//------------------------------// // Chapter One: That Filly // Story: CMC: Training is Magic // by Cold Spike //------------------------------// She laid there on her back for close to ten minutes, just smiling away. A pegasus, that’s what she was. What could be more awesome than that? Rainbow Dash, she thought without a moment's hesitation. Then she broke her ten-minute silence with a giggle and a snort. I think I’m just as awesome as she is. It was another silly thought, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was true. Even if she lacked a cutie mark (which she confirmed again by glancing down at her flank). Even if she was just a filly. Her stomach then rumbled quite profoundly. Even if I’m starving, she thought bitterly. She still felt awesome. She wiggled a bit and tried to remain comfortable in her position, but it was no use. Hunger was never comfortable. She scrambled onto her side and then quickly hopped onto all four hooves with a tired sigh. Her hooves had landed on some wood floorboards, and she tapped on one at a time. “One, two, three and four,” she announced. With her odd morning ritual finished, she decided it was time to hunt for breakfast. “Or would it be graze?” she pondered out loud, then shrugged. Surveying the contents of her clubhouse, she whistled. “We… really should clean up in here someday,” she confirmed this while standing on a pile of old junk she and her friends had all grown bored with. “How did we even find a tuba?” she said to nopony, then shook her head and sighed again. “Let’s see… three bits. Lovely.” The filly had been examining a wooden box where she collected trinkets and, in some cases, bits. Three were all she had left, and that was not awesome. Nervously she glanced outside and found the sun had been rising pretty quickly. The filly looked to her empty lunch bag and then grabbed it with haste. Thinking quickly, she donned her bag then promptly left the safety of the clubhouse. “Gotta make this quick.” She jumped down and let her wings buzz to soften her landing. However, a rather abrupt end to her journey followed by a loud thumping noise was what followed. “Ow.” Tiny wings are still awesome; now quit your complaining and move! Pushing herself into ‘high gear’ and ignoring her temporary pain, she hopped onto her scooter. Her body quickly shifted from her equine stance to one of standing up right. It felt right, as did the cold feeling of the handlebars on her scooter. Quickly her wings began to buzz, only to quickly die down and stop a second later. Angrily she grunted and tried again, then again. Just like a steam engine, on the third try, she felt them flip on full force and she could feel the wind pushing behind her. Her scooter moved slowly at first, but then it picked up speed shortly after. Trees, a few buildings and countless rocks flew behind her. Her world was a daze of motion and blurry colors. Each pony she passed was instantly assaulted by large gusts of wind. “Sorry!” she announced for probably the hundredth time that week. No matter how much it was said, she never got tired of it. Her town soon came into focus: Ponyville. The dirt pathways that surrounded the farm she had just been on quickly ended and became cobblestone. No more endless apple trees, but instead endless ponies of all shapes, colors and more races. None of that mattered to her, though. She skidded to a halt with her wings phasing out, not wanting to risk running into the gathering crowd in the market district. “C’mon, C'mon… where are you….” she muttered to herself as her head frantically swiveled around, searching. The area was crowded with various stalls and vendors and dozens upon dozens of ponies all browsing and buying, but she was only looking for one stall in particular. “Ah, Scootaloo!” A voice announced, causing her to look around. “Back here!” She then squinted her eyes and immediately spotted a gray coated stallion wearing dark, tinted glasses. Scootaloo smiled and slowly strolled her scooter over to his stand. “The usual?” the stallion said. She hastily dropped three bits onto his counter. “You know,” she began while panting, “if you just kept your stand in one spot…” Scootaloo trailed off, knowing it wasn’t worth her breath. “I’ll see ya tomorrow, Scoots.” He then hoofed her a freshly bagged sandwich which she grabbed then quickly left with her scooter in tow. Scootaloo spotted a clock off in the distance which, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it read 7:58. “Wings, don’t fail me now!” With every passing second, her eyes were glued to the school bell in the distance. If she was a unicorn she would