//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Dreams and Reality 
// by Antisocial Ind. 
//------------------------------//

	The school bell rang on time at 3:30 that day, signaling the end of classes. Scootaloo bolted over to Sugarcube Corner, with a coupon in her mouth for a free chocolate chip cookie. Not one of those crappy kinds, though. No, a real, HUGE Pinkie Pie cookie. She skidded to a halt in front of the door, and her expression turned sour as she read the sign on the door: Bakery Closed For Vacation. She angrily wondered who would take a vacation in the middle of the week in April. She stomped her hoof and placed the coupon in her saddlebag before turning and walking, head slumped, ears down wearing a slight frown, back to her house.

For 15 minutes, she did not stop, just walked the familiar path to her house as she did multiple times a day, not really paying attention to anything. Her mind was in the clouds. No, seriously, it was in the clouds; she constantly daydreamed of flying through the clouds just like Rainbow Dash. See, Scootaloo was nearly 12, and she still couldn't fly. She was the only one in her class who couldn't fly, and sometimes it was highly embarrassing. Her wings looked only a tad bit smaller than they should have. As a matter of fact, they were so close to what is considered typical size that it was hardly noticeable. Unless you spent hours a week staring longingly at stubbornly weak wings.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud swooping noise overhead. She looked up, and immediately smiled widely - it was Rainbow Dash. Of course, Scootaloo couldn't actually see her, but she saw the trademark rainbow trail behind Rainbow as she sped through the sky, popping clouds of differing sizes one at a time. The longer Scootaloo watched, the wider her smile became. For a good thirty or so seconds, she simply watched her idol work and zig-zag through the open air. As Rainbow finished, she slowed, but set off to get to her next assignment. She saluted and winked at Scootaloo as she flew nearby, punching through the last cloud as she did so.

Rainbow enjoyed seeing her number one fan, though she was always slightly disappointed that she usually had no time to stop and talk. Yes, Rainbow never really had much time to bond with the young pegasus, even though she really did want to. They were already connected, of course, but the connection hadn't really grown, since they had such little time to spend together. Still, it was nice that she got to see Scootaloo sometimes.

Scootaloo, of course, was still amazed and delighted just by seeing Rainbow at work. Few things made her smile these days, and this was one of them.