//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: A Scootaloo Story // by Golden Tassel //------------------------------// The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at their treehouse. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were busy talking about something, but Scootaloo didn't pay attention to what. She was sitting by herself in the corner with her back against the wall while she tossed a ball into the air. Scootaloo watched the ball as it rose up above her, nearly touching the ceiling before slowing to a stop. It hovered there at the peak of its arc for only an instant, and then sped up rapidly to fall back into Scootaloo's waiting hooves. Each time she caught it, she tossed it up again. The ball had pretty colors—a whole rainbow swirled around on its rubber surface, and the way it would spin when Scootaloo threw it made the colors mix together in different ways each time. Sometimes there was more blue and green, sometimes red and orange. If she got it spinning fast enough, the ball turned some shade of off-white. Scootaloo started wondering about the ball: Was it a ball because it was round? Or was it round because it was a ball? It wasn't perfectly round, though; it had tiny little raised bumps all over to make it grip better, and there was a seam that ran all the way around the middle, and there was a dimple in the seam so it could be inflated. None of that was visible except up-close, though, so did that make the ball more round when it was far away? Did that make it less of a ball up-close? "Earth to Scootaloo!" Applebloom hollered. "Huh?" Scootaloo turned her head to face her friends, forgetting about the ball she had in the air. It came down right on top of her head and bounced away while the young filly rubbed a hoof where it had hit her. "Are you alright, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't really hurt." "That's good, but I meant besides that," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle approached. "You seem kinda out of it today. Something bothering you?" "You're not upset because we couldn't make the money you needed for the competition, are you?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What? No. No. I'm not upset. I'm . . . um . . . I was just thinking. I was thinking about, um . . ." Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an answer. She quickly settled on her scooter, propped against the wall by the door. "About a new trick I wanna do on my scooter. That's all I was doing." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged a look with each other briefly before they asked Scootaloo what the trick was and if she would show it to them. "Oh. It's, uh, not ready yet," Scootaloo said. "I'm still figuring out how I'm going to do it exactly. But you can bet you two will be the first to see it when it's ready." She forced a wide grin and hoped that her friends wouldn't ask her more about it. Much to Scootaloo's relief, her friends shrugged and let the matter go. "Come on," Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle headed for the door. "We're going to go meet Featherweight. He said he'd show us his camera, so maybe we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Photographers." Scootaloo got up to follow her friends, but as she glanced out the window, she thought about what time it was. It was early afternoon, so Honeydew had probably woken up and gotten hungry by now. There was no food left in the house, so she'd have to go out to get more. That meant the house would be empty, and Scootaloo could swipe another one of those cigarettes. "Scootaloo, are you coming?" called Sweetie Belle. She and Applebloom were already at the bottom of the ramp while Scootaloo was just standing in the doorway. "You two go without me. I forgot, I have to go, um . . . wash windows." "Wash windows? Are you still trying to earn money for that competition?" Applebloom asked. "Do you want our help?" "No. I gave up on that already—gave up on trying to earn money for it, I mean. And no, you go have fun with Twist—" "Featherweight." "Right. That's who I meant. You go have fun. I just have chores to do." "I thought you said you were going to wash windows," said Sweetie Belle. "Huh? Oh. My chores are washing windows. That's what I meant." Scootaloo forced a dry laugh while she walked her scooter down the ramp from the treehouse. "Anyway, gotta go. Bye!" She couldn't get moving fast enough once she was on the ground. Scootaloo sped off on her scooter, leaving her friends behind. "I think there's something wrong with her," Sweetie Belle said as she watched Scootaloo disappear into the distance. "It ain't just you," said Applebloom. "Something's eating at that filly. Let's go tell Featherweight we'll have to take a rain check, and then we'll check up on Scootaloo."