//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: I Left My Heart in San Franciscolt 
// Story: The Inane Adventures of Hazelnut Latte 
// by Porcelain Mug 
//------------------------------//

It was winter break and Scootaloo was super excited. Sure, she was away from the other Crusaders, but she was going to have fun. She had accompanied Rainbow Dash to San Franciscolt. Her adoptive mother was going to act as a judge in the Pan-Equestrian Stunt Fliers Association's annual Super Flight competition. Scootaloo had begged to come with her. Rainbow Dash, thankfully, allowed her to come. Unfortunately, current events left Rainbow Dash rather busy as she had to familiarize herself with the rules of the competition and the criteria for placing. However, Scootaloo was not left by herself. She was left with Rainbow Dash's cousin, Silver Lining. She was originally from Flyreland, but she lived in San Franciscolt now. Silver Lining had decided to take her to a skate park, of all places. She was kind of excited, especially since Rainbow Dash had bought her a new skateboard. She had a skateboard of her own, but she'd had it for over a year and was getting kind of big for it.

"Now Scootaloo, don't go too far." Silver Lining said with a thick Flyrish brogue.

"Silver Lining, it's just a skate park." Scootaloo groaned. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"Some of the fliers' children come 'ere." Silver Lining replied. "Some of them are bratty litte shiteheads."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "Rainbow Dash wouldn't want you to use that kind of language around me."

"Well, yer mam ain't 'ere, is she?" Silver Lining said with a mischievous smirk.

"You know that you're a terrible influence on me, right?" Scootaloo deadpanned. 

"The absolute worst." Silver Lining confirmed. "Now, go play an' 'ope that no one ya run into is a little turd."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and adjusted her helmet. She headed into the park and started practicing her tricks on the various parts of the park. She was starting out easy, but she quickly became accustomed to her new board. After she landed her third heelflip, she heard somepony laughing at her. She stopped and looked to see an aqua earth pony colt with a blue and silver streaked mane. "Nice board." He jeered. "Surprised you know how to use it."

"I know how to use it." Scootaloo said with a scowl. "I've been using it since I got here."

"Yeah, whatever." the colt scoffed. "Get out of the skatepark. We don't like frontier town hicks here."

"Who do you think you are?" Scootaloo snapped.

"The name is Flip Kick." the colt said. "I'm the best skater here! My mom is Vert. She's the best flier in the entire PESFA!"

"Do you know who I am?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah." Flip Kick said. "Your mom is that Ponyville mare who isn't qualified to judge. You're Scootaloo, Equestria's biggest baby."

"She is too!" Scootaloo argued. "And I am not a baby!"

"Prove it!" Flip Kick said.

Before Scootaloo could do anything, Flip Kick shoved her backwards. She didn't have time to stop herself before she fell backwards into the bowl. "Scootaloo!" Silver Lining shouted.

Scootaloo glared up at Flip Kick. The colt did his signature move, a kickflip, before rolling back onto the deck. He sneered at the filly, who was a bit scraped up. "I'm okay!" Scootaloo called out to her mother's cousin before getting back up onto the deck and settling near a ramp. 

Flip Kick was just looking at her with a mocking expression on his face. "What, is your mommy going to kiss your boo-boo?" the colt jeered. "Bet she's brain damaged from all those crashes!"

Scootaloo glared at Flip Kick from the other side of the ramp. The jerk thought that he was so much better than her! He dared to insult Rainbow Dash, too! "Take that back." Scootaloo growled.

"Make me, Scootababy!" Flip Kick laughed. "I bet you can't even do any tricks on that widdle baby skateboard!"

Scootaloo's face split into a fierce grin. "Probably better than you!"

"Are you challenging me to a skate-off?" Flip Kick said with an arrogant laugh.

All the colts and fillies that had gathered around them let out 'ooh's of surprise. Scootaloo, instead of being intimidated, stood up straight and said, "Yeah, I am."

"Prepare to be annihilated!" Flip Kick laughed, heading over to the half pipe.

Scootaloo grinned fiercely and said, "Prepare to eat those words."

The two foals began their skate-off, each of them doing the best tricks in their respective reportoires. Scootaloo was determined to beat him. She had to admit that he was good. Eventually, it turned into a competition to see who could get the most air. As Scootaloo got higher, she absent-mindedly thought that this might be a special talent of hers. She could feel a strange tingling sensation, but she didn't let that distract her. To her dismay, Flip Kick got up higher than her. It was then that things went bad. The colt lost control of his board and began to fall from a great height. Lacking wings, he plumetted headfirst. He didn't have a helmet on. If he landed on his head, it wouldn't be pretty. Scootaloo reacted on instinct. Kicking off the top of the half-pipe, she shot up, her wings buzzing too fast for the naked pony eye to keep up with. She snatched Flip Kick out of midair, saving him from disaster. She hovered for a second, wings buzzing audibly, before lowering down enough to safely release Flip Kick before landing. Silver lining shot over to her, making sure that she was okay. "Oh my feckin' stars, Scootaloo!" She exclaimed. "Did ye know what ye jist did?"

"You saved me!" Flip Kick exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know." Scootaloo said. It was then that it hit her. "Oh spirits! I just flew!"

"I've never seen somepony move like that." Silver Lining admitted. "Do you usually fly like that?"

"No!" Scootaloo replied. "That's just it! I've never flown before!"

"Well, ye know what this means." Silver Lining said with a serious voice.

"What?" Scootaloo asked hesitantly.

Silver Lining grinned at her cousin's daughter. "This means that we're getting ice cream to celebrate!" the silver-maned, pale-blue mare said with a broad grin. "An' afterwards, we're gonna tell yer mam."

