Ghastly Gorge
March 19th, Year 3 under the Four Princesses
"...This is crazy, even for you."
Scootaloo tensed slightly as she glanced over the cliff edge. The wind was picking up and she had picked a spot with a lot of rocks poking out the wall. Maybe Sweetie Belle was right, there might be less risky ways to be a Cutie Mark Crusader stuntpony than riding down a cliff through a path she'd only visualised. At the same time though, backing out didn't seem like the kind of thing Rainbow Dash would do. Besides, the other two had received their marks months ago and she was good at things like this.
"Ah...Ah'm with Sweetie Belle on this one, even if you reach the bottom safely, you think ya can keep enough speed to make it up the other side?" Apple Bloom chimed in, looking even more nervous about what Scootaloo had proposed.
"Come on, I'm not a little filly anymore. I know enough to know I should make it, plus I've got my wings in case I need a boost...But, you do have the backup plan?"
"Yes, Apple Bloom tries to keep you talking and awake while I run to get Twilight and, no offence, Scootaloo, tell her this was all because of your crazy overconfidence."
"Listen, I can do this. I know I'm good at scooter tricks, just like you two learned about your singing and woodwork, then proved it and got your cutie marks. This is the same for me," Scootaloo fitted her helmet and took another look over the edge. "I hope..."
The other two crusaders exchanged nervous glances as Scootaloo checked her old scooter over one more time. Just as she was finishing up, a rustle made them all stop and look round, finally settling on a nearby bush near the edge of the cliff. Scootaloo sighed in frustration and rested her head on the handlebars, feeling like she had to deal with this every day now.
"I know it's you, Diamond Tiara. Seriously, is watching a pony attempt their special talent your idea of entertainment?"
"You mean watching a less talented pony constantly blow it. Then yes." Diamond Tiara answered, stepping out from her cover and smirking, prompting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to glare back at her. While she had finally dropped the blank flank taunt, DT seemed even more obnoxious these days and it felt like she wasn't going to relent any time soon.
"Alright, that's it!" Scootaloo snapped, wings unfurling as she grabbed her scooter and stormed over to Diamond Tiara, getting eye to goggle. "I've put up with years of your condescension, even after you laid off my friends because they happened to get their cutie marks before me. You think I'm never going to get my mark? That I'm going to be your chew toy forever?! Fine! Then you can have a front row seat as I make my run from here and I earn it!!"
Diamond Tiara recoiled slightly at the outburst, clearly caught off guard. She slowly glanced over the edge and her eyes widened slightly, the cliff face was even rockier from here. Back at the original start point, Apple Bloom gasped and pointed something out to Sweetie Belle.
"T-that's suicide..." Diamond Tiara said quietly, sounding outright unnerved. In a moment she shook her head and glared back at Scootaloo, the usual fire back in her eyes. "Go ahead then, you're just giving me a front row seat to watch you fail!" She stomped in anger at the last word, bringing her hooves down hard. Any retort either pony had was lost at a cracking sound coming from beneath their hooves, both of them looking round in confusion, followed by dawning horror.
"Oh buck..." Apple Bloom managed to get out as Sweetie Belle got a better look. Some of the cliff under Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara had previously eroded, to the point that they had basically been standing on an overhang. An overhand that clearly wasn't very solid thanks to the bush roots breaking it up. Even as they moved to help, Scootaloo swung back round toward them.
"Stay back!" She shouted, looking down as the ground collapsed beneath her hooves, the last thing visible as she dropped below the edge was Apple Bloom running to try anyway and Sweetie Belle trying to charge her magic for some reason. Scootaloo knew there was only one way out of this and her hoof had managed to keep a grip on her scooter. She pulled it under her and braced, hitting the cliff with her front wheels, gravity and the sheer cliff face meant she wasn't getting her rear wheels down in a hurry. Starting to hurtle backwards down a cliff, it was an understatement for Scootaloo to consider it the most terrifying moment of her life.
She preferred to do things facing forward though, after a moment to brace herself, Scootaloo pushed the scooter into an ollie and span it round, having only the moment to see what was happening. Diamond Tiara was falling a few feet to her right, clear of any obstacles but seemingly catatonic from the shock of what was happening. In front of her were multiple rocks jutting out with no real spacing, trying to navigate that would be like trying to clear a minefield. To her left was a much clearer route, safe for sure, but what about Diamond Tiara? She only had a second to make her choice, go left to safety and leave her tormentor in the hooves of fate, or go straight and put it all on the line to try and save her.
As her wheels hit the ground again, Scootaloo knew it wasn't a choice at all.
She hunkered down on her scooter and rushed toward the rocks, trying a sight a route. Left right right? Too tight. Right left Right? Low jutting rock that would take a wheel off. Left left right? Out of time, it'd have to do. Scootaloo gritted her teeth and drove into the danger zone, having to turn early to counter the effects of driving almost straight down. Tunnel vision was something of a problem in here, she was focused but needed to be able to spot any route she could take. Of course, turning too hard with gravity how it was at the moment was basically a death sentence. Thankfully, none of this was really a problem to an experienced rider like Scootaloo as she ducked and weaved through the course, just about managing to keep holding onto her ride.
