Scootaloo Grows Up

by Saatchi

This is Where it Starts to Get Weird

The next day eventually rolled around and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle found themselves in the school playground. The sky had darkened since yesterday and looked greyer and more miserable than the day before. For the two fillies, the weather seemed like more of a pathetic fallacy, one that hinted at the most awful things.

“D’ya think Scootaloo is ok? Ah haven’t seen her all mornin’,” voiced a concerned Apple Bloom.

Given the events that had occurred yesterday, all three of the CMC would be forgiven for not showing up. After all the moment that Diamond Tiara chose to spill their little secret, was the moment their childhoods were collectively destroyed. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nervously cast their gaze over the playground, the moment they spotted a hint of pink and purple, there were getting out of there. A soft breeze began to blow in from the east, distracting the children as they searched they playground. The wind blew in the direction of a small gathering, and as the two fillies turned away to avoid the wind, they noticed the crowd.

From their distanced perspective, they couldn’t see anything behind the mass of ponies. Naturally a childlike curiosity took over them, and they approached the crowd, expecting to find Diamond Tiara and possibly Silver Spoon at its centre. Due to the thick mass off the crowd, they earned a few negative comments from the others, as they forced their way towards the centre of the crowd. As they fought against the bodies of young fillies, they couldn’t hear any cacophonous bragging, or boasting, so there was no way Diamond Tiara was it its centre, which was some relief, though their curiosity still burned. If the crowd wasn’t for Diamond Tiara, then who was it for?

“That’s right, crowd around the most awesome pony on the playground!” exclaimed the high pitched, raspy tone of a certain orange filly.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pierced their way into the centre, eager to reunite with their friend. They broke into the centre, coming into contact with a smiling Scootaloo. Upon a hasty first glance, their friend seemed perfectly fine, she was happy, cheerful and still her cocky self. Upon a second, more in depth glance, one would notice that Scootaloo had outgrown her peers by about an inch, which was nothing drastic. However for Scootaloo she felt like the alpha, someone who could dominate the playground with her size. Certainly a superior way of thinking, if a little exaggerated.
"Scootaloo! Ah'm glad t' see yer doin' better than yesterday!"
Scootaloo paused and looked down her snout at her friends, increasing that feeling of power that she felt she held over them. She opened up her mouth to reply, but instead hiccupped three times in quick succession. Her stomach grumbled and gurgled in response to her outburst. The crowd fell silent and just stared at her, as though she'd just done something illegal.
"Yeah, I've been doing that all morning, but I still feel really good," explained Scootaloo, "I think it was just what's left of that tea."
The faces of the crowd twisted and contorted, some of them showing disgust, others showing confusion, and the rest trying to stifle a giggle. On the other side of the playground sat a disgruntled Diamond Tiara and a perturbed Silver Spoon. They watched Scootaloo's purple mane bob up and down as she spoke, each passing second enraging Diamond Tiara a little more.
“That should be me they’re crowding around; I was supposed to be the biggest, most adored pony on the playground, not someone like her! Daddy promised me that!” shouted Diamond Tiara, stomping her hooves in a prissy fashion.

“Uh, DT? I don’t think he could promise something li-“

“Quiet! I always get what I want, and daddy never promises me things that he can’t make happen…”

Diamond Tiara ground her teeth together as she seethed with envy. Then, as though everything had suddenly changed, her jealous rage vanished. Her expression was cold and stony, and yet utterly terrifying. She smirked and walked off in the direction of the schoolhouse, Silver Spoon following behind.

The bell atop the school rung once, then twice, and finally a third time, instructing the children to return to their classes, as it signalled the end of their playtime. Begrudgingly, the children obeyed their golden master and left Scootaloo’s side, encroaching on the schoolhouse instead. As the attention around her began to fade, Scootaloo began to feel increasingly smug with herself. This was how it felt to be the best, to be the alpha, the top dog, and it felt amazing. She could make them do anything she wanted, they were smaller than her, and that made them almost insignificant. Her stomach gurgled again, and then bizarre warmth crept through her body. Not that Scootaloo paid much attention to it. She was too busy thinking about the benefits she was going to receive. In fact she was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice that she grew at least another inch. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle also remained oblivious to this new development as the three of them ventured towards the schoolhouse. Cheerilee stood at the entrance, ushering the pupils inside, a pleasant smile fixed firmly upon her face. As the CMC approached Cheerilee, her smile faltered a little, replaced by a more surprised look.

“My Scootaloo, you’re certainly grown quickly…”

“Yep, I reckon I’ll end up bigger than you, Miss Cheerilee,” joked Scootaloo.

