//------------------------------// // Scootaloo Has Wings // Story: Bloom Filter // by ferret //------------------------------// “Ap—” was as far as Scootaloo got, before Apple Bloom just charged up and hugged her, right over her shoulders. Fur slid against fur, and fur slid against dress as Scootaloo jerked back in surprise. Her back hoof slid and hit the edge of the fireplace mantle, but that’s all she could do. Scootaloo didn’t know how to react, or how Apple Bloom was managing to hug her as a pony, or why Scootaloo wanted to hug her back, or how to hug her back, since Scootaloo didn’t know how to get up off of standing on four legs. “Ah’m sorry,” Apple Bloom said tearfully, with her head cradled right up into Scootaloo’s now thick, long neck, “Ah’m a bad person. Ah’m a bad pony. Ah shouldn’t—ah just don’t know what I’d do without you. This is so... ah shouldn’t even say it, ah’m sorry.” “Okay, okay, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo shouted in rising alarm. “I–I dunnoh howwa ge’ you to leggo!” Apple Bloom stiffened then, and just pulled right back from Scootaloo, who flumped down in relief, on her bottom in an ungainly mess. “Oh gosh Scoots,” Apple Bloom said apologetically, “Ah’m... yeah, all you can do is stand there right now. Ah didn’t even think about that.” “Wha’ are you sho sorry for?” Sweetie Belle whined, from where she still stood beside them, but closer to the couch. Her head easily turned their way, where her body yet could not, giving her the impression of a candy white, curly haired submarine periscope. Apple Bloom adopted a guilty expression at Sweetie’s gaze. Apple Bloom’s hoof toed the floor under that green dress she had worn today, as if she still had toes to toe with. Actually, hooves did sort of feel like toes, so even Scootaloo had to admit it totally counted. “Ah shouldn’t want it,” Apple Bloom explained in a muted tone, “It’s just so lonely here, an’ nobody understands what it’s like, an’ everyone’s callin’ me little and they’re right, but it still hurts. And... ah shouldn’t... “Ah shouldn’t be so glad you’re both ponies now,” Apple Bloom, confessed solemnly without looking up. Sweetie unwisely chose that moment to break down again. “How am I gonna be a fashionish like my shister, if I can’ even shew,” she warbled, staring down at her useless forelegs in hopeless despair. You could see it about killed Apple Bloom to hear that. Scootaloo didn’t even want to look. You could just see her, just, shattering inside. So Scootaloo forced a smile, and said to Apple Bloom casually, “Hey, ish no sweatz for me, Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom had such a haunted look she gave Scootaloo when she lifted her head. But Scootaloo continued, saying to her bravely, “I’m tothally cool wiff being a pony, if it helpsh you out. I’ve been looking um...” She probably shouldn’t say it, and she didn’t really want to, but heck why not. “You been having phroblemsh, an’ ...I couldn’ hreally do anyfing, sho I’ve been looking for a way to help hyou, an’ I couldn’ do anyfing, and it... shucked. “Szho now I ca’ help you, an’ you won’ be hlonely anymore, and everyzhing’sh gonna be aweshome,” Scootaloo concluded confidently. She added under her breath, after a pause, “Zhoon as we can shtop speahking shtupid.” “Well, missing all your classes ain’t so awesome,” Apple Bloom countered bitterly at Scootaloo, pointedly ignoring that last statement. “What are ya gonna do about that?” “I hate schoorl!” Scootaloo countered back, with a vehemence that surprised even her. “I–I’m therrib...awful attit,” she explained haltingly, “It’sh all shtupid and I can’ pass anyfing and I waszn’ gonna make ith anyway, sh-so it’sh no big lossh.” “Nobody likes school,” Apple Bloom reasoned, giving Scootaloo an uncertainly sideways look. “You gotta tolerate it though, if’n you want to get anywhere in life.” “Only peophle who do goo’ at school ge’ anywhere in hlife,” Scootaloo muttered resentfully. “If you do badh a’ it, there’sh no pointh. It jus’ hurtsh an’ you keep failing, an’ then you shtill have to work a’ shtupid fesh foo all your life, an’ never getta do anyfing fun.” Sweetie said over to Scootaloo in a miserable mewl, made all the more poignant by her higher, thinner voice, and her smaller, rounder (nakeder) form, “I ha’ no idea hyou were having szo mush throuble in school! Why didn’th you shay anyfing?” “Wha’ were hyou gonna do abouth it?” Scootaloo asked her acidly, “Make me sh...study more? I’m jush stupi’ thatsh it.” “You’re not stupid, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said authoritatively, forcing Scootaloo to look her way. At least Scootaloo had snapped her out of that funk she was falling in, but she felt like her friend didn’t know what she was getting into. The therapist said you weren’t supposed to talk about your problems with ...normal people. They’d just make them worse or something, but when Apple Bloom followed up with, “What’s happening when you study, exactly? Maybe we can help you out,” it was just so earnest, Scootaloo couldn’t help but tell her. “Hwell,” Scootaloo started, grimacing and saying more carefully, “Well, I shtart sh...studying an’ I alwaysh ge’ up an’ go do shomeshing...somesthing else inshtead. An’ zhen zhe tesht comesh, an’ I fail.” “Why don’t ya keep on studying?” Apple Bloom asked simply. It was about the simplest, most straightforward question you could ask, and it just didn’t have any satisfactory answers. A weird horsey snort sound escaped Scootaloo when she tried to huff, saying, “I don’ know ish jus’... so... boring! Can’d even shtay still.” Sweetie hmmed, then suggested, “Didja try running aroun’ firsh?” “Yeah,” Scootaloo admitted glumly, “Didn’ help ish still boring.” “Well, ya gotta just put your nose to the grindstone and bear it then,” Apple Bloom explained practically. “Ah know it’s not fun, but it’s less fun to fail your test.” “I know!” Scootaloo shouted at her. She paused and blushed then, at Apple Bloom jumping in alarm, and said