//------------------------------// // Crusaders of the Lost Foals // Story: Imagine Wonders of Dawn // by Tangerine Blast //------------------------------// Scootaloo hid under a bench in the castle halls, tucked in tight so not even the tip of her bright purple tail peeked out. It was an odd position for her to be in, for sure. The change of authority around the palace recently had shooken up her normal routine. Both in ways good and bad. Good in the sense it caused a lot of daily chaos that Scootaloo could use to remain undetected. No one would notice one little filly out of place if no one knew who was supposed to be there in the first place. But, on the other hoof, it was also bad because it meant she couldn’t memorize guard shifts or when ponies would be frequenting certain hallways. Her days had gone from careful sneaking in a tight schedule to a lot of quick ducking and hiding. A group of mares had passed through what she thought was an empty hallway just as she had entered so she had been forced to cram herself under a bench before they could spot her. Thankfully, the group seemed too preoccupied with their own conversations to notice the little orange blotch hidden in the shadows. They passed without even a change in their pace, the echoes of their voices fading away, and Scootaloo sighed in relief. “What are you hidin’ from?” Scootaloo yelped and whacked her head on the bottom of the bench. Groaning, she scuttled out of her hiding spot and turned to glare at the Earth Pony filly peering back out at her. Annoyance was already crawling up her spine and, yet, she couldn’t find it in herself to be surprised. “Where the heck did you come from?” Apple Bloom’s gaze swept to the end of the hall where the group of mares had disappeared. Scootaloo facehoofed. “Of course.” She froze mid groan as she realized that, in her attempt to escape the yellow filly, she had left her protective cover. Biting her lip, she gazed worriedly down the corridor. “No one else saw me, did they?” Apple Bloom stared at her, unblinking, for an uncomfortably long time before shaking her head. “No. I don’t think they noticed me leavin’ neither.” Scootaloo let out the breath she’d never admit she’d been holding and turned away. “Awesome. Well, if you’ll excuse me I’ll be going back to my own business now.” Scootaloo knew it was wishful thinking that Apple Bloom would take the hint and leave her alone. Didn’t mean she wasn’t disappointed when she heard the tell-tale clop of hoofsteps following along after her. She briefly considered snapping at the Earth Pony to get lost but dismissed the idea quickly. It would be child’s play for Apple Bloom to run off and tell an adult about the weird kid roaming the castle halls and swiping treats. Scootaloo was much better off just ignoring her and hoping she’d go away on her own. Still, Scootaloo was a little unnerved as the two walked down the twisting corridors in complete silence. Apple Bloom stayed a good two body lengths behind and didn’t say a single word as she followed. Like a creepy, apple-scented shadow. It was… actually weirding Scoots out. Knowing someone was following you but having them not say a word. It felt like she was being stalked. “So, remind me why you’re following me?” Scootaloo eventually asked when the silence had gotten too uncomfortable to stand. “‘Cause I wanna be your friend,” Apple Bloom answered simply, neither speeding up or slowing down to talk, “And you have to spend time with ponies to be their friends.” Scootaloo slipped into a small hole in the wall, not pausing to see if the larger Earth Pony could follow. “Why would you wanna be friends with me? I’m just a dirty little orphan.” “I’m an orphan too.” Scootaloo froze. She would have turned to look at the filly breathing on her tail but the gap she had squeezed into was too tight for such movements. Instead, she swallowed hard and continued to crawl forward. “Oh? I didn’t know that.” “You didn’t ask.” The reply wasn’t snarky or harsh but instead blunt and factual. Not a hint of emotion. It almost seemed to Scootaloo like Apple Bloom didn’t even care that her own parents were dead. “I guess I didn’t…” Scootaloo mumbled as she popped back out the other side of the hole. They were in a completely different section of the castle now, by one of the back doors. Scootaloo had done her pillaging for the day and she was ready to head home. “Welp, this is where we say goodbye.” She finally turned to look at Apple Bloom. The farm filly was staring at the door, seemingly lost in thought. “You don’t want me ta see where you live.” It wasn’t a question, and it didn’t seem to even be directed at Scootaloo. But she answered anyway. “Yeah, no offense but I like to keep my private sanctuary, you know, private.” Apple Bloom turned to her so fast it made Scootaloo jump. “Do you wanna see my bedroom?” Scootaloo wanted to say no. She had places to be and she