Chapter 1: She
Celestia's sun shined down on to the land of Equestria below. The light entered the window of Fluttershy's cottage, hitting an orange pegasus's face. The light caused her to wake up. With a yawn, Scootaloo got out of her bed and stretched her hooves and wings out. Looking at her wings, she flapped them slowly and sighed to herself, Almost done with school and still can't fly. Way to suck, Scootaloo,' she thought to herself as she made her way out into the living room of Fluttershy's home.
In the main room, Fluttershy was tending to one of the many animals that were taking residence in her home. "Oh, good morning, Scootaloo. Did you rest well?" the yellow pegasus asked.
"Yeah, I did. Thanks again for letting me live here during the week to attend school, makes things a whole lot easier for me," Scootaloo said, being careful to not trip over a family of sleeping rabbits.
"Oh, it's not a problem at all! I mean, you are my best friend's little sister and all. Of course, even if you weren't Rainbow Dash's sister I would be more than happy to have your company," Fluttershy spoke as she finished bandaging a squirrel.
"Well, still, thanks," Scootaloo said as she put her saddlebag on her back, "I should get going to meet with the others, see you later!" The purple maned pony was quickly out the door, on her scooter, and heading to the schoolhouse.
Along the way, she met up with her two best friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. The three ponies, despite being almost done with their schooling, still have not gotten their cutie marks. While they didn't crazy and bizarre activities in hopes of gaining their marks, they still stuck by each other and remained close friends. Lately, however, Scootaloo had noticed something different about her two friends and it showed up again as they walked.
"Hey, girls," the pegasus said to her friends, "What's up?"
"Oh, hey there, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle welcomed her friend, "I was just telling Applebloom here that I think the new colt is pretty cute!" The unicorn was blushing a little at her words.
"You mean Pip?" Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yeah, that's him. Ah do have t' admit, he is cute with his accent an' all," Applebloom chimed in, "Ya should totally ask him out or somethin'".
"You think he will want to?"
"Ya have t' ask him!"
"I think I might do that today," Sweetie Belle thought to aloud.
Scootaloo was both bothered by the conversation itself and by the fact that her friends were talking about colts and having crushes on them. "Uh, guys? Maybe we should worry about that stuff after we get our cutie marks? We still get called blank flanks, you know."
Applebloom shrugged it off quite quickly, "But we'll get 'em when we get 'em, Scootaloo. Applejack and Big Mac keep tellin' that, so ah'm not worried."
"Neither am I," Sweetie Belle agreed with the earth pony, "besides, I think Applebloom is more worried about getting Snails to pay attention to her," the white unicorn gave a sly smile as she revealed Applebloom's secret.
"Hey! You promised not t' tell anypony!" Applebloom lightly pushed her friend, "How about ah tell Snips that you like him, huh?"
"Hey, no fair!"
"What's not fair about it? Ya just told Scootaloo about Snails!"
Scootaloo's mind drifted off as she moved on her scooter. She ignored the bickering and gossiping of her friends. In the pegasus's mind, she was really annoyed that her two friends were becoming like the fillies they hated when they still called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders; they were just like Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. Taking a deep sigh, she turned around and scooted toward Ponyville.
"Scootaloo! Where are you going? School's this way," Sweetie Belle called out.
"I'm not going today," she replied.
"Why's that?" Applebloom asked, her head titled to one side.
"Just feel like playing hookey today, that's all," she simply stated.
"But what about-" Sweetie Belle started.
"Don't worry, I'll be back their tomorrow. No worries," Scootaloo said as she started the engine on her scooter and rode away. Her friends watched her ride away, giving a worried look.
Riding through town at a slightly slower speed than she would normally, Scootaloo began to let her mind wander, "I know I shouldn't ditch class today, but I just need to just get away from that girlish stuff that Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are talking about. I should be okay since Dash did this quite a lot when she was in school. Guh, but I just don't understand what's with the girls. I mean, what happened to our top priority being about getting our cutie marks? Now they just care about getting colts to notice them. What's the point? Seriously, what do I care if some guy likes me or not. And for that matter, I don't think being super girly is going to help. Guh, I can't stand girly stuff….'
Lost in her own thought, Scootaloo didn't hear a terrified voice from above, "Look out below!"
With a loud thud, a purple and green dragon with small wings crashed into Scootaloo, knocking her off her scooter and causing the two to hit a tree. Rubbing his head as he recovered, the dragon looked toward Scootaloo and became deeply concerned, "Oh my gosh, are you alright, Scootaloo?"