Scootaloo the Fugitive

by Kaidan


28. Rainbow Factory & Best Young Flier

“Over here, Sweetie,” Scootaloo shouted. “This is the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation, it’s where all the rainbows and weather is made.”

“Finally, are you sure we have time before your competition to take a tour?” Sweetie asked.

“Of course, just try not to get lost, you may be the first non-pegasi to get weather cutie marks!”

Applebloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo huddled and shouted. “Cutie Mark Crusader Rainbow Makers!”

A pegasus in a yellow hardhat walked over to the fillies. “Hello there, I’m foreman Altitude, but you can call me Al.”

“Hi Al,” Scootaloo said warmly. “We’re here for the best young fliers competition and I wanted to show my friends how rainbows are made.”

“Ah, a rainbow’s easy once you get to know it,” he responded.

“Is it made with magic, or the help of a pegasus device?” Sweetie inquired.

“Follow me and I’ll show you. I’ll take you beyond Cloudsdale’s mythology and teach you all my rainbow philosophy,” he stated.

“Ah wonder why he’s talkin so funny,” Applebloom whispered.

“Shhh, don’t ruin it,” Scootaloo scolded.

“With all great things comes a great responsibility, that of Cloudsdale’s is weather stability,” Al explained.

“How,” Sweetie asked, “are you up to the task?”

“The answer lies in this simple facility, the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation. Follow me inside, we make all the weather here, not just rainbows.”

The fillies followed Al inside. “To our left is the snow room, it’s shut down right now since it’s we haven’t had any snow planned for a couple months.”

Scootaloo glanced inside the massive room. There were some large machines sitting in the dark, and a layer of dust on the floor.

“To the right is the Tesla chamber, where lightning is generated. It’s used for everything from thunderstorms to electroshock therapy.”

Sweetie’s hair stood up from the static electricity as she walked past.

“Then we have our cloud factory, where we make industrial strength clouds for building homes and floating cities.”

They looked inside at conveyor belts moving clouds around, and through machines.

“And last, behind this completely-innocent looking black wall of clouds is the rainbow factory.”

Applebloom led them inside and beheld dozens of vats containing every color of the rainbow. They were being poured slowly into several pools where pegasi mixed the colors to form perfect rainbows.

“Here is where all the spectra is formed into perfect rainbows. Just don’t try to drink any of it, we had a mare try that once. It’s not pleasant.”

“Cool, look at this!” Scootaloo shouted. She was adjusting one of the machines that was creating a rainbow. Applebloom and Sweetie hurried over to it.

“Whoa, ah ain’t never seen nothin’ like that,” Applebloom giggled. “Ah want to get a zap apple cutie mark, can ya set it for that?”

“Maybe, let’s see,” Sweetie responded. “Hmm, if we adjust the voltage up high enough with the mixers at maximum, it’s possible. But we’ll need some apples.”

“No problem, girls!” Pinkie shouted, appearing out of nowhere. “I keep apples stashed around Cloudsdale for apple emergencies!”

The three fillies facehoofed. “Thanks, but can you stop popping out of random places? It’s getting kinda old. Maybe you should surprise us by not popping out of a random place,” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“Oh, um. . . okie dokie loki!” Pinkie dove into the spectra and vanished.

“Wait, did she just? . . .” Sweetie walked over to the edge of the pool.

A large siren went off as red lights began to whirl. Panicked pegasi ran around searching for the source of the problem, and found the three little fillies.

“What did you girls do?” one asked.

“Quick, get them!”

“Ahh! They’re gonna grind us into rainbows!” Sweetie screamed.

The three fillies bolted out the nearby door and didn’t look back until they reached the hotel that all the spectators from Ponyville were staying at. They arrived just in time to hear a large explosion. Looking back, the weather factory had vanished in a large rainbow cloud. the prismatic mist began to blanket the city, as the girls took refuge indoors.

“Hey, Squirt, what was that?” Dash asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just uh. . . like the day spa but twenty times worse,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Well then, I’m glad you were here with me the whole time.” Dash winked and walked back towards her room, chuckling. “Come on, you’ve got to get ready for the competition.”


