//------------------------------// // Graduation // Story: Graduation // by MLPro //------------------------------// They had spent years together as a class. They had gone through multiple ups and downs, and their friendship had grown tremendously. They had met new, younger foals that would soon take their place. As this day marked the day that the senior class of foals would graduate from grade school and pursue their lives as their cutie marks dictated. Scootaloo kept a wavering smile on her face as she took this in. She knew she was to share a future with her best friends Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, which kept her somewhat elated. Although what did the future hold for some of the other foals she had bonded with? Would she ever see them again? And now, the sixteen foals, decked up in the traditional graduation coat-and-hat getup, were about to meet their fate: coming of age, growing up. At least, that was something along the lines of what Cheerilee had said. She had rambled, stuttered, held back tears as she had given a heartfelt graduation speech to all the supporting ponies in attendance. Twilight Sparkle had also offered a speech of her own, based on the friendships between the foals, how much they had grown as students and ponies and how blessed she was to have gotten to know each and every one of them, she couldn't have been more proud of them. Scootaloo tried to listen, but she was too lost in her own thoughts to catch many of the tiny details. She was mainly in denial. There was no way that she was soon to hit adolescence and grow up, she had been a filly forever. Why change that now? Twilight had stepped down from the podium, leaving Cheerilee to announce the graduates in alphabetical order as well as their cutie mark-dictated destinies. It was meant to symbolize where the graduates had come from and where they were going. "First up is our little Apple Bloom," Cheerilee happily announced. "This young mare will join her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Also, as an Apple family member, she will occasionally help her older siblings with the farm that she grew up on." Bloom happily received her diploma from Cheerilee as the ponies applauded. Scootaloo spotted Applejack, Big Mac and Granny Smith in the audience, who had all broken down in tears by this point. Scootaloo couldn't help but smirk slightly, as this was one of the many times Applejack had been caught crying despite her claim that she "cries on the inside". "Archer, whose destiny will land her on the Ponyville archery team for many Equestria Games to come." Scootaloo grinned at the earth filly who had copied her mane-cut. Scootaloo recalled the time where Archer had shown up to school one day with a new mane-cut which had exactly mimicked that of Scootaloo's. She had apparently admired the pegasus and wanted to be like her, which, as a young five-year-old, Scootaloo couldn't quite comprehend as flattery. After a while, however, she had decided that Archer was pretty cool and the two became friends. "Diamond Tiara, who, as a natural leader, will go into politics and maybe become Mayor of Ponyville one day." Diamond, now she was an interesting one. She had spent most of the foals' school career acting like she was the best because of her immense wealth. However, this very year she had changed her ways in the name of friendship. Scootaloo had, from that point, taken Diamond under her wing to teach her the ways of the friendly ponies. She was very proud of how much the pink earth filly had grown and become, well, a natural leader. "Cotton Cloudy, an expert flyer for her age, and extremely skilled with working clouds, will help with the art of weather up in Cloudsdale." Cotton had always been a shy pony but was a flying prodigy, which is why Scootaloo tried to hang out with her as much as possible. In fact, Cotton was the very pony who had taught Scootaloo how to move her wings correctly so that she would fly when she got big enough, which helped tremendously when she had gotten into scootering. Scootaloo owed Cotton a lot for that reason. "Liza Doolots, whose unmatched luck will land her fame and fortune, which she has promised to share with ponies in need." Scootaloo had always been jealous of Liza's ridiculously good luck, but since Liza was a very good pony, that helped in the way of good karma, at least. It was all in good fun to watch Liza succeed in just about everything. "Noi, whose pillow cutie mark represents her comfortable and approchable demeanor, as such she will become a counselor to help ponies who have problems and want somepony to talk to." Ah, Noi. She was very close with the CMCs, and in fact it was because of them that she had earned her cutie mark, because that was the first time she had comforted the Crusaders during the stress of not having a