//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Two Weeks Later // Story: A Head Full of Clay // by Squinty Mudmane //------------------------------// Scootaloo yawned and stumbled towards the front door, rubbing her bleary eyes with a hoof. It was downright criminal to wake someone at this hour during a day off. “Yeah yeah, relax, I’m coming,” she grumbled as the knocking on the door intensified. She opened the door to reveal Rainbow Dash on the other side, sporting one of her trademark smug grins. The presence of the athletic pegasus was a pleasant enough surprise in itself to dispel any tiredness Scootaloo felt. Even more surprising was the rainbow-coloured scooter that Dash was leaning casually against. “’Sup, Scoots? What took you so long?” she asked, not even bothering to hide her amusement at Scootaloo’s frazzled morning mane. “Rainbow? What are you doing here? And what’s with that scooter?” the pegasus filly asked in confusion, trying to make sense of the situation. “Running of the Leaves is coming up soon, and that means I need to get ready to beat Applejack’s orange butt up and down the field in the Iron Pony competition,” Dash replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Ooookay? So where do I come in?” “Well, I need all the edge I can get, and you’re awesome on a scooter. I figured maybe you could help me sharpen my agility a bit by teaching me some of your moves on that thing?” Dash suggested with a little shrug. “You know, if you think you’ve got time to help me out.” Scootaloo’s face split into a wide grin. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this,” she said, resisting the urge to let out a cackle and rub her hooves together. “Hey, don’t be too hard on me now,” Dash chuckled. “By the way, AJ’s already roped Apple Bloom in to help her train, so there are high stakes here. Don’t let me down.” Scootaloo rushed to the shed where her father was already hard at work fixing the wheels on a stagecoach. He spat out the hammer clenched in his teeth and looked up as Scootaloo grabbed her scooter from its spot in the corner. “You heading out now, Scoots?” he asked, pulling off the back wheels of the carriage. “Yeah! Rainbow and I are gonna go train for the Iron Pony competition,” Scootaloo replied happily. “Oh, is that coming up already?” ”Starting next week, yeah,” Dash confirmed, peeking his head into the shed. “You giving it a miss, Ember?” “And miss the chance to watch you get flattened by an apple farmer? You kidding?” Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at her father. “Don’t listen to him, Rainbow. We’re gonna ace this.” “You know it!” the blue pegasus replied with a grin, giving Scootaloo a hoof bump. They both got on their scooters. “You ready?” Scootaloo asked. “Let’s do it!” They got about fifteen meters before Rainbow Dash careened into a ditch and was catapulted off her scooter and into a nearby bush. She emerged a moment later, coughing and spitting leaves. “I meant to do that,” she muttered, smoothing back her mane. Scootaloo laughed and took off at high speed down the road heading towards Ponyville. “Try to keep up now!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Wohoo! It’s another ringer!” Apple Bloom cheered as her sister managed to make the second perfect throw after an admittedly high number of misses and near-hits. “Heh, not bad, but Ah think Ah can go one better,” Applejack said with a fairly pleased grin. “Ya mind fetchin’ them shoes, AB?” “Ah’m on it!” Apple Bloom did a little salute before galloping over to the wooden stake in the ground and collecting the ten horseshoes scattered around it. “So how’d yer last meetin’ with Luna go?” Applejack asked as the filly returned laden with metal. “Good, Ah think. She asked a bunch o’ stuff ’bout how we made Golem, then just reminded me again not to tell anypony else about it,” Apple Bloom replied, dropping the horseshoes with a clatter. “Well, guess Ah can’t blame her for wantin’ ta keep it under wraps.” “She also said she’d talked to Jitterleaf an’ given him an official-like apology for the way those goons that caused him to leave treated him. Apparently Princess Celestia hadn’t heard a thing about what happened back then. He said he’d consider comin’ back to Ponyville.” “Huh, well that’ll make Granny Smith right happy, Ah reckon. Kinda fishy that Celestia didn’t know, though,” the farmpony grunted. “Ya ain’t heard no news from yer golem friends, Ah suppose?” She picked up one of the horseshoes and threw it with too much force, missing the stake by a rather impressive margin. “Aw, shoot!” “No, nothin’ yet. Guess they’re still restin’.” “Well, they’ll come around eventually, an’ then ya can say ya were the one that rediscovered ’em. Findin’ a thousand-year-old secret an’ clearin’ an old pony’s name, ’tain’t no mean