//------------------------------// // Growing Up is Weird - Scootaloo // Story: Gathering Rosebuds // by bookplayer //------------------------------// Growing up is weird. Like, the day I got my cutie mark I couldn't stop looking at it, I was so excited, and everypony was excited for me. Then I had a cute-ceañera, but after a few weeks it was just. . . there. And I was the same pony, but with a cutie mark. Learning to fly was a little better, I mean, there's a lot of stuff you can do when you can fly that you can't really do on the ground. But it somehow didn't turn me into a superstar Wonderbolt overnight, there was a ton of other stuff I had to learn to be any good at flying. I was the same pony, in the same spot, just a few feet in the air. And three years later it felt like I'd always been able to fly, of course I can fly, I'm a pegasus. Duh. So when I went through my first heat, I spent most of the day sitting in my room thinking back on those things. I figured that going into heat must be the same. According to the really-helpful-and-totally-not-boring talk that Miss Cheerilee had given to all the fillies our age, I was a mare now, but that was the same talk that said I was supposed to be feeling like I wanted to pop my tail for pretty much any colt and probably some of my bedroom furniture. I wasn't sure if I trusted it. I mean, I felt it more than usual, especially when I woke up that morning, but it was more like hmm, wonder if there are any colts that want to mate? than oh my gosh somepony rut me! But that was still weird for me, because colts usually didn't even cross my mind unless Sweetie Belle started quizzing me about which ones I liked. (Answer: Soarin'. I didn't care if he was more than twice my age, he was it.) So I knew enough to mention this to my mom, and she gave me some herbs that were supposed to calm me down and told me to stay home from school. Because everypony knows that letting a mare in heat around colts who haven't started taking herbs to control themselves yet is a good way to end up with a foal, or at least the most embarrassing situation anypony involved is ever going to be in. The herbs brought back my normal complete lack of feelings about colts. So for the rest of the day, I was just bored and laying in bed, thinking. I thought about going away to flight school in Cloudsdale next fall. I thought about my friends, and how they weren't going away to Cloudsdale with me. When that got me down, I thought about how much fun this summer would be, spending time with them every single day except for the week I was gonna be at flight camp. Even though we got our cutie marks three summers ago, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and I were best friends forever. We'd just been hanging out last night and I was fine, so when I didn't show up for one of the last days of school- one of my last days ever in the Ponyville schoolhouse- I knew they'd figure out what happened. Exactly five minutes after school was out they came bursting into my bedroom. “You got it!” Apple Bloom shouted, her eyes wide. “What's it like? Does it hurt? Does it feel good? Do you feel different?” Sweetie asked, grinning like I just made the Wonderbolts or something. “It's like. . . nothing. Especially now,” I said honestly. “Mom gave me some herbs this morning, but she said I have to stay away from colts until tomorrow.” “Nothin'? Really? Promise?” Apple Bloom pleaded. “Yup. Nothing.” Apple Bloom looked a little relieved. I knew she was really weirded out by the whole idea. “I hope I get it soon,” Sweetie sighed. Apple Bloom grinned suddenly. “Diamond Tiara hasn't got it yet. Scoot's a mare now, and Diamond Tiara's still a filly. You oughta call her a- a silly filly!” Sweetie rolled her eyes. “Scootaloo is way too grown up for something like that. Right Scoot?” I got a big grin on my face. “I said, right Scoot?” “Uh, yeah, sure,” I said, which was true. I had to think of something much worse than 'silly filly' to call Diamond Tiara. “Oh!” Sweetie squeaked. “You missed it at school today, Snips nipped Sunny Daze! At first she didn't get it, then he started nudging her tail and she got really grossed out. She ran and got Miss Cheerilee, and Snips had to go home.” I scrunched up my face. “Eeew! I'd be so grossed out if Snips tried to nip me!” “Good thing you weren't there. You're in heat, it probably woulda been you.” Apple Bloom said, her eyes going wide again. “Would you have popped your tail for him?” “EW! Ew ew ew NO!” I made a face as I tried to explain