//------------------------------// // Ch 2.1 The Bear Cub // Story: Our Girl Scootaloo 2 of 3 // by Cozy Mark IV //------------------------------// Our Girl Scootaloo Part 2 of 3 by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release Chapter Two point One: The Bear Cub “Well, that pretty much does it for high school.” Scootaloo said as she pushed away from the computer screen. “And my compliments, Twilight, this is just the way it really happened.” “I know you told me you had a rough time in high school on earth, but I hadn't expected anything like that!” Twilight said with a shake of her head as she set down her empty glass. “This makes the school problems I had look trivial by comparison. I had my share of issues but I can't even imagine a filly getting pregnant during school...” Her voice took on a mournful note, “let alone dropping out because of it.” “Don't feel too bad. The only thing unusual about my time in high school is that I had a lot of really good friends who helped me make things better.” Twilight's head snapped up. “You mean that was normal for high school in this world?!” “Well, aside from the part where we were able to fix things. I was really lucky to have such good friends.” Scootaloo added with an oblivious smile. Twilight opened her mouth to object, but couldn't find the words. After a moment she seemed to deflate, letting the issued drop as she refilled her Diet Coke and asked a different question that had been at the back of her mind. “And Josie Findlay... That couldn't be the same Dr. Josephine Findlay-Price who's the current American Ambassador to Equestria?” “You got it.” Scootaloo smiled. “She excelled in political science, and managed several campaigns in her twenties so she was positioned perfectly to step in eight years after graduating from high school... I've asked her about that, but all she ever does is give me that knowing smile of hers.” “You think she knew we were coming somehow?” Twilight asked incredulously. “I wouldn't put it past her.” Scootaloo smiled wryly as she shook her head. “Anyway, are you ready to start on the college years?” Twilight looked a bit uncomfortable as she set down her glass. “Uh... yeah. About that. I know you wanted me to talk to everyone and not censor anything, but just what I've already heard is a bit...” Scootaloo stared at her and crossed her prosthetic arms in front of her.. “A bit what? How did you think a girl falls in love?” Twilight found herself blushing as she stammered. “Well, yes, I understand the concept, but do you really want me to put in... all the details?” Scootaloo just laughed at the red faced pony. “I'm sure you can find a happy medium between 'fade to black' and porn. And besides, nothing I got up to comes close to what the tabloids dreamed up.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You're telling me the newspapers wrote stores about your sex life?” She shifted in her seat, seeming to gain confidence. “Since we arrived here, I've read hundreds of news articles, from every kind of earth newspaper, and I simply can't imagine the New York Times running something like that.” Scootaloo tried to stifle her giggles as she pulled up a particularly memorable piece on her tablet and passed it to Twilight. “The Sun? I've never heard of this paper...” She muttered as she glanced at the title and took a sip from her glass. Then, as she scrolled down the page the headline appeared and the soda she was drinking wound up sprayed all over the screen with explosive force. 'World's first pony co-ed in depraved orgy!' The grainy and poorly photo-shopped image that followed showed Scootaloo's head emerging from a tangle of arms and legs with a few goats looking on in the background for good measure. “Sweet Celestia! Did-?” she asked, her eyes nearly bugging out of her skull. Scootaloo couldn't help but laugh as Twilight gaped. “It's okay, Twilight, this is what tabloids do; they make up ridiculous stories about famous people to sell papers. The picture on the front is actually several images stuck together.” “But... how can...?” she stuttered. “Oh, calm down,” Scootaloo soothed “everyone knows it's just a story, and besides, with the embassy finished, I expect Equestria will soon have a tabloid or two of its own.” She smiled mischievously. “Say, you're pretty famous in Equestria aren't you?” Twilight's head snapped up again and as her eyes took on a far-away look, Scootaloo could have sworn she heard the sound of a needle being pulled from a record. “Anyway, I really like what you did with the first third of this, Twilight.” Scootaloo put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder as Twilight twitched. “Just keep it up and don't worry so much. You're doing fine.” ... It was a summer of anticipation, hanging out with friends, and more shifts with the ambulance corps, but now move in day at the dormitories had finally arrived. After a drive of more than two hours, the purple minivan finally crested the last big hill on the highway, and the edges of the college town came into view thought the windshield. Scootaloo had made the flight several times, both in the family’s little aircraft and on her own wings, but today they needed to haul cargo, and poor Jayne was looking pretty squeezed in the only remaining back seat with all of her stuff. As they got off the freeway, it quickly became obvious as to why all the literature had warned: ‘Do not bring a car for your student!’ It was only the first day of the three day move in weekend, and the roads were absolutely packed with vehicles of every description, most crammed to the gills with clothes, bedding and a million other indispensable things. Helping Kevin navigating the network of winding roads that made up the town, Scootaloo was rapidly gaining a certain respect for a city where ‘up’ and ‘down’ were just as legitimate directions as ‘left’ and ‘right’. At length Kevin pulled the minivan up to the appointed dormitory. This was not the same as finding a parking spot. After circling the huge building three times Scootaloo called a halt and took to the air, using a thousand foot view to guide her dads to one of the handful of ever-shifting free parking spots over the phone. As she came in for a landing and pulled off her goggles she heard a familiar voice call her name. “Scootaloo! You made it!” Josie shouted as she closed the distance and hugged her friend. Scootaloo unfolded her prosthetic arms that she had tucked away on her back during flight and returned the hug. “Hey, Josie. How did you know I was here?” She asked with a smile. “Oh, I don’t know. I was just staring out the window and I noticed a bunch of people pointing at the sky. And the alien invasion is next Friday.” She couldn’t help but giggle at that. “So I take it you’re already moved in?” “Yeah, my parents and I got here this morning, finished the move, and they left after lunch. I’ve been waiting for almost two hours! What took you so long?” Jayne couldn’t help himself and chose this moment to say simply; “Shoes.” Earning him a mix of glares and giggles. “Anyway! I kind of didn’t take enough time to pack yesterday, and I kind of had to finish the job this morning.” Scootaloo answered, rubbing the back of her head with her hand and looking sheepish. “Well, you’re the one who had to deal with the traffic. Come on, I can help you move in. Which tower are you in?” She asked, gesturing to the four ten story towers that grew up from the shared main level. “Uh, the form said I was in Braxton, room 3621.” Josie actually let out a squeal. “I’m in Braxton 3605! We’re on the same floor! Come on, I’ll show you the way!” She finished as she grabbed an armload of bedding and headed back to the main doors. Kevin shrugged and hauled out one of the pre packed saddle bags allowing Scootaloo to shrug it on before chasing after her friend. The elevator was the very best 1975 technology, and it took much longer than she expected to make it up a scant six floors, stopping on every floor to let off other students and their parents. When they finally reached their floor and stepped out, Scootaloo didn’t know quite what to make of it. “Wow… It looks pretty industrial here…” She followed Josie down the white hallway as she pointed out the sights. “Oh don’t be so down on it. The entire building is concrete and steel. It wouldn’t be here after this long if they had built with wood; college kids aren’t always kind to the fixtures, you know.” While the building itself was pretty plain, the individual dorm room doors bore decorations next to the names of the girls inside. Some students had already replaced the original decorations with material of their own design, and while the result wasn’t always pretty, it did give the floor more character. The floor itself was as simple as could be; 24 rooms, each with a single window made up the outside, all connected by a square hallway. Inside the perimeter of the hall were the guys' and girls' bathrooms, the common room, elevators, and a washer/dryer room. “And here we have your room.” Josie announced as she knocked and opened the door. It was obvious at a glance that the other occupant, Margaret May, if the name on the door was any guide, had already moved in and set up shop. The top bunk was already taken, and the room featured a rather bland Midwestern motif with several religious posters. Her roommate didn’t seem to be home at the moment though. “Huh. I don’t think I met her yet… Oh well,” Josie finished, dumping the bedding on the bottom bunk, “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Scootaloo set down her saddle bag and took a moment to look over the room. It was smaller than her room at home; just two desks, bunk bed and a closet, but still… it was hers. Not that her dads had been too hard on her, but this was going to be her room. She could come and go whenever she wanted, do just about anything she wanted… A grin slowly spread across her face; she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with this new freedom, but she was going enjoy it! Over the next two hours she helped her dads haul everything up to her room and connected her old laptop to the school network. With the important things done, she hung up what clothes she brought, made the bed, and took a moment to look over the pristine results of an afternoon’s work. “Enjoy it while it lasts.” Kevin observed with a smirk. “It'll never look this organized again.” “Hey, I resemble that remark!” Josie replied with feigned indignity. