Scootaloo closed the door behind her and walked downstairs, a chill running through her. The staircase she was walking down right now was actually the same one as had been in her dream. When her parents died, Vinyl had been living in a small apartment, and had decided to move in with her, rather than vice-versa.
This meant she hadn't had to adjust to living in a new house, but it did mean it was full of memories for her. She gave the air a good sniff as she walked, and the smell of something delicious wafted up. Octavia must be making breakfast. It smelled wonderful.
That, of course, was one way she knew Octy was making it. She would have been smelling smoke if Vinyl had been cooking.
As she entered the living room, Vinyl was sitting by the turntable, sorting through records. She looked up as Scootaloo came down the stairs. "Morning Scoots! Feeling better?"
You know, she actually was a bit. The nightmare had been painful for her, but her talk with Princess Luna had really helped.
Her muscles still were aching a little, but were a lot better than yesterday, too. She flexed a wing experimentally. Of course, the base of her wings felt kind of tingly for some reason. "Sorta."
Vinyl kept looking through the pile of records in front of her. She paused at one of them.
"You know, I haven't played this in a long time," she said, pulling it out of the stack. "I think it's time to bring it back out."
Her horn glowed electric blue, and the record came out of its sleeve, floating over to the record player. As the record began to play, Scootaloo immediately recognised the song. It was a cover of "Mister Blue Sky", and had only been on the Flaming Tulips' final album.
The band had actually disbanded after her mother's death. Ruby Sunshine had been their lead vocalist and written most of their hits, and they just couldn't replace her. This was an album they'd thrown together while disbanding, all of alternate tracks, and unreleased recordings that they had sitting around.
There wasn't a real theme or much coherence to the album, and it had a lot more covers than was typical of their others, but it was fun anyways. Especially when it switched over to a cover of "Ballroom Blitz".
Scootaloo just couldn't help herself. She started in on her best air guitar routine, and began rocking out. She even started singing along, though she knew she wasn't exactly the best singer.
"And the mare in the back said 'Everypone attack!' and it turned into a ballroom blitz." she sang, loudly, though not as offkey as she would have once. "And the filly in the corner said, 'Girl, I'm gonna warn ya, it's going to turn into a ballroom blitz'.'"
Just as she was starting to get really into it, Octavia walked in, shaking her head. "Alright, Vinyl, loud rock music again first thing in the morning? Really?"
Then she noticed Scootaloo doing her best grimace with an air guitar solo. "Oh. Never mind then. Scootaloo, once this song is done, would you mind setting the table? Breakfast is just about ready."
Scootaloo thought to herself, Breakfast. Rock and Roll.
"I made pancakes," Octavia announced. Mmmm, pancakes. Lets see. Pancakes, lovely pancakes. The Ballroom Blitz.
Her thought process was interrupted by a loud rumbling from her stomach. Breakfast it was.
She reluctantly ended her air guitar routine, and followed Octavia over to the kitchen. There she tossed a tray on her back, and Octy started loading it down with plates, silverware, and glasses. Scootaloo spread out her wings a bit, and used them to keep the tray balanced.
She slowly walked back to the living room, stopping any time that the weight on her back shifted. Once there, she started setting places at the table. There was a plate left over when she was done, so she took it back to the kitchen.
Seeing the extra plate, Octavia started piling pancakes on it, and set down a container of butter and maple syrup on the tray as well. Scoots shrugged mentally, headed back, and put everything in the middle of the table.
Octavia came in, and placed a pitcher of orange juice on the table, then sat down. Scootaloo took this as her cue, and settled down at the table as well. Eying the huge stack of pancakes, she shrugged and started heaping them on her plate.
Vinyl came over and joined them. Scootaloo liberally slathered her pancakes with butter and maple syrup, and started munching on one of them enthusiastically. Octavia made the best pancakes, at least, in her opinion.
After messily devouring one stack, she started in on another. Octy seemed to have made lots of them today, possibly because she knew Scootaloo hadn't gotten dinner.
Once she started slowing down, Octavia spoke up.
"Scootaloo, I seem to recall you were planning on stopping over by the library today to talk with Twilight?"
"Mmmph," Scootaloo quickly swallowed the rest of the pancake in her mouth and tried again. "Yeah, she's been researching my problem, and I was going to see what she's come up with."