“Hm, anyway, in you go, you’ve got lessons to attend!” replied the teacher, her cheery demeanour returning.

The CMC entered into the establishment, splitting off from one another, as they disappeared into their classes. Scootaloo sauntered into her classroom, taking up a seat at the back of the class. The desk and chair both creaked a little, straining under the weight of the slightly bigger filly. As the teacher had yet to show up to the lesson, Scootaloo found that all eyes were on her. Some whispered amongst themselves about how big she was, others whispered about how strange it seemed, but at the same time, how awesome she looked. Scootaloo smiled and pretended not to be interested in their curious stares.

Eventually the teacher arrived and everyone knuckled down and began to work. Everyone that is, except for Scootaloo, she was busy slacking off, but even then, her body was fast at work. As she lazed about, the insides of her body harboured something that just needed a trigger, a trigger that would allow Scootaloo’s wildest fantasies to become reality. A simple knock would suffice, even something as simple as a bodily function, like a hiccup or a burp. Of course, Scootaloo wasn’t aware of this increasingly obvious fact, she was just happy to reap the spoils. Her stomach grumbled loudly, but surprisingly nobody turned around or looked up from their work. Her stomach grumbled again, and Scootaloo moaned as she felt her stomach expand. Her hooves wrapped themselves around her belly as she felt a surge of pain, travelling up through her neck, piling up just before her mouth. Her airways began to constrict, forcing this blockage upwards, and towards freedom.

Scootaloo recoiled her head back, before letting out a tremendous belch. Everyone in the class just sat there, visibly stunned, their eyes remained focused on their work, but their minds and ears remained focused on the repulsive sounds. Even the teacher was noticeably shocked at the outburst, it was either because of the awful act before her, or a secondary effect that it seemed to be having on the little filly. As Scootaloo continued to expel what seemed like an impossible amount of gas, her body resumed growing. At first it was just a centimetre, them another, followed by inch after inch. The desk and chair began to creak under her increasing weight. These chairs were designed to seat little fillies and colts, not fillies that seemed to be rapidly growing to new heights. The furniture groaned some more as Scootaloo's rump began to expand past the limits of the chair.

With a loud crack, the frail furniture split, sending Scootaloo lurching forward onto the splintered desk. Thousands of tiny splinters pierced her skin, causing her to yelp loudly. The teacher rushed to the side of the injured filly, her hooves and eyes scanning over her body for any signs of serious damage.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Scootaloo rubbed her temple as she got up from the floor, shaking off a few splinters as she went. A quick scrape of both her forelegs removed a few more, still leaving a great amount stuck in her. She winced as she removed more of the splinters, some appearing to be stuck in deeper than she first thought.

"Yeah, I'm alright, can't say the same for the desk though."

"Speaking of that..." Scootaloo's teacher fell silent as Scootaloo stood up. The once tiny filly now stood taller than all the ponies her age, even the other early starters. She stood over them by at least four, maybe five inches.

"Huh?" asked Scootaloo, still brushing splinters from her coat.

"Timeout for breaking class furniture," replied the teacher, holding up a shaking hoof to point to the door.

Scootaloo grumbled and strode to the door, opening it and disappearing into the hallway. She stood outside and waited for the call that would allow her to return to the class, and continue her learning. As she waited, she smirked and ran a hoof along her recently expanded body. She felt warm to the touch; her body appeared to be buzzing with a newfound energy. It brought her a great deal of pleasure and excitement to know that her growth spurts were so intense, and so close together. Just wait until Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got a look at her now, they'd always have to do what she wanted. That meant there would be no more lame ideas for Cutie Marks, just cool ones. In fact, thinking about it, if her growth spurts kept this pace, there would be no pony in Equestria that would be as tall as her, not even Celestia.

Scootaloo inhaled deeply as she savoured that thought. The most powerful pony in Equestria, everyone else would have no other option but to bow down to the superior height and might of Scootaloo. She reflected on the way her teacher had started to shake in her presence. Even though the filly didn't quite match up to her teacher's height, she had still managed to instill that air of fear. Suddenly a bright idea pinged into Scootaloo's head. She didn't need to wait here for her timeout to end, she could leave and nobody would be able to stop her from doing so. As she took a few steps away from the class, another thought surfaced. Why should she be the only one to get something out of this? She deviated her course, setting off for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's class first.

The corridors were pretty empty, aside from a few rebellious colts who had also been given a timeout. As Scootaloo passed them, they shrunk back, pressing themselves against the wall as she passed by. Of course this just inflated Scootaloo’s ego even further. She eventually arrived at Cheerilee’s class and rapped her hoof against the door.

