//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Work In Progress // Story: Crusader // by Ephraim Blue //------------------------------// Chapter 3 - Work In Progress Scootaloo awoke the next morning on the floor. She was so tuckered out by all that had happened, she must have fallen asleep where she sat. When she woke, she tried to remember what dream she had throughout the night. She remembered the dream with Princess Luna, but not her most recent dream. Strange, she thought. I remember most of my dreams. I wonder why I can't remember this one? She ignored the fact that she couldn't remember the dream. She had to get off the floor and take care of herself. Getting up was still the hardest part of the day, even if she slept on the floor. She went to her room to see what time it was. There were no other clocks in the house other than that one. Looking at it, she concluded that it was exactly 8:30 in the morning. Well, time to get to work, she thought to herself. The day started out normally. Se got up, made breakfast, ate, and headed out the door to do crusading like she did every Sunday. But today was not like every Sunday. Today was different. Today, she was alone. Alone to do what she wanted, when she wanted to do it. But she didn't like it at all. She always went crusading with her friends. Today was as if she lost the most important thing in the world. She shook off the feeling. Her life would get better. It had to get better. If it didn't... No, Scootaloo, she thought to herself. You don't want to think about it. Having left her house, Scootaloo grabbed her scooter and flapped her tiny wings as hard as she could. She sped down the path toward the clubhouse. On the way there, she noticed somepony very unusual. They had a orange and green mane, blue eyes, a small blue watch on their front left leg, and was a grey unicorn. That has got to be the strangest pony I've ever seen in my entire life, she thought as she sped past them. She made her way to the clubhouse. It was pretty simple, since it was once Applejack's clubhouse when she was a filly. It was pretty worn down when she showed it to them, but Apple Bloom had fixed it up really nice. She shook her head. Who needs her, she thought. Who needs friends. Entering the clubhouse, she noticed that nothing had changed from the last time she had been here. The thinking spot had stayed right below the light bulb, the map of Ponyville had a couple of red X's on it, and the roster that they used to tell if they were all here was still on the wall. The first thing she did was tear down the roster. Being the last crusader, she didn't need to tell if there wasn't somepony there. The next thing she did was use advantage of the drawbridge that Babs put in when she visited during the carnival. She would always have it up. It would never go down again. Then she would build a secret passage to the clubhouse. She would put in a trap door, dig a tunnel under the ground, and hide the entrance of the tunnel under one of the apple trees close by. It would definitely take awhile. But, since she had nopony else to help with the work, she had to do it by herself. Until then, she had to keep the drawbridge down. It didn't matter, though. It wasn't as if anypony else wanted to come up there. She composed a small list of things she would need. A saw, a ladder, a shovel, and possibly something that would drill out the center of the tree, if it wasn't hallow. It would definitely cost a lot. Most likely, more than she could earn in a week. Still, she would have to do her best if she wanted to earn enough to finish modifying the clubhouse. The worst part would probably be the fact that she would have to deal with school until she could work on Tuesday. Oh no, she thought. School! She had completely forgotten about school! She couldn't go there after what happened yesterday! Everypony knew that the three of us are the Cutie Mark Crusaders; well, were anyway, but still. They would freak out Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom getting their cutie marks, they would start to bug her and tease her about not having it! The two that would treat her the worst, would probably be Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were always calling the three of them 'blank flanks' just because they didn't have their cutie marks. But now that there was only one left in class that didn't have their cutie mark, they would focus all of their taunting on her! I can't go to school tomorrow. I just CAN'T! I wouldn't have a single moment of quiet during our free time. I would be the laughing stock of the whole school. Oh, I know what to do now! I'll just skip school! It doesn't hurt to badly if I miss a single day! But then again, I would just have to go to school the next day, and they would make fun of me then. What to do, what to do, what to do. That's it! I know what to do! She quickly got to work. She grabbed her scooter and raced down the path to The Carousel Boutique. Knocking on the door, Sweetie Belle's sister, Rarity, opened the door. "Why hello, Scootaloo. What brings you here? She asked. "I need a favor, Rarity." "Why would you ever need me to do a favor for you?" "Its about school tomorrow," she said. "Really? What do you need?" "I need a casual dress."