"Alright, dear. In that case, why don't I take you over to the library after breakfast? I wanted to talk with her briefly anyways."
Uh oh. Scootaloo could easily imagine what Octavia wanted to talk about. Maybe she hadn't dodged her questions from yesterday that well after all.
"You don't need to do that," she said nervously. "I'll be fine."
"It'll be no trouble at all. I insist."
Oh, hoofclippings, Scootaloo thought, then reminded herself for the millionth time that it wasn't a real swearword. It seemed to fit so well sometimes, though.
"Um, are you sure you don't have any concerts lined up for today?" she asked hopefully.
"No, that concert was next week, dear."
"I've got a late night gig lined up myself, though." Vinyl chipped in.
Nothing new there. A lot of Vinyl's gigs were late night, leaving her with Octy. Unless she also had something lined up. Scootaloo had been able to get away with an awful lot in the past just due to neither of them having been available at the time.
She supposed if Octavia was set on interrogating Twilight, there wasn't much she could do about it. Besides, she hadn't done anything wrong. She actually felt Twilight should get some grief over what had happened. She just wanted to make sure she still had her help afterwards.
"Well, all right. I'm not sure if she'll be ready yet, though," Scootaloo said. "I think she'd said to come over this afternoon."
"I'm sure she won't mind you coming over earlier and helping you with her research," Octavia responded. "It is for your benefit, after all."
"Do you think I should stop by and see if Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom want to help as well?" she asked. "Maybe we could get our cutie marks as research assistants."
The expression on Octavia's face at this was all Scootaloo could have asked for. Actually, she knew Apple Bloom was busy at the farm all day, though Sweetie Belle might have been free, but Octavia didn't need to know that.
"I'm not sure that is the best idea, dear," she said mildly. "Twilight wasn't expecting the others over, after all."
Well, she didn't really want to have to walk all the way over to Sweet Apple Acres, knowing that Apple Bloom wasn't available. She let it go.
"Yeah, I suppose not."
She noticed she was the only one still eating, and quickly finished up the pancakes on her plate. She'd been pretty hungry.
"Could you clear the table for me, Scootaloo?" Octavia asked. "You don't actually need to wash the plates, just put them in the sink and rinse them off. Then we'll get going."
Scootaloo sighed, and hauled away all the dirty dishes while Vinyl went back to the living room and changed records.
"It's astounding. Time is fleeting..."
Oh, that's what Vinyl's gig tonight was. She'd actually heard Sweetie Belle singing this song once. When she'd asked, it had turned out that her sister and Fluttershy had gone to see the show recently. From her description of their costumes, Scootaloo had thought it'd be cool to check out some time.
Octavia had sort of nipped that idea in the bud, though, telling her it wasn't for young fillies. And since Vinyl usually ended up running the music, if she went, she'd almost certainly get caught. Which was a shame, as it would have been a perfect Cutie Mark Crusaders outing. And what if one of their special talents was related to the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Moot point, though.
She finished with the dishes, and put what was left of the pancakes into the fridge.Then she ducked into her room for her saddlebags, and headed to the living room, where Octavia was waiting. They let Vinyl know they were leaving, and then headed off for the library.
Scootaloo took her scooter along, walking it over, and parked it outside. Reaching the library, Octavia raised a hoof to knock at the door, but Scootaloo stopped her.
"Octy, you realise this is a library? Within business hours? You don't need to knock. If it was closed, there'd be a sign."
Octavia paused. "It is a home, too. I would think it would be polite, at the very least, to knock before entering."
"There are signs all over the place inside asking ponies to be quiet. I think it'd be all right."
A voice came from behind the door. "The door's unlocked, you two. Are you going to come on in, or do I need to wait for a knock first?"
"We'll be right in, Spike," Scootaloo called out. Octy finally went ahead and opened the door and they walked in. Spike was on the other side, waiting for them.
"About time. I saw both of you approaching from a window, but you never came in."
"Octy's not used to libraries," Scootaloo said, grinning.
"Scoots!"
"No sweat. Twilight's still in full research mode, but I'm sure she'd welcome a helping hoof. In the meantime, um," He looked over at Octavia, "maybe I should get you a library card?"
As Spike pulled out a bunch of paperwork for her to sign, Scootaloo started over to where Twilight was, but stopped about halfway. "Sweetie Belle?"
Sweetie Belle looked up from a book she had been studying.
