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// A Warm House 
// Story: Scootaloo's Last Wish 
// by scootaloo55 
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Chapter 1: A Warm House

With new dawn brang new adventure and the small pony woke and shoved her blanket into a small crevasse in the wall beside her. She pulled her scooter out from underneath an old, unused bin. The scooter itself was dull in colour, mainly from the weather it was exposed to. The filly didn’t mind though, as it was the only semi-valuble possession she owned. Smiling she put on her helmet and glanced behind her before leaving. Today she would be meeting up with her friends in an old clubhouse to have another cutie-mark meeting. She bounded through the door and sat next to a white unicorn with a curly pink and purple mane. “Hey Scootaloo!” she said. Then she whispered, “You do know you’re 10 minutes late!” Scootaloo cringed. “I just had some troubles at home.” An Earth pony with a pinky-red mane looked at Scootaloo with a stern expression, but then started her speech.

“Today’s tah day, Cutie Mark Crusaders!” The cream coloured filly marched along the timber floor of a newly renovated treehouse. “Today’s tah day we find our special talent and earn our cutie marks!” the floorboards creaked under the young pony’s steps as she continued her speech. Her two partners in crime, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo listened on intently.  Strong sun rays flickered through the window, illuminating a hand-drawn poster on the wall, which looked like a rough map of ponyville. The young pony paused, probably to catch her breath. She often talked quite fast, and her country cowpony accent could sometimes be difficult to understand. “Ah said, are yah ready?” A purple maned, orange pegasi grinned awkwardly. She had been daydreaming once again. “As ready as I’ll ever be, Applebloom.”  She said unconvincingly to try to get out of an ‘always be attentive in meetings’ lecture. Applebloom raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. Sweetie Belle stood up and glanced outside. There was not a cloud to be seen and a thin layer of snow covering the clubhouse was melting; water dripping through the roof beams. The weather team had cleared the sky so well that the sun was blindingly but the snow was still blanketed the hills. The white unicorn had a sudden thought. “Hey, why don’t we have a campout tonight? The weather’s perfect for it!” Applebloom and Scootaloo exchanged looks. A campout? But last time they did that they were scared out of their wits after Rainbow’s Ghost Stories. Not that Scootaloo would ever admit it. She was still slightly embarrassed about her ‘firewood collecting’. At least nopony saw it actually happen.  

“Y-yah know what? Why don’t y’all have a sleepover instead?” Sweetie Belle looked out the window and caught a glimpse of her sister’s fashion boutique in the distance. “We can’t sleep at my place,” Sweetie Belle commented. “Rarity’s got about 15 dress orders to complete by morning.” “…And we can’t stay in the clubhouse, Applejack’s ‘fraid the place will collapse. Hey, Scoots, why don’t we all stay at your place? Ah’ve never been there before.” Scootaloo looked at them with a hasty expression, “uhh m-my place? Um, my parents are… b-busy, yeah! Busy!” Scootaloo moved to the side slightly as to avoid any more conversation. “Ya know what? Let’s stay at… Fluttershy’s!” she began to back away “I-I gotta go” and with that, the young filly jumped on her scooter and sped out of the treehouse with her wings buzzing loudly to pick up speed, leaving two curious fillys behind her.

“Well you girls should be safe here, that is if you want to be. Which you should be but…Welcome!” Fluttershy’s quiet voice was barely heard as the two fillys ran upstairs and jumped on their temporary beds for the night. Fluttershy walked slowly up the stairs and stopped at the doorway. Angel the rabbit followed closely behind with a plate with three hay flavoured milkshakes on it. ”here you go girls, a drink each, hey, wasn’t three of you coming?” the door squeaked behind the crème pony and a very distressed Pegasus ran into the room; a dirty thin blanket slung over her flank. Sweetie Belle looked at it with disgust. “How long have you had that old thing for? Its covered in holes!” Scootaloo blushed a brilliant scarlet. “It’s really a good luck thing. Really.” Applebloom gave Scootaloo a crazy look. “Are yah sure scoots? That’s a straaannge good luck charm.” Scootaloo gave an awkward smile. “I know right? Haha…ha…” Sweetie Belle trotted over to Scootaloo and began dusting her down with her tail. “You are so dirty! Did you have a bath in the mud this morning?” Scootaloo paused and thought for a minute. How could she be stupid enough to not wash before she came? “You know, I jumped my scooter and kinda crashed.” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle Exchanged glances but agreed that that was a reasonable explanation. 

Later that night, after the unicorn and Earth pony had fallen asleep, Scootaloo gazed up at the sparkling moon, which no longer beared residence to Nightmare Moon as she had escaped about a year ago. The stars twinkled in the night sky and a bright comet cascaded down from the velvety night sky. “Goodnight mum, goodnight dad, I love you.” The pegasi filly whispered, but the reply was the same every night. Silence. A cool wind blew through the window, slamming it shut. Scootaloo quickly glanced behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. Her friends hadn’t even stirred. She smiled as she clambered into her bed. This was a privilege to her. As the warm fuzzy blankets wrapped around her, she closed her eyes and thought of happy memories. She needn’t worry tonight. She would be safe and warm.