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “What? Have you seen the average girl’s college dorm room?” Josie answered. “Give it a month and then tell me I’m wrong.” “Well, that seems to be everything.” Jayne said, changing the subject. “What do you say we all grab dinner? There's supposed to be a good Mexican place right down the road… Google Maps calls it Los Mariachis. Sound good?” … The meal was excellent, as it usually was in any Mexican restaurant where Spanish is the dominant language. Their vegetarian selection wasn’t very big, but they seemed honored to have Scootaloo as a guest, and made up a special salad with guacamole, sour cream, the works. Kevin and Jayne were both feeling a little worried… Scootaloo had grown up with them and had never been this far away from home for so long. The family aircraft could chop the +2 hour drive down to under an hour’s flight, and they all knew Scootaloo could do almost as well on her own wings, but… it still took some getting used to. Josie and Scootaloo were feeling some of the same concerns, but for them it was balanced by the adventure of being on their own for the first time; the entire city felt like it was theirs for the taking, and they couldn’t wait to get out and see it all. The sun was already setting behind the mountains by the time they paid the bill and stepped back outside. They could all see the dormitory some three blocks away to the south, and the medical complex where Scoot hoped to study loomed large to the east. “Well… I guess we should say good-bye now…” Kevin said, his voice cracking just a little. Jayne went to one knee and pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug as Kevin joined him. “You take care of yourself okay?” Scootaloo returned their hug, but was surprised to feel something drip onto her coat and run down her neck. “Hey, it’s okay, Dad. I’m almost a full grown adult now, and college still has some safety nets. I’ll be fine.” Jayne sniffled. “I know… You’re a strong young woman, and we’re both so proud of you!” She could feel her own eyes starting to water as she held her dads close. “Thank you so much. I think you know how much that means to me.” They all held each other close for a long while, each of them pretending not to cry, until finally Scootaloo pulled herself together. “Hey, you still have a long ride back, and you don’t want to do that in the dark if you don’t have to.” Kevin reluctantly agreed, and as Josie watched, her dads got into the now very empty van and waved good-bye as they pulled off into traffic for the long ride home. Scootaloo waved until they disappeared from sight, then quietly dried her eyes on a gauze pad. “Uh… do they just give you as many of those things as you want?” Josie asked of the medical gauze, breaking the mood. Scootaloo smiled. “Well yeah, it’s not the kind of thing you want to stop and look for in an emergency.” She sighed, but strangely, she felt better already. “Come on, why don’t we go see how Melissa and Demi are doing? They should be in the next tower over, and I haven’t had the chance to see if they got in today.” “Okay… I’m still kind of disappointed that Christina and Conner didn’t come with us…” “We’re really pretty lucky to keep four of the gang together as it is.” Josie chided her. “And it’s not like we can’t keep in touch. Now come on, what do you say we check out the student rec center out past the dorms before we call it a night?” She added in a sing song voice, “they might have some really hot guys…” Scootaloo gave her friend a gentle shove. “Oh, all right, but only because you sold the idea so well. Hot guys… Really, Josie?” “Hey, don’t give me that look. We’re both single, and the place has multiple elevated walkways to stand and see the sights.” Scootaloo couldn’t help but snicker, and as the sun set behind the mountains, she started her first weekend at college on an amusingly frivolous note. ... After an enjoyable evening exploring the rec center, introducing themselves and ogling some of their fellow students, Josie and Scootaloo walked back to the dorm and took the elevator up to the sixth floor. As they rounded the corner, their attention was drawn to the country music coming from Scootaloo’s open dorm room door. After an exchange of concerned glances, they knocked and entered to find a young woman wearing a house dress sitting at her computer. “Uh, hi. You must be Margaret?” Scootaloo spoke up over the music. She seemed to notice them, turned, then did a double take. “Whoa, you’re that Scootaloo Scott?” Scootaloo nodded while Josie gave her a serious look. “Hey, nice to meet you! I’m