"Can I join?" Flip Kick asked. 

"Feck off, ya wee shite." Silver Lining shot a venomous look at the colt, causing him to cower. "Come on, Scootaloo. We're going."

Scootaloo picked up her board and followed Rainbow Dash's cousin. Once they were out of earshot, the filly asked, "Was that really necessary?"

"Probably not." Silver Lining admitted. "But ya 'ad ter admit it, yer boy is a little turd."

Scootaloo nodded. They were silent for a few seconds before the filly spoke up again. "Silver Lining?" she said.

"What?" Silver Lining replied. 

"If I get two scoops, I'll promise not to tell Mom that you were swearing around me." Scootaloo said with an evil grin.

"Ah!" Silver Lining chuckled. "Yer jist like yer mam!"

"I didn't hear a 'no.'" Scootaloo said, her grin widening.

"We'll see when we get to the ice cream shop." Silver Lining said, chuckling again. "Then, we'll go to the arena in time to catch yer mam before the compatition."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Scootaloo and Silver Lining had the necessary passes to get in so they could see Rainbow Dash. It took a while, though. They got to meet a few of the competitors. One of them, a yellow mare with a teal mane, snorted haughtily. "Who let the rabble in?"

Another competitor, a grey mare with a silver mane and gold eyes, rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, chill out, Vert. They're Rainbow Dash's guests."

"I have respect for Rainbow Dash as a talented flier." Vert said. "That doesn't mean that I need to like her foal, Afterimage."

Afterimage rolled her eyes and turned away from Vert to continue her stretches. Scootaloo could see that the grey mare's Cutie Mark was an old leather flier's helmet, which slightly overlapped a negative afterimage. Vert's Cutie Mark was an upward-pointing arrow. "Come on, Scootaloo." Silver Lining said. "Let's go find Rainbow Dash."

Scootaloo nodded and followed the Flyrish mare. They had to ask for directions a few times, but they eventually found Rainbow Dash. "Scoots!" the cyan pegasus greeted her adopted daughter happily.

"Mom, guess what!" Scootaloo said happily. "I flew! I actually flew!"

"That's awesome, kiddo!" Rainbow Dash said, bringing the filly into a hug.

Scootaloo, of course, hugged her back. Rainbow Dash released her a few seconds later. The rainbow-maned mare then froze. "Scoots." She said slowly. "Look at your flank."

Scootaloo turned to look at her flank, expecting it to be blank as usual. Instead, she was met with the image of a purple helmet with two white stripes on it- a perfect replica of her skater's helmet. She had gotten her Cutie Mark. The filly's mouth fell open. "I got my Cutie Mark." she whispered almost reverently. She turned to Rainbow Dash and loudly exclaimed, "Mom, I got my Cutie Mark!"

Rainbow Dash hugged her daughter and said, "That's so awesome!"

A tan unicorn stallion with a white mane walked in. "Ten minutes, Miss Dash." he said.

Rainbow Dash released her daughter and said, "You can tell me all about it after the competition. I've got some judging to do!"

Scootaloo nodded and headed off with Silver Lining to watch the competition. It was going to be a good one, she could tell.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Several hours later, the competition had reached its conclusion. Afterimage won first place. Second place went to her long-time rival, Spiral Dive. Vert didn't even place. Instead, third prize went to a talented male griffin named Garth. As she, Rainbow Dash, and Silver Lining left the competition grounds, Scootaloo was telling her mother what happened. "And then," Scootaloo said, "Whoosh! I flew up! I've never gone faster in my life!"

"And that's how you got a Cutie Mark in skate tricks." Rainbow Dash said with a smile. "That is super rad!"

"Ye should've seen 'er, Dash." Silver Lining said proudly. "She was amazin'."

"Then Silver Lining called him a wee shite." Scootaloo added.

Rainbow Dash's head jerked to look at her cousin. "Silver!" she gasped. "Not in front of the kids!"

Silver Lining glared at the filly. "I thought that you weren't going to tell her." the Flyrish mare said sternly.

"Well, I only got one scoop." Scootaloo replied.

"She tried to bargain her silence for an extra scoop of ice cream?" Rainbow Dash snorted. "That sounds like something I'd do!"

"It is somethin' ye'd do, Dash." Silver Lining deadpanned. "An' somethin' ye 'av done. Several times."

"We were fillies then." Rainbow Dash argued.

"Last time you did it, it was your eighteenth birthday." Silver Lining pointed out. "Only that time, it was tequila shots."

Rainbow Dash frowned momentarily before meeting her cousin's eyes. The two shared a grin. The first time the cyan pegasus got to drink, she and her slightly older cousin both got hammered. They both decided that it would be best to not tell either's parents, especially considering tht Silver Lining had a drunken one-night stand with a stallion she met at the bar. Rainbow Dash had laughed herself silly at the whole thing and the two of them went to a diner and had pancakes for breakfast. Scootaloo raised a brow. "Tequila shots?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled and said, "I'll tell you about it when you're older, Scoots."

"Aww!" Scootaloo huffed. "It sounds like a cool story!"

"When you're older." Rainbow Dash repeated. 

Scootaloo let out a huff of annoyance as she followed her mother back to their hotel. They would see the tourist spots of San Franciscolt tomorrow. Until then, she thought with a grin, she would be just be happy that she got her Cutie Mark. She couldn't wait to tell the others! Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell would be so jealous! She was the first one of the original Crusaders to get her Cutie Mark. She wondered what her friends' special talents were. She would have to wait until later to find out.