Prompt: All good things must come to an end.
When Scootaloo closed her eyes, she could almost see the spectacle as the Wonderbolts pulled off their new trick to the delight of the stadium full of cheering ponies below. She pictured Rainbow Dash punching through the sound barrier, filling the sky with an explosion of color as the other trailed her, wrapping flames and lightning around her rainbow wake. She could just imagine herself being there, staring up at the sky as her hero flew by. Upon opening her eyes, however, the teenage filly was met only with the sight of the the blank ceiling tiles above her bed. She picked up the letter which she had been clutching to her chest and read through it letter once again, even though she practically knew it by heart already.
Scootaloo always knew Rainbow Dash was destined for greatness. Rainbow Dash was the most awesome pony in all of Equestria, and Ponyville could only contain so much awesome. But now, as a member of the Wonderbolts, she could travel all around the world and wow ponies everywhere with the high-flying, death-defying stunts. The Wonderbolts gave Rainbow the opportunity to share her greatness with the rest of Equestria, and Scootaloo couldn’t be happier for her.
With a sigh, she rolled off of her bed and slid the letter into a drawer in her desk. Dreams of Wonderbolts and sonic rainbooms still in her mind, she trotted down the stairs and grabbed her helmet and scooter.
Stepping out onto her porch, she donned her helmet, and took off down the streets of Ponyville, the warm summer air rushing past her wings as she sped down the main thoroughfare. Scootaloo looked up at the clear blue sky. These days used to be her favorite; with no clouds for the weather pegasi to clear, it would have been the perfect day to catch Rainbow Dash practicing her stunts.
Yeah, Ponyville was a different place without Rainbow Dash. No accidental rain storms, fewer silly pranks, no days where she could just lay on the cool grass and watch her idol soar through the skies, no post-flying-session trips to Sugarcube Corner...
Scootaloo skidded to a halt, nearly passing her destination, the local skate park. She and the rest of the crusaders help build it after she got tired of getting yelled at for riding through the market. It wasn’t much – a halfpipe, a few ramps, and a couple of rails – but she held fond memories of the place. After all, this is where she got cutie mark here so many years ago. She recalled how excited she was that day to show Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo made her way over the the halfpipe and, positioned herself at the lip with her scooter. If there’s one thing Rainbow Dash her instilled in her, it was that being awesome didn’t come easy. It was something you had to practice at everyday. And today, awesome was trying to finally perfect the triple backflip, 540 twist. She launched herself down the halfpipe, and coming up the other side, she kicked off the ramp, launching herself into the air. She buzzed her wings to and tucked her body inward to speed her rotation. As she felt herself reaching the apex of the jump, and then coming back down, she extended her body, and shuffled her hooves to line her wheels up with the ramp.
“Yeah!” she shouted as she touched down, the adrenaline of landing a new trick, rushing through her veins.
“Wow, that was so cool!”
Scootaloo turned to see a little teal pegasus filly clapping her hooves. Scootaloo smiled and waved at the kid, then went back through her practice routine, with some standard jumps and grinds. With every trick she landed, she could hear the small filly cheer. After a few minutes, Scootaloo stopped, wiped some sweat from her brow and turned to the filly.
“Hey kid,” said Scootaloo. “Not that I don’t mind the audience, but don’t you have anything better to do on a day like this?”
“Well, um, you see,” the filly paused. “I just moved here from Los Pegasus, and I saw the skate park, and thought, wow, I haven’t ever seen anything like that, but I’ve never seen anyone use it even though I come by everyday, but then today I show up and see you and wow! You’re like this, and zooming over there, and—”
Scootaloo let out a laugh. “Okay, I get it.”
“But I can leave if you don’t want me here,” the filly replied, her eyes lowering to the ground.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” said Scootaloo. “Catch!”
The filly caught Scootaloo’s bright red helmet in her hooves, and gave it a puzzled look.
“You wanna learn how to ride a scooter?”
“Do I ever!” she shouted and she ran over to Scootaloo.
***
“Hey, you did great, kid,” said Scootaloo. “Keep working at it and someday, you’ll be as good as me.”
The filly’s eyes widened. “You think so?”
“If you practice, yeah.”
“Oh, I will, everyday!” she responded. “When I grow up I wanna be just like you!”
Scootaloo smiled. “You know, when I was your age, I said the exact same thing about an older friend who used to live around her.”
“Did it happen?”
“Huh?”
“Did you grow up to be just like her?”
Scootaloo looked off at the clear blue skies, and then back down at her new friend. With a smile, she wrapped a foreleg around the filly’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”