"Hi Scoots!" she said happily.
"Hi. Um, what are you doing here?"
"It's a library, what do you think I'm doing here?" she said, and gestured to the book.
Scootaloo groaned. She supposed after the scene with Octavia, she had that one coming. She looked closer at the book Sweetie Belle was reading.
"A Beginners Guide To Magic?"
"Yeah," she said. "I've just gotten really aggravated recently with not even being able to levitate anything, so I thought I'd read up on it. Twilight seemed really busy, but Spike thought I could start with this book."
Scootaloo's wings flared up for a moment. "I know just what you mean."
"What brings you to the library, though?" she asked. "I don't really see you with books often."
Scootaloo lowered her voice and got closer to Sweetie Belle. "You remember that doctors appointment I had a few days ago?"
"Yeah." She frowned. "It seemed like you'd been kinda depressed and avoiding us since then, actually."
Scootaloo gave an embarrassed shrug. "I might have been. The doctor told me that I had a pretty good chance of never being able to fly."
"Wow. Scoots, I'm sorry." She put down the book and wrapped herself around Scootaloo in a hug. She flushed, but endured it. From long experience, she knew there was no getting out of one of Sweetie Belle's hugs.
"Anyway, I'm not giving up that easily, and Twilight said she'd help research anything that could help my flying."
"Well, count me in. Maybe I can get some help with my magic along the way," she said, tucking the book in her saddlebag. "I'm not sure this was helping anyways."
The two of them wandered on over to Twilight. She was at a desk, three books floating in midair. First she looked at one, then another, and jotted down notes with a quill and parchment. As Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle entered her field of vision, the books set themselves down on the desk below.
"Scootaloo! I wasn't expecting you here so early!" She looked over at her friend. "And you brought Sweetie Belle along as well?"
"Actually, she was already here, reading up on learning magic."
"Oh?" Twilight looked embarrassed for a moment. "I must not have seen her come in."
She glanced in Sweetie Belle's direction. "Did you need any help?"
"Well, Spike found a book for me, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it," she said dejectedly. "But when I saw Scoots come in, I figured I could help her out instead."
"Oh," she said, then brightened. "No matter. I could use some help from both of you."
She looked at Scootaloo. "I do have one question, though."
"Shoot."
She gestured towards a small stack of really old-looking books, all tattered and worn.
"These arrived this morning with a note from Princess Luna. Any idea why she wants me to devote my full attention to your problems with flying?"
I think you meant to say Apple Bloom instead of Scootaloo.
2419397
Gah.
I swear I remember fixing typing the wrong name somewhere else in this chapter before publishing it, too. Oh well, fixed. Thanks!
"Maybe he can help me learn to fly!"
"Maybe he can help me learn magic!"
"Maybe he can help me get a brain!"
"... Pinky Pie, why did you say that, and why are you wearing those funny clothes with straw poking out all over?"
Sorry, it was the first thing that popped into my mind reading this chapter.
2419598
I almost worked in an oz joke, actually. Because I was thinking about the same thing near the end. Though I had Apple Bloom in mind, since it is the CMC.
But I already had Sweetie Belle singing "Move On Down the Road" in Making Friends, and continued to work Oz references into the unpublished sequel, so I figured I'd let it go here. (Especially since that universe gave me Scarecrow!Ditzy Doo headcanon...).
Singing Sweetie is win.
Scoots seems a little bit sassy with Octavia, kinda funny. When it first came up, I was definitely slightly dubious about Octavia and Vinyl essentially being Scoot's foster parents, but it seems to be working well enough, so yeah.
So Scootaloo sure is managing to get some strong allies in her corner to help her out with her flying problem. With Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna both taking personal interest in her case, seems like if there's any way to get her flying, they should find it. There's probably some other little filly elsewhere in Equestria with the exact same problem, but just giving up because she doesn't have the attention of anypony who can help. But I wonder how Sweetie Belle is going to factor into things.
And then normally "everyone" is a perfectly suitable word for ponies to use, but something about that "Everypone attack!" line struck me as more amusing than it probably should have been. It always makes me wonder, though, how ponies are aware of real-life references like that.