“One moment class,” came Cheerilee’s voice from the other side of the door.

As the door swung open, Scootaloo attempted to create her most distressed look. She widened her eyes, to make her look a little shocked, she ran a hoof through her mane to make her look a little more distressed, and finally, to complete the look, she nervously rubbed her hoof against her neck to complete the look of uncertainty and confusion.

“Err, Scootaloo? Shouldn’t you be in class?” asked the teaching mare.

“Miss Cheerilee! You have to let Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle out of class this instant!”

At first Cheerilee remained stony faced, not believing Scootaloo’s story for one second. But then something changed, she noticed something about the filly, something that hadn’t been there earlier. She thought back to when Scootaloo had shown up to school that morning, she remembered how she almost lost sight of her in the crowds that amassed around the Pegasus. But no, that wasn’t it; it was something that Scootaloo had said to Cheerilee. It was at that moment that Cheerilee realised what had been said, and boy had Scootaloo been right. Here she was, just a young filly, and miraculously she stood just a little bit taller than the purple mare. The fact that Scootaloo had gone through such an incredible change in such a small amount of time was astounding, and also a little scary.

“Sc-Scootaloo? H-how? Wha-?” mumbled Cheerilee, trying to wrap her brain around the incredible feat that Scootaloo had performed.

“I knew you’d understand!” exclaimed Scootaloo, taking Cheerilee’s garbled response as affirmation for her request.

She rushed over to her friends, both of which looked slightly bemused at the sudden appearance of their friend. Scootaloo dragged them out of their chairs and out into the corridor, bidding Cheerilee a quick goodbye on the way out. She pulled her friends away from the door and closed it behind them, setting off at length, down the corridor. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood still for a few moments, gazing at each other as though they expected that one of them would miraculously have the answers that they needed.

“What are you waiting for?!” yelled Scootaloo, from down the corridor, ignorant to the others that were still trying to learn.

The remaining two CMC spurred into action, and belted down the corridor after their friend. Despite their apparent eagerness, their minds were racing as to why they had been dragged from their lessons, or better yet, why Scootaloo seemed to be growing faster than any of the information they had learned from Cheerilee would suggest. As they passed through the double doors of the schoolhouse entrance, they found Scootaloo leaning lazily against a fencepost.

“I was thinking that we could head on over to Sweet Apple Acres for a bit of extended playtime, what do you think?”

“Uhm…” muttered Apple Bloom.

“Uhh…” droned Sweetie Belle.

“Eh, come on girls, it’ll be real fun. I promise!”

With that, Scootaloo was off. She started off on the quickest route out to Sweet Apple Acres, leaving Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom in her dust. The two fillies shared another lingering glance at each other, looking for answers in the eyes of the other, but it looked like neither of them thought it a good idea to leave Scootaloo on her own. So off they went, chasing after their friend, leaving the schoolhouse in their wake.

Meanwhile, inside the schoolhouse, Cheerilee watched the CMC race off towards Sweet Apple Acres. She didn’t think about going after them, she was too busy trying to decide if she should alert the royal guard to detain Scootaloo, or better yet, summon the Princesses and have them take care of it. She couldn’t decide on an answer to her dilemma, and because of that, her class started to get restless. Though out of all the fillies and colts that were present in that class, there was one little filly who was positively seething with rage.

Diamond Tiara sat and seethed in her chair, Scootaloo taking more and more attention away from her. The teachers should be reduced to gibbering wrecks at her presence, not some common as dirt character like Scootaloo. Diamond Tiara had the money, she had the acclaim, she had the lifestyle, but all of that was worthless if she didn’t have a group of naïve followers, chasing at her heels like sheep. She had to retain her popularity, and if she was going to do that, she was going to have to get rid of Scootaloo.

Whilst Cheerilee was distracted, she slid out of her seat and made for the door. She didn’t bother to open it slowly, or stealthily, as Cheerilee was too deep in thought to even begin to care about more escaping fillies. As she disappeared into the halls, leaving her accomplice, Silver Spoon, inside the classroom she vowed to intimidate Scootaloo and drive her out of town. She hastily made her way outside, trying to align herself with the classroom window, so that she could make an educated guess as to which way her enemies had went. It didn’t take her long to set herself on the right path; all it took was a little alignment and the discovery of three sets of hoofprints, leading up the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Diamond Tiara raced after them, chasing down the fillies, the only thoughts on her mind were ones of pure malice and vengeance.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were having trouble keeping up with their considerably larger friend.

“Slow down, Scootaloo! My legs are starting to hurt!” squeaked Sweetie Belle.

