care! She liked this new change! She pulled her helmet off and walked back into the yard. Scootaloo set her helmet down on the porch and turned to the old mare. “Wanna go for a walk or something?”
“That sounds lovely,” Mary replied. Scootaloo brightened at the acceptance of her offer and helped Mary off her chair. Mary and Scootaloo left the yard together and walked down the side walk.
“I never saw Daisy do any of those tricks,” Mary said appreciatively, “You are truly amazing, Scootaloo.”
“Aww…” Scootaloo said, “Those weren’t really that difficult of tricks. I’m sure Daisy could have pulled them off.”
“I don’t know, Scootaloo. She was amazing, but you were something else right there,” Mary said, “And I know a thing or two about acrobatics.”
“Oh yeah?” Scootaloo asked, a little skeptically.
“Well, if you couldn’t tell, my glory days came and went years ago,” Mary said with a little chuckle, “But, back in my time, I formed this group of performing pegasi instead of going to college. We called ourselves the Equestrian Fliers.”
“You were in a flight team??” Scootaloo asked, amazed.
“Hard to believe, but yes,” Mary said, laughing. “We were just street performers, though, er… sky performers,” Scootaloo laughed at the joke.
“We hardly made any money, but we were popular. We flew all over Cloudsdale and other pegasus cities doing our stunts for small crowds, collecting donations to live by,” Mary explained.
“Well… what happened?”
“I left the group. I put somepony else in charge and decided to live a quieter life down on the ground. After I left, the group changed their name to something a little more hip and we went our separate ways.”
“What did they change the name of the group to?” Scootaloo asked.
Mary smiled, “The Wonderbolts.”
Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. Mary chuckled at Scootaloo’s amusement. She and the filly continued forward at a leisurely pace, Scootaloo now in awe with the company she was currently keeping.
“So… you started the Wonderbolts?!” Scootaloo asked, dumbfounded.
“I suppose you could say that,” Mary said happily.
“Wow… my friend’s grandma founded Ponyville and I’m talking to the founder of the Wonderbolts,” Scootaloo said. She laughed once and internally thanked Celestia for her amazing luck.
“You know young Rainbow Dash, yes?” Mary asked.
“Of course I do!” Scootaloo replied excitedly, “She’s only the fastest, most amazing flier in Equestria!”
“Well,” Mary said with a smile, “You should have seen her reaction when she found this out.”
“Oh wow,” Scootaloo said, laughing. “Yeah, I’m sure she freaked!”
“The filly didn’t leave me alone for days!”
“HEY!” shouted the familiar old stallion from his porch off to the left. Scootaloo looked down and realized that she was treading all four hooves in his yard. Scootaloo quickly jumped off and winced.
“What did I tell you about stepping on my lawn!?” the old codger barked.
“Oh quit your whining, Oakey!” Mary shouted back. “You haven’t even mowed his lawn in weeks!” The stallion quickly silenced and went into his house. Scootaloo’s already gaping jaw fell to the ground. She laughed loudly and looked at Miss Mary with awe.
“You’re awesome, Miss Mary,” Scootaloo said, giving the old mare a hug.
“You can just call me Mary, Scootaloo,” Miss Mary replied, returning the gesture.
When the two got to town, they got ice cream. Scootaloo ironically had the same favorite flavor as both Miss Mary and apparently Daisy Dash: Chocolate Chip Mint. The two visited nearly every shop in town and even ate dinner together. Scootaloo completely forgot about her supposed two-hour time limit. It wasn’t like her mom would be wondering where she was, anyway.
“Ooh! Let’s go do this thing!” Scootaloo shouted when she spotted a photo booth. After some explaining, Mary got in the swing of it and took a good twenty pictures with Scootaloo. A lot of them were fairly bland, but there were a few good ones in there. Scootaloo took some of them with her, but Mary insisted on keeping the majority of them.
Mary was acting completely differently from when Scootaloo first met her. When Scootaloo met the mare, she was lazy, grouchy, and rude. Now, she was lively, happy, and fun. The filly had to double check every now and again to make sure she really was with Miss Mary and not somepony different.
The two finished their outing and returned to Mary’s house after the sun had gone down. The two were getting along like two good friends now, and Scootaloo treasured that more than anything else at the moment. She truly enjoyed the company of Miss Mary Lou.
“Scootaloo?” Miss Mary called right before Scootaloo left her house. Scootaloo turned from where she was about to open the cast-iron fence and looked at Miss Mary with a smile.
“Yes, Mary?” Scootaloo asked. Mary smiled and looked at her house. Scootaloo couldn’t honestly explain it, but it seemed like Mary knew something that she didn’t. It probably wasn’t important. Mary then turned back to Scootaloo and looked at her appreciatively.
