Working Towards The Future

by Dasponi

Chapter 36; You'd Think I'd Be Better At Naming Chapters By Now

The new day came and this time Scootaloo did not elect to wake Star Shine up, or give him breakfast. Instead he was left at the home as Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo left for the schoolhouse. It wasn’t likely that he could somehow cause more damage now everything had come out, but it wasn’t a risk the girls were willing to take. As well as this, given the things recently said in the Gabby Gums column, just having him there might have been trouble for everypony. Rainbow Dash wanted to wake him up because she found the concept of sleeping past nine crazy but Scootaloo wanted to just head to school and leave him there as they were running late thanks to Rainbow Dash oversleeping but insisting she should still practice for the same amount of time. Even after the nap she had the previous afternoon her evening shift at work had really taken it out of her. Rainbow Dash left him a note detailing the situation and left for the school together with Scootaloo. The note also told him to meet her at Rarity’s boutique at quarter to four in the afternoon as Rainbow Dash planned to head straight there after picking up Scootaloo from school, barring any kind of mental or emotional distress causing Scootaloo to not even go to school in the first place.

The pair were running late so when Scootaloo arrived she was one of the only ponies in the schoolyard. Most of the other fillies and foals had already gone inside ready.

“I’ll see you later Squirt. Remember we’re going to Rarity’s later. Oh and tell Sweetie Belle too, Rarity asked if we could take her with us. Save her a trip and all that.” Rainbow Dash said after Scootaloo hopped off her back. Scootaloo nodded her understanding and started to walk towards the schoolhouse before Rainbow Dash called her back after a few moments hesitation. Scootaloo walked back to Rainbow Dash curiously. When Scootaloo reached Rainbow Dash she saw her look around quickly before grabbing Scootaloo and hugging her close. “I love you Scoots. Don’t forget that, and you’ll be okay.” Rainbow Dash whispered in Scootaloo’s ear. She was trying to hide her worry to encourage Scootaloo but it came out in the end.

“I know. I love you too Dash.” Scootaloo replied, hugging Rainbow Dash back. Rainbow Dash put Scootaloo down and watched her walk towards the schoolhouse when something occurred to her.

“Hey Scoots?” Rainbow Dash called out.

“Yeah?” Scootaloo called back, turning her head around to face Rainbow Dash.

“Are you sure about wearing that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing a hoof at Scootaloo’s back. She was wearing Star Shine’s brace over her wings. Rainbow Dash understood the concept of wearing it at all times but thought school was an exception. She was a little worried Scootaloo would just open herself up to a lot of teasing by wearing it.

“Yeah I’ll be fine.” Scootaloo replied, looking down at the brace as best as she could. “Star said he was going to test me again later and I want to get some last minute practice in.” she explained, smiling back at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash nodded, smiled, and gently took off into the air. She had already taken up too much of Scootaloo’s time and if she took up any more they would both be late. Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to Scootaloo and watched her walk into school before turning around and heading to work.

Scootaloo headed into the schoolhouse and sat down at her desk shortly before the bell rang, signalling the beginning of class. It also meant that nopony could talk to her before the class started, including a certain little prissy pink Earth pony she hadn’t seen in over a week. Cheerilee also couldn’t welcome her back personally but Scootaloo didn’t mind so much and felt it would just draw unwanted attention towards herself. Instead Cheerilee began teaching her lesson.

“So class, who can tell me the answer?” Cheerliee asked after writing a math equation on the board.

“I know Miss Cheerilee!” called out a voice from near Scootaloo as a familiar pink hoof shot up into the air. It was a hoof belonging to one Diamond Tiara. “42!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed brightly as Cheerilee acknowledged her. Scootaloo watched Diamond Tiara in near stunned awe. She had never been known for answering questions and had certainly never answered one so quickly and so enthusiastically.

“That’s right Diamond Tiara, well done.” Cheerilee replied, smiling brightly. “You sure have changed since you came back.” she complimented.

“I guess being away really did me some good.” Diamond Tiara said sweetly. Cheerilee smiled again and continued her lesson. Scootaloo spent most of it wondering what was going on with Diamond Tiara.

****
“I don’t believe it. I don’t buy it for a second.” Scootaloo said to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. It was recess now and Diamond Tiara had spent the past few lessons getting questions right, right, and right again. Scootaloo did not believe what she perceived to be an act and couldn’t understand why everypony else did. “What happened yesterday?” Scootaloo asked. That was the only day of Diamond Tiara’s return she had missed and so anything that happened was bound to have happened then. She was almost beginning to regret not staying.

“It was tha strangest thing.” Apple Bloom replied, looking over at Sweetie Bell who nodded.

“She came into school after you...left and told Miss Cheerilee she wanted to say something to the whole class. Cheerilee let her and she hopped up onto Cheerilee’s desk and said the one thing we never thought she would.” Sweetie Belle explained.

“What’s that?” Scootaloo asked. Of all the rude things she could think of, she didn’t think Diamond Tiara of all ponies would have a problem saying any of them.

“Sorry.” a voice from behind Scootaloo said, making her jump. Scootaloo turned around and saw Diamond Tiara stood there. She was extending a hoof in apology. Scootaloo looked down at the hoof, then back up at Diamond Tiara’s face. Diamond Tiara was smiling but Scootaloo still didn’t buy it.

“You’re what?” Scootaloo asked, making sure she had heard correctly.

“I said I’m sorry. I would have said it yesterday too but you weren’t here. I missed you.” Diamond