“An’ tell us what’s goin’ on, why’d ya drag us outta class?” asked Apple Bloom, rather aggressively.

“Fine,” replied Scootalo. “There’s no reason why I dragged you out of class, other than me thinking you would enjoy some extra playtime, with your matured friend.”

“Uh Scoot? Ah don’t know what’s gotten into you, but ah was enjoyin’ class, an’ so was Sweetie Belle.”

“Well excuse me for thinking you’d enjoy not being cooped up in that boring old place,” replied Scootaloo as she walked backwards to close the distance between the trio. “I just thought you might enjoy some more crusading time, or even just taking a break, it’s not like you’re missing anything important…”

“Hey! exclaimed a voice from behind them, a voice that was familiar to all three of them.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle whirled around, but only Scootaloo remained facing towards Sweet Apple Acres. There standing behind them, was the enraged form of Diamond Tiara, breathing heavily and snorting air through her nasal passage, the same way a bull would before a charge. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle felt their stomachs sink, Diamond Tiara was the last pony they wanted to see right now, especially with the track record between her and the CMC.

“How did you do it?!” screamed Diamond Tiara, “I know you’re messing with something!”

“Uh, are you ok?” asked Sweetie Belle, meekly.

“Quiet! I don’t want to speak with you, I want to speak with this…monstrosity,” snarled Diamond Tiara.

“She only asked if y’ were ok, no need t’ bite her head off,” sighed Apple Bloom.

“What part of ‘quiet’ did your tiny, apple farming, brain fail to understand?” replied Diamond Tiara, snidely.

Sweetie Belle slipped closer to Apple Bloom, where she proceeded to place a hoof over her mouth to stop any further replies. Not that it discouraged Apple Bloom from trying, she launched into an angry counterattack, consisting mainly of ‘mmphs’ and grunts.

“Don’t you think we should head to Sweet Apple Acres and get Applejack? She’d see off Diamond Tiara in no time,” whispered Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom nodded and nudged Scootaloo in the flank to get her moving. Scootaloo however, didn’t budge in the slightest. Her head glanced to the side, and then swung back to facing forwards once more. Apple Bloom paused momentarily, hesitating for a moment as she prepared to nudge her again. Now that she looked closely at Scootaloo, she could see her sides rapidly expanding and contracting. She appeared to be experiencing some sort of delayed shock reaction. She pulled the hoof down from her mouth and spoke out to Sweetie Belle.

“Ah think that might be a good idea, let’s go…”

Apple Bloom reached for Sweetie Belle and began to slowly pull her in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, Diamond Tiara following after them, but quickly stopping once she stood in front of Scootaloo. As Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle slipped away, Sweetie Belle turned back and mouthed ‘we’ll be back for you’ to Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s response to this was to begin hiccupping many times in succession. Diamond Tiara smirked, hiccupping was either a sign of nerves or shock, and she obviously held the upper hand here.

“You have been using something haven’t you? You just wanted to take the attention off me! Well, let me tell you, once I-“

Diamond Tiara’s jaw dropped wide open as she witnessed the result of Scootaloo’s hiccups. The orange filly’s body began to resume growing, increasing in size and closing the gap between adult mare and overgrown stallion. Diamond Tiara could only watch in awe as this spectacular event unfolded before her very eyes. With each hiccup, half an inch was added to her height, and Diamond Tiara found herself taking a few steps back in order for her to maintain eye contact. Her confidence waned dramatically, and for once in her life, she found herself completely at a loss for words.

Scootaloo on the other hand was experiencing a thrill quite unlike any she had experienced before. Her body had become alive, with the receptors on her skin, pinging back pleasurable tingles. Her brain had become awash with feelings of power and copious amounts of adrenaline. She had but one single desire; she had to grow more, as much as this effect would allow for. She glanced down and flashed her teeth at Diamond Tiara, whilst she smirked, unnerving her enemy even further.

“Not so confident now, are you?” chided Scootaloo.

Scootaloo stretched, bringing her rump into the air, and flaring her wings, as her bones began to knit themselves into her expanding sockets and joints. She let out a soft groan as her hiccupping subsided, and her growth along with it. She now stood a couple of inches over the height of a fully grown stallion, somewhere between six foot and six and a half foot. She grinned down at Diamond Tiara, talking immense pleasure from the sight of the trembling filly.

“Th-that’s not natural…” mumbled Diamond Tiara, starting to back away.

“What’s the matter, Diamond Tiara? Have you run out of klutz jokes? Haven’t you got anything to say? Or are you just trembling at the awesome power that I possess? “

Diamond Tiara backed away, cowardly retreating from the far superior pony. “Just wait until I tell everyone…”

“What’re you going to tell them? That Scootaloo just got even more awesome and grown up?