didn’t even like the weird other orphan. “Sure.” She didn’t know why she didn’t. Now their positions were reversed. Scootaloo followed behind Apple Bloom, as she led her down paths she had never been. She followed knowing full well that every second spent in the castle was another chance to potentially get caught. But, as she argued to herself in the silence of their echoing hoofsteps, she realized that, for once, getting caught might not be a catastrophic event. Apple Bloom said her sister was one of those Element Bearers right? The ponies that took down Nightmare Moon and were now figuring out who was in charge? Surely everyone in the castle would know them and their family members. If Scootaloo was seen hanging out with essentially a celebrity then ponies wouldn’t dare question what she was up to. It was the perfect way to get around without risk. Feeling more confident in their unbidden ‘friendship’, Scootaloo picked up her pace until she was walking side by Apple Bloom's side. “So do you, like, live here in the castle? That’s pretty awesome but, no offense, you don’t seem the type.” Apple Bloom glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “What type do I seem?” Scootaloo blinked, bemused by the question. “You got a country accent. What type do you think you seem?” A smile tugged at Apple Bloom’s lips but she looked away before it could fully form. “Ah live on a farm in Ponyville with my Granny and siblings. We’re just camping here while Applejack works on fixin’ the government.” “Heh, I knew it. You even look like a farm filly.” “Where do you live?” Scootaloo almost stumbled over her own hooves at the sudden question. “W-what? Why do you wanna know that?” Apple Bloom didn’t turn to look at her but Scootaloo could swear she spied a fleeting, mischievous smile. “You don’t seem the type ta live in the castle.” “I do live in the castle. Nowadays,” Scootaloo shot back, drawing slightly away from the other filly, “And I’m not going to tell you where that little hole in the world is so don’t ask.” “Wasn’t going to.” Apple Bloom turned another corner in the seemingly endless maze of hallways. “But you can’t have always lived here. Where are you from? Where were you livin’ before the not-so-eternal night?” Scootaloo pursed her lips, debating how much she could safely tell about her past. With a disinterested kick of her hoof, she answered semi-honestly. “Nowhere really. I traveled a lot when I was younger. We never stayed in the same place long enough to call it home.” “That sounds hard.” Apple Bloom’s face was as flat as always and, despite her words, there wasn’t a hint of pity in her voice. “I’ve lived in the same place ma whole life. I can’t imagine what it’d be like ta move around so much.” “It wasn’t bad,” Scootaloo quickly clarified, “It was actually really cool traveling all over Equestria and seeing so many different places. It was like I was in the middle of an adventure story. Sure, I didn’t have tons of friends but I had mom and dad and we were going to settle in Ponyville for a couple years of normal schooling before…” Apple Bloom cocked her head as Scootaloo trailed off. “Before Nightmare Moon took over,” she finished for the Pegasus. “Huh?” Scootaloo said, shaking herself out of her memories, “Oh, yeah. That too, I guess.” Apple Bloom didn’t say anything after that and it suited Scootaloo just fine. She found herself suddenly not in a mood to talk, lost in her own memories. At least Apple Bloom seemed to know when to drop a conversation and not pry further than she was invited. The silence only lasted a few short minutes, however, before Apple Bloom stopped abruptly at an unmarked door. She fished around in her jacket pocket for a moment before producing a key and unlocking the door. Scootaloo eyed the thing with a cocked head. “You lock the door? I would think the whole ‘savior of the world’ thing would make it so no one would mess with your family.” “You’d be surprised,” Apple Bloom answered, fiddling with the lock, “Some ponies think my sister and her friends are criminals.” Scootaloo stared at her in bafflement. “For bringing back the sun?” “For committin’ treason.” Any further discussion was cut off by the door swinging open and Scootaloo getting a good look at Apple Bloom’s room. It was big. Really big. So big Scootaloo had to pause a moment just to take it all in. This wasn’t just because Scootaloo was used to a very small living space or even because the castle rooms were larger than an average house’s would be. No, Scootaloo was shocked by the size because what she had been expecting was a single bedroom for one little filly and what she had been presented was a three pony deluxe living area. There were three beds. Each pushed against a different wall that wasn’t already occupied by the door. Said walls were sparsely decorated with knick-knacks, posters, and a few small windows letting in the sunlight. While