more evenly. “I know ish hard an’ you jush have to do id, bu’ it doesn’ work, an’ I jush can’t do it.” “I jush can’t,” Scootaloo said almost pleadingly, to her red and yellow pony friend. “So what,” Apple Bloom said unsympathetically, in a challenging tone, “You physically cain’t sit down an’ point your head at a book all of a sudden?” Before Scootaloo could snap back at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle did. “Apple Bloom!” Sweetie squeaked over from her helpless perch on four hooves, “Leahve her alone alreadthy! You fthink she’sz lying to you?” Apple Bloom’s eyes flashed, and it looked like she was going to protest even that, but unable to meet Sweetie’s gaze, she hung her head, grumbling “Ah jus’ don’t get it, but okay.” “Isz a sher...a therapy fhing,” Scootaloo said, unenthusiastic about the prospects of fighting this battle. It was like beating a dead horse, trying to fix her problems about school and being dumb. “Well, what did yer uh, therapist say?” Apple Bloom offered cautiously. “She zaid... she said noshing ish gonna change if I keep doing zhe same thing.” “Well duh,” Apple Bloom said boldly, then blushed and added “Ah don’t mean no offense or nothing.” “What didz she shay to change?” Sweetie asked in her steadily placid demeanor. Scootaloo casually listed off in response, “Jus’ like... do i’ in a differen’ horder, or magke a game out of id, or make szure to do id every evening befohre dinner, shuff like that.” Stuff she’d tried, and stuff they told her to do. “And...” Sweetie prompted uncertainly. “And nozhing works!” Scootaloo exclaimed exasperated. “Sho she said I wash shooting down arl her ideazh and I was alwaysh being too negative like I wanted to fail!” “You’re nod nega’ive though, Scootaloo,” Sweetie emphasized. “You’re always sho exshiting and upbeazt! Well, excep’ when you shange into a pony, I guesh.” “I’m not any differen’ a pony,” Scootaloo emphasized, “Ish jus’ yeah, kinda a little bit usshetting t’ hwake up like zhis. I’ll never zhoin the team hnow!” “Huh, what team?” Apple Bloom asked in confusion. “You know, foo’ball,” Scootaloo said in puzzlement. And then you know what? Apple Bloom started looking sad again! “Ah don’t even know half of what you are doing at school,” she said self consciously, drooping her nose down in a weirdly sad way. “Just living on the farm like this,” she said seriously, “It’s all I know nowadays.” “Zchill, Afpple Bloom,” Scootaloo said dismissively, leaning to touch Apple Bloom’s side with her uh... cheek? Whatever. “You’re no’ gonna lesh shome shupid farm beat you. You’re gonna hfigure zish out, an’ you’re gonna figure a way even bezsher than school.” Apple Bloom smiled at her, and, well, that was alright. “Ah still wanna hear all about what you’re doing at school. Or... I wanted to at least,” Apple Bloom said peacably. “So, you were getting into football?” Scootaloo sighed. “No’...really. Jush sthingking aboud it. Wash going to zjoin Rainbow Dash’sh team, an’ make it to zhe nazshionalzh.” “Okay, ah don’t care what you say about walking,” Apple Bloom sighed, “You have got ta work on your esses.” Sweetie spoke up cheerlessly over where she was standing on the floor by the back of the couch, saying, “Was gedding tire’ of shtanding anyway.” Instead of sitting down though, Sweetie adopted a confused look when they turned to her, and said “Waiht,” looking over her own pony body. “Izh thish sh...standing?” she asked, lifting her head and eyeing Apple Bloom insecurely, “Or do you call it chrawling?” “Ah call it walking, an’ ah won’t let anyone say ah’m crawling,” Apple Bloom confirmed to her in a hurt tone, “That’d be so demeaning! Now come on, botha you say nash,” “Nash,” Scootaloo said with a roll of her eyes. “Nazs...Nash,” Sweetie said a little less confidently, smacking her lips again. “Can we pleashe walk?” Scootaloo exclaimed irately, from there on her belly on the floor. Apple Bloom stared at her a sec, then tossed out, “Okay, fine. It ain’t complicated though. Standing up’s the hardest part. You wanna try to do that again, Scoots?” “Okay sho I...,” Scootaloo puzzled at her bizarre limbs, extra ones nonwithstanding. “You gotta first sit up like a bunny,” Apple Bloom instructed. “That’s the easiest way to start ah think. It ain’t nothin’ like real horses. Well except the rearing up part to get your front ones planted.” Once Scootaloo was standing, Sweetie Belle sank down on her belly. Apple Bloom was about to admonish her, but Sweetie just shook her head and said, “I’ll thr...try laider...try later. You jus’ show Scootaloo for now.” Apple Bloom was relatively mollified by that. Not like Sweetie would try to get out of it. She just needed a rest. Apple Bloom spent the next hour or so showing Scootaloo, and it really wasn’t all that difficult to get. Once Scootaloo was on her feet, or toes, or whatever, she just put one hoof in front of the other in the right order and bam, walking. Scootaloo wanted to learn how to trot, but even Apple Bloom had never figured out that part. Apparantly Apple Bloom’s feet just sort of started moving that way, when Apple Bloom had tried to go faster than she could walk. Either Apple Bloom would fall on her face, or she’d trot, and eventually the latter just became the default. It wasn’t anything she could explain to Scootaloo, or teach for that matter, which was way disappointing. Same with gallopping. Apple Bloom described it like... jumping forward a whole bunch, but it still just sort of happened by itself when she tried to run. Scootaloo was disappointed that Apple Bloom couldn’t teach her how to do anything but walk slowly, but she did appreciate Apple Bloom’s advice on turning around. Turning around was one thing that didn’t come naturally, and that was good because that meant it was something Apple Bloom could teach them. The trick was turning your head the way you wanted to go, while sort of trying to walk backward, without letting yourself walk backward. Like moonwalking, sort of. Ended up turning the force