Saw some more minor typos and things, largely apostrophes again:
"She looked up as Scootaloo come down the stairs." came
"and the it came out of its sleeve"
"and had only been on the Flaming Tulips final album" apostrophe
"The band had actually disbanded after her mothers death" apostrophe
"The doors unlocked, you two" apostrophe
"really old looking books" old-looking
Also, this chapter could use a bit more diversity in the character identifiers. There were a few points where I had to stop and try to figure out which pony the "she"s and "her"s were referring to. Pretty minor thing, though.
2431269
Yeah, I'm happy about how the family dynamic between them is working out. And Octavia and Scootaloo is funny. Of course, it's also a sign of a healthy relationship. Scoots is comfortable enough with Octy that she's willing to tease her without worrying too much about punishment. (And the nickname "Octy" is definitely Vinyls fault. She's just given up on protesting.)
It's an interesting family dynamic in that Octavia ends up becoming the primary caregiver despite not actually being related to Scootaloo. It's largely because Vinyl and Scoots are too similar, and Vinyl would let her get away with too much. But Octavia clearly cares about Scootaloo...
And yes, I'm sure there is another filly or colt or two giving up on the same issue due to lack of help. To be fair, in my headcanon, Luna has a similar relationship with a dozen other children across Equestria, and if Twilight wasn't there, would have found some other way to help. Essentially, "Children of the Night" combined with Sleepless In Ponyville in my mind at some point.
You know, Sweetie Belle wasn't in my first draft of this chapter. I've got ideas for her and the next chapter, though.
Oh, and believe me, that went from everyone to everypony to everpone in the course of writing this, and I left it as the letter because it highly amused me, too. In my mind, it's not so much a real life reference as the singer mispronouncing "everypony" to make it fit better in the song, which does happen.
Thanks for the corrections! I went through and took care of the typos you pointed out. I recognise some of the non-apostrophe related ones as being from last minute changes, too. I really should just get a proofreader.
I do tend to find that the character identifiers are always a pain, especially in the mlp universe. I'll take a look at that if I get a chance. One of the issues is that everypony is female, so I never get to use he vs. she.
Now if I can just persuade myself to start the next chapter. I wrote first and second drafts of the second and third chapters for a fic I'm calling "Cubic Zirconia" instead yesterday. Of course, I was able to do that largely because I took a few days off...
2431770
I did find it kind of interesting how Octavia seems to be playing the caretaker role in this, and Vinyl's just kinda relaxed about everything. I think that's what got me wondering about it last chapter when I asked if Vinyl was Scoot's mother's sister. I suppose that means the way it's playing out makes sense, if I can guess the blood relation independently of which of the two is acting more like a concerned parent.
And as soon as Sweetie Belle showed up in this chapter, I started imagining her getting strapped down for that same experiment that didn't go so well for Scootaloo. Sweetie might want to run if Twilight suggests running some tests on her next.
I meant the song itself was a (slightly modified) real-life reference, along with the Rocky Horror Picture Show mention. It always catches my attention when ponies talk about songs or books or such from Earth. Ponify it to some degree, like you did with the song, and it's just a reference; directly name-drop something, seemingly unmodified, and it feels a little like fourth-wall breaking or something. I once read a story where Shining Armor teased Twilight by telling her spoilers from Hunger Games, and I think Harry Potter, and it made me wonder how they got their hooves on straight-up human books.
And yeah, the "she" thing can be tricky.
But hmm, Cubic Zirconia... Somehow sorta sounds like it could be a SweetieSpike story, perhaps. Or possibly something about Rarity. Hard to guess what a story will be about from just the name, unless it's really blatant.
2433668
You can also think of it this way, to a certain extent. Vinyl already had an established role in Scootaloo's life before her parents died, namely that of the wild and crazy aunt who spoils her niece rotten. Transitioning from that to a responsible mothering role would be difficult.
Octavia hadn't spent too much time with Scoots before then. It was much easier for her to take over the parental role.
As far as Sweetie Belle goes, Twilight knows what she did wrong last time, right? But don't worry, I don't think Scootaloo would stand for that, and there's always Spike.
Plus we have a responsible adult present at the moment.
And I suppose I should have gone with what I did in an earlier draft and not directly named the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Or called it "The Rocky Horror Pony Show". I was imagining it as ponified, of course...
It's rather difficult to have a dj without referencing music, and it's easier to reference existing music, such as ELO's 'Mr Blue Sky', unfortunately. Besides, singing "Ballroom Blitz" fits well with my interpretation of her character.