“Thank you,” she said, “Thank you for everything.”

The next day at school, Scootaloo was restless. She eagerly anticipated the time she would get to spend with Mary. She had many, many more questions about the Wonderbolts that she was eager to ask. On top of this, Scootaloo had plans to finish cleaning the back room as a nice gesture. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were a little curious (and a bit worried) as to why Scootaloo was so excited to spend time with an old mare, but they didn’t object.
The school bell rang and Scootaloo went straight for the door.
“Scootaloo!” Miss Cheerilee called, “May I talk with you?”
Scootaloo looked into the classroom a little apprehensively, but bade farewell to her friends and walked over to the desk. Miss Cheerilee looked at Scootaloo with interest.
“So, how did things go with Miss Mary?” she asked. At this, Scootaloo’s face lit up and she became extremely excited to tell her teacher all about what had happened.
“Awesome! She told me all about her past and she’s really cool!” Scootaloo said excitedly.
“That’s wonderful, Scootaloo! Are you going there now?” Cheerilee asked.
“Yep!” Scootaloo replied happily.
“Well, I won’t keep you then. Have a good day, Scootaloo!” Cheerilee said, “And good job. I’m very proud of you.”
Scootaloo nodded and left the classroom. She walked through town happily and made her way down to Miss Mary’s street. When she passed the cranky old stallion’s house, he didn’t say anything, but kept to himself and silently glared at Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled and continued walking. When she came in eyesight of Miss Mary’s house, however, her heart sank.
An ambulance was parked in front of Miss Mary’s house. The magical lights atop the vehicle were lit up and spinning and a small crowd was gathered around it. The crowd was of mainly pegasi, but there was a percentage of earth ponies and unicorns there. Scootaloo broke out into a run toward the house, fearing the worst.
Scootaloo reached the edge of the crowd and began pushing through them frantically. A few annoyed protests rang out from various ponies around the filly, but she didn’t hear them. All she could think was to make sure that Mary was okay. She had to be okay!
“Woah there, kid, you can’t come any closer!” a medical pony said, stopping Scootaloo in her tracks before she got a chance to enter the wrought-iron fence.
“No! I have to know what’s going on!” Scootaloo shouted.
“Scootaloo?” came a surprised voice off to her right that Scootaloo knew all too well. She turned and saw Rainbow Dash approaching her through the crowd. The medical pony stood his ground and let Rainbow Dash handle the situation.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted. She ran forward and gave her a fierce hug. Rainbow Dash hugged back and noticed that Scootaloo was starting to tear up. Rainbow Dash took in a deep breath and shook her head.
“What’s going on? Mary’s okay, right?” Scootaloo asked.
“Scootaloo…” Rainbow Dash muttered, then her breath caught in her throat and her eyes shrank as she looked up in horror. Scootaloo turned around almost lost her lunch. A stretcher was being carried out of the house. Upon it was a pony’s body completely covered in a sky-blue sheet. Scootaloo could see a white, frizzy mane underneath the top of the sheet.
“NO!” Scootaloo screamed, “No! No! No!” She sobbed and grabbed Rainbow Dash once again, pressing her face firmly into the mare’s chest.
“Shh… it’s okay, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash calmed the filly by running a hoof through her mane, “Miss Mary was very old. It was just her time is all.”
Rainbow Dash’s voice was calm, but contained evidence of a deeper sadness. Dash always kept her cool and certainly wouldn’t cry. Scootaloo knew she would never see Rainbow Dash cry, but she certainly sounded heartbroken.
“It’s not fair!” Scootaloo screamed, sobbing madly into Rainbow Dash’s chest. A few ponies in the crowd looked apologetically at the filly, but let her be with Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, kid,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling Scootaloo out of the hug. Rainbow Dash lowered her head and looked the filly dead in the eyes. “I heard about what you were doing with Miss Mary, coming to visit her like this.”
Scootaloo sniffed and nodded.
“Well, I actually visited her two nights ago. It had been awhile, she’s a friend of mine too,” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo wiped some tears from her eyes and chuckled a little, remembering Miss Mary commenting about how Rainbow Dash wouldn’t leave her alone for some time, almost annoyingly so.
“Listen, I’ve known Miss Mary for a long time, and I had never seen her happier in my whole life,” Rainbow Dash said, “I don’t know what you did, but you made that mare happy. You should feel proud of that.”
“I…” Scootaloo sniffed, “I did?”
“You bet you did! After all this time, I think I just got on her nerves, but you… you made her last few days her best. That’s something that you can’t forget, and something that you need to treasure, Scoots.”