cutie mark. "Peachy Pie, who aspires to start a peach farm in Ponyville." Peachy Pie reminded Scootaloo very much of Pinkie Pie, she was happy and bouncy and fun most of the time, but she had always questioned why there seemed to be every kind of farm in Ponyville except for peaches. Scootaloo always laughed at that, but it was a valid question, apparently. "Piña Colada, the tropical island enthusiast who will start building resorts to ponies open to exploring remote island beaches." Scootaloo remembered the time Piña had offered her class an extended field trip to the Mareibbean. That was the best trip ever! Scootaloo spent a lot of the time riding her scooter along the beach and the forest, feeling the breeze in her mane and feeling grateful for such an amazing life. She had also bonded with Piña herself, as this was the first time she had said much due to her shyness. And now, suddenly, Scootaloo was next in line. "Scootaloo, who is a Cutie Mark Crusader along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and who desires a future in being an expert scooter pony." Scootaloo accepted her diploma before turning to face the uproariously loud cheering of her family. She had always been ashamed of her large and crazy family and never talked about them much, but now that she was about to leave, she saw them in another light. How supportive they all were. How much they cared. And how much she would miss them. She held back her tears as she returned to the back of her line. "Silver Spoon, who wants to support Diamond Tiara's pursuit to become mayor in any way she can." Silver had always behind Diamond in everything she did, so this was no surprise. To this day, Scootaloo had no idea what Silver's cutie mark even meant. She supposed that she might never find out. "Snails, the laid-back colt who will spread the message to stressed-out ponies to take it easy for a while, somehow." Snails was one of the two colts in the class, along with his twin brother Snips. He was pretty weird and only seemed to be good at buckball. But Scootaloo did not doubt that Snails would grow up one day, as she supposedly was about to do. "Snips, who desires a future in magic tricks." Now the other twin Snips idolized the magician Trixie Lulamoon and wanted to be just like her. He seemed to be the mature colt in his family and seemed to have a pretty good hold of magic tricks. His growing up would come less of a surprise and a time-is-going-by-too-fast shock than Snails. "Sun Glimmer, whose sunny demeanor will land her in Canterlot, assisting Princess Celestia with her duties as Princess of the Sun." Sun's unicorn magical skills could rival those of Twilight Sparkle's, seriously. She was quite the show-off, but Sweetie Belle adored her to the point that she had copied her mane-cut, not unlike Archer's Scootaloo-like mane-cut. "Sunny Daze, who will support her sister Peachy Pie with her peach farm." Sunny, she was good at just about everything. She was athletic, she was smart, and she was kind. It was not a surprise that she would stay behind her sister in everything that she did, as that was just part of her amazing character. Scootaloo would be lying if she said she didn't envy Sunny a little bit, but such is the life of a late-bloomer pegasus who had tried desperately for many years to be good at something. "Sweetie Belle, a Cutie Mark Crusader along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo with the most angelic singing voice anypony has ever heard." That statement was not untrue. Scootaloo often found herself hypnotized by her foal-hood best friend's songs. There didn't seem to be a single genre of music that Sweetie was bad at singing at, but personally, Scootaloo enjoyed Sweetie's slow-song, jazz voice. For some reason it would always relax her after a really bad day. "And last but not least, Twist, who will one day be Sugarcube Corner's latest apprentice!" Scootaloo remembered Twist as Bloom's former best friend. The two had drifted after Twist got her cutie mark and Bloom started hanging out with Scootaloo and Sweetie as part of the newly-formed Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo had always wondered if Twist was upset that she and Bloom were no longer friends, but she had always had that same smiley face, so it must not have bothered her too much. After Twist had returned to her spot in line, the real time of denial had come. The foals collectively removed their hats from their heads to throw into the air in a cluster of graduation hats that all looked forward to every year. This time, Scootaloo could not contain herself, and proceeded to bury her face into Cotton Cloudy as she released spurts of tears. "Don't worry, Scootaloo," Cotton said softly. "One day, I will see you again. Friendship is magic. We will all see each other again. Nothing can keep us apart."