//------------------------------//
// Scootaloo Takes Manehattan 
// Story: Flying High 
// by arglefumph 
//------------------------------//

Princess Celestia declared that there would be an official Princess Summit that weekend. It was scheduled to start after Scootaloo spent the day with the Wonderbolts—which was so much fun—but they ended up having to wait a few hours for Princess Cadance to fly in from New Yoke City.

The Princess Summit started with Celestia giving an impressive speech, about divisions of power in the Equestrian government. Once those two minutes were over, the princesses got in their pajamas and watched movies while eating popcorn the entire night.

It was a lot of fun, and Scootaloo even got some help with her friendship problem. Princess Cadance suggested being extra-nice to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Princess Celestia suggested finding common similarities, instead of differences. Luna offered to give them nightmares until they agreed to play with Scootaloo again.

Scootaloo was happy to return home on Sunday. Even though she liked Canterlot, she didn't enjoy being escorted by the royal guards everywhere. She liked being at Ponyville, where everything was normal.

Kind of.

When Scootaloo went downstairs to get some juice, she found her mother talking to a mirror. "The Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie. Trrrrrixie. The Grrrreat and Powerrrrrrful...Trrrrrrrixie!"

"Mom, what are you doing?" Scootaloo asked.

"Practicing my introductions," Trixie said. "You should do it too, Scootaloo. Scootaloo. Scooootalooooo! ScooTAloo! Presenting her royal highness, Prrrrincess ScootaLOOO!"

"Um...I'm just going to get some apple juice from the kitchen."

"Suit yourself," Trixie said.

As Scootaloo opened the door to the kitchen, Spike ran out of his room. "Mail delivery!" he said. "It looks like another emergency message from the mayor."

"Why is Trixie always the go-to pony when emergencies arise?" Trixe grumbled. She used her magic to pick up the letter, then she read it. "A tree fell over in the town square? Seriously? That's an emergency? Just get Earth ponies to push it aside!"

"Do you want me to tell them no?"

"No...no, I can handle this. I just need...aha!" Trixie rummaged through her magic kit and pulled out a jar. "I need you to go ahead of me and rub a little of this on the tree."

"What is it?"

"Magical vanishing cream," Trixie said. "This is how I perform the disappearing trick in my stageshow. Just make sure you don't get any on your hands, Spike, or I might make them disappear!"

"Sure thing, Mom!" Spike said, saluting. Then he gasped. "I, um, I mean, Trixie!"

Trixie hesitated. "...You can call me 'Mom', if you want. I hatched you from your egg, after all."

"Yeah, but I—my dragon parents—I should get going!" Spike said quickly, grabbing the vanishing cream and running out the door. Trixie spent a few moments looking at the door, before she turned around and went to get her magician outfit.

"Scootaloo, we're going to the town square!" Trixie announced. "I've got a magic show to put on!"

When Trixie arrived at the town square, only a few ponies were there. Trixie managed to build up a small crowd, by talking loudly and doing a few simple tricks like fireworks and levitation. To finish off the short show, Trixie performed her trick of making the tree disappear, without using magic. She merely touched her horn to the tree, and it instantly vanished.

Everypony in the crowd applauded, and Mayor Mare thanked Trixie for her help. Scootaloo was intrigued by the magical feat, but for all the wrong reasons.

Magical vanishing cream, huh? Scootaloo thought, rubbing her chin. That could be really useful to have...



The next day, Scootaloo once again tried to talk to her old friends. "Hi! How was your weekend?"

"Awful," Applebloom said. "We tried to go crusading, but we ended up covered in tree sap!"

"Yeah, and everypony besides us got their cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle complained. "Screwtaloo, Scootkazoo and Lootascoo, not to mention F. P. Shooterloo!"

"Now we're the only two members left in the Cutie Mark Crusaders..."

"That's too bad," Scootaloo said. "Maybe I could join up! I'd love to hang out with—"

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders are for blank flanks only," Applebloom said.

"Yeah, you can't join because you already have a special talent," Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo felt like stomping the ground in anger. "But I want to be friends with you!"

"You're still our friend!"

"Yeah, you're like #9 on our list of best ponies with cutie marks! Right after our sisters and Cheerilee and my parents and Applebloom's brother and—"

"Oh, forget it!" Scootaloo said. She turned around and trotted away, muttering nasty things about the unfairness of life.

