//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 - A Simpler Perspective // Story: Rising Above // by Quick Fix //------------------------------// Training had been...Well, Scootaloo knew she'd had better days. Several hours spent trying to find a new riding posision that didn't wreck her back or look ridiculous hadn't resulted in anything workable. At least she finally had something to look forward to, the streets of Ponyville were busy enough to make her slower riding more justified at this time of day. At least that's what she told herself, ponywatching as she rode through town, smiling and waving to everypony who noticed her. That was a plus to being a hometown hero, in any other town in Equestria, even somewhere as small as Rainbow Falls, she'd probably be halfway through getting mobbed by a crowd of fans and autograph hunters. She needed a distraction right now, anything to take her mind off things. Scootaloo sighed slightly before noticing a newspaper stall on a nearby street, perfect. She rolled up to the stall and took her helmet off, fishing round in a small pouch in the lining for some bits. "I err, I only brought two bits? Okay, I'll take an Equestria Today, please." She placed the bits down as the pony running the stand passed her a copy. Nodding in thanks, she held it in her mouth as she rode off, heading for the park. Something new was bugging her now, normally ponies running the stalls were more chatty when they had a sale, what was going on today? It was probably a good thing there weren't so many ponies about today, or she'd be getting even more incidents like that. Scootaloo tried not to dwell on it as she headed for Ponyville park, thinking she could just try to unwind with her paper before Derpy arrived. Finding a relatively dry spot under a tree, she sat down against the trunk and unfurled her paper, glancing round before opening it up. She skipped straight over the front page news, already having heard enough about the Wonderbolts reshuffle from Rainbow Dash's last letter, sticking to reading the smaller pieces for now. Even with casual glances, one article caught her eye as her name came up with it. An anonymous mare from Ponyville reported the sight of renowned stunypony, Scootaloo, engaged in flight several days ago. While unconfirmed, the implications that she may have been hiding her abilities to draw sympathy attention to her career. Needless to say, we will be attempting to interview Scootaloo to determine the truth of this to our readers. Scootaloo groaned in frustration and buried her face in the paper. This was all she needed, sure it wasn't the biggest piece but a lot of ponies read the Equestria Today and not all of them were smart enough to understand slander. She glanced down at the bottom of the article to check if there was a writer name...Spoiled Rich. She flicked through to the back page that contained the staff credits for the paper and gritted her teeth, somehow not surprised to see that Spoiled was an editor as well. That stuck-up mare always used her influence to take stabs at the former crusaders, it was enough to make Scootaloo want to march on over to Manehattan and- "Miss Scootaloo?" "What?!" Scootaloo snapped, looking up with a growl, only to stop as she realised who was standing in front of her. Derpy, looking hurt at the sudden outburst. "Oh, I-I'm sorry. I've, got no excuses." Derpy looked at her with some caution before sitting down next to her. "We all have bad days, you want to let it out?" "That nice of you to offer but, it's a lot of bad things today...The scroll you gave me wasn't one of them though," Scootaloo smiled reassuringly, prompting a return smile from Derpy. "I've got some mare in the newspaper lying about me now though, saying I was making up my inability to fly to make ponies like me more." "...Were you?" "I...No! I thought I couldn't fly at all until about three months ago. I didn't even fly properly for the first time until last week. Add in that my newfound flight is affecting my scooter riding and...I'm in trouble." Derpy nodded slowly, she couldn't pretend that she understood what it was like going through such things, she'd always been able to fly after all. She hated seeing somepony so stressed out though, especially a pony as nice as Scootaloo. She looked away, watching a fly for a moment while thinking about it, Scootaloo glancing over at her. "Derpy? You okay?" "Hmm? Yes, just trying to think of something to help." "Thanks, but I'm not sure how anypony can help right now." "Well...When I'm struggling with multiple jobs at a time, I decide which one is more important and make sure I can put all my attention onto it by any means. Which one is that?" That was, actually not too bad an idea. Scootaloo sat up and took a few breaths, trying to calm herself enough to give it some thought. Not that there was much to think about here, her riding skills were what made her livelihood and she needed to get it together in time for the anniversary. "I guess, it'd be getting a routine together for my show next month. So you're suggesting that I try and fix the newspaper problem in two days or so?" "Well, the sooner you can, the sooner you can focus on your work." Derpy smiled innocently, managing to get the same out of Scootaloo. Sure, it wasn't really practical advice but it was sweet that she was still trying. "Well, I can't exactly talk to the paper about it. The editor hates me, for reasons I'd rather not talk about." "Why not talk about it with another one then?" Derpy blinked as she lost track of the fly, looking round as Scootaloo put a hoof on her shoulder. She expected at the least a comment about trying to focus on what was important to her, like most ponies would. To her surprise, Scootaloo was smiling warmly. "Derpy Hooves, you're a genius. Seriously, giving my side of the story to a different paper, I can't believe I didn't think of that." "It's okay, you were stressed," Derpy smiled back and sat back against the tree, both of them feeling a bit more relaxed. "I'm guessing it helped then." "It did, I just need to see a stallion about this and then I can focus on my main issue, just like you said." "A stallion? You've finally found yourself somepony to settle down with?" Derpy teased, giggling softly. Scootaloo blushed but decided not to go after the easy comeback and looked away. "Firstly, his name is Quick Fix, secondly, he's just the one who's been training me to fly. We're friends, sure, but to be honest, I'm not quite ready to think about that kind of thing with anypony yet." Derpy simply nodded, knowing better than to press the issue on somepony not comfortable with it, not after her own experiences. Plus it would ruin the moment and given how much better they were both feeling, nothing was worth that. Scootaloo stretched out and glanced back at Derpy. "Actually, going onto a different topic for a moment. Can I ask something important?" Derpy looked back at Scootaloo and nodded. "Where about were you on the morning of the ninth?" "Oh err, I was doing my rounds in the north of town. Once I was finished, I saw a fog cloud just outside town, I checked it out and heard talking inside. I figured it wasn't anything bad since I heard your voice, so I went to clock out at the office." "I see...Did you notice any other ponies hanging around as you left?" "Actually," Derpy looked down in thought as she tried to remember that day. "Yes, a yellow filly. I saw her and checked that she was alright. She said that she'd heard that 'AB's friend was gonna be flapping' and that she was going to write to the news about a big star. Something about being a cutie mark crusader reporter?" "Ah..." Scootaloo put her head in her hooves and sighed. It could only have been Bumblebee, the girl meant well but clearly didn't understand the larger implications of what she had done. They'd have to have a talk about this sometime. Thank you, Derpy, that was a real help. With those issues planned and sorted for now, I can focus on my show routine. I'm going to be ready for this."