//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Time Before // Story: Welcome to Wherever You Are // by FrozenInTime //------------------------------// Scootaloo shot up out of her cloud bed, screaming, her eyes not being able to focus and flitting around at every object in the room. The picture of her and Rainbow Dash on her nightstand, the framed picture on the wall of the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, and finally the picture of Rainbow Dash and Twilight with herself in between them, being crushed by their infamous wing-hug. Her room was nothing special, with a lot of empty space on the walls and corners. It did not matter to her, because she didn't spend any of her waking hours in the room, and after what she has been through, she counted herself lucky to have a room at all, especially in the cloud mansion of the coolest pony in Equestria. The nightmare quickly slipped from Scootaloo's mind, and she managed to stop panting after a few seconds. All she could remember was screaming... No! Don't take them from me! I need them! I need my parents! Tears were welling up in her eyes as she realized what the dream was about. She was remembering her parents being laid to rest. More tears came as she tried to remember what they looked like. It's been so long that she forgot their faces, only remembering their fur and mane color, and their eyes... the unholy look in their eyes as they were put in the ground... not remembering any other part of them, even their voices, made it so much worse. She decided to try and sleep again, as she didn't want Rainbow Dash to see her tears and think less of her. She had never seen Rainbow cry, before today, and frankly didn't think she ever would. It must have been too uncool for her, so if she cried, that would make her less cool. Right? Finding herself unable to sleep, she remembered that she has told Rainbow Dash of her nightmares before, one night when they all went on a camping trip. Telling her taught Scootaloo how to face her fears, so it couldn't hurt to do it again... ...Right? The filly jumped out of bed, using her tiny wings to balance herself as she was still disoriented. Coming to Rainbow's room, she found it empty. A singe of panic rushed over her, before she saw the irregular shape of the clouds on the wall. She had seen Rainbow do this "wall dive" before in the few weeks she has lived here. Her thoughts were confirmed when she walked to the front passageway and saw a rainbow-colored shockwave in the distance and a rainbow expand from the Golden Oaks Library, headed in the direction of the Everfree forest. Out for another midnight fly... I guess she's having sleep issues, too... I bet she's got the right idea, maybe I just need some fresh air. But why does she need to do the Sonic Rainboom all the time? Does she enjoy waking up half of Ponyville? Stepping out of the passageway and onto the large expanse of clouds that was basically her front yard, she took in the sweet night air and looked at the beautiful, purple night sky. Thank Luna for such a wonderful sight. Once again trying to remember her nightmare, she found herself remembering her foalhood before she came to Ponyville. She lived a happy life in the outskirts of Manehattan, a rural area that did not share the city's tall skyscrapers and bustling roads. The cause of death for her parents was a secret that was closely guarded from her. Her parents simply left one day, leaving her with a foalsitter, and never came back. But, their bodies were found a few days later, and she was never told where. The funeral was terrible. The caskets were open, so their death was probably not bloody and violent. However, their eyes were open, and any attempts to shut them proved futile. Their eyes... their irises were all wrong. Her mother was a Unicorn with pink fur, an indigo mane, and her eyes were normally violet like her own, or Twilight's. In fact, the first time she saw Twilight, she almost cried. Twilight reminded her so much of the mother she could barely remember. She was told her mother was the know-it-all type, again like Twilight. Even the mane and tail, except her mother did not have the pink and purple stripe. Twilight was with all of her friends at that time, including Rainbow Dash, who quickly comforted the sobbing filly and introduced her to Twilight. "See? She might be an egghead, but she's not all that scary... once you get to know her... unless she uses magic." The statement caused the entire group to burst into a fit of laughter, even Scootaloo, and Twilight's face became flushed, not in anger, but embarrassment. Her father was an orange Pegasus like herself, with a blue mane and coppery eyes. When she looked at her parents unblinking, dead eyes, she immediately burst into tears. Their irises were turned a bright, unnatural green. Sometimes she wonders if anypony really knew what happened. The orphanage was not the best place for her. The headmistress almost never spoke, and she was constantly bullied by other Pegasi orphans for her lack of flying ability. They would do cruel things like lifting her high into the air and dropping her, because she knew she had the ability to stop them but for some reason... she simply couldn't. Some said her wings were underdeveloped. Others said she didn't have as much magical ability as other Pegasi, which was the source of their flight ability with wings too small or their ability to control the weather patterns. Scootaloo had never touched a cloud at that point. She remembered the first time Rainbow Dash brought her to the cloud mansion, and how good it felt to walk on the clouds. Rainbow has been trying to teach her to force the clouds to rain, but