into torque, instead. But Apple Bloom wanted to be sly about teaching it. So, after teaching Scootaloo to move forward, and to move backward, which was the reverse except you have to lean back more, it was a sneaky trick in which Apple Bloom taught Scootaloo how to turn. The way she did it was humiliating, but it admittedly did work great. Scootaloo was stuck facing the wall again, and her ears were down all by themselves. “I just can’ figure it out,” she said. “You turn haround by... moonhwalking? Tha’s a tolally hard move! Shagson made his career out of ith! I dun even know whatta do with... my han’s are feet and it’s weirld!” “Don’t worry, Scootaloo, you’re doin’ great,” Apple Bloom said encouragingly from behind her, “You don’t need to turn around yet, just start walkin’ backwards again for now!” And as soon as Scootaloo did, Apple Bloom just heaved her shoulder right up against Scootaloo’s bottom, bunching up Scootaloo’s tail and stopping Scootaloo from moving one inch backwards. “What zthe hell, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo said, alarmed, pushing back against her stubbornly, but Apple Bloom didn’t budge an inch. Scootaloo swiveled as she pushed, her rear end slipping past Apple Bloom’s chest. The orange newly pony came to face Apple Bloom, saying angrily, “That is my assh you know!” “Well howdy there,” Apple Bloom smirked at Scootaloo, “Guess you figured out how to turn around.” “Y–uh—” Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom incredulously, and couldn’t retort because she was realizing she did turn around. “How dith I...” and then Scootaloo went and started blushing fiercely. The blush was a delayed reaction, but Scootaloo knew when she was beat. “F-fine,” Scootaloo admitted, “Buth did you haffta molesht me?!” “Ah didn’t do nothin’ to you!” Apple Bloom said, aghast, “Ah just had to stop ya from going backwards so ya’d turn instead. All ah did was get in the way!” “Yeah but you thouched my buth,” Scootaloo said uneasily. “Ain’t that what happens when you back into someone?” Apple Bloom said with an eye roll. “Ah don’t mind, really. Everyone backs into people all the time in the halls between classes, right?” Scootaloo blinked at the uncomprehending Apple Bloom. Did she really not realize this? “Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said slowly and carefully, “I am naked.” “Yer not—yer...um,” Apple Bloom said spluttering to a halt, as her brain crashed and it was her turn to start blushing up a storm, in that peculiar way that shone right through the fur. Which was probably happening to Scootaloo too now, whenever she blushed. “Ah kinda forgot, sorry...” Apple Bloom said feebly. “Well, of courshe you want shome of this,” Scootaloo smirked, shaking her tush with a growing smile latching onto her face. She looked back at her own ass—being able to do so was weird enough in of itself. Ignoring the weird twisted limbs alongside her barrel, Scootaloo pointed at her own butt with a foreleg and said smugly, “Tha’s the hothesht ash in Cannerlot.” Humiliating herself was totally worth it of course, when she got to turn her head forward again, and see Apple Bloom trying to respond, while dying of blood loss from the neck down. Well, at least Sweetie got a chuckle out of it. Or, giggle. Definitely giggle. That girl just didn’t have anything left of a chuckle in her voice at all. When Sweetie spoke it was more like an adorable kid than a high school girl, even a Freshman. Just one of those weird things about Scootaloo’s new species, or whatever. But after the giggle escaped that little white unicorn puffball, she started enthusiastically struggling to her hooves exclaiming, “I wanna thry too!” “Shorry Sweetie,” Scootaloo said slyly with a slight lisp maybe okay maybe more than slight. But yeah, she said, “Shorry Sweetie, bu’ I’m shaving my ass for Apple Bloom.” There was a silence. Scootaloo angrily shouted, “I shaid shaiving— sha— saving! I shaid... I szaid sh...saving!” but she couldn’t make herself heard over Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle who had both fallen to their backs, laughing so hard it hurt. Scootaloo just couldn’t stay mad though. It was just impossible not to laugh at this. Everything was so ludicrous! Scootaloo had taken a long look at her body in the bathroom door mirror, and now she was imagining herself as a cute little pony, except with nothing but bright pink flesh and orange stubble on her behind... and her tail would look like a rat, practically! So yeah, after all three of them ceased with the belly laughs, and they all felt a lot better about everything, Sweetie got her first try at walking. Then before Apple Bloom could even tell her what to do, Sweetie wobbled on her hooves, and put one forward, then took another two steps, one right after the other. Sweetie stopped half-stepped and looked over at Apple Bloom with a happy smile. “You’re a natural, Sweetie!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in surprise, but Sweetie shook her head gently. “You woold be amaze’ whash you can hlearn jusz’ from watching an’ liztening,” Sweetie said simply. “I did no’ even know if I did it righ... until you shaid I was a natural, that isz.” Sweetie tried another step and, well, Scootaloo wasn’t threatened or anything but Sweetie was already walking pretty good. Scootaloo could do it better, but it’d taken Scootaloo a lot longer to do it just from doing it, without having someone to watch. Maybe there was something to this watching and listening thing. Scootaloo didn’t want to sit down though, so she just stood there quietly, turning her head to watch Apple Bloom, who was enthusiastically running around Sweetie Belle, checking her hooves, and her posture and... well her tail and... stuff that Apple Bloom understood, from being a pony for so long. Apple Bloom’s brother was watching them when they were scampering around, and he interrupted Apple Bloom’s enthusiastic, if questionably successful attempts to get her friends walking