Cutie Mark Crusaders Nightmares, Yay!

by LostUmbrella

Chapter 3

It came out that the following day neither Apple Bloom nor Sweetie Belle had time to go crusading, both occupied with their respective sisters, so Scootaloo ended up wandering alone around Ponyville.
She paced slowly along the dusty streets that circled the city, her head hanging low, occasionally glancing at the sky's reflection in the puddles left from the night before.
It was only when a supposedly deep blue sky appeared to be bright pink that she raised her head. She immediately regretted her choice: in front of her stood Diamond Tiara, proudly wearing her namesake headwear and a malicious expression.

"Well well, what have we here? Chickenloo?" asked the pink filly with a scornful laugh "What are you doing out here?"

"She's obviously trying to get her cutie mark as puddle watcher!" mocked Silver Spoon, who had been standing a bit behind her friend.

"Good one Silver!"

"Get lost, I'm not in the mood right now!" retorted angrily Scootaloo.

"Oh, are we sour-mooded today? What for? The other two blank flanks realized how much of a useless dodo you are?" insisted the pink filly sharing a laugh with her friend.

"Cut it Diamond Tiara!" barked Scootaloo.

"Maybe we should get away, Diamond," suggested Silver Spoon "She seems pretty mad."

"Yeah, with that bad tempers of her she might attack us..."

For a moment, Scootaloo considered the idea of harming the two bullies, while her eyes turned draconic for a fleeting instant, but she bit down her anger, stomped vigorously the path with a forehooves and ran away, leaving behind a visible indent in the dirt road and two mildly shaken fillies.

---

She galloped as fast as she could, as far as possible from the duo of odious fillies, before dropping exhausted in the middle of a flower field and starting crying.
Unbeknownst to her, right over the field, on a lonely cloud, Rainbow Dash was taking a nap. A nap that was interrupted by somepony's anguished cry.
She yawned and stretched before looking down her cloud to see what was happening.

"Squirt? What's up?" she asked descending in front of the crying filly.

Recognizing her idol's voice, Scootaloo did her best not to let her see that she was crying and put on a very little convincing grin as she said: "Oh, hi Rainbow, it's nothing, just a bit of sand in my eyes..."

"Sand, yeah... Look squirt, I won't stick my nose in this if you don't want, but keeping everything bottled up, while it might sound cool, I assure you it's hard and very bad..."

Scootaloo fixed her gaze in Rainbow's magenta eyes for a moment before giving in and hugging her tightly, tears once again flowing free.
The cyan mare hugged her back.

"Want to tell me what happened?" she questioned when the filly's sobbing had calmed down a bit.

"I cannot fly."

"Well, of course: you're still young after all!"

"But you always say that you already flew at my age..."

"True, but there are pegasi like Fluttershy who learn a tad later, it's normal."

"And to make matters worse, I'm a blank flank..."

"Well, it's certainly not pleasant but I don't see how the two things are linked..."

"Because two fillies bully me for that," whispered the filly.

"What? Who are they? I'll go and let them have a piece of my mind! I always hated bullies!"

"Wait, please!" implored Scootaloo "It would only make matters worse... And it would be uncool to threaten two fillies."

"Fine, this time I won't do anything..."

In that moment, Tunderlane landed in front of the two and said: "Finally I found you, Dash! Did you forget that we have work to do? Everypony is waiting for you!"

"Shoot, I completely forgot! Squirt, I've gotta go, are you fine?"

"Uhm, yeah, don't worry..." answered the interested filly.

"Good. Come on Thunderlane, get moving!" said Rainbow dashing away.

Left alone, Scootaloo fell on the ground, extremely tired. She rolled on her back and gazed at the clear midday sky. She didn't cry, she was tired of crying.
Puffy clouds lazily sailed through the azure expanse above her head. A pair of nightingales flew by, ignoring the little filly and her problems.

"You are so lucky, you know?" asked Scootaloo to the birds "You can fly to your heart content, not having to worry about bullies..."

The nightingales, obviously, did not respond.

"How I wish I was able to fly too..."

Again, the nightingales didn't say anything.

"What am I doing? Talking to some birds?" questioned Scootaloo covering her face with her forelimbs "Maybe I even expected an answer..."

She climbed back to her hooves, her fatigue washed away, a determined expression on her face.

"If I really want to, I can fly!" she shouted before running ahead.

She built up some speed, then she jumped, her wings beating frantically. For a moment she soared in the sky, but then she fell, landing with a loud "Ouch!"

She stood once again.

"If you can't do something the first time, you keep on trying again and again!"

And with that she tried once again, this time with a longer sprint before the take off.

"I can do this!" she said as she jumped.

This time, she felt something run through her body, some kind of energy she couldn't describe well, a strange electricity she would have said; it rushed through her muscles towards her wings, where it accomplished its purpose, making the small appendages strong enough to sustain the filly's weight.
This time, Scootaloo didn't fall. She glided and landed softly, a huge smile plastered on her face.

---

While Scootaloo was having her discussion with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom was busy helping her elder siblings in the orchard. Or at least, that was what she believed she was supposed to be doing.

"What do ya mean Ah'm too young to do that? Ah'm old enough ta help ya applebuckin' !" protested the filly at her sister's denial.

"It's dangerous, Apple Bloom, ya might get hurt! Just git the apples that falls as we always do," said Applejack in a stern but caring tone.

"We can work faster if ya let me help!"

"It's out of question, missy. Right big brother?"

From behind a nearby tree came a loud knock of hooves connecting with a hard trunk just before Big Macintosh said: "Eeeyup!"

"See? Big Mac agrees with me."

Apple Bloom knew full well that her sister was caring for her, but for some reason she felt she did not want to let go.

"Ya're just scared I might be better than ya, sis!" retorted Apple Bloom stomping a hoof down.

"That's just stupid Bloom!"

"No, me wasting mah time here is stupid. Ya can buck yer apples alone, Ah'm outa here!" said the filly turning around and running away, tears in her eyes.

"Where ya think ya're goin' ? Come back here this instant! Apple Bloom!" shouted Applejack before adding with a sigh "Geez, girls this days... Ah must follow her before she gits in trouble"

She was ready to run after her sister when she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

"Nope," said her brother "It's normal for fillies her age to be defiant. Ah know of another mare that was like that when she was young..."

"It was ten years ago, and Ah really am better than you at bucking the apple trees!" retorted Applejack pouting a little.

"Don't worry, she'll be back soon and she'll be sorry," continued Big Mac ignoring his sister's retort "Now, back to work."