have used any and all magic to force the bell not to ring. Her heart raced and she could feel as if the entire world would soon be crashing down upon her. For nothing was as scary as a disappointed Miss Cheerilee. She could see the last of the students running in to catch the bell. Her scooter vibrated with intensity. “Just a little longer…” Just as she got too near, she slowed her wings to almost no movement and forced her scooter to drift at the school wall. The resulting gust of wind gushed over a certain pink coated student who was standing right at the door. The student’s mane and tail suddenly became frazzled and unkempt after the dusty onslaught. Scootaloo ignored her and stepped into the door, a moment later the bell rang out with a loud echo. “Safe,” she said while panting for even more air. The filly, who had been standing at the door, glared at her. “I loathe you so much. So very much.” Scootaloo glanced back to her with a shrug. “And I’ll never understand why.” The other filly snorted. “You haven’t even been here for two minutes and you messed up my mane!” she complained in disgust. While the filly quickly tried to fix it, Scootaloo retorted, “Honestly, Diamond, I couldn’t tell the difference.” Diamond scowled, but something stopped her from saying anything else. Maybe it was the cheery atmosphere of the class along with the smiles on the other students. Or perhaps it was the amazing breakfast she had devoured that morning, but she felt good about herself. She took a quick glance up at the chalkboard and couldn’t help but feel even better. It read ‘Class Presentations’. Their teacher walked beside them, doing a quick headcount. “Alright, everypony please quiet down. We have quite a bit to learn today: from each other!” Instead of quieting down, the announcement only caused the colts and fillies to talk with each other nervously. The teacher chuckled. “I’m sure whatever presentation you all brought, they will be wonderful.” Diamond took her opportunity just as the teacher took her seat. She had a rather large white-backed piece of cardboard folded next to her. She raised her hoof and, to her excitement, was the first to do so. “Miss Cheerilee, Miss Cheerilee, can I go first?!” Every eye in the room bulged out of their sockets, except for the teacher. The mare almost did a double take, but her training as a professional prevented that. “Well, why not? Diamond Tiara, would you kindly stand up and show us what you brought?” Pleasantly, she grabbed her presentation in her mouth and walked up to greet the class. “Well, I wanted to do something special for my presentation. I had considered Star Swirl the Bearded. I mean, he has a ton of history, and lots of great stuff has come from him,” she said rather quickly. With every word, three particular fillies in the room felt that Diamond was trying to sell a sweetness that almost never existed… if it had ever existed at all. “But then I thought it would be much more interesting if I were to research some family trees, like my own.” Cheerilee sighed in relief, wondering just where she was going with it. “Ah, so you researched your own, perhaps the Apples tie to them as well?” she said in a hopeful tone. Diamond smiled even brighter. “Better! I decided to research one of my classmate’s family trees!” She smiled at each one of them, and with that single statement, there was a tense feeling for all of them. Diamond’s smile momentarily flashed towards that of her best friend, Silver Spoon. The other silver coated filly smirked back. Instead of announcing who she had researched first, her head swiveled around the room. Each pony her head past looked more nervous than the last. Good luck finding out anything about me, Scootaloo thought bitterly. Diamond’s head eventually stopped moving as she smiled down on Scootaloo. “For my project, I researched Scootaloo’s family tree, The Firehens!” she announced for all to hear. Scootaloo felt the pressure of all eyes switching to her direction. ...What?! She had almost let the word slip out loud, but for the sake of keeping calm and cool, she remained quiet. “Yes, it took a while to track down any of them. I could have easily asked Scootaloo, but I wanted to do the actual work!” While she spoke she quickly grabbed Miss Cheerilee’s ‘teaching stick’ and began to point to various pictures. Each one had been laid carefully on her board and were clearly visible. “So the first guy I found was her grandfather, Hardwing Firehen.” What followed was mostly silence, though, a colt in the back coughed just before letting out a single chuckle. Scootaloo’s left eye twitched, but the odd look