exactly how disgusting that idea was. “Well you are in heat, right? I mean, it's not like you like Snips-” she had to pause until I finished making gagging noises. “But I always heard that being in heat makes you want it really bad, unless you're eating herbs.” “I know, that's what I heard too. Maybe I'm just, like, super controlled! I mean, I'm not saying I wasn't totally thinking about it, but I wasn't desperate enough to pop my tail for any of the colts at school. Now maybe if Soarin' nipped me. . .” I squirmed a little. That was totally not what I needed to be thinking about when I was in heat. “Soarin's a grown stallion, Scoot,” Apple Bloom pointed out, looking kinda uncomfortable. “And I'm a mare now, right?” I grinned, but Apple Bloom still looked worried. “I'm teasing. I know he's way too old for me.” “No, I mean. . . wouldn't somethin' like that, um, ya' know. . . hurt?” she asked. “I don't know,” I said. “I mean, right now I think I'd like it.” “No, it doesn't hurt,” Sweetie Belle said. “I've read lots of my sister's books, and they all say it feels really good!” “Those the same books where everypony's got a flowin' mane and they're always swoonin' over stuff?” Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at Sweetie. “Yeah. . .” “You sure ya' trust 'em? I mean, I don't know a lot of ponies with flowin' manes, and your sister's the only one I know who swoons. I think a lotta that's made up.” “Well it can't hurt that much, if ponies who love each other like to do it,” Sweetie said as she rolled her eyes. “I dunno. . .” “Maybe you're a fillyfooler,” I suggested to Apple Bloom. She narrowed her eyes. “You sayin' that just 'cause my sister is?” “No, I'm saying it 'cause you're scared of stallions. It's totally cool if you are.” I said. I was a little worried about how she was looking at me, 'cause I wasn't really sure that I wasn't a fillyfooler. I mean, yeah, I was totally into Soarin' right then. But before I went into heat, he was a way distant second to a certain awesome mare who was dating Apple Bloom's sister. She let it go, and just kinda huffed, “I ain't scared of stallions. I just think it sounds like it'd feel weird, is all.” “Can we not talk about this today?” I said. Thinking about if sex would feel weird, and about Soarin', and Rainbow Dash, and whether I liked mares or stallions was making me kind of confused. And being in heat didn't help that at all. “Of course! Oh Scoot, this is so neat.” Sweetie hopped a few times. “Do you want us to go out and get you anything?” “Nah, let's just play a game or something,” I said. More than anything, I just wanted to spend some time with my best friends. I watched them get out a game and sit down on the floor. I couldn't help thinking about leaving for flight school in Cloudsdale next year; I always wanted to go, but now that I realized that I was actually going to be leaving Ponyville, it felt weird. After this summer, I wouldn't be hanging out with Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle anymore. I'd see them on vacations and stuff, but not every single day. I wouldn't be able to pass them a note in class, or walk out of school and know that they'd be waiting for me. I really was excited, I was gonna get to spend all my time flying! And I still had all summer with them. But looking at them, knowing that soon they weren't gonna be with me. . . well, it was weird. How weird it was always made my eyes kind of wet, so I ran my hoof across my face while Apple Bloom was setting up Battle Cloud. “Is something wrong?” Sweetie asked. “No. Being in heat, um, makes your eyes itchy.” “Uh-huh,” Sweetie said with a smirk. “Rarity says that it makes her over-emotional.” “What's that mean?” I asked. “Well, from what I can tell, it means she cries a lot then gets mad at me when I ask what's wrong.” Apple Bloom looked up. “Ya' think your sister's in heat all the time? Can that happen?” “No. It can't,” Sweetie said. I flew up off the bed and landed on the floor next to them. “Let's stop talking about this. Are we gonna play a game or what?” We played until dinner time, when Mom wanted them to go home. She made mushroom burgers and hay fries for dinner, my favorite, and we had a really embarrassing conversation about how her little filly was all grown up, and what it means to be a mare. Turns out it means not having sex. At least, that's the part she kept saying over and over. Then I went to bed. And that's how I became a mare, and nothing really changed. At least, that's what I thought at the time. . .