Ah well, I'll try to avoid doing that too much without at least ponifying it. (Like my earlier 'Sandmare' reference.)
And, yeah, I see what you mean. Cubic Zirconia stars Diamond Tiara, actually. One of her more nasty tricks on the CMC lands Apple Bloom in the hospital. And an overreaction on her fathers part lands her on the streets. Not sure how realistic it is, but I'm having fun writing it, anyways.
I've got the draft of what I've written of Cubic Zirconia linked on my user page right now, along with various unpublished junk, actually. Most of the other fics linked are cancelled or on long hiatuses, though.
2433915
Yeah, referencing music that way is generally pretty harmless, and can be quite fitting or even just about a necessity sometimes, so how you handled that aspect was just fine. Plus it made for that funny "Everypone" bit. It was really just the Rocky Horror part that gave me pause, but obviously, such a show would have to be acted by ponies, meaning it's automatically ponified at least a little. So it wasn't nearly as out-of-place as the books mentioned in that other fic, which I can't even remember what story that was from anymore. In any case, I really didn't want to make it seem like a big problem or anything, which was why I made only a passing mention of it originally. I might not be the biggest fan of references, in general, but I know a lot of people find them fun, as long as they aren't overdone.
And holy crap! Diamond Tiara's father kicks her out? That's mean, but kinda funny in a serves-her-right sort of way. Diamond Tiara definitely makes sense for that title, though, not sure why I didn't think of that. If you're going to publish that one, I'll probably wait until then to read it, but I might take a look at some of those other scraps some time, if I ever manage to actually catch up a little more with my backlog of regular updates.
2434118
Alright. For reference, I listened to "Ballroom Blitz" several times, and even sang those lyrics a few times to make sure I had it right. The things we do for fanfiction. It fits my mental image of Scootaloo liking "wicked rock ballads" as in canon, though. Besides, it's a fun song.
And don't worry, I'm not going to have ponies referencing Harry Potter or the Hunger Games, even if Twilight is reading the Sandmare comics.
Though one of the ideas I had once and decided not to write was "Dobby In Equestria".
And, yeah, it's mean. Especially since he shattered her tiara into pieces in front of her before doing it. There's actually one paragraph I'm really proud of because of that, though. I do plan to publish it eventually. I might wait till I have it mostly or totally written. either that or maybe I'll publish it whenever one of my other fics wraps up.
And I still have to figure out the name of Filthy Rich's generous, charitable cousin. Hate it when I'm blocked on pony names. I'm temporarily calling her 'Penny'.
As far as the other scraps goes, here's a quick overview:
Raindrop on Roses is a quick shipping oneshot I wrote, and then revised to death. It still needs some revision, but I seriously can't look it any more, so it's cancelled. Though the backstory for Raindrops cutie mark I came up with for it ended up in On A Rainy Day.
Unwanted Attention is the first chapter of a longer fanfic that never made it past one and a half chapters. The first chapter and the excerpt I put in the comments of the beginning of the next chapter are pretty good. I ran out of plot and universe, and never got reinspired. It's technically on hold till I get an idea of what to do with it one of these days.
Fluttershy's Project was my first attempt at a Scootaloo adoption fanfic with Fluttershy. I got three or four chapters into it, plus enough misc. future scenes for another chapter, and a bunch of notes.I liked it, but it stalled out, and now it's too close to the Making Friends sequel. I feel guilty about killing it because of how much work I put into it, though.
I actually have other scraps around that I might put up eventually, too...
2434312
You know, I'm not sure I've ever actually heard that entire song all the way through, or if I have I was probably like 8 at the time. One of those songs where all I ever hear is the one main chunk. And I actually always kinda thought it was "Bar-Room Blitz", presumably about a bar fight or something, so I just looked up the lyrics. Anyway, yeah, I can definitely believe Scoots rockin' out a little to that song or something like it. There's even been at least a couple pieces of real-world classical music right in the show itself, but that's probably not really her speed.
And then full-on crossovers are a different matter entirely, since pretty much anything is fair game in those. Although, to be honest, I don't actually know who Dobby is.
Wow, smashing her tiara right in front of her. Ouch. That's almost like a "You're dead to me!" gesture, if you take it as symbolism for her cutie mark. You've definitely got my curiosity for that one. Hmm... I'd suggest the fairly obvious name of Charity for the cousin, but that might have too many connotations already. "Filly-anthropist" is more of a word pun than a name. Bleeding Heart? Sounds kinda gross. I don't know, words like "benefactor" don't lend themselves to becoming pony names very well. I suppose it depends on how big her role is in the story for how much effort you should put into trying to come up with a good name.