Margaret May Forbush.” She added, standing up to shake her prosthetic hand. “I had hoped it would be you, but… I didn’t really believe it.” “Hey, let’s keep the fan-girling to a minimum here okay?” Josie cautioned from the still open door. “We’re all just students here.” Margaret seemed to catch herself and looked embarrassed. “Oh… Sorry, I guess you must get that a lot.” Scootaloo smiled, hoping to make the best of this. “More than you know. Did you have a friend or family member who benefited from one of the genetic treatments?” She thought for a moment. “Well, I know several members of our congregation have, but personally? No, no one in my family.” Both Scootaloo and Josie seemed to relax a bit at that. “Well, I’m glad you’re all healthy. Sorry, I know it’s a weird question, but the genetic treatments derived from my DNA and have saved millions of lives, so I’ve learned to ask that first. You probably already know about me and my dads. Have you met my friend Josie?” Margaret stepped over to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you. Did you two go to high school together?” “Yes, actually. We were on the cheerleading squad together, though neither of us is planning to continue cheering into college.” They shared a significant look. “I think we’ve both had our fill.” “I’m majoring in political science for the moment, and Scoot here is on a medical track. What are you majoring in?” “Agricultural science, actually. My dad runs a farm in Kansas, and I’m hoping to help with the family business.” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at this. “Agricultural science?” “Oh yes!” She replied in a perky tone. “I take it from your tone you grew up in the city, right?” “Uh... Mostly. Josie and I did spend some time on a farm a few years back, but it’s been a while.” “Well then, you know that while it doesn't have the same glamor as some other fields, agricultural science is the very foundation upon which we live.” She grinned at them. “Only two hundred years ago, ninety percent of the US population were farmers. Today that number is about two percent, and its because of the huge advances we've made in agroscience.” “Oh... I guess I never thought of it that way.” Scootaloo conceded. “What's your family like?” “Oh, we're just good folks. Dad runs the farm while Mom keeps the books, hires the labor, and sees to the rest. I went to school, helped around the farm, and the whole family went to church every week.” “And you don't have any problem with gay people?” Scootaloo asked apprehensively. Margaret noticed her expression and tried to re-assure her. “What? Oh, no. We don't have any objection, nor do I. I've heard about some of the things your dads went though, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.” Scootaloo and Josie took a seat on the bottom bunk as the got to know each other better, but privately, Scoot was sighing with relief, smiling as she thought. 'I think this should work out just fine.' … The first week of classes was every bit as exciting as Scootaloo had hoped it would be. The years of taking college credit classes over the video chat line at her old school had made her familiar with some of the bigger classrooms, but getting to the buildings by hoof proved an enjoyable challenge. The campus was divided into different parts with a downtown area for most of her introductory studies and the branch campus a few miles away that handled engineering, medicine, sports and some dormitories. Each morning would find her up early to hop a bus downtown after which followed a search for the right building, floor and room – not as easy as it sounded given that some buildings were four stories tall and had ground level entrances on every floor. By the end of the first week Scootaloo had become familiar with her class schedule, and setup a sort of informal dinner meeting each evening where she would catch up with Josie, Demie and all the new friends to hear about their day. That evening as she took her seat at the table next to her friends, Josie introduced her to a new classmate. “Scoot, I’d like you to meet Catherine from my political science class.” “Pleased to meet you,” she said, extending a hand. “You can call me Cat.” “Nice to meet you, Cat.” Scoot replied with a smile. “How did you guys meet?” “Oh, our class is taught by a teaching assistant, and the poor guy was trying to get some asshole freshman to STFU about Ron Paul and let him finish explaining the Commerce Clause. Josie stepped in and totally pwned him, and I was able to offer a few valid points along the way.” “She’s being modest, it was a joint effort, and the whole class applauded when he finally got up and left.” Scootaloo smiled at her. “Wow, you must really know your US politics; Josie’s the only one I’ve ever seen do that before.” Catherine blushed a bit. “Well, it wasn’t that hard. I must admit to having some ulterior motives for being here though; I’ve always wanted to meet the famous Scootaloo Scott.” Scoot blanched but Cat held up her hands. “Easy there, I’m