her teacher was giving her made it stop. You… “So, Hardwing was born in Las Pegasus almost eighty years ago! He was a respectable blacksmith and contributed to the now continued development and prosperity of the gamble crazy town. One interesting thing to note was that he never used any of his skills for flight.” Diamond spoke with full sincerity with every word, even their teacher had begun to nod along quietly. Evil… The pink coated filly then pointed to the other side of her board to a mare. “Over here is Petitewing Firehen. She was a great cook in Manehattan! Oh, ponies would come around for miles just to taste her carefully crafted meals. She didn’t have the strength of flight, but what she lacked there she made up with her fantastic culinary skills.” Cheerilee, at this point, raised an eyebrow at Diamond. However, she allowed the filly to continue as she hadn’t technically done anything wrong. That being said, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to. “I also found an interesting fellow named Cloudfall Firehen. He was born and raised in Canterlot, probably on Scootaloo’s mother’s side. So, Scootaloo has relatives and family history all over Equestria! He used his mighty wings to craft clouds for factories. I don’t think he ever flew, though. Anyway, that’s my presentation.” She did a quick bow and several of the children stomped their hooves. Diamond then promptly stopped walking and slapped her own forehead. “I almost forgot about Scootaloo’s father!” Witch… Diamond quickly looked to her teacher for direction and the mare hesitantly nodded. “Right, I asked around and it turns out that her father is employed at an earth pony run company who makes various jams and jellies. I found it a bit odd that he works for and with earth ponies, being a pegasus and all, but I also found it pretty neat.” For a very brief second Diamond’s eyes flashed to Scootaloo, and in that second the pegasus knew madness. Diamond looked up at Cheerilee who had begun to look more and more uncomfortable as her presentation went on. “Heh, and that’s my presentation!” Instead of the stomping of hooves, Diamond was greeted by silence. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was greeted by about a dozen or so eyes staring at her. Her cheeks flushed crimson which confirmed everypony’s assumptions about her family. “Er, thank you, Diamond Tiara. That was very thorough and enlightening,” Miss Cheerilee said. No it wasn’t! was what Scootaloo thought, coming very close to screaming it out for everypony to hear. “Apple Bloom, you’re up next.” The filly, donning her bow, walked up to the front of the class. She spoke in a rehearsed, monotone way, “My presentation is on apples.” Miss Cheerilee resisted the urge to slam her head into her desk. Despite Diamond’s presentation, Scootaloo had to admit she enjoyed class that day. Until it was time to deliver her own presentation, that is. It wasn’t a surprise to her when everypony was paying even more attention when she was up. Nor was it a surprise when it simply felt as if they were all silently judging her and not actually listening. “Uh, my pres- presentation is on Rainbow Dash and her accomplishments.” While some nodded, others just stared. She half expected most of them to groan or roll their eyes as she often talked of Rainbow; instead, all she got in return was wide-eyed, curious stares. Delivering her speech was one of the hardest things she had to do all semester long. The stares didn’t stop, the smiles never came and nor did any groans of protest. Just the constant staring of curious fillies and colts all judging her on something she knew to be false. Her teacher knew exactly why the filly’s heart appeared not to be into it. However, she knew stopping her would only make things worse. I’m going to have a talk to Diamond when this is over with, she thought bitterly while doing her best to pay attention. By the time she had finished, over half of the class nearly forgot to applaud, though Scootaloo’s friends certainly tried to make up the difference. She spotted them in the back row and smiled slightly. Miss Cheerilee cleared her throat. “Thank you, Scootaloo. That was quite interesting.” She then smiled down to the filly who nodded and smiled herself. Glancing over at a nearby clock, she nodded. “Alrighty, I think it’s time for a quick break. Er-” She watched most of them run out on her, so she hastily spoke up before they could all leave. “Make sure to be ready for our weekly quiz when you all return!” Scootaloo was the last to leave the building; she would often do this. It made it easier to spot where her friends would