But Scootaloo knew that moping wouldn't fix anything. No, this was a time for action! So during lunchtime, Scootaloo snuck out of the school area and ran to her home. She took her mother's magical vanishing cream, then started rubbing it all over her cutie mark. Predictably, Scootaloo made a huge mess and got the cream all over herself, but she didn't care.

As soon as she got the desired effect, Scootaloo put the cream away, then returned to school. She made a beeline for her old friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "Hey! HEY!"

"Oh, hey Scootaloo," Applebloom said. "We were just about to find you and apologize."

"Yeah, you seemed kind of upset before," Sweetie Belle said. "We didn't mean to—"

Completely ignoring them, Scootaloo turned to the side and smiled proudly. "Look, my cutie mark disappeared!"

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gasped. "Cutie marks can disappear? I didn't know that!"

"Me neither!"

"So now I can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo said eagerly. "That means we get to hang out again!"

Scootaloo and Applebloom both looked at each other for a second, then they smiled. "Uh, sure!" Applebloom said. "Welcome to the club!"

"Yeah, we missed having you around!" Sweetie Belle said.

"YES!" Scootaloo said, hugging them. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Best Friends!"

The three fillies played with each other for the rest of the lunch period. They made plans to go to Sweet Apple Acres after school, and for a half hour, it was just like old times for Scootaloo.

From a distance, Discord watched the events unfold. "Aw, the three best friends have patched things up amongst themselves. What an adorable little scene! But I think it needs a little chaos."

Discord picked up a rock and skipped it across the ground. It hit Sweetie Belle's leg, causing her to trip and smash into Scootaloo. The instant Sweetie Belle's horn touched Scootaloo's body, Scootaloo's bottom half disappeared.

They both screamed, and Discord sighed happily. "Much better."

Applebloom ran to get Cheerilee, but the teacher had no idea what to do. Scootaloo ran around on her two front legs, screaming wildly about the vanishing cream, before she disappeared completely.



"Welcome to Spells and Bells! I am the Grrreat and Powerrrful Trrrixie! How can I make your day magical?" Trixie said with a smile. Her face fell slightly as she took stock of her customer. "Cheerilee? Shouldn't you be teaching school right now?"

"Hello, Trixie. I'm sorry to disturb you at your work, but there's an emergency situation with your daughter."

"Scootaloo? What's wrong with her?"

"She disappeared into thin air."

"WHAT?"



When Scootaloo opened up her eyes again, she was on a patch of grass, next to a fallen tree. She recognized it as the tree her mother had vanished the day before.

Scootaloo looked around, but there was nopony in sight. She didn't recognize where she was. All she saw were tall buildings in the distance, and a gray pathway nearby. She walked to the pathway and started following it.

As she walked, it became apparent that she was in some sort of park. She started galloping when she heard voices ahead, but she immediately came to a stop when she heard that they were saying.

"Go home, ya loser!"

"No one wants to see your freckled face 'round here no more!"

"Get outta town, bare butt!"

Scootaloo instantly recognized the situation. A group of bullies were picking on a foal who didn't have her cutie mark yet. Scootaloo growled.

"I...I don't want any trouble..." the little foal said, trying to cover up her flank with her tail.

"Too bad, you found it!"

"Yeah, maybe another black eye will teach youse a lesson!"

Before she knew what she was doing, Scootaloo ran forward and put herself in between the bullies and the dark orange filly. "Leave her alone!" Scootaloo shouted. "Just stop! She hasn't done anything to you!"

The leader of the bullies—the only unicorn of the group—stepped backwards. "Who are you?"

"I'm Princess Scootaloo!" Scootaloo said. "And I'm tired of cutie marks! Everypony makes fun of you if you don't have a cutie mark, and as soon as you get one, all your friends leave you! It's not fair!"

"The princess!" one of the three bullies gasped.

The leader scoffed. "Come on, you think we're stupid enough to fall for that? You ain't the princess!"

"Yeah, youse is too stupid looking!"

"You're stupid looking!" Scootaloo said. "I am the princess, and you're gonna be in big trouble if you don't go away now!"

"We don't take orders from blank flanks!"

"I'm not a blank flank!" Scootaloo said, turning to the side. "I have—what?"

Scootaloo looked at her flank, only to find herself in a curious situation. The cutie mark on her left flank had disappeared completely, while the one on the right flank was still there. It must have been a weird side effect of the vanishing cream.