it would be huge for a single, it was actually pretty cramped for the purpose of a three-person bedroom. The limited amount of things each of the three ponies owned engrossed on the others’ spaces, making the area seem messier and smaller than it really was. Apple Bloom walked over to the side with the most stuff clustered around it. There were cheesy posters, toys, books, a collection of tools, half-finished carvings and other projects on the bed and floor. There was a lot of weird stuff going on for Scootaloo to take in and she didn’t know what, exactly, to comment on first. “This is ma room,” Apple Bloom announced, climbing up on the bed and sitting to face Scootaloo, knocking a few things off as she did. She didn’t seem to notice. “You got… uh… a lot of things,” Scootaloo eventually said, kicking over a prone stuffed rabbit, “I didn’t think you’d be into such… kiddie stuff.” Apple Bloom frowned slightly before looking away. “It’s comforting. Helps with the nightmares.” “Does it?” Scootaloo mused, inspecting the toy, “Maybe I should get some for myself then, heh. That’d look ridiculous. Almost out of Marking Age and I’m a blank flank with a stuffed bunny. Might as well give the bullies rotten tomatoes to throw too.” “You can have some if you want.” “Huh?” Scootaloo glanced up in surprise. “What?” Apple Bloom nodded to the doll in Scootaloo’s hoof. “Toys. I doubt you can afford your own so you can take some of mine.” “Uuuuh,” Scootaloo said dumbly, “Thanks? But I seriously am kinda too old for this stuff. I don’t, like, actually know any bullies but it’d still be weird...” Apple Bloom raised a brow. “You don't have to take it if you don’t want.” Scootaloo scoffed as she stuffed the toy in her jacket pocket. “And pass up on free stuff? Are you crazy?” Apple Bloom smiled, a little, at that, but didn’t say anything in reply. She seemed content to just sit and watch Scootaloo. Scootaloo was not content with that, however, and cleared her throat. “So, uh, you’re bunking with ponies? I didn’t think the castle would run out of rooms.” “It didn’t. We requested it this way.” There was never a moment of sanity with this filly, was there? “What?” Scootaloo asked, jumping up to sit on the bed next to Apple Bloom, “Why? Don’t you want your own space?” “No.” Scootaloo waited for her to elaborate… and waited… “Are you going to actually answer one of these days or do you just love being cryptic?” Apple Bloom blinked and scooted away slightly, as if startled by the accusation. “Sorry. I just got lost in my head. I do that a lot.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo raised a brow and scrutinized the farm filly, “I kinda noticed.” Apple Bloom took a breath and looked around the room. “Ma siblings all share this room. We’re always really close at home and we didn’t want to be separated for however long we’re gonna be here. I sleep in my brother’s room at home anyway so this just made sense.” “Ah,” Scootaloo’s eyes sparkled in understanding and she leaned back casually on her elbows, “I get why you’ve been following me around now.” Apple Bloom cocked her head and Scootaloo took that as an invitation to explain. “Well, you’re a weird distant orphan with a famous sibling who still sleeps with a stuffed animal.” Scootaloo gave her a sympathetic, if not condescending grin. “It can be kind of hard for someone like you to find friends.” Apple Bloom’s brow furrowed. “What are you talkin’ about? I have lots of friends.” Scootaloo almost fell off the bed. “W-what? Really?” Apple Bloom nodded slowly. “Yeah, most of the kids in Ponyville are close to each other. We all spend time together at school and when our parents are busy.” Her head cocked to the other side and her face grew thoughtful. “Actually… you said you and your parents settled here a while ago, right? Why have I never seen you at school?” “Pah!” Scootaloo scoffed, “Like I’d waste my time going to dumb ol’ school. My days have been filled with finding reliable food sources and honing these puppies.” She flexed, both her arms and her wings, so Apple Bloom could clearly see the muscles she had developed in her stubby limbs. “You don’t get guns like this just lying around and studying.” Instead of saying something about the obviously stunning display, Apple Bloom’s face curled in on itself like she had to violently sneeze. Scootaloo actually became worried once the Earth Pony started rocking back and forth and shaking like she had walked into a cold snap. “H-hey, are you okay? Are you having a stroke or something?” “Ha! Hehehe,” Apple Bloom laughed, snorting every so often and falling onto her back to giggle harder, “Hahaha hehe!” The tension faded from Scootaloo as she watched the other filly laugh herself horse, a beam splitting her yellow muzzle. Scootaloo couldn’t help a little smile of her own creep onto her face. “Heh, alright fine. I guess we can be friends. If you really want.”