be hanging out during their recess. She looked around and frowned at the others. It had also made it easier to see where to avoid that day. Of course, every day was ‘Avoid Diamond Tiara’ day, but it still helped. She quickly joined her two friends near a swing set and sighed in relief when nopony decided to bother them. “Hey, girls.” Sweetie Belle was busy brushing her mane around her horn, trying to make it steady. “Hey… hang on.” “Hey, Scoots. Was any of that true? What Diamond said?” Apple Bloom asked almost sarcastically, adding a little snort at the end. Scootaloo took a bit longer to reply than they would have liked. She took a seat on one of the swings and sighed. “Well… kinda, uh, yeah.” Apple Bloom’s smirk vanished and she nodded. “Oh. Well, whatever. That was still rude of her to say it all that way…” “Or at all,” Scootaloo said quietly. She then shook her head. “Whatever, it’s done and over with. How about we--” “So, it’s really Firehen?” Sweetie Belle asked suddenly. Scootaloo did her best to remain calm and stiffly nodded. “Yeah, it’s Firehen.” Sweetie Belle nodded while smiling brightly. “Cool!” The pegasus rolled her eyes, though, had the name not been attributed to a chicken she might have agreed. “I guess. Can we talk about cutie marks now? And the gaining thereof… uh, them?” They both giggled then nodded. “Sure, Scoots. Ah was thinking maybe--” Apple Bloom watched a ball from the other side of the playground smack into the back of Scootaloo's head. “Oh, you alright?” Scootaloo nodded and went to pick it up. “Hey, Firehen! Pass it back here!” a colt requested rather loudly. I loathe her so, so much. Grudgingly she tossed the ball back, not even bothering to see if it landed near the colt, then turned back to her friends. “How about you try for a gliding cutie mark?” Apple Bloom suggested to Scootaloo. The pegasus quirked a brow while looking between her friends. “Uh, what about you two?” Sweetie Belle shrugged and left the reply open for Apple Bloom to respond. “We were thinking of trying what Twilight suggested. You know, us still helping each other getting our marks, but only one at a time.” The farm filly saw Scootaloo’s frown and quickly made another response. “You know, just for a little while. See if it works?” she half asked and half suggested. “Well, okay, but what are you two gonna do when I’m… gliding.” she had said the word sarcastically, but she wasn’t sure if they understood or not. “We’ll be cheering you on and thinking of what we can do for ours!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly. She then stood up and struck a pose looking up. “Cutie Mark Crusader Cheer Thinkers!” Apple Bloom was silent for a moment and kept her eyebrow raised while gazing at her. “How long ya’ll been waiting to say that?” Sweetie’s smile vanished and she quickly looked away. “...Only a couple minutes.” Scootaloo nodded. “Right, I guess I can- woah!” She had begun to turn around, only to come face to face with Diamond Tiara who was smiling at them. “So, how’d you like that little stroll through your family history?” she asked sweetly. The three of them weren’t sure how to respond, least of all Scootaloo. Diamond sensed their hesitation and decided to push the issue. “Well, I thought it was rather nice of me. I mean since you were so shy about it for so long… now it’s up in the air!” she exclaimed while slowly walking around them, like a predator waiting to pounce. “Diamond Tiara, would you please leave? We’re kind of…” Sweetie Belle trailed off when she noticed DIamond’s smile had widened, almost to that of a sneer. “Uh, doing something private.” “Oh, how thoughtless of me. Privacy is very important after all. I would never want to divulge into one’s personal matters.” The sickly sweet voice got to Scootaloo and she snapped. “But you just did that! In front of the class!” She pointed out angrily as she butted her face into Diamond’s. Diamond still played innocent and shrugged. “That was all public knowledge, I found it at a library after all…” Diamond trailed off herself and waited for Scootaloo to connect the dots. The pegasus’s eyes widened in shock and Diamond smiled wickedly at her. “Well, I should be going now, ciao!” she called out and strolled away proudly, her head held high. Why is she doing this? “You alright, Scoots?” Sweetie asked her, shaking her shoulder slightly. “Don’t let her get to you, she’s just being a brat.” Scootaloo took a tad longer to stop staring at Diamond than she should have. She eventually shook her head and nodded. “Yeah, I know.” After class, the three Crusaders had decided to walk back to their clubhouse. Scootaloo