around as ponies. Scootaloo was too busy to notice, staring at Apple Bloom like she was going to burn a hole through her, trying to see her hooves under that dress, trying to figure out how they moved, when she trotted around. Then suddenly the giant blue jeans of Big Macintosh glided up to Scootaloo’s side, wrapped around tall, powerful legs leading up to a leather belt, dividing a checkered shirt, warm red arms and a tray of... “Sandwiches, anyone?” Mac said, crouching down to put the tray of sandwiches on the floor. Nobody even bothered to answer him. Scootaloo hadn’t had breakfast, and was so darned hungry, that she practically made it through a sandwich that was like four times bigger than any sandwich she’d eaten before. Compared to her usual size, that is. The sandwich was the same, but Scootaloo was a lot smaller now. It was uh... lots of lettuce and dandelion greens and er, more green than bread even, with a little slice of cheese on it, but it almost tasted better than the sandwich she ate yesterday dripping with tuna and mayonnaise. This stuff was crisper and um... crunchier... and she didn’t know why, so it was probably some weird pony thing. Eating with your face is weird. Apple Bloom drilled them relentlessly on speaking after lunch, and during another hay time Scootaloo didn’t really want to contemplate, but she did let them take breaks, especially now that they could do some semblance of walking again. Apple Bloom led the two of them outside once, and Scootaloo wasn’t scared. She was going to walk right out, but she almost ran into Sweetie in front of her. Sweetie had stopped her slow, careful feeling forward of hooves, at the threshold of the door, looking from it to the outside fearfully, poking just her nose out, like her weird pony face could do now. Sweetie didn’t want to go, saying, “There’sz ice on the ground! I’s so cold out thzere.” Apple Bloom, already outside, turned around, and exclaimed in mock astonishment, “You’re right, Sweetie Belle!” Then she gallopped off around them back inside to bug her brother, and rushed back with a few scarves hanging over her torso. “Here ya go,” she said, using her mouth to toss one on top of each of them. “All better. Now let’s go outside!” Sweetie just kind of stared at her from under the scarf, severely lacking in amusement. “Just give it a shot, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom insisted, fussing over the unicorn, wrapping that orange woolen scarf securely around her neck, and draping the extra over her back. “We’re like, fat or something, so it don’t feel as cold.” Scootaloo accepted her scarf a little more gracefully, but she too needed Apple Bloom’s help to get it secured on her neck. Trying to figure out how Apple Bloom did stuff like that, even when she was right up next to you, was... weirdly difficult. Scootaloo, despite her unsteady gait, did wander out first, making it gingerly around the hesitant Sweetie Belle. Outside, the open yard around the farm house was bordered by a massive forest of tall, bare trees. Above Scootaloo and in her eyes, the slanting November sun was thawing the frozen dirt where it touched, but still leaving frost in the shadow. The sun felt... distant somehow. I mean, duh, it’s winter so of course it’s going to be indirect sunlight. Axial tilt and all. But besides the sun’s lack of enthusiasm, Scootaloo actually felt kind of... good. It was cool and crisp, and so much more open than that stuffy old farm house. “It’sh not szo bad Sweetie,” Scootaloo called back to the unicorn, who was still peeking nervously out the door of the Apple family household. “Aren’t your hoovesz cold?” Sweetie Belle asked with big, green, wide eyes at her. And surprisingly, Scootaloo hadn’t even thought of those. She was more worried about her uh... naked parts getting cold. But really, the icy breeze in the air just seemed to sluice off her, and even those fuzzy... robot arm... things attached to her sides were so fuzzy, that the cold didn’t even touch them. And Scootaloo’s hooves just felt... slightly chilly maybe. It wasn’t anything like bare feet. In fact, the texture of the earth beneath her hooves, it barely even bothered her. As a human with bare feet, Scootaloo would have felt like the ground was constantly poking her, making her hobble around for some shoes, and lift up onto her... toes... “You don’ even need to put your feeth on the ground,” Scootaloo declared with authority, shaking a hind leg to demonstrate to the unicorn, who was finally venturing out through the side door to the kitchen. “Hooves are justh onrly your toes, right?” “O-oh,” Sweetie said somewhat numbly. She stepped forward then stopped, staring at her less than chilly front hooves planted on the ground outside, saying “I shee...” “S’ really nish out here acshually!” Scootaloo declared, inhaling through her nose. “So crishp and clean, and you can even shmell um... uh...” she honestly was at a loss to exactly what it was she was smelling. “Well ah smell the water from the creek,” Apple Bloom said beside her testily, “And the mulch of fallen leaves, and even the ice on the rain barrel has its own smell, and the weathering on the wood of the boards to the farm house, and uh... one of the cows did her business somewhere hearabouts recently. So, something thereabouts.” “Szmoke from the fireplaze,” Sweetie suggested, at last waddling up to stand timidly at Apple Bloom’s side. And sure as Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle wasn’t even shivering despite having nothing to wear besides a scarf. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie, and an odd thought occured to her. She turned to look at Apple Bloom, that pony version of her friend now so much bigger, staring blankly off into the distance, the only indication she wasn’t an animal being the plain green dress conforming around her furry yellow body. “Ever get hot in zhat dress?” Scootaloo asked, prompting Apple Bloom to look at her in surprise. “Oh! Yeah, actually,” Apple Bloom said curiously, “It ain’t a big deal or nothing, just ah get a little sweaty under it when ah’m inside or running around in th’ heat.” “Jus’ didn’ realishe you were hot like that,” Scootaloo said apologetically, “When we were playing outshide an’ stuff... before an’ you ha’ clothesh on,” Scootaloo looked at herself, her... furry, naked self. She was just a big furry jelly bean really, with weird arms on the side, and a long magenta tail coming out over her butt. If she even had a butt anymore. Horses had butts, right? “This jus’ feelsh natshral,” Scootaloo said, regarding her lack of attire. “Nat-tyu-ral or not,” Sweetie pronounced carefully, coming to face the other two, “I shtill woul’ like some clothesz.” Her tail went down, and she added, “Is alright wizh jus’ you two, but I canno’ imagine whath it’ld be like in p-public...” “Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed, in a troubled quiescence. The afternoon led on, and the three were soon exhausted, not as much physically but mentally. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were just so unused to being ponies, that moving and talking was such an effort it exhausted them. And Apple Bloom had to manage those two! Apple Bloom herself was... still feeling sort of in shock, that they were here, that she wasn’t the only pony in the room. Not to say they weren’t in even more shock, but it was just hitting Apple Bloom pretty hard. She hadn’t even realized how resigned she had become, to being the victim of some isolated freak accident. It was actually kind of... unsettling to know that there might be something more going on. But Apple Bloom kept her mind off of the unknown future, by focusing on getting them recovered, and she kept their minds off of the unknown future by focusing on getting them recovered. She kept at it, until they were so sick of trying to say ess that they just dragged, hobbled and wobbled to get away from her, retreating into the cozy warm farm house. As Apple Bloom followed and apologized, Scootaloo just wanted to go back on the couch where she’d woken up, and sleep. Apple Bloom got up on its cushions, and helped pull both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle up with her. “Juth wanna forge’ about all this,” Scootaloo murmured sadly. She curled her legs under her, then just twisted to lay awkwardly on her side. The weird things on her back were all wiggling while she was getting situated, like adjusting or something. Sweetie Belle laid her head over Scootaloo, saying, “It’ll be okay, Scoo’aloo,” but Sweetie’s chin was right on top of Scootaloo’s arm thingy, the one Scootaloo wasn’t laying upon herself. It lifted up, and pushed Sweetie Belle’s chin right out of the way when she lay on it. Undeterred, Sweetie went and laid her head underneath where it had been. Scootaloo glanced back, and looked like she was going to protest, but then just sighed and relaxed. The arm angled down to lay against Sweetie Belle’s head, something the unicorn girl didn’t seem to mind at all. Apple Bloom settled down behind Scootaloo, smiling tiredly at them lying there. She was way overdue for an afternoon nap herself, but she didn’t mind helping her friends. It was her duty, considering what happened to them! They were all just about pooped though, and to Apple Bloom’s surprise, her friends didn’t even rouse when she lay against them. They just went to sleep right there, just like that. She wondered if maybe ponies really did need to sleep more, or something, but she didn’t wonder enough to worry about it. Laying her head down, Apple Bloom scootched as close as she could to Scootaloo without waking the girl, and just let herself drift on off to sleep along with the two of them. Apple Bloom didn’t see the princess, but it was just a short nap anyway. Wasn’t long before the sound of the front door closing aroused her, something Apple Bloom had become highly sensitized to. Apple Bloom stuck her head up, but she didn’t want to move because she kinda... had draped her arm over Scootaloo’s shoulder while she was sleeping, and didn’t want to wake them up either. Thinking fast, Apple Bloom reached with her free hoof and silently threw a pillow over the back of the couch, so it’d land at the feet of... whoever it is, with a whump. Applejack’s head came leaning over the back of the couch, and Apple Bloom shushed her with a raised hoof the moment her sister came over to check on them. Smiling understandingly or, smiling giddily about something, Applejack quietly pulled back out of the way, and just tip toed up the stairs. She started to speak with Big Macintosh in quiet tones, but Apple Bloom didn’t really listen in. It was hard to make out words, through a floor and a ceiling, no matter how freaky Apple Bloom’s ears were. She just lay her head back down right next to... next to her friend Scootaloo, who was right there, for her to sleep... with... It wasn’t to be. The three of them couldn’t stay asleep with people arriving at the house, and moving around. Not in the front living room. Apple Bloom woke up again, at that door closing “alarm clock,” and this time it was two unknowns walking in the entryway. “Where are they?” an excited, active sounding girl’s whisper came who Apple Bloom hadn’t heard here before. Must be Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie maybe. Yeah, it... definitely wasn’t to be. And Applejack said, “They’re napping on the couch but don’t wake ‘em you’ll—” but Rainbow Dash had already run over and stuck her face over the couch, with a look of absolute gobsmacked amazement. Apple Bloom stared back up at the rainbow haired girl, managed to say quietly, “Ah’m already awake, but they’re still sleeping.” She could practically feel the excitement in the sliding up corners of Rainbow Dash’s mouth as she slowly inhaled. Why on earth did someone think to bring along Rainbow Dash? Apple Bloom shushed her, whispering harshly, “still sleeping!” in regard to her friends. She really wished she could