Scootaloo smiled and hugged Rainbow Dash tightly. She turned and watched as the now loaded ambulance took off down the street. Scootaloo felt tears begin to well up again and fought to keep them back.
“Uh… Scootaloo?” came the voice of Filthy Rich. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked up and saw the pony approaching with a saddlebag around his back. Filthy Rich certainly looked a little awkward. He did look upset, but he also knew that he was the reason Scootaloo was now going through this heartbreak.
“Hey there, Filthy!” Rainbow Dash said. Filthy Rich scowled and turned to Scootaloo.
“I’m so sorry about all this… that you had to go through this,” he said to the filly. Scootaloo sniffed again and nodded. Rich continued, “She left this for you… in her house.”
Scootaloo looked up and saw him pulling something out of his saddlebags. It was the green photo album! Scootaloo felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the daisy pattern etched on it. Filthy rich handed the book over with his mouth and Scootaloo grabbed it. She set it down gently on the ground and opened the front cover, revealing a big piece of paper taped to the inside of the cover with “FOR SCOOTALOO” written on it in pen.
“She left this… for me?” Scootaloo asked.
“Looks like it to me,” Rainbow Dash said, smiling. Scootaloo opened it to the pictures of Daisy Dash and smiled. All of the pictures were left in place like she remembered, but why did Mary give the book to her?
Scootaloo reached the last page of Daisy’s pictures, where the filly was lying in her hospital bed. Wanting to save herself any more heartbreak, she sighed and started to close the book, but something caught her eye. There was something on the next page! Scootaloo turned the page and saw to her amazement that all of the pictures from the photo booth were displayed in the pages of the album.
Scootaloo gasped quietly and looked at all the pictures. A twinge of sadness hit her, but as she looked at all the pictures, she realized that Miss Mary did look happy. She looked worlds happier than she did only a few days prior. On the opposite page, there was a torn-out sheet of notebook paper with a note written on it in neat writing.

Dear Scootaloo,
Thank you for everything you have taught me. I have spent most of my life grieving over the loss of Daisy Dash, but you have given me the strength to finally move on. I feel happier than I have in decades, and I owe it all to you. I want you to know that I will always consider you my friend.
Mary Lou

Scootaloo again felt the sting of tears behind her eyes, but she mustered the strength to hold them back. She smiled and closed the book gently with a nod. She grabbed it with her teeth and balanced it on her back, proudly displaying it to all who could see.
“You… really made an impact on her life, Scootaloo,” Filthy Rich said. He smiled, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Scootaloo said, “Thanks for introducing me to her.”
He nodded and turned away to join the rest of the ponies. Scootaloo watched him walk away and turned to Rainbow Dash, sighing sadly. She sniffed again, trying not to cry. Rainbow Dash smiled apologetically to Scootaloo and patted the filly’s back with a hoof.
“Hey, why don’t we do something to cheer you up?” Rainbow Dash asked. Scootaloo felt her heart lighten a bit and she looked up at Dash, a spark of happiness suddenly returning to her body.
“You wanna do something with me?” Scootaloo asked with wonder.
“Well, I have two tickets to see the Wonderbolts tomorrow afternoon, and I was going to take Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said. Scootaloo gasped and smiled. Rainbow Dash continued happily at the filly’s reaction, “But, Applejack doesn’t really get into the Wonderbolts like we do.”
“You bet!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “Oh, thank you Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said, hugging Rainbow Dash tightly around the neck. Rainbow Dash chuckled and hugged her back.
“C’mon, let’s get you home,” Rainbow Dash said lightly. Scootaloo walked beside Rainbow Dash away from Miss Mary’s house, a new bounce present in her step. Scootaloo turned around and looked at Miss Mary’s pale yellow house. She smiled and realized that although she had only been with the old mare for a few days, she would remember her for the rest of her life.
“Did you know Miss Mary was the one that started the Wonderbolts?” Scootaloo asked Rainbow Dash excitedly.
“Heheh, yep! Isn’t that something?” Rainbow Dash replied. Scootaloo chuckled and kept walking beside the mare. While the weight of Miss Mary’s death still rang through Scootaloo’s mind, the young pegasus took comfort knowing that she was happy when she died. Rainbow Dash was right, Scootaloo should be happy too.

Dear Princess Celestia,
Sometimes, you can get off on the wrong hoof with somepony new. I learned over the past few days that if you are patient and understanding, then not only will you get along better, but you might make a lifelong friend as well! I will certainly never forget the friend that I made.
Your faithful subject,
Scootaloo.