was simply pushing her scooter while they talked. She felt nervous. Not just because of what Diamond Tiara was trying to pull, but it was the notion of gliding. It used to be so easy. “So, I was sitting there with Rarity when somepony knocked at the door,” Sweetie said while the three continued to walk. And so much fun. “We asked who it was, but all we heard was somepony sputtering or something…” I had wanted this so much, I screamed for it. “So, Rarity opened the door and it was Spike!” Apple Bloom nodded. “Okay, what’d he want?” She shrugged. “I dunno, but then he blushed a bunch and ran off. I think he had some daisies with him.” Will it be worth it, child? Will it fulfill you? Scootaloo shook her head and did her best to pay attention to Sweetie’s story. She didn’t need to live in despair when friendship was surrounding her. “Uh, cool story. So, how are we gonna do this exactly?” “Ah figured off Winona's dog house. If you fall, at least it won't hurt ya any.” “Does she get angry if you get near the thing?” Scootaloo asked fearfully; remembering a time when they had tried. Cutie Mark Crusading dog groomers seemed like so much fun… “Not if she’s sleeping. We’ll just hafta make sure is all. Hey, how come we never tried this before?” Apple Bloom asked off-hoofly. “Ah mean, ah could have sworn you tried for a flying cutie mark before…” “I did, dozens of times. Like Rainbow Dash says, ‘you gotta fly before you can crawl, kid. Where’s my coffee?’” “Uh, how come you repeated that last part?” Sweetie Belle asked, almost giggling. “She always asks that, do you think I should bring it one time? I wonder what she would do…” She started to daydream of all the wondrous things she assumed would happen. So much ice cream…. “Okay then. Maybe it’s best if you crawl first? Gliding doesn’t seem so hard. Your wings seem strong, why not try it?” Sweetie’s suggestion made her heart flutter, but she smiled back at her. “R- right, let’s go try it.” Fat chance it will work. she thought bitterly. However, just being near her friends made her want to try, no matter how nervous she felt. “What’s the book say to do again?” Scootaloo asked while doing her best to balance on top of a dog house with a slanted roof. “Tilt your wings up a bit and let the wind carry you. Uh, it says your magic should do the rest.” Apple Bloom said then tilted the book around and flipped a few pages. “Ah think.” Scootaloo mentally panicked at the ‘Ah think’ part, but she was calmed down by the height of it all. It probably wouldn’t hurt. Too much. “Go, Scoots! Go, Scoots!” Sweetie started to chant, Apple Bloom set aside her book and joined in as well. Can’t say no to that. In spite of everything, she took a running start and jumped high into the air. For what felt like a full second she floated along… and then promptly fell flat onto her stomach. “Ow…” Scootaloo moaned. “Get up, Scoots. Get up, Scoots!” Sweetie shifted her cheer, and Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Apple Bloom checked the book a few times, frantically flipping through some pages. Still looking down, she called out. “Maybe you need to flap your wings a bit.” “But that’s just flying then!” Scootaloo exclaimed, feeling annoyed already. Apple Bloom shook her head. “Just try it, maybe it will lift some air onto your wings and then your magic will ‘do the rest’.” Scootaloo didn’t feel so sure and dubiously looked to the book on pegasi. The image of a pegasus on the book and the earth pony reading it didn’t inspire her with confidence. Apple Bloom tried to be supportive. “Just try it once, okay. Ah know I’m not a pegasus, but what will it hurt?” “My stomach and pride,” she swiftly replied. “What else?” Apple Bloom pressed with a smirk. “Ugh… fine.” She attempted what her friend had suggested at least three times. Each jump would be accompanied by her staying in the air a bit longer, but it would always end with a short drop and a sudden stop. By the tenth time, she was growing tired, as were her friends. “Go… Scoots… uh… Go-” Sweetie Belle stopped talking and yawned a bit. “Uh, go?” Scootaloo ignored her for a moment and examined her chest. “Girls, I think I have a bruise. I’m gonna stop.” Apple Bloom kicked the book in frustration. “Stupid book! Did it say all pegasuses? Pegasi? Yeah, it said they should all easily fly at our age!” Scootaloo walked past her friends toward their clubhouse. “Books aren’t always right, Apple Bloom.” She felt depressed; as she walked her head was hanging low. Her friends quickly joined her, which perked her up a bit. “How about we try something else. What did you girls come up with?” Apple Bloom looked away blushing. “Uh, not much.” “I’ve got one!” Sweetie exclaimed excitedly. Both fillies looked at her tiredly. The unicorn sighed. “Nevermind…” “No, go ahead. Say what you wanted to say,” Apple Bloom replied while her features softened. Sweetie smiled slightly and widened her eyes as if begging. “Can I really say it?” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes; she had known her friends long enough to know when she really wanted to say something in her own special way. “Sure!” “Cutie Mark Crusader Cupcake Knights!” The other two fillies blinked, followed by a giggle from Scootaloo. “Have you been hanging out with Pinkie Pie too much?” They both rolled their eyes and dragged Sweetie Belle along with them. They both had a hunch where Sweetie wanted to go. “If you haven’t turned pink yet, it should be fine. Just make sure to see Nurse Redheart at least once a week,” Scootaloo quipped. While they laughed Scootaloo took a look at her surroundings. They felt warmer somehow. Why does it only feel like home sometimes? she asked herself. Twilight’s tree library was always in the middle of town. It was positively enormous and Twilight often got asked if the thing was still alive. Her answer was always ‘it still has leaves, doesn’t it?’. She had to admit, of all the places in town, Twilight’s at least felt homely when inside. The rest of the place with their thatched roofs, ponies running around everywhere and businesses that littered every street corner, it didn’t exactly feel like home. However, when she looked at both of her friends laughing and having fun, things felt right. It was only when they left for the day that the place turned colder. It wasn’t as if it bothered her too much, but the nagging feeling was always there. Where’s home? She would always scream the answer was Ponyville with her friends, but there was always doubt. She glanced backward, imagining the clubhouse through the endless tree patches back on the Apple’s farm. The picture was always hazy. Her memories never were. Stop falling behind! Stop dawdling! She shook her head for what felt like the millionth time that day. Scootaloo then forced a smile and did her best to keep up with her friends’ conversation. She had cupcakes to bake; hopefully without a knight’s suit of armor. “And that’s how Equestria was doomed! Doomed forever!” All three fillies looked up in fear at the hyperactive pink pony who now stood on two hooves. She had screamed out the final portion of a story she was telling so violently the ground shook, and her chest heaved as she gasped for air. “Uh, Pinkie?” Sweetie Belle quickly said. Pinkie Pie blinked, but then smiled when she snapped out of her daze. “Yeah?!” “That story didn’t make any sense…” Pinkie shrugged, then nonchalantly turned around and started gathering some cooking ingredients. “Well, I thought it was funny. Anyway, what can I do for you three?” “Uh, we were wondering if we could bake some cupcakes?” Scootaloo asked hopefully. “Like, maybe you could teach us… or…” she trailed off and simply waited for a reply. It didn’t take long. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Pinkie had begun to bounce around them quite literally, screaming in joy. She quickly squashed all three of them closer, by huddling them together, next to her face. “Do you know what this means?!” “That I can barely breathe!” Scootaloo announced to the world, hoping somepony else would show up and save them. Her eyes darted back and forth, but nopony came. “Cupcake knights?!” Sweetie asked, masking Pinkie’s excitement, but adding a squeaky voice of her own. “That’s right, Squeaky Belle!” Pinkie then bounced them high into the air, one after the other. When it was all over (and their heads had stopped spinning) they found themselves donning odd costumes. They looked to be suits of armor adorned with cupcakes on each side. Scootaloo noticed they were perfectly positioned where their cutie marks would be. They also fit each of them perfectly which perplexed her to no end. “Sweetie Belle…” Sweetie turned to Scootaloo, with a huge smile plastered on her face. “Yeah?!” “Why?” “Ah was just about to say.” Pinkie noticed at least two out of the three fillies didn’t seem to be having any fun. “Quit your frownin’, girls. It’s time to make some cupcakes!” At least that part will be normal. Scootaloo thought with a sigh of relief. Promptly two minutes later the four of them were seated at a round table. Pinkie had a play mat of some kind blocking her face and was hunched over the table. The three fillies were seated on the other side. “You three cupcake knights enter a mysterious dark… uh, mega dungeon!