so far she can only move them around and disperse some of the smaller ones by kicking them just right. Back to the thoughts of the orphanage, she remembered when she first started taking chances. Her passion to do risky things came from taking the risk of sneaking out of the orphanage every so often, to a warehouse a bit down the street. It was still in use, and there were several times she was almost caught by workers. In one of her attempts to hide, she found a small nook in the corner hidden by a few crates. In that nook, she found it: a shiny, new-looking scooter complete with a blue helmet. Her eyes widened at the site, as she now had a means of escaping this city filled with bad memories and other foals who hated her. There was nothing left for her here, so she wasted no time taking the scooter and plowing right through the two Earth pony workers standing in the doorway that she normally didn't use; she entered and escaped through a small hole in the roof that led to a large, attic-like space, which had a ladder down to the main area. She kept going, never stopping for anything except for her saddlebag back at the orphanage, containing some apples and other meager foods that she guiltily stole from the warehouse. Eventually, after about a day and a half of scooting, her exhausted self came upon Ponyville, where she hid from all prying eyes until she met Sweetie Belle. She remembers that day as well. She was wandering around when she finally decided to make some friends, which was difficult because she was still a blank-flank. Marveling that there were absolutely no tall buildings anywhere, even on the horizon like she was used to, she ran into Sweetie Belle, knocking her over. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't see you a-and..." her stuttering was cut off by Sweetie Belle giggling. Scootaloo had a confused look on her face before Sweetie said "It's okay, it was an accident. My name's Sweetie Belle, my sister Rarity owns the Carousel Boutique." putting a hoof forward for a hoofshake. Scootaloo had never shaken anyone's hoof before, so it was somewhat awkward. "M-my name's Scootaloo" she replied nervously, shaking her hoof. After a few days in Ponyville, she quickly noticed Rainbow Dash. Everypony talked about her and she even saw the rainbow colored blur in the sky a few times. After hearing her name, and that she was an apparent hero, she quickly learned everything she could about her and started following her, which Rainbow noticed. After explaining herself, Rainbow said "Heh, I like you kid. You kinda remind me of myself when I was your age. Adventurous, daring, and pretty dang cool. Come on, follow me. I'll tell you a bit about the coolest and fastest pony in Equestria." After that, Rainbow took Scootaloo under her proverbial and literal wing, and formed a sister-like bond. After much more time in Ponyville, Rainbow could no longer stand the fact that Scootaloo was an orphan, no matter how much she claimed ability to handle herself. Rainbow was fine with it until she caught Scootaloo stealing apples from Applejack's street vendor, just 3 weeks before today. After a minor scolding, Rainbow gave the offer of adoption. "You'll never have to worry about food again, and you'll have an awesome house and a bed." Scootaloo reluctantly agreed, which led to Scootaloo's first interaction with clouds and becoming Rainbow's adopted daughter. Of course there were legal issues to clear up, but Twilight Sparkle handled it by getting Princess Celestia to pull some strings. All in all, both Rainbow and Twilight became a massive part of Scootaloo's life, and Rainbow even described Twilight as "The third coolest mare in Equestria... maybe even the second." She would sometimes tease Scootaloo with the last part. But, as Scootaloo found out, Twilight was actually a really cool mare, to her and to Rainbow. Finally, her mind raced to the events of today. Rainbow didn't know it, bur Scootaloo sometimes hid in the trees at Sweet Apple Acres to sleep, much like Rainbow herself sometimes does. She was in one tree when she heard it. The fight. Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy were all there. Applejack was yelling at Rainbow, While Pinkie and Rarity told Fluttershy to stop just sitting around and do something. From what Scootaloo heard, Applejack and Rainbow were fighting about Twilight when suddenly Rainbow's face turned a deep red and she turned and delivered a swift buck to Applejack's face, knocking her on her back. "Use your stare on them darling! Make them stop this incessant arguing and violence!" "I-I can't... I can only do it on animals..." "YEAH RIGHT! I bet if you try really really really hard, you could do it on anything! Ooh! Ooh! And then you could take over the world or something because no one would be able to argue with you or fight and then we could have a FLUTTERSHY RULES THE WORLD PARTY!!!!" Scootaloo had dozed off outside on the clouds, when she awoke to the strong beating of wings. After groaning tiredly and wiping her eyes with her hooves, she glared up at the large black Alicorn that had just landed in front of her. "Princess Luna? What are you doing here? Am I still dreaming?" Scootaloo has had her dreams infiltrated my the night princess once, and would not be surprised if it happened again. "I am afraid not" Princess Luna replied. "Something has happened, little one. It involves your adoptive mother, Rainbow Dash. There is no time to explain. Quickly now, climb on. I understand you have issues with flight" Luna bowed her forelegs to allow Scootaloo to climb on her back, holding on to her neck. She then turned, and took off away from the cloud mansion and towards Ponyville.