Chapter 1: Mysterious Ways
It was a warm morning in Ponyville. An orange pegasus filly with a purple mane was trotting through the town. While every other pony around her seemed to be preoccupied with something to do, Scootaloo was carefree as she was trotting along. Her destination finally came into view. She stepped up onto the porch of the Carousel Boutique and knocked on the door. Scootaloo heard a voice inside coming toward the door. The door opened and a unicorn filly was on the other side.
"Oh, hello, Scootaloo!" the white pony greeted her friend.
"Hey, Sweetie Belle! You ready to go and get our cutie marks today?" Scootaloo had a strong conviction in her voice, as if she knew that today would be the day.
Sweetie Belle titled her head slightly to one side, causing her pink and purple mane to bounce a little, "Sorry, I can't."
"What? Why in Celestia's name not?"
"Because of the barn dance, that's why."
Scootaloo was puzzled, "Huh? You're actually going to that?"
Sweetie Belle's face lit up, "Of course! Pip actually asked me to go with him! So Rarity is helping me with making a dress."
"What's the big deal? It's just a dumb dance that the town does for the colts and fillies," Scootaloo didn't like the idea of the dance in the least.
"You're just sour that nopony asked you!" Sweetie Belle pointed out.
Scootaloo snickered slightly, "Trust me, I don't care if anypony asked me."
The unicorn filly gave a sly smile, "Sure."
"Come on, it's just a dumb dance, I really don't care for it at all. Look, you can get all girly for the thing, Applebloom and I will get our cutie marks," the orange filly was about to turn around.
"Actually, Applebloom is busy, too."
"Huh?" Scootaloo was in disbelief.
"Yeah, she's busy with preparing the barn and all with her family," Sweetie Belle explained.
"Fine! I'll get my mark by myself!" Scootaloo stormed off the porch and trotted away.
The orange pony trotted in a slightly hurried pace with an annoyed look on her face. Her mind was racing as she thought about how her friends were more worried about a dance than their cutie marks. In frustration, she closed her eyes as she continued her march forward. Not looking ahead of her, she ran into somepony. Both of the ponies fell to the ground after their collision.
Scootaloo, who had yet to look at whom she ran into, spoke first, "Hey! Watch where you're going!" She wasn't going to admit it was her fault.
A meek male voice replied, "Sorry about that, Scootaloo!"
The filly knew that voice. Opening her eyes, she saw it was a blue unicorn with an orange mane. It was her classmate, Snips.
"Yeah, yeah…." Scootaloo said distantly as she didn't make a move to stand up right away.
Snips, however, was already on his hooves and offered a hoof up to the pegasus, "You okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Scootaloo took his hoof to get back on all fours, "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing broken." She flapped her small wings at her last statement.
Snips looked around before speaking again, "Where are the other crusaders? I thought you guys were always together."
The pegasus was slightly annoyed by his comment, "If you must know, they are too busy to get their cutie marks because of that dumb dance tomorrow. I don't get why it's so important."
The colt laughed slightly at Scootaloo's comment, "I hear that. Snails is acting the same way. He actually asked if I could leave him alone today so he could ask Twists to the dance."
Scootaloo couldn't help but snicker as well, "Really? He has a crush on Twists?"
Nodding, Snips replied, "Yeah, he's had it bad for her for a long time. Just don't tell him I told ya."
The filly nodded, "Alright."
"So what are your plans for today?" the blue unicorn asked.
Scootaloo thought for a few moments before concluding that she had no idea. She shrugged.
"Well, you wanna hang out or whatever?" Snips asked with a smile, his buckteeth plainly visible.
Scootaloo was slightly taken back by his question. She wasn't expecting anything of that sort.
Snips continued after not getting an answer right away, "I understand if ya don't wanna. I mean, I am Snips after all," he laughed at himself.
"Sure," the orange filly finally replied.
"Huh?" the colt was surprised to her agreeing.
"Yeah, your not that bad of a pony," Scootaloo said with a warm smile.
Snips smiled back, "Really? Ha, awesome! Let's go to Sugarcube Corner then!"
"Sounds like a plan!"