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, then appeared to move a few things from behind her mat. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other, then quickly glanced down to find Sweetie Belle thoroughly engaged in play. She had dice in her hoof and was already rolling for Celestia knew what. “Sweetie, how long you been wanting to play this?” Apple Bloom asked slowly. Sweetie Belle tossed the dice then looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. “So long… it’s beautiful.” Scootaloo went to object, but Apple Bloom shot her down with a look. She silently whispered to the pegasus from over Sweetie’s head. ‘Let her have this’. At least, that’s what Scootaloo thought she said. The pegasus huffed but nodded firmly. “You are attacked by a giant, hideous, pink-coated monster from beyond the unknown!” Scootaloo sighed. Second time today… “See ya later, girls!” Scootaloo called out. She watched Sweetie Belle wave and prance away in glee. Apple Bloom soon followed toward the farm which she lived on. The farm... Scootaloo needed to be there before it got too dark. Scootaloo slowly walked in the opposite direction of Apple Bloom, like she always did. When she got far enough away she listened for her friend’s hoof clops. Eventually, she heard nothing. Awkwardly she waited in the middle of the road and counted to an arbitrary number. She had always feared Apple Bloom would take her time some night and she would be caught. Maybe one of the other Apple’s would be out in the farm doing something. So far it hadn’t happened, but that didn’t mean it never would. Her heart had begun to flutter rapidly. After all, she was in the middle of the road that connected Ponyville to the Everfree Forest. It also meant that if Fluttershy happened to be out that night, she would easily been spotted. She never actually thought Fluttershy would do anything, but the fear was still very real. She could spot, from a window, a faint shadow of a pony. Get it together, she’s probably just reading in bed or something. Scootaloo slapped herself slightly, then turned to the foreboding forest entrance. It’s probably just… not as spooky or deadly as everypony says. Her stare lingered for a moment or two. And it’s probably not beckoning me inside so I’ll go in and never return. After hearing the first loud feral sounding howl of the night, she bolted. Risking the noise of her scooter, the filly whizzed forward as fast as her wings would allow. When she reached the sign for ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ she screeched to a halt and sighed in relief. The sign had always been naturally lit up at night by fireflies and of course the moonlight. It was a much more welcome sight than the creepy dark forest not even a mile away. Her walk back to the clubhouse didn’t last long. She climbed up and then grabbed a jar that sat on the edge of a balcony. “C’mon, you… got it!” The filly exclaimed, opening a jar that had always been hard to fiddle with. Using practiced dexterity and skill, she quickly gathered a few fireflies that were floating around her and quickly shut the jar. “Better.” It wasn’t much light, but it was enough to help her feel more secure at night. She then folded her scooter up and set it aside. She quickly opened the door and shut it. Setting aside her light source, the filly rummaged around their stash of things until she found a blanket and a pillow. “Ew, I really should wash this tomorrow…” She yawned and quickly got comfortable on the cold, wooden floor. She wrapped the blanket around herself and sighed. “Too tired tonight…” Looking over she stared at the fireflies, there was no smile plastered on her face. Just curiosity. She watched them buzz around the jar and instinctively her wings buzzed as well. I miss it… A few moments later she was out for the night. “You will not live happily, young one. They won’t accept you. Your place is here!” She didn’t speak. The rage she had for her life, for everything had been at its boiling point. She screamed in rage and pounced onto the creature before her, pleading with her. The creature sighed and nodded. “Very well, but this will only end badly for you. My magic is powerful, but like all things in this world, it is not perfect. You’ve made your choice.” A bright green flash of light blinded her. Then everything went white. Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes. It was still dark out. “Stupid dream…” Mentally berating herself for not securing a clock after all of this time, she quickly turned over to her other side and attempted to sleep again. Where is my place?