feat for a filly, that’s for sure,” Applejack said, giving her sister a proud smile. “Heh, yeah. Ah guess,” Apple Bloom replied with a slightly embarrassed grin, shrugging lightly. Applejack threw another horseshoe, coming much closer to the stake this time. “So what’s yer next plan for gettin’ yer Cutie Marks?” “Well, Ah asked Sweetie Belle to pick up a bunch o’ feathers since she was in Canterlot anyway.” The filly tried to throw one of the horseshoes as well, but barely managed to get it over the halfway mark. “Oh, pfooey!” Applejack blinked. “Feathers? What are ya gonna use those for?” “Bird watchers! We’re going to—” “Dress up as a giant bird?” Applejack finished for her, smiling a bit and shaking her head. “Ah ain’t exactly sure it’ll work like that.” “Maybe not,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Still, it sounds like fun, so we’ll give it a go. Our Cutie Marks are gonna come eventually, right? So we’ll just try to have fun along the way.” “Sounds like a good idea,” Applejack replied with a smile. “Ya let me know how that works out, will ya?” The Canterlot train station was bustling with ponies moving to and fro in an orderly fashion despite the dense press of bodies. Hapless luggage carriers toiled under the weight of heavy baggage, loading them on and off the trams. Rarity and Fluttershy wove their way through the crowd, skipping past the check-in queues and going straight into the station building itself. “I do appreciate you keeping me company on that dreadful train ride, darling,” Rarity said for the third time in the past hour, making a little toss of her head to move aside the elegant curl from her right eye. In the weeks since the fillies’ return, Rarity’s mane had grown back to its usual length, aided by an equal mix of magic and experimental tonics. “Canterlot may be a wonderful place, but travelling here is nothing short of an absolute bore.” “Oh, it’s my pleasure,” Fluttershy assured the unicorn with a soft smile. “I just hope Sweetie Belle can find us with all these ponies around. It’s almost a little scary how many there are.” She glanced at a group of stylishly dressed unicorns moving past them, all dignified, haughty and aloof. “I’m certain she's fine,” Rarity replied confidently. “We agreed to meet outside the station building at three o’clock. She might even be there already.” As it turned out, the unicorn filly showed up a couple of minutes after Rarity and Fluttershy did, dashing between the legs of other ponies in the street, much to the pedestrians’ annoyance. “Hi, Rarey! Hi, Fluttershy!” she greeted them cheerfully, hugging each of them in turn. “Hello, Sweetie,” Rarity said warmly, noting with amusement how her sister was almost bouncing on the spot. “I take it everything went well?” “Yes! Everypony is so nice, especially our teacher, Mr. Kettlepot. Since I can’t attend class as often as the others, he gave me a bunch of exercises and stuff that I can do at home instead,” Sweetie Belle replied happily. “And they’re completely safe!” she added brightly when a look of concern passed fleetingly over Rarity’s face. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’re getting along so well,” Rarity said with a smile. Sweetie Belle nodded excitedly. "Yeah. I can’t wait to get home now, though. The school here is nice and all, but I’m glad I only have to go once a week. There’s no Apple Bloom or Scootaloo here, and no Miss Cherilee either, so it’s still not quite as fun as school in Ponyville.” Rarity furrowed her brow a bit in puzzlement as she looked at Sweetie Belle’s schoolbag from which something colourful stuck out. “Are those… ostrich feathers?” she asked. Sweetie Belle glanced down at her bag, and then gave her a sister a cautious smile. “…Maybe?” The train they boarded for the return trip was not as packed as the one they had arrived in, but finding empty seats was still difficult enough. They did eventually manage to find a passenger car that was only half-filled, and Sweetie Belle immediately leapt to secure a couple of seats by a window. “Hmpf, you can say what you like about the efficiency of their train system, but they don’t exactly have the best comfort,” Rarity complained as she tried to make herself at ease in her seat. “Oh, I’m sure it could be worse,” Fluttershy said gently, unfurling her wings once before lying down. “It’s not a question of whether it could be worse, darling. It’s a question of simple design decisions and—” Sweetie Belle subconsciously switched off her hearing for her sister’s rant as the train’s engine kicked into life. She pressed her muzzle to the window as they slowly rolled out of the station and down the winding mountainside of Canterlot. It was not long until Ponyville came into view in the distance, and with it came the sweet promise of her home and friends.