A petite pale white pegasus climbed up to the podium of the new and improved Cloudsdale stadium. It was much larger than the last one.

“Good afternoon,” she began. “I am Misty, the host for this years Hunger Game—” an aid stopped her and whispered something. wrong competition? wait, this isn’t the Gryphon Kingdom? Oh dear, sorry. “I am your host for this years Best Young Flier’s competition!”

The crowd cheered for the mare on stage. “This year we are honored to have the Wonderbolts, the royal Princesses, and last year’s winner Rainbow Dash in attendance!”

The crowd went wild again. throwing all manner of streamers and confetti around. Two miles below Cloudsdale, a humble family of rock farmers would have to clean up all the confetti. It was the only time of the year that Pinkie’s family didn’t appreciate a little color in their lives.

“Today we have 24 competitors! Junior fliers from across Equestria, who will divide into teams of two and fight to the—” the assistant poked her in the ribs. “Ahem, who will show us their stunt routine for the honor of spending a day with the Wonderbolts!”

Several smokey contrails erupted from the clouds as the Wonderbolts made a grand entrance. Dash and Scootaloo watched in awe, before saying in unison, “so awesome!”

“Now, without further ado, let the games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”

The assistant slumped his shoulders and shook his head, before dragging her off the stage.

“Alright, Scootaloo, let’s start warming up and going over your routine. Then we’ll check in with Vinyl to make sure she has your music ready.” Dash walked back into the competitor’s area with Scootaloo.


The first few contestant were fairly boring. Scootaloo spent the time stretching and getting ready with Dash. She then checked on Vinyl who would be playing music while she performed.

Next up was a white pegasus. His stunts were going well and Scootaloo heard a commotion and some screaming. She walked over to a window to glance out into the stadium. The pegasus had crashed into a cloud. Kneeling next to him was a distraught stallion screaming ”Talk to me Goose!”

Gale was up next and Scootaloo would be up after her. This was the moment of truth, and Scootaloo nearly fainted when Dash snuck up on her.

“Hey, Squirt, you nervous?” Dash asked.

“Heh. . . no way! What could possibly go wrong?” she replied.

“Your wings could burn off and Celestia could watch and do nothing as you plummit to your death, leaving me to catch you and the wonderbolts with a sonic rainboom,” Dash deadpanned.

“Ha ha, yeah, Sweetie still teases Rarity about that,” Scootaloo chuckled.

“You’ll be fine, after all, we’re family which makes you the best flyer in Equestria too.”

“Thanks, so what do you think Gale is up to?”

They looked out the window and saw a large tornado forming as Gale spun around and around. Once she had fully formed the twister, Gale sliced through the rain clouds above it.

The rain poured into the tornado, forming up into a sphere as it was suspended inside. Gale continued to fly around, controlling the twister, and smoothing out the water. Once it was finished she flew up high above the stadium.

She dove straight down hitting the sphere of water. It splattered in all directions, being thrown by the wind and forming a mist over the entire center of the stadium. The sunlight pouring through it created multiple rainbows for the crowd to enjoy. The mist settled quickly and the rainbows vanished, revealing Gale in the middle of the stadium.

Dash whistled. “Not bad. She still doesn’t stand a chance against you, Scoots.” She rubbed the filly’s mane with a hoof.

“Thanks.” Scootaloo glanced around, and then added, “Can I get a hug?”

“Sure thing.” Dash sat down and pulled her in for a hug. “Now go show Gale what a real stunt pony can do.

Scootaloo thanks Dash and headed over to her Scooter. Sitting next to it was a new helmet that had a tag attached. It read Good luck Scootaloo, from Sweetie and Applebloom. She put on the new helmet, which fit perfectly. It had a cloth lining, complimented her mane nicely, and felt very solid.

She went to the entrance of the stadium to see a team of Ponyville weather fliers re-arranging the clouds to form a skate park. Scootaloo had taken Vinyl’s advice in an off-hoof remark. Lots of pegasi liked to show off how well they could fly, but nopony had showed off how well they could do tricks on a scooter before.