2435692
I listen to a lot of music of all types, so it popped into my head for the scene when I was thinking of rock songs that Scootaloo would like to sing "really loud". Sweetie Belle, well, for some reason, I've got it in my head that she likes musicals.
And that's a pity, as it's really a very silly idea for a Harry Potter crossover.
It's not only symbolism for her cutie mark, but her name as well. Her whole identity is bound up in the thing. She's pretty shell-shocked about it, as can be expected. I've already written her just breaking down once. That's one of the reasons writing this has gotten so interesting to me, actually.
You can see why I'm having naming troubles, especially since she's related to the Riches, so should have a name dealing somewhat with money. I've thought about Charity a few times. It just seems a little too blatant for the role I'm giving her.
Fortunately, I don't really need to know her name until the last few chapters. I've mentioned her once, offhand, as "my cousin", but people will have forgotten about her by the time she becomes important. Hopefully.
2475355
As I may have commented, I wrote that line, laughed, and scribbled down the first paragraph or two of the next chapter right afterwards. Mad Scientist Twilight is fun.
2475375
Thanks. I did end up a bit concerned that the third and fourth chapters were taking things a bit dark, but it was flowing really well. And, yes, while I'm not totally sure I have the hang of writing Vinyl and Octy yet, they are fun.
Sweetie Belle shows up at the end of chapter 5, and starts getting involved. Not sure on Apple Bloom yet. One of the things I'm doing on this fanfic that makes me nervous is really winging it. I generally only know a chapter or two ahead of time what I'm doing, though I have notes on things that I want to throw in.
Next one's being difficult so far, too, because it's supposed to be about Twilight's research, not Twilight finding out about Scootaloo's background.
thank you, that singing SB in the author's note made my day.
2476461
Exactly. I'm very fond of the Luna / Scootaloo relationship here. And one thing that I may or may not make clearer in the next chapter; this isn't really Scootaloo getting special treatment. Luna patrols everyponies nightmares, and Scootaloo is one of a dozen or so ponies that she's become close to in the course of that.
2476482
Glad you liked it. That picture did influence the Rocky Horror Picture Show section of that chapter.
2476560 yeah, if Scoot's found out, it would crush her again. Also, I love teh way you portrayed Scoot's parents. I have seen many ways of them portrayed: Scootaloo killing her mother and her father hanging himself and Rarity killing them when Scootaloo was a filly to name a couple. er, newborn I mean. Rarity was the filly
2476633
Oh, she knows. They've had lots of time to talk. And Luna obviously cares about her a lot, given the ending to chapter 5.
And thanks. I wanted it to be clear that she had a loving family, and still has one. I do kinda think her father got the short end of the stick as far as screen time.
He was an orange pegasus who was a master chef, incidentally. Scoots got the fur color and wings from her father, and the mane color and love of rock from her mother, among other things...
2476711 wow, that's much nicer than the other versions of her parents.
The one where she killed her mother and her father hung himself, Scoot's mother was abusive towards her, always hitting Scoot's showing how much she 'loved'her, and her father would hold her.
in the one where Rarity killed Scoot's parents, and you will see this if you read The Secret Life of Rarity, Rarity kills Scootaloo's father after she tries to get more money from Rarity after she moves into the boutique, than kills her mother after she starts screaming for help
2476738
Ouch. Yeah, I figure if her parents are dead, why make them be bad as well? Make them likeable characters who are now dead.
I did steal some of the backstory from a fanfic of mine that I started work on and put on hiatus that never got posted.
Her parents died the same way, except that Scootaloo headed down the stairs, the thieves clobbered her, and she ended up in a coma.
The fanfic starts inside her head while in the coma. ^_^
2476839 you have a point there. I agree with you there, why not make Scoot's parents nice? actually, if you think about it, everypony in the mane 6's parents are featured in some way except for Shy and AJ. what happened to them?
Luna is a good friend.
My reaction to the last bit: "And best pony really comes through!" Heh. As if last chapter wasn't enough....
4951323
Amusingly, I initially thought you meant the most recent chapter, which also ended with a bit involving Princess Luna...
--arcum42