Diamond Tiara grunted her disapproval and turned tail and fled. “Just you wait, I’ll run you out of town yet!”

Scootaloo just rolled onto her back and burst into a fit of laughter. Run her out of town? That was unlikely to happen, sure DT had a rich father, but what was money when put up against this giant of a filly? Worthless, that’s what it was.

“Scootaloo!” yelled a familiar yellow filly.

Scootaloo rolled onto her stomach and stood up, gazing down the path. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Applejack and Big Macintosh, were racing towards her. As they neared Scootaloo’s position, and saw that she was alone, their pace decreased dramatically.

“Ah see what ya mean Apple Bloom, that is a mighty big mess Scootaloo has gotten herself into, noted Applejack, “Though ah think ya might’ve been better askin’ Twilight fer help.”

“Wha-? Where’d she go, Scootaloo?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Oh don’t worry about her, I saw to it,” explained a proud Scootaloo.

Applejack leant in to Sweetie Belle and whispered in her ear. “Ya mean t’ say that Scootaloo bein’ nearly three times bigger than she was yesterday, ain’t the problem?”

“Nah, she’s just growing up. Miss Cheerilee says it will happen to us all one day, Scootaloo just got started earlier than everyone else,” replied Sweetie Belle.

“Well she’s sure doin’ a lotta growin’, that’s fer sure! Why ah reckon she’s taller than Big Mac!”

Big Macintosh remained silent, his eyes scanning over Scootaloo, trying to work out if in fact Scootaloo was taller than him. He sure hoped not, he’d feel ashamed if a mare outgrew him, Celestia only knows how he would feel if a filly outgrew him. Scootaloo caught sight of his busy eyes, and took a few steps closer, making it pretty evident for all ponies around her, that she was in fact, taller than Big Macintosh.

“Well would ya look at that! She is taller than Big Mac!”

Big Macintosh bowed his head and blushed, though thankfully the blush blended with his already red coat. Oh the shame he felt right now, he could feel his title slipping away from him. Soon he would just be known as ‘Mac’ or ‘Macintosh’. He shuddered as he tried to dismiss those thoughts; these were definitely dark times for him.

“What’re y’all doin’ all the way out here anyway? Shouldn’t ya be in school?” queried Applejack.

“Oh, we got let out, some of the teachers suffered nervous breakdowns,” explained Scootaloo.

“Oh my Celestia, are they ok?” asked Applejack.

“Why don’t you go and find out? We’ll go to Sweet Apple Acres and wait for you,” replied Scootaloo.

Then, once again, without waiting for another reply, Scootaloo took off for Sweet Apple Acres. The remaining two CMC chased after her, leaving Applejack and Big Macintosh to stare blankly at one another, before they decided to head into school, just to see how much truth there was in their story. As the CMC made their way in the opposite direction, a little bit of tension had surfaced within the group. Apple Bloom was starting to notice the distinct personality changes that Scootaloo had adopted, the most prominent was this lie she had just told. Sure Cheerilee had become distracted since Scootaloo barged into the class, but no-one had cancelled the class, and once Applejack found that out, she was going to be in big trouble.

“So, what do you want to do first?” asked Scootaloo.

“Ah guess we could play in th’ orchard, away from everypony…” muttered Apple Bloom.

“Great! Come on; let’s make it a race there. Ready?”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood either side of their friend, withholding their enthusiasm because they already knew who would be the winner. Lazily they prepped themselves for the race, lowering their bodies into a racing position. Scootaloo was the only one that seemed to have any enthusiasm at all. Her wings fluttered wildly, and she eagerly moistened her lips with anticipation. She glanced at her friends, and then turned her gaze forward, eyes set firmly on the distance and the orchard that it concealed. She furrowed her brow to aid with the concentrating, and stuck out the tip of her tongue. She was all prepared to win, now she just had to make it become a reality.

“3, 2, 1, go!”

Off they went, Scootaloo charged ahead thanks to her stamina and increased size. Apple Bloom fell into second place, whilst Sweetie Belle took up the rear. Regardless of whether or not they actually wanted Scootaloo to win, they had to at least make it look like they were trying. Apple Bloom tried to keep the pace with Scootaloo, just enough to tell her which part of the orchard they were actually racing to, before she fell behind again, even dropping back to Sweetie Belle’s position. Scootaloo took off further into the distance, as there was no real need to keep the pace with the others, now that she knew their destination. She’d wait for them at the finish, pretending that she had been there for hours, as was sometimes customary in friendly races.