Twilight had enchanted the scooter to work seamlessly on clouds. After the judges had inspected it, she had been permitted to use it in the competition.

This was going to be epic.


”Vinyl Scratch here, are you ponies ready to open a new window and PAR-TAY!?

Scootaloo stood atop the ramp as the music started. Before her was the first, and greatest, stunt and obstacle course to ever be built three miles above the surface of Equestria. Scootaloo began flapping her wings, and the Ponyville section of the stadium went wild.

With a flourish she leapt off the ramp, gaining a great deal of speed as she sped down it. Now that her muscles were more well-developed, she found her momentum staggering. To the crowd, she was an orange and pink blur barreling towards a large jump.

Scootaloo flew off the jump, twisting sideways as her momentum carried her through two horizontal cloud banks. Her timing was perfect and she landed on the other side, and swerved right. A sharply inclined ramp allowed her to jump and do two backflips before landing. She corrected her trajectory, then leapt off her scooter and tucked her wings in.

She sailed over a twenty foot cloud and landed on the scooter on the other side. She sped up and went through a corkscrew formed of clouds before climbing to the top of the stunt park.

Scootaloo twisted the scooter sideways and landed on a thin strip of cloud formed to look like railing. She slid down the long rail, carefully keeping her balance with her wings closed. She used her legs and weight to help her jump back and forth between several separate segments of the cloud railing.

Finally she neared the end of the scooter portion of the course. She hit a vertical ramp and flew up into the air, releasing her grip on the scooter and undoing her helmet. Cloud Kicker and Dash were there to catch the scooter and helmet before they landed on anypony.

Meanwhile she tucked her wings in and began to dive straight down for the first cloud rings on the slalom obstacle course.

“Oh!” Pinkie exlaimed. “Here is the best part! The song Vinyl and Octavia made! together!”

Scootaloo took a deep breath as she passed through the first ring. The highlight of her performance was the infamous Pegasi slalom course. It was like flying through a narrow tunnel that twisted and turned like a foal’s twisty straw. If a pegasus could pull it off they would prove their agility, speed, and skill in one fell swoop. The last pony to complete it with no penalties at the competition was Spitfire, several years ago.

The rings began whizzing past Scootaloo as the course carried her up above the stadium. She began the easiest segment, which consisted of drifting forty feet side to side through rings at high speed during an ascent.

Next came the hairpin turns. Each turn required her to flare her wings out to act as an air break, then immediately flap to reverse course before gravity could cause her to start falling. Scootaloo made it through the first two just fine.

By the third hairpin turn, she rolled right and flared her wings. She felt a twinge of pain in her right wing, and ignored it. The adrenaline had her going full speed and she was so close to victory she could taste it.

Scootaloo began climbing straight up, banking in every direction to pass through the rings. She hadn’t hit any yet, she might have a flawless run. As she thought about that, she nearly lost her focus. Scootaloo put her head back in the game.

Her lungs were burning and she wanted so badly to slow down and just catch her breath real quick. Her wing felt a little sore, which meant it’d likely be stiff as a board when she woke up tomorrow.

Scootaloo had finally reached the top of the slalom course and come to the hardest part. She took a deep breath, and aimed down the freefall section of the slalom course.

Twisting upside down, she angled downwards and made a quick adjustment. She tucked her wings in and closed her eyes, letting her body slice through the air like a bullet. Scootaloo could feel the wind speeding up, her body weightless as she fell.

To the ponies in the crowd it looked like she had passed out, and yet she was in full control and experienced a kind of clarity she had never known. Her mind and body were so focused, so in unison, that the sounds of the music and the crowd were drowned out. Each ring she passed through was counted in her mind. She knew exactly when to pull up.

And as she fell, Scootaloo experienced something else. Memories of her parents smiling and playing with her at a birthday party as a foal. Her aunt, looking for her at the orphanage and being turned away.

The surname of her family.

She nearly lost focus when her last name came back to her. This meant, if she wanted too, she could find her extended relatives.

Her eyes snapped open as her mental clock signaled she was near the final ring in the descent. The instant she passed through came the hardest part, converting all the speed she had built up, and darting forward in a near-ninety degree turn.