detangle herself from what her friends had become, so she could move around without waking them. Rainbow’s face dropped in understanding this time, and quicker than a wink, she zipped her head back out behind the back of the couch, without so much as a word to them. She was still being too loud though, whispering loudly in the entryway with excitement, to whoever brought her here. “She does!” Rainbow whispered excitedly, “She has them! That’s so awesome!” “Please, dear,” the voice of Rarity said, somehow speaking quieter than Rainbow Dash could whisper, “Let’s not disturb them. We can speak in the other room.” “But—” “Other room.” So they went upstairs with Applejack, where any sound of Rainbow’s excitement could be muffled. It wasn’t really muffled enough though, and Dash quickly forgot to whisper. Before Apple Bloom could so much as turn her ears down at the noisy babbling upstairs, Scootaloo lifted her head at the sound. “What...?” Scootaloo said groggily, looking around in confusion. Apple Bloom blanked a moment, then quickly said to Scootaloo, “You’re a pony, Scoots.” That pretty much nipped any panic in the bud. Scootaloo’s eyes dawned with realization, and she slumped her head down saying, “Righth, of courshe that couldn’ be a hdream.” She lifted her head again saying, “Wha’s thad weight on my—” before she easily turned her head to see Sweetie Belle’s chin tucked over the side of her back. “Woah,” Scootaloo murmured, probably half in shock that she was so close to Sweetie, and half in shock that it was a pony’s head resting on her, not a human girl’s. Apple Bloom cleared her throat saying, “Seems Sweetie’s a mite of a deep sleeper.” Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom incredulously, and Apple Bloom just shook her head slightly. “Don’t look at me! Ah just woke up this way,” she lied. Scootaloo’s ear flicked, her eyes unfocused, and she said, “Izzat...?” Before Scootaloo could make out the voices, Apple Bloom jumped down from the couch, walking around to turn her tail to the fireplace, so she could look up at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle still laying there on the couch cushions. “Yeah, uh, Rainbow... Dash is here,” Apple Bloom said leerily, regarding the upstairs sounds. That made Scootaloo’s weird arm thingies jerk right up into the air and she lurched upward, knocking poor Sweetie back who woke up with a squeak, but not even noticing it. “Rainbow Dazhz here?!” Scootaloo whispered in a panicked tone. “I can’ let er shee me like hthis!” “Great,” Apple Bloom said in sarcastic cheer with an eye roll, “You want to be the one who tells her you don’t want her around, or should ah tell her for you?” “’s not funny Apple Bloom. She can’th—I jus can’—” Scootaloo scrunched her muzzle up in tearful frustration, her little arm thingies all wiggly and unsettled. “She’sh too aweszome, I can’... I can’th fairl her like this...” “Well, it’s too late, because she already saw you,” Apple Bloom said a bit snippily. “So just calm down and—” “She whad?!” Scootaloo snapped. Behind her, Sweetie was trying unsuccessfully to roll herself off her back, back onto her belly. Scootaloo continued heedless of Sweetie’s quiet plight though, saying, “When, where?!” “When we were sleeping!” Apple Bloom retorted, distracted by eyeing Sweetie worriedly as the girl managed to right herself. “She didn’t mind,” Apple Bloom whined, “Don’t worry! She was all smiling an’—” “How coul’ you let her shee me?” Scootaloo hissed at Apple Bloom in such a hurt tone. “Ah didn’t!” Apple Bloom retorted angrily. “She jus’ poked her head on over!” “Yeah bu...” Scootaloo pushed up on her forelegs, fussing “I mean...” Then she just sighed and sank back down to the couch. Sweetie was standing now, and looked worriedly at Scootaloo, saying, “Szhe will not be madh. It wasn’ your fault. I’m zsure she won’... you know, bhe like Rarity.” “If she theases me abou’ these fings on my backg, I’m gonna jus’ die...” Scootaloo mumbled into the cushions. From on the other side of the couch, the voice of Applejack softly whispered to another person, “Are they awake?” “Yeah, we’re awake!” Apple Bloom called over the couch. She trotted around to try and play interception, but she barely got there before none other than Rainbow Dash was striding across the room confidently, leaning against the back of the couch and saying to Scootaloo, in a way that sounded like Rainbow was trying way too hard to be nonchalant, “So, Scootaloo, right? So, how about those things on your back?” “I didn’ hask for these fhings!” Scootaloo blurted out in shocked indignance, looking up at the rainbow haired girl with an aching betrayal. “I’s not my fhault!” “Woah, woah,” Rainbow Dash said, with a surprised expression, standing up straight and holding up her hands, “No need to get huffy about it.” “Woul’ you like to hwake up wifh weird fhings on your backg?” Scootaloo barked out, struggling to stand up, and of course the best she could get is onto all four feet, since twos took practice as a pony. “Why are you even theezing me—” Scootaloo’s face fell, as she apparantly realized who she was talking to. “Why—uh—but you’re—b-bu...” Scootaloo stammered incomprehensibly, climbing up the couch’s back to follow after her retreating idol, finally managing to say in a small voice, just, “...Rainbow Dash?” “Uh...” Rainbow said, having backed up a few steps from the couch, and from the little pegasus girl. “That’s... me alright,” she said. She looked around at the others pleadingly, and a little angrily, saying, “Seriously, what’s going on?” Scootaloo was the one who answered, asking again, “Why are you theezing me?” Rainbow gave her a blank expression. “Theezing you?” Rainbow parroted uncertainly. “Th–” Scootaloo tightened her muzzle up. “Teasing,” she said more carefully. “Teasing you?” Dash said tilting her head, and crossing her arms. “About what?” she said defiantly. “About the... fhings on—fthings on my back,” Scootaloo retorted, feebly. “What about them?” Rainbow said, with