"Why do I only have one cutie mark?" Scootaloo asked.

The three bullies huddled together and talked in low voices. The red-maned filly behind Scootaloo pulled on her tail to get her attention. "We should run," she said.

"What?"

"These girls aren't afraid to hurt ponies," the girl said. "They broke my leg once, and—"

The bullies broke out of their huddle. "Okay, we made our decision. We were gonna beat up Babs, but now we're coming after you, Wannabe Princess."

They charged at Scootaloo, who quickly dodged and ran away. The bullies chased her through the park, but even though she flapped her wings, Scootaloo couldn't generate enough lift to get off of the ground.

I gotta get higher up if I'm gonna fly away! Scootaloo thought. Urgh, if only I had my scooter!

Scootaloo ran down a dirt pathway, in hopes of finding an adult or a place to hide. To her dismay, she found that the pathway was a dead end, which looped around a small lake. Looking anywhere for an escape, she saw a sitting bench at the lakeside, next to a public trash can.

Scootaloo jumped onto the bench, ran two paces and jumped onto the trash can next to it. She jumped in the direction of the lake and used her wings to glide over the water, where she would be safe from the Earth pony bullies.

Behind her, one of the bullies missed the jump and smashed into the trash can. Garbage fell everywhere, especially on top of the bully. The other bully tripped over the mess and fell into the lake.

Scootaloo landed on the opposite shore of the lake. She turned and saw the leader of the bullies gesturing angrily, while the other two bullies were indisposed. "Ha! Can't get me here!"

The leader of the bullies ran and jumped towards the lake. A green glow surrounded her, as she levitated herself across the small lake. "You hurt my buddies! Now you're really gonna get it, Stoopidloo!"

Scootaloo couldn't believe it. "Unicorns can use their magic to fly?!"

"Duh. If you was the princess, you'd know that," the bully said. "But you isn't an alicorn! Youse just a fake!"

"The only fake here is your grammar!" Scootaloo said, using a retort she had once heard Twilight Sparkle use.

"You're gonna need a fake leg when I'm done with you!" the bully said. She sprang at Scootaloo, and the two of them rolled on the ground, trading punches and kicks. Scootaloo knocked the bully's face aside temporarily with a hard punch to the muzzle. The bully responded with a vicious head-butt.

To the surprise of both of them, Scootaloo disappeared the instant the bully's horn touched her.

"What the—where'd she go?" the bully asked. "I had her in my hooves! Augh!"

Scootaloo popped back into existence, next to a fallen tree. It was the same spot she appeared in, when she first arrived at the park. After a few moments of confusion and disorientation, Scootaloo figured out what must have happened.

"The vanishing cream must react to unicorn horns. That's how Mom uses it to make things disappear without magic!"

Scootaloo took the same pathway as before, but this time, she went in the opposite direction.



Babs Seed purposely stayed behind in Central Park, because she wanted to thank the princess for saving her. After ten minutes, though, Babs figured that nopony was coming back, so she started to leave.

She didn't get far before she was confronted by three very angry bullies. One was soaking wet, the other was covered in garbage, and the leader had a bloody scrape on the side of her mouth.

"Your stupid friend escaped somehow!" the leader spat. "But you're not going anywhere!"

Babs tried to run, but the unicorn used her levitation powers to lift Babs in the air. The garbage bully tackled Babs and held her down while the other bullies hit her. Babs was too busy screaming and crying to hear what happened next.

"There they are! The ones that attacked me!"

"Yes, Princess Scootaloo!"

"You kids, stop!"

"It's the police! Run!"

"[Censored]!"

"Mommy!"

"Phew, you need a bath!"

When Babs opened her eyes, she saw Scootaloo standing over her. "Hey, are you okay? It looks like they hit you pretty bad."

"Princess!" Babs said. "Where—what happened to the bullies?"

Scootaloo gestured over her shoulder, where the royal guard had detained the three bullies. "I had them arrested for assaulting royalty," she said. Her eyes dropped. "...It's something I learned from my father."

Babs hugged Scootaloo. "Thank you thank you thank you! You saved my life!"

"You're welcome. Just, um, doing my job as a princess! But maybe you can help me out."

"Sure! I'll do anything to help you!"

"Great!" Scootaloo said. "Could you tell me where we are right now? ...I kinda don't know."