Without hesitation she threw her wings out, catching the air violently and throwing her forward. Her muscles all screamed together as they overcame gravity and inertia to send her sailing into the final ring.

Scootaloo held on until she landed at the end of the course. She then folded her wings in as they protested in pain, and sat down. She couldn’t hear it, but the entire crowd was cheering as if Celestia had just exploded the sun and put it back together again.

Dash was by her in an instant, giving her a sports drink. She focused on her breathing and kept moving her legs a bit to keep them from cramping. She would have done the same for her wings but they were already cramping. Dash nudged her gently, and they walked off towards the backstage area.

It was about that time she began to recover from the trance that had turned her body and mind into a well oiled machine.

“—absolutely amazing, Scootaloo! A perfect score, you have to win now!” Dash shouted. “My little sister, my best friend, and now the best young flier! This will be so awesome!”

Scootaloo just smiled until they got to the competitors area and she could slump down on a bench.

“Scoots, you should stay standing and catch your breath,” Dash instructed.

“Huh? But I think I’m getting a cramp. Isn’t Fluttershy around here somewhere?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, I’ll go get her.”

After Dash had left, Scootaloo heard someone coming. She shot up and stood casually as Gale walked in.

“Gotta hand it to you, Scootaloo, that was pretty impressive on the slalom course. After they take away points from that silly scooter stunt show, though, I think I’ll still win,” she mocked.

“Hah! You call making a twister a stunt? Any pegasus can do that. I’d like to see you ride a scooter and ace a stunt course,” Scootaloo shot back.

“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see who the judges pick. I’ll be sure to tell you all about my day with the Wonderbolts at school,” Gale laughed.

She left the room leaving Scootaloo with her thoughts. I did it. I pulled off something original on the scooter, and I’m probably the only pony since Spitfire with a perfect score on the slalom.

Her next thought was to check her flank for a cutie mark. To her great surprise, she found it blank.

“Aw come on!” Scootaloo cried. “I was totally awesome, I should have like eight cutie marks.

“Oh, I can come back later, Dash, she seems upset,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Nonsense, she just needs a little patience and a massage before all her muscles seize up,” Dash stated.

“Dash, why didn’t I get a cutie mark? I was so awesome!” Scootaloo whined. Her eyes started to tear up.

Dash rushed over and said the first things coming to her mind to comfort her. “Hey, you were awesome. Your cutie mark must just be even more awesome then your stunts today. You’ll get it eventually, and then you’ll get to spend the rest of your life doing what you love.”

Scootaloo looked up and smiled. “More awesome then that? I wonder what it’s going to be! Maybe a scooter jumping through a burning ring? Or taming a manticore with a whip!”

“Um, Scootaloo, this may hurt.” Fluttershy gently smoothed Scootaloo out onto the bench like a blanket, and then applied pressure on the muscles between her neck, shoulders, and wings.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Scootaloo yelled before regaining composure.

“Oh yes, you’ve gotten quite a knot in there. Don’t worry, though, this happens to Dash all the time. I’ll just help you relax your muscles so they don’t end up cramped or too stiff tomorrow.”

Scootaloo relaxed and the painful massage soon became blissful. Before she knew it, she was asleep and slept through the rest of the competition.


Scootaloo was crusading out in the Everfree when a manticore attacked. She pulled out her trusty whip and a stool. She then began to tame the manticore when she felt a sharp poking in her side.

Another manticore had snuck up and jabbed her! She spun the whip, cracking it on the manticore’s face. Yet another one showed up and started poking her in the side.


“Scoots, wake up!” Dash poked her in the side again. “They’re announcing the winners.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo rolled over, falling off the bench. “Whoa, hey who won?”

“Come on, let’s go to the balcony and listen in”


“In third place, is Goose with his re-enactment of the scene from ‘Top Colt.’ “ Misty waited for him to come up on stage and handed him a trophy.

“The runner up is. . .”

Scootaloo held her breath as the announcer built a ridiculous amount of suspense. She had to exhale and take several additional breaths, and then hold them too.