even more confusion than was on her face, if that were even humanly possible. “Vth...they’re all weird, an’...” Scootaloo turned her head, unclear on whether from shyness, or from wanting to look at her new limbs. “They just look all ugly an’–and like, muthated or... unhcool,” she said critically. Apple Bloom meanwhile shook her head in disbelief. “Seriously, Scoots?” she said to the distraught girl. “Those things are all you’re worried about, an’ not that you’re a little pony?” “T-that doo... that too,” Scootaloo said faintly, looking crestfallen down into the back of the couch. “But...” Rainbow said in a most perplexed tone, “But why? What’s wrong with them? Scootaloo, those ‘things’ on your back are the most awesome thing ever! I’d kill to have a pair of those!” Scootaloo looked up in surprise as Dash continued saying excitedly, “That’s why I just had to come over. We were all woah, and they said the thing where you turned into a pony and that was weird, but the other thing was so cool I just had to see it! Do they work? I mean of course they won’t work yet, but can you like wave them around?” Scootaloo had a look on her face like a lost child, standing at an abandoned bus stop... on Mars. “I can’ not...really?” she said hesitantly, “They jus’... um, I mean...” she turned her head to look at the weird stumpy things, and Apple Bloom was pretty confused herself. Was there something they didn’t know about Scootaloo’s weird arm things? Scootaloo stayed braced up on the back of the couch where she’d climbed up, and with a look of concentration, managed to get the arm things to lift off her body and spread. “T-there,” she said, turning to face Rainbow Dash with wide eyes. “B-but jus’ that. I mean... it’s hard to f-figure out how thoo move them?” Even Rainbow Dash seemed to be catching onto Scootaloo’s confused distress, saying, “I don’t get it, kid. Why aren’t you more excited about this? I know it’s weird and all, but think about how high you can get! I bet you could go super fast too, when you got high enough. You could be out of this city in ten seconds flat. You could fly above the clouds! You don’t even need a jet plane!” Scootaloo’s lip turned up, one of her eyes half closed, and she said, very uncertainly, “You mean... like... drugs?” Rainbow mouthed the air a bit, before saying frustratedly, “No, I mean really flying.” “How would I do that?” Scootaloo asked, equally flustered. “Your wings?” Rainbow Dash declared exasperatedly. “I—” It was kind of eerie, how slowly Scootaloo’s confusion seemed to diminish as she looked at Rainbow Dash, then the things on her back, then back at Rainbow Dash, then back to the things on her back. She snapped her head forward, staring at Rainbow Dash with eyes the size of dinner plates as she exclaimed, “Theshe are wings?!” Rainbow started to answer and stopped with a frozen half-smile. Then she looked at Applejack in outrage saying, “Didn’t you tell her?” “She was sleepin’!” Applejack protested, hands up. “Ah thought you were gonna tell her!” “B-buth they don’ look like wings,” Scootaloo said frantically, sliding down to the couch seat, looking back at the things which now refused to fold back against her sides. And, now that Apple Bloom thought about it... “Mah gosh, Scoots!” Apple Bloom exclaimed beneath her, “They do look like wings!” “No they don’!” Scootaloo protested confusedly, “They jus’ look like... sticks or somesing” “They do look like wings,” Apple Bloom insisted, “They just don’t got any feathers. You look like a plucked chicken! Or like a baby chick!” “Why don’ I have any feazhers then?” Scootaloo said with a pained expression down to Apple Bloom, who was looking at ...Sweetie Belle, rearing up right next to Scootaloo. “Maybe they just haven’ grown in yet?” Sweetie Belle suggested, taking the tip of one of Scootaloo’s wings in her mouth and pulling it down closer to her. Scootaloo immediately blushed, saying, “Ah, Swezhie what are you—” “Jush shaking a hlook attit,” Sweetie muttered, using a hoof to hold Scootaloo’s wing down so she could release it from her mouth, and nose at it more closely. Rainbow Dash was right there too, leaning over the couch back and poking at Scootaloo’s other wing arm, saying, “Sunset didn’t know, but she wasn’t a pegasus. She just knew that the feathers replace themselves after... woah!” She pinched the meat of Scootaloo’s left wing in her fingertips, and stretched it out more fully. “There are these weird things all along it. They aren’t feathers but like... right where the feathers would be!” “You do have feathers, already!” Sweetie exclaimed on the other side of Scootaloo. “All this weird fuzz is feathers, but they’re just really tiny.” Sliding her finger alongside the smooth side of the wing while Sweetie nosed curiously into the joint that folded into Scootaloo’s side on the other wing, Rainbow said, “Hmm, nothing on this side either. I bet these are like, proto-featheroid things. You are totally gonna have tons of big old feathers.” Sweetie just wuffled something incomprehensible. “Hey uh... Scootaloo,” came Applejack’s uncertain voice, as she walked up behind Rainbow Dash, looking down at the unicorn and the human there, playing with her wings. “Y’alright there?” Apple Bloom had caught herself blushing in the mirror before, even as a pony, but it wasn’t full on red faced, eyes squeezed shut, ears askew, whimpery trembling blushing. Scootaloo’s fur wasn’t even yellow, so how was the blush so obvious behind that burnt orange? She was bulshing so hard it looked like she couldn’t even stop quivering all over. “Stop it!” Apple Bloom shouted up to the two of them, “Cain’t ya see you’re hurting... her?!” Hurting wasn’t exactly the word Apple Bloom would apply to the situation, but she had to say something quick or Scootaloo was liable to burst an artery. Rainbow let go so fast, that Scootaloo’s wing snapped back to her side like a rubber band. Sweetie was more clumsy about it, pushing herself off away from Scootaloo, to fall back with a