Almost too suddenly it was bright again as she cleared the rocks. Scootaloo looked round as best she could to try and spot Diamond Tiara and judge how far they had to go. To her surprise, her rush to get clear meant she had actually pulled ahead, that only made things worse as she had to try and slow down now in order to catch the falling filly. First things first though, she had to get into place before that. Scootaloo pulled herself over to the right and spread her wings out fully to act as airbrakes. It wasn't that effective against gravity instead of wind resistance but it was enough as the cliff began to level out.
Scootaloo tensed slightly, she had seconds left to react. With a glance up, she saw Diamond Tiara starting to come to just above her. There was only one option here and just one shot to make it work, otherwise this would all be for nothing. She gritted her teeth and pushed her scooter into another ollie, waiting to reach the height of her jump before wrapping a leg around Diamond Tiara and bracing herself. The landing was even rougher than before with the increased speed and her weight distribution thrown off, Scootaloo was forced to keep leaning just to stay upright, eyes narrowing as she felt them reach the base of the gorge, now came the hard part.
"Wh...What's....Aaaaggghhh!!!" Diamond Tiara cried as she regained her senses, gripping onto Scootaloo's side tighter than a constrictor. Scootaloo glanced down at her, deciding now wasn't the time for a comment. They were already set to climb up the far side and she was going too fast to make any corrections now.
"Just hang on!" Scootaloo called down to her, knowing things were out of control for either of them now. All she could do was grip the handlebars and glance down at the rest of the scooter, knowing it was going to need some serious maintenance after this. By the time she looked back up they were already making progress back up but starting to loose speed, fast. Scootaloo mentally cursed herself for failing to take the extra weight into account, lucky she had an ace on her back for this. Her wings shot open again and almost immediately became a blur of speed as she flapped as hard as possible.
Right now, one of two things would happen. Either they would make it up and somehow come through this unscathed, or they would lose all their speed and drop back into the gorge where...Best not to think about that. Scootaloo braced herself and kept flapping, waiting for the feeling of upward momentum to end. After what felt like an eternity, she felt the ground vanish under them again and chanced a look down. Her wings had kept speed up so well that they'd actually caught some air as they passed the lip of the cliff. Without thinking, Scootaloo pushed herself off the scooter and aimed for the solid ground, only remembering afterward that she was still about ten feet in the air with a pony hanging onto her.
The landing was, not so much a landing. More an impact to her front, followed by one to her back as Diamond Tiara landed on her before rolling aside. Scootaloo was left sprawled in the dirt, badly winded and almost in tears from trying to cope with so much adrenaline coursing through her. As she forced herself into a sitting position while fighting to get some air back into her, somepony started checking her over to see if she had any other injuries. She looked up and gasped slightly, seeing it was none other than Diamond Tiara.
"Y-you...You saved...Why? I-I mean, how bad is it?" Diamond Tiara asked softly, showing a level of care that was so genuine it was almost scary. Scootaloo watched her for a moment, mostly because she was still trying to get her breath back. As soon as she managed to reduce it to mere panting she stood up and nodded.
"Nopony deserves that, not even you. I saw that hesitation after I made my declaration and I realised, contrary to all the evidence you've given, you're capable of empathy and I've seen how much you influence ponies," She stopped for a moment to take a few more breaths. "If you tried treating ponies more positively, seeing how they think, you could find yourself somewhere where ponies like you for what are, rather than because you're all posh acting."
Diamond Tiara stared at her, seemingly unable to come up with a response. Her face flashed shades of disbelief, confusion, anger, before ultimately becoming blank as she turned and headed back toward Ponyville, looking lost in thought. A minute later, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran up to Scootaloo, silently thankful they'd chosen to do this near the end of the gorge.
"Oh holy Luna, a-re you alright, Scootaloo? I tried to teleport to get help but I panicked and couldn't do it. So we tried to get here as fast as we could while watching you and and..." Sweetie Belle trailed off into stressed breaths, Apple Bloom trying her best to calm both her and Scootaloo.
"I'm, I'm fine girls...I don't know how but I made the impossible happen down there. I've never been that good on my scooter before."
"Ah saw it all, you were handling it like a pro stuntpony in the most insane situation I ever saw you in."
"L-Like a pro?" The thought of being a stuntpony had been in Scootaloo's mind before but hearing she was that good...She could do it. Heck, the kind of things a stuntpony went through weren't anywhere near as dangerous as that, it was more than a living, it was more than a calling. It was what she was born to be.
As if in time with that realisation, her whole body tingled, a small flash on her sides. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped and Sweetie Belle gave a small squeal. Scootaloo looked back and could only stare, a purple helmet with light blue straps and lavender goggles settled on her flanks. Everything they'd been through today was immediately forgotten at the sight. All three of them broke into a cheer as one, jumping up and hugging, even if they had to prop Scootaloo up slightly for it.
"You did it! We've all finally done it!" Sweetie Belle cried happily, waiting for the other two to nod to her before raising her hoof. The other two raised theirs and pumped it in triumph before bringing them into a three way high hoof.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, crusade complete! Yeah!!"