Twilight and the girls were on the edges of their clouds. Pinkie actually slipped off once or twice. Rarity and Sweetie were prepared to faint ever so daintily. Applejack and Applebloom were hollaring, while Big Mac just said “Eeyup” occasionally.

Vinyl and Octavia were backstage, watching Dash and Scootaloo await the runner up. Lyra and Bon Bon were in the crowd, passing out free samples of their candies. Mayor Mare clapped politely.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Miss Cheerilee sat in her classroom and was very bored. She had to be there to give detention to Diamond Tiara for attempting to glue Scootaloo’s wings to her seat a few days ago.

Back in Cloudsdale, Derpy, Ditzy, and Dr. Whooves sat on their own private cloud. None of them cheered louder than Ditzy, who wanted her one-time fellow orphan and new best friend to win. Of course, Dr. Whooves already knew who won, yet he was enjoying the show all the same. Derpy consumed several muffins in silence, she knew better than to talk with her mouth full.

Mr. and Ms. Cake sat on a cloud with their babies. Nearby, Berry Punch was passed out next to dozens of empty bottles.

“. . . Snowflake! For benchpressing the entire stadium!”

Scootaloo slapped a hoof to her head. “Hurry up already!” she shouted. Several other competitors echoed her sentiments.

“And the winner is. . .”

“Scootaloo!” Misty shouted. The Ponyville section of the stadium cheered twice as loud as everypony else.

Scootaloo was in a daze, hardly noticing as competitors walked by to shake her hoof. Even Gale congratulated her.

Next thing she knew, she was being handed a trophy and meeting Spitfire. She was still so dazed from winning that she hardly noticed Spitfire speaking.

“Hey,” Dash said. She poked Scootaloo. “It’s okay Spitfire, she seems to be zoning out in shock a whole lot today.”

Scootaloo felt something poke her in the side. “omigosh! omigosh! omigo—” another sharp poke. “Oh, hi Spitfire! How’s it going?”

Spitfire laughed. “I know the feeling, welcome back Scootaloo. Dash was just filling me in, I hear she adopted you. I never thought I’d see the day Dash had a kid.”

“Yeah, isn’t she the best?” Scootaloo asked.

“I sure am,” Dash laughed.

“So, we’ll go flying near Ponyville to spend the day with you tomorrow Scootaloo,” Spitfire added.

“That’s grea—”

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie interrupted. Her and Applebloom were charging her.

“Go ahead, Squirt,” Dash whispered.

After Scootaloo ran off and got promptly tackled in a sea of hugs, Spitfire spoke to Dash. “You’re welcome to come tomorrow, Dash. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already jumped at every chance to get into the Wonderbolts.”

“Hey, you know I would, but Ponyville would be lost without me. I mean, the elements and the weather team and all my friends. . . otherwise I would have joined and became team captain years ago!” Dash boasted.

“Haha I’m sure you would. Just keep in mind I’ll always be saving that spot on the team for you. You’ve done so much for Equestia and the team when you saved us from Rarity.”

“Thanks, but especially now with Scootaloo I don’t want to be running all over the country doing airshows. I want to stay in Ponyville with her.”

“Wow, I never thought I’d see you go soft.”

“Hey! I could still whip your whole team in a race.”

“You’re on. We’ll see who is soft tomorrow!”

Dash and Spitfire shook hooves. Then Dash headed over to meet Scootaloo and the crusaders.

Scootaloo saw her coming and said goodbye to her friends. “Hey, Dash.”

“Hey, Squirt.”

“Everypony is starting to head back to Ponyville, but it’s a long flight. . . could I catch a lift? I’m pretty worn out.”

“Of course you can.”

“But, we’ll wait until we get out of sight first.”

“That goes without saying, wouldn’t want the worlds’ best young flier to be seen napping on the job!”

The two pegasi approached the edge of the city. Once they were there, Scootaloo climbed up on Dash’s back.

“Heh, I’m getting a little big for piggyback rides. Still, you’re quite comfy,” Scootaloo yawned.

Dash jumped off and started the long flight back to Ponyville. She could feel Scootaloo fall asleep on her back and recalled the many times as a filly she had done the same with her father.