Chapter 1- Meeting Cloud Chaser
“Come on Scoots! Hurry up!” Sweetie Belle yells from the wagon behind me.
She came to my house earlier this morning and told me that Apple Bloom called a Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting. I don’t really understand why Sweetie Belle is so worked up about this meeting, but nonetheless, I still flap my small wings faster as we zoom through Ponyville.
“Why are you stressing out so much, Sweetie Belle?” I ask as I come to a halt in front of the clubhouse.
She stands there awkwardly for a few moments before carefully hoping out of the wagon, walking over to stand next to me.
“Because... Apple Bloom sounded really... Odd...” She whispers.
I stare at my friend in confusion. Sweetie Belle has been my friend for as long as I can remember, and I have never heard her make a statement like this before. I then begin to worry.
“Odd?” I repeat, “What do you mean by ‘Odd’?”
“Well... She sounded really happy, but, she sounded scared like she had something really big to tell us...” She kicks her hoof in the dirt nervously. “Maybe she got her Cutie Mark and she doesn’t want to be friends with us anymore!”
I laugh and look at the white unicorn. “Stop being a silly filly, Sweetie Belle!”
“What are ya’ll doing down there? Get your rumps up here now!” Apple Bloom has her head out the window as she calls down to us.
I look over to Sweetie Belle, shrug, and then trot up the ramp to our clubhouse. I look at Apple Bloom first, and see that her flank was still blank.
What was so urgent then? I wonder and scan the room until my eyes fall upon a dark blue Pegasus colt.
“Oh... Hello?” I gaze at him.
“Girls, this is Cloud Chaser!” Apple Bloom announces, “He doesn’t have a cutie mark either!”
Cloud Chaser smiles at us both. He is around eleven years old and is slightly taller than the girls and I, his eyes are this plum shade of purple and his mane is two different shades of blue.
“Oh cool! You’re a Pegasus too?” He exclaims when he sees my pathetically small wings.
“Uh, yeah...” I mumble.
I may be a Pegasus, but I do not think I deserve to be one. Although I am almost ten years old, my small wings are still too weak to lift my body; I have never been up in the clouds let alone Cloudsdale, simply because I am unable to fly. I know it is only time before Cloud Chaser finds out how pathetic I am.
“Well, how about a race?” He grins and flies down the ramp, waiting for me there.
My heart begins to pound as I try to think of an excuse, but none came to mind. The warm evening breeze ruffles my purple mane as I slowly, cautiously walk down the ramp behind the strange colt. I stretch out my wings self-consciously and look over to Sweetie Belle. She is looking at the ground, her face emotionless. We do know this strange colt... For all we know, he could be the blank flank of Diamond Tiara.
“So, are you ready... Um...” Cloud Chaser pauses and looks at Apple Bloom; he obviously doesn’t know my name.
“Scootaloo...” I answer for Apple Bloom, “and that’s Sweetie Belle.”
“Oh, right,” He turns towards the clearing behind the clubhouse.
I stand beside him as a bead of sweat trickles down my forehead, I breathe slowly as I beg Celestia for a miracle, but I know one will not come.
Apple Bloom nervously steps forward and calls out the three words which I am dreading, “Ready, set, GO!”
I flutter my wings as hard as I can and I get about one meter off the ground, however, as I push myself forward I tumble towards the ground and fall face-first into a mud puddle. I lift my head to see that Cloud Chaser is already on his way back with a grin across his face.
“So I take it I win?” He laughs as he lands beside me.
“Yeah, it looks like you did,” I scramble to my hooves and blink away the tears which are now filling my eyes.
“Listen,” Cloud Chaser looks down at me, “we can have a rematch.”
I look up at him and see a smile playing at his lips. He is just doing this so he can see me fail again, why does Apple Bloom want him to be one of us? I turn away from him.
“No. I can’t fly so there’s no point,” I confess, preparing myself for all the mockery.
“Wait, what?” He laughs, “A filly of ten years old can’t even fly yet? You must be joking!”
The tears finally escape as I turn around and run as far away from him as I can. I hear Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom calling after me, but I don’t even glance back. They can’t see me cry, I won’t let them. I’m going to be the laughing stock of Ponyville, I just know it... And even worse, the Cutie Mark Crusaders now have a Pegasus who can actually fly, soon enough my friends will not even want me.
I slow down once I reach the main town, then I sit down near the fountain and begin to cry. I don’t know what I am going to do, before I met Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom I was a nopony, if I lose them I will go back to the days where I feel worthless and lost. I come from a home where my parents don’t really care about me, they don’t abuse me as such, but they don’t show their love and affection either. They only provide a home and some food for me, other than that they refuse to be seen anywhere with me. That’s the main reason I cannot fly, all the other fillies and colts learnt how to fly when their mother or father taught them, however, both my parents refused when I asked them to teach me so I just gave up. If I lose my only friends because of the fact I cannot fly, I will hate them even more than I do now.
Once my crying comes to a stop, I slide down off the bench I am sitting on and slowly walk home; I hope my mother has at least made a nice dinner for a change. I very much doubt it though, this day seems to just be going downhill.