squeak, letting that right wing try to reestablish itself. Scootaloo shuddered from head to toe as her own wing slapped against her side. “It’s fine!” Scootaloo said tensely. “I’s fine! Nothing’sh wrong. I’m fhine! I ...gotta go.” She stumbled forward and just about fell off the couch, face planting on the wood floor in a heap. “Still fine!” she exclaimed, crawling up to a bunny position and throwing herself on all fours. “Be righ’... back gotta go bye.” She then stumbled unconfidently over to the bathroom, and slammed the door closed behind her, leaving the rest of them standing there without another word. “What was that all about?” Sweetie asked critically. “I bet Fluttershy would know,” Dash said, holding an elbow with her other hand. “It’s probably some bird thing. We shouldn’t have like... pulled on her wings or something, because she has these crazy new instincts and they’re totally fragile I bet.” “Long as she don’t go killing rats,” Apple Bloom said uneasily, “Like this one book I was reading, the guy turns into a hawk an’ he had to—” “Tobias, right?” Rainbow Dash said mildly, “It really killed him to do that. But don’t worry Sunset said—” “You read it?” Apple Bloom asked in surprise. “Psh, yeah,” Dash drawled, “I read all sorts of cool science fictiony stuff. There’s this series called Otherland that’s totally far out that I been reading lately, uh... not that it has to do with your condition or anything, but if you like scifi I really recommend it!” Apple Bloom’s ears twitched and she said guiltily, “Actually, ah only started that animal morphs series lately, on account of mah... ‘condition’. Mah brother was looking for books about being you know, like an animal. Even fiction might help, ah guess.” “Well, you didn’t hear this from me,” Rainbow said to her with a wink, “But there are actually all sorts of books out there that are fun to read. Don’t let school fool you. In stories, you don’t even have to figure anything out, because at the end it just tells you! I’d like to see a textbook do that!” “Yeah ah... I do read a lot lately...” Apple Bloom was crossing her hoof and blushing now. She tried to stop doing it. “Got a lot of time to do it now.” Sweetie climbed up on the couch back too, presumably to be closer to facing Rainbow Dash on an even keel, asking, “Doesz Schootaloo rearlly have wing inshinctz?” Dash looked around as if for confirmation, as if Sweetie, Apple Bloom, or Applejack had any more clue than she did, then just blushed, saying to the curious unicorn, “I mean, maybe that is I dunno. But did you see it? That kid has wings!!” “Wait...” Apple Bloom said in belated realization, looking up at the big humangirls. Applejack and Rainbow Dash fixed their gazes on Apple Bloom, as she said more and more excitedly, “Wait. Wait! Does that mean Scootaloo can fly?!” “Yes!” Applejack snapped in surprised irritation. “Weren’t that obvious? Ah mean, that’s what Sunset said, anyways.” “It has got to be the coolest. Thing. Ever!” Dash exclaimed to Applejack, in giddy excitement. “Even bether—” Sweetie spoke up, and then shut down, when she flubbed the word. “Even better what?” Applejack said to her gently, leaning against the couch to look down at Sweetie Belle. “Even bet-ter than...” Sweetie pronounced shyly, looking away from Applejack to Rainbow Dash, “Than football?” “But it just how could flying even work?” Apple Bloom puzzled quietly. Nobody really paid the confused normal pony much mind though. Dash instead stared at Sweetie for a second, before exclaiming “Are you kidding? Kicking a ball through a net? Versus flying? No contest! Haven’t you ever wanted to be way up there, like a bird in the sky, with the whole world spread out before you?” “But th’ surface area t’weight ratio...” Apple Bloom mumbled confusedly. “Um,” Sweetie sort of hugged her mane to her face, answering Rainbow Dash, “No, but I never wanted to play football either.” “Well, football’s tons of fun,” Dash agreed, “And I can kick anyone’s butt at it!” turning aside and grumbling, “Except Lyra...” turning back and saying, “But Scootaloo has bigger things on her plate. For her, the sky’s literally the limit!” “Maybe y’all should tell her that,” Apple Bloom said, coming out of her confusion a bit admonishingly, looking over at the door behind which Scootaloo had hidden herself. “Yeah, yeah,” Dash said, rolling her eyes at Apple Bloom. “Applejack already told me you guys could hear like a million times better.” “Ah didn’t say a million times,” Applejack interrupted. “We ain’t never measured, it’s just... better-like.” “So yeah,” Rainbow said to Apple Bloom smugly. “I don’t know why Scootaloo’s acting all weird about it. There’s nothing that can stop her now.” She called the next part exaggeratedly over her shoulder toward the bathroom door, “There’s nothing Scootaloo can’t do, that’s lame, or uncool!” No answer from the bathroom though. Dash looked over there, then down at the other ponies, asking more quietly, “What do you think is taking Scootaloo so long in the bathroom, anyway?” Sweetie Belle looked thoughtful, then blushed heavily, and Apple Bloom was sympathetic with feeling that way. Scootaloo did look awfully anxious when she stumbled off like that. That sort of anxiety must be awfully embarassing, especially for some poor girl who just had her life turned upside downy. They all paused in a moment of quiet contemplation. Scootaloo’s mortified, muffled voice came through the bathroom door. “...help!” Apple Bloom blinked at the closed door. The closed, latched... she facepalmed—ow! Dangit, hooves are a lot harder than palms! While Apple Bloom dealt with a hoof to the forehead, Applejack strode quickly over to the closed bathroom door. The swarthy girl turned the knob, pulling the bathroom door open for a shamefaced Scootaloo pony to skulk out. Apple Bloom rubbed her forehead in the meantime, grumbling resentfully at Scootaloo’s dilemma, saying again not to anyone in particular, “What kinda sick freak thought up the doorknob, anyway?”