not some mindless fan girl, I’ve just had a question for a long time now, and I was hoping you could answer it for me.” Scootaloo gave her a flat look. “A question not already answered on Wikipedia or one of the many fan sites that list everything from my weight to my preferred shoe size and nail type?” Cat looked embarrassed, but continued anyway. “Well… Not that I could find at least. I just wanted to know why you had such an easy time growing up, especially with the legal system.” Josie was regarding Cat with a dark expression as Scoot answered evenly. “Could you be more specific?” Catherine was blushing red from all the attention, but she forged ahead anyway. “I’m serious. I’m majoring in political science and I can’t for the life of me figure out why the US government is going out of its way to make life easier for you. The bodyguards and such make sense, but the rest? You just got a local politician to declare you a person in the eyes of the law and it stuck. No landmark court case, no huge legal battle, just one and done. And all the usual racism and specism that should have been present; It’s obvious that someone is expending significant effort to help you lead a normal life. Don’t get me wrong, that’s kind of them, and you’ve already saved a lot of lives though your medical research, but this started way before there were any medical treatments to think about. I just don’t understand why they’re doing so much for you.” To the surprise of everyone else at the table, Scootaloo was grinning. “Oh, I like her! Josie, can we keep her?” Demi, Melissa and Josie all gave her questioning looks. “Surely you’ve all wondered the same thing over the years, but you must have figured it out by now.” She said looking over the three of them. Josie and Melissa nodded slowly, but Demi looked confused. “I just thought you were kind of lucky. That maybe America really is the best country in the world…” Josie abruptly sprayed soda out her nose as she choked and laughed at the same time. Scootaloo pounded her on the back a couple of times and waited as she recovered. “Jesus, Demi, you really need to take a poli-sci class.” Josie finally managed. Scootaloo nodded then turned back to Catherine. “Look at it from their perspective. Before I was even known to the world, my DNA was published for everyone to see. Now detailed scientific information doesn’t do much for policy makers, but the broad truth was easy to convey. Someone had built something with DNA that was hundreds of years beyond the best we could do today. When I came forward a few weeks later, most of the world saw an adorable helpless little pony. The politicians saw something much darker. Are you familiar with the bear cub proposition?” Demi and Cat looked confused, so she asked it a different way. “When you’re walking through the woods and you find an adorable bear cub playing in the forest, what do you do and why?” “You get the hell out of there because the mama bear could be back any second and she’s going to kill anything that threatens her cub.” Demi responded. “But we’ve seen pieces of Equestria on the show. They’re peaceable and no threat to anyone. Why-” Catherine’s face suddenly went from confusion to shock and fear. “Oh, shit!” Scootaloo smiled. “Now you’ve got it. If you abuse a minority group, you’re only abusing another human. You know exactly what they are and where they came from. But someone or something built me. Probably built my entire species. Something with genetic engineering skills so advanced they could, in an afternoon, whip up a disease that would make the Black Death look like the fucking chicken pox. Equestria isn't necessarily the mama bear you need to worry about, but whatever built the Ponies? Yeah, that's probably not someone or something you want to piss off.” Demi’s eyes had gone wide along with Catherine’s, but Melissa and Josie were just nodding. He turned to his sister in consternation. “You knew about this?!” Josie just nodded. “Well, yeah, why did you think she was able to skip so many pointless legal battles and so much mindless specism? The people who run this country aren’t stupid, at least not all the time. Scoot is the proverbial bear cub, and only a complete fool would allow her to come to serious harm, but at the same time, you can see why nobody advertises the fact. The average American has an eighth grade education, and it’s just a lot simpler to let everyone think Scootaloo leads a good life because we’re a great country, or people are great, or whatever platitude floats your boat.” “And you’re okay with this??” Demi asked, turning on Scootaloo. She shrugged. “Well, do I have any choice in the matter? I can’t help who and what I am, and I don’t know anything more than anyone else. I’m just happy to be able to get along and fit in, to have friends like you guys.” She stood up and hugged Melissa and Demi. Demi’s concern seemed to fade as he returned the hug. “I’m lucky to have a friend like you too, Scoot.” He looked a little sheepish. “Sorry for freaking out over this.”