"Huh? How could you travel to Manehattan without knowing it?"

"Manehattan? But that's on the opposite side of Equestria!"



Babs wanted to take Scootaloo on a tour of Manehattan, showing her all the great sights, like Grand Ventral Station, Broadsideway and the Statue of Liberneigh. But Scootaloo wanted to go home, and she remembered that Princess Cadance lived in New Yoke City. So Scootaloo said goodbye to her new friend, then she had the royal guards escort her to Cadance.

Princess Cadance was very happy about the surprise visit, especially because it interrupted a business meeting with the finance ponies on Wail Street, who were once again crying because their stocks went down. After listening to Scootaloo's story, Cadance sent a letter to Trixie, who replied through Spike's dragon-mail.

"Hmmm..." Cadance said, reading the letter. "It looks like there's good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"Your mom has a counterspell for the vanishing cream. Good thing she's a magic expert, huh?"

"That's great! I can go home!" Scootaloo cheered. "But what's the bad news?"

" 'Tell Scootaloo that she is grounded for a month, for stealing a dangerous magical item and using it without permission! She could have been killed! And fighting with strangers?! What kind of moronic'—your mom sounds pretty mad."

"Aw...I can't be grounded! The Grand Galloping Gala is this week!"

"Sorry, but she has a point. Jumping across two time zones at once is dangerous," Cadance said. "But let's undo this mess, shall we? I'm pretty sure I can perform this restoring spell."

Cadance focused her magic on Scootaloo's left flank, and Scootaloo's cutie mark reappeared. "My cutie mark's back!" she said. "Thanks, Cadance!"

"You're welcome," Cadance said. "As for sending you back to Ponyville...Trixie says a magical dampener must be used. I'm not sure I can do that."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I never learned much magic beyond levitation and love spells," Cadance said. "I'll get one of my unicorn guards to perform the spell."

Cadance and Scootaloo said their goodbyes, before the unicorn guard performed the spell to send her back home safely. Scootaloo reappeared at the schoolyard, where her mother and Spike were waiting. Trixie hugged Scootaloo, and they talked about what happened on the walk home.

As soon as they entered the house, Scootaloo was sent directly to her room. She didn't leave until two hours later, when there was frantic knocking at the front door. Trixie answered the door, to find Sweetie Belle and Applebloom crying there.

"Mrs. Trixie! We can't find her anywhere!"

"I'm so sorrrrry! I didn't mean to kill her!"

"Huh?" Scootaloo said, peering out of her doorway.

"Scootaloo, get back in your room," Trixie said. "Girls, you—"

"SCOOTALOO!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle shouted. They ran past Trixie and tackled Scootaloo.

"We're so sorry!"

"We're the worst friends ever!"

"We were so mean to you!"

"I thought I killed you!"

"We'll never ignore you again!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Apologizers!"

"We love you! You're our best friend!"

Across the room, Spike put his hands over his ears. "Ugh, girls are loud," he complained.

"Hmmm..." Trixie said. "Friends aren't allowed to visit while Scootaloo's grounded, but...I think I'll allow it. Just this once."



Dear Princess Celestia,

I told you that my friends don't want to hang out with me anymore, now that I've got my cutie mark. Maybe it was kinda dumb, but today I tried to get rid of my cutie mark, so I could be a blank flank again.

Somehow, I ended up in Manehattan where I saved a blank flank from some bullies. It was pretty cool, and I learned a lesson, which is why Mom says I gotta send you this friendship report.

I learned that it doesn't matter if you have a cutie mark or not, because some ponies are always going to be jerks about it. What matters is if your friends accept you for who you are. Real friends will always stick by you, even if your cutie mark is, I dunno, toilet paper or something gross like that. Do you know there's one colt in our class who has a snail for a cutie mark? He's weird.

Anyway, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and I are all friends again. Great friendship lesson, right? You should write to my mom and tell her that you're so impressed, you want me to be un-grounded for the Grand Galloping Gala this week.

'Kay? Bye!
—Scootaloo

PS. Spike here. Please don't try to get Scootaloo un-grounded. I get her scooter as long as she's in trouble, and it's sweet!



Dear Princess Cadance,

Thank you very much for returning my daughter safely to me. Also, curse you for sending me that fine. Five hundred bits for illegally dumping garbage in Central Park?!

This is why I hate New Yoke.

—The Great and Powerful Trixie