//------------------------------// // Day 1: Evening Routine // Story: Scoot Camp // by theNDinspector //------------------------------// Blue Yonder’s concerns about the flight suit earlier in the day were not unwarented. She had been trying for at least five minutes to remove the garment. All she had managed to accomplish in that time was to pull the bottom of it over her head—trapping both her head and forelegs inside. Nearly everypony else was in complete hysteria thanks to their hilarious entertainment. “SHUT UP!” Blue Yonder yelled while still rolling around on the floor and trying to pull her flight suit off. “Ha ha ha ha! Ooh,” Scootaloo tried catching her breath while she clutched her sides. “I wish I had packed a camera.” “I did!” A green pony named Snapshot exclaimed, and then dove into her dresser. “WHAT!?” Blue Yonder exclaimed while waving around one hoof that she had finally managed to get free. “If you take any pictures of this, I swear, I’m gonna-” But they never caught Blue Yonder was going to threaten them with because she fell over—resulting in more laughter and the rapid clicking of a camera. “Will somepony please get me OUT of this thing?!” Blue Yonder finally asked after hitting the wall. Calming down, Scootaloo went to go help the poor mare out of her predicament. After a moment, she finally managed to get the obnoxious thing off, leaving Blue Yonder’s mane a complete mess—which was cause for another picture. Blue Yonder glared at everypony in the room as if to say: “I will kill you all.” “Thank you,” she finally said to Scootaloo through gritted teeth. “You’re welcome,” Scootaloo replied, trying very hard not to laugh. “Well,” Blue Yonder said. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a shower.” Blue Yonder grabbed her towel and walked out the door. She passed by Lavender on her way out. Lavender had managed to get her flight suit off first and immediately went to go wash herself and the garment. She hung the wet flight suit outside of her dresser in order to dry. She also made it a point to not even look at Scootaloo as she passed by her. “Aren’t you going to take your flight suit off, Scootaloo?” Another pony asked. Scootaloo looked down at herself and realize that she was still wearing her flight suit. She had been too caught up in Blue Yonder’s antics to really bother about that. “Nah,” Scootaloo answered. “I was thinking of keeping it on.” “For an entire week!?” Lavender exclaimed with a particular venom in her voice. “That’s disgusting!” Scootaloo glared at Lavender for a moment before sighing. “I guess you’re right.” Grudgingly, she then went through the laborious task of removing her own flight suit. *** Meanwhile, in the commanding officer’s office, Spitfire and Soarin were busy putting the pairs together for the new cadets. Spitfire always thought that she could get this task done right before dinner—or at least an hour afterwards—but that never happened. Once, she stayed up till way past midnight putting the right ponies together. This batch wasn’t going too bad, except that Soarin was still uncertain about some of the choices she had made. He had every right to, since he would be the one supervising them for the rest of the week, but it still annoyed Spitfire to explain her choices again and again. “I still don’t understand why you want to make Hot Shot a lead pony,” Soarin said. “He’s a complete show-off, more concerned about how he looks than performing to regulations.” Spitfire sighed, and put her coffee mug down. “Because I think that the opportunity to make him a leader will help mellow him out,” she explained. “Besides, his wingpony might help keep him down to earth.” Soarin was unconvinced, but he decided to drop the matter for now. He looked over the list again and again, reviewing all the pairs and positions. Then something else on the list made him question his superior’s reasoning. “And why did you make Scootaloo a wingpony?” He asked. “I know that her behavior was unacceptable, but she still had the best time on the Dizzitron this afternoon. In fact, I don’t recall anypony doing quite that well on it the first time since Rainbow Dash.” “Listen,” Spitfire commanded, after rubbing her forehead for a moment. “I don’t organize these pairs based solely on who did better or worse, although sometimes it may turn out that way. Instead, I try to put these pairs together based on how I think the newbies will benefit the most from it. Admittedly, it isn’t a perfect system. All I really have to go on is the information in their files, what little I can gather during the first day of training and what my gut tells me.” Spitfire sighed, and took a drink from her coffee mug. “And based on what I know, I think that Scootaloo is going to need a lot of help and encouragement if she’s going to make it through this camp,” Spitfire continued. “She may appear to be tough, fearless and very brash, but I think she can easily break under difficult circumstances. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d rather not take that chance now.” Soarin couldn’t argue with Spitfire’s logic. While he still didn’t agree with these decisions, he had to admit that she had been doing this for nearly two decades now. If anypony in this room knew what she was doing, it was Spitfire. Soarin looked down at the list again and sighed. “Shall I get this list typed up and posted on the wall then Ma’am?” Soarin conceded. “Yes. Dismissed,” Spitfire said as Soarin saluted her and then left the office, leaving her alone with her thoughts. *** Scootaloo was on her bed, writing something, when Blue Yonder returned from the showers. Scootaloo preferred to take her showers in the morning, so she immediately did everything else before going to bed. “What are you doing?” Blue Yonder asked, trying to remove the last bits of water from her mane. She had calmed down a lot from the incident earlier. Scootaloo spit out the pencil she was holding and looked down at the damp mare. “Writing a journal,” Scootaloo answered. “I wrote in a diary together with my friends when I was younger. It was quite fun writing down my thoughts and experiences. So I decided to make one of my own.” “Neat,” Blue Yonder said. “Well, I think I’m going to read a bit before hitting the hay.” Blue Yonder hung her towel to dry and grabbed a book from her dresser. As she got on the lower bunk, a wicked idea flew across Scootaloo’s mind. “Besides,” she said with a grin on her face. “I always want to remember the mare rolling around the floor like an itchy dog.” Scootaloo felt her mattress go up a couple of inches as Blue Yonder had undoubtedly kicked it from bellow. It didn’t hurt, obviously, but the abruptness was a little surprising. Scootaloo giggled a bit as she picked up her pencil again and resumed writing. The other mares also got ready for bed, doing a variety of things, with some taking longer getting ready than others. A couple of them were talking and looking at family pictures. Lavender went to bed early. It was difficult to tell if she was asleep or not—and nopony dared come close enough to find out. Then an announcement was made over the P.A. system. “Attention everypony,” the voice of Lieutenant What’s-his-name said. “Lights out in five minutes.” Scootaloo finished her journal entry, closed it and put it under her pillow. Then she pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes. “Lights out, cadets,” Lieutenant What’s-his-name said again. Scootaloo didn’t see who turned out the lights, but the room was suddenly pitch-black. Had she been younger, Scootaloo might have been afraid, but she had long grown out of a fear of the dark—and everything else as she preferred to believe. Still, it was a little unnerving to not even see her own hoof waving across her face. “Good night,” somepony in the darkness said, which was met by varying levels of grumbles and replies.