//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Flown past // by Swish //------------------------------// The bright sunshine burned Scootaloo’s eyes as she stared out over Ponyville. All the ponies were in a great mood, and the sounds of laughter could be heard echoing around Sugar cube Corner. Every now and then Scootaloo could hear Pinkie Pie’s hyper high-pitched voice telling everypony where things should go, and her crazy laughter every time anypony said anything that was even the teensiest bit funny. Scootaloo shoved two balls of cloud into her ears and smiled, remembering that today was about two years after Rainbow Dash had joined the Wonderbolts. She remembered how happy Rainbow Dash had been on that day. Anypony who had seen her would have said she was a completely different person. The way she bounced around made her seem like a professional gymnast, and she couldn't seem to stop smiling. Scootaloo couldn't have cared less that she wouldn't see Rainbow Dash as much anymore, she was just happy that Rainbow was happy, and all of Ponyville seemed to feel the same way. As soon as Dinky and her mom had come to deliver the message that Dash was finally going to achieve the goal she had been dreaming about her whole life, Scootaloo had jumped on her scooter and headed straight for Sugar cube corner. On her way there, Scootaloo had realized just how much she loved the wind flying past her, and how the feeling of riding the scooter was so similar to flying. In fact, she was so happy that she didn’t even notice her cutie mark until Rainbow Dash pointed it out to her later; a scooter wheel with two white wings sprouting off it. They had laughed, and Rainbow had said that she was proud of her. Proud of her. And you know what? Scootaloo wasn’t going to let her down. Tomorrow there was a tryout for the ‘Junior Wonderbolt’s’. It was a training program for young pegasi that was taught by the Wonderbolts themselves. Not many ponies would be allowed to join, but there sure were a lot of pegasus ponies on the tryout list. Scootaloo of course, was one of them. There was no way a chance like this was going to pass by her, at least not today. There was only one thing bothering Scootaloo that day, and it wasn’t nervousness issues. It was actually her idol, Rainbow Dash. She had come back to Ponyville many times in the past two years, but Scootaloo hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her. At first it had seemed as if Rainbow was so busy she just couldn’t find time for Scootaloo, but after a while she figured out what was really going on. It was on a cloudy day, and it was only going to get worse with the rain planned for later. Scootaloo had been following Rainbow all around Ponyville, and after chasing her for hours, she had managed to place herself directly in Rainbow’s flight path. As she opened her mouth to ask Rainbow Dash to stop, RD just flew straight past, staring right through her. That was when Scootaloo realized that Rainbow hadn’t been avoiding her. She hadn’t been busy either. Rainbow Dash had actually... forgotten her. She had forgotten Scootaloo, the pegasus she was so proud of, after just a couple years. Of course Scootaloo had been upset, and had moped around the outsides of Ponyville for weeks. But after thinking about it for a while, Scootaloo realized that instead of just telling Rainbow Dash who she was, she was going to impress her to the point that Dash would have to remember her. And that’s exactly what she was going to do during these tryouts. All of a sudden there was a huge crash from inside Sugar Cube corner, and Twilight could be heard yelling at Pinkie Pie. The party at sugar cube corner was supposed to be a secret, but the noise was making it pretty obvious. Scootaloo could easily figure out that the party was most likely for the pegasi in Ponyville that were competing in the upcoming tryouts. Speaking of Ponyville contestestants, thought Scootaloo, Twilight said something about only two of us. This place is small, but it isn't uninhabited, and these are important tryouts. Another crash could be heard from inside, and this time it was Pinkie yelling at Twilight. Scootaloo groaned, and decided that the noise was just too much. She spread her wings, letting the sunlight shine through her feathers, and then took off. After circling ponyville for awhile she alighted on a cloud near the Cutie mark crusader treehouse and nodded off, sinking into her thoughts. “Scootaloo?” Scootaloo awoke to a small, squeaky voice calling her name. “Five more minutes.” She groaned. “Scootaloo!” “There’s no school today, leave me alone.” “SCOOTALOO!” “The cake is a lie...” “SCOOT-A-LOO!” Scootaloo opened her eyes, and peered over the edge of the cloud. “Sweetie belle?” “Who else? Hurry up and come down here!” Scootaloo dropped down to the ground, and stared at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie seemed to be avoiding her gaze, and mumbled something about wanting to see her, when suddenly she burst into tears. “Ugh! What on earth are you crying for? Pull yourself together girl!” Scootaloo recoiled, and gave Sweetie Belle a look that clearly said ‘What in Equestria is wrong with you?’ Sweetie Belle began to try and compose herself. “Oh Scootaloo, I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I was just thinking about... about how you might leave for a while, and I was looking at our old tree house, and oh my goodness I don’t know! I was just suddenly really sad!” Scootaloo softened a bit “Uh, you know I’m not gonna be gone that long, right? And chances are I won’t even pass the tryouts. So calm down, okay?” Sweetie Belle smiled, and sniffled a bit. “I know, like I said, I don’t know what came over me. I came here because I have a favor to ask, you don’t mind do you?” Scootaloo grinned. “Of course not! Anything for you.” “Will... will you listen to me sing? I wanna sing the old crusader song, since it’s been so long. Do you mind?” “Of course not!” Scootaloo smiled to reassure her, and closed her eyes. “Okay, ummm... ‘Look, here, are three little ponies Ready to sing for this crowd, Listen up, 'cause here's our story...’ Scootaloo smiled, remembering the time her and her friends had sang this song for a school talent show. ‘Feels like the sun will never come, When your cutie mark's not there So the three of us will fight the fight, There is nothing that we fear’ They had spent so much time together, caused so many problems. She couldn’t believe that she had actually tried to sing this for the talent show. That was obviously Sweetie Belle’s talent. ‘We'll have to figure out what we'll do next, Till our cutie marks are here!’ All those different ways we tried to get our cutie marks, Journalism, bowling... ‘We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, On a quest to find out who we are, And we will never stop the journey, Not until we have our cutie marks...’ Scootaloo sat there for a few minutes even after Sweetie Belle had finished, before finally looking up. “Thank you.” She said. “Even though you were the one who asked to sing, thank you.” And with that, she spread her wings and flew off towards Sugar Cube corner. Almost all the parties in Ponyville were held at Sugar Cube corner. About a year and a half ago the Cake family had decided that they were going to Manehatten, and would be spending the rest of there days there. This had caused Pinkie Pie to burst into a fit of tears, but after about a week she was back to her normal self. Sugar Cube corner hadn’t changed much, people still went there to get all of there cakes and any treats they needed. The only noticeable difference was that orders often took longer to be delivered because Pinkie kept eating them. But overall everything tasted the same, and some ponies even thought that Pinkie was a better baker. As Scootaloo walked through the doors into Sugar Cube corner, she was surprised to find that it was empty. She took a few tentative steps into the store, and then almost ran straight out when a bunch of ponies jumped out of nowhere. “SURPRISE!!” Yelled Pinkie Pie, and what seemed like all of Ponyville. Scootaloo smiled, and wandered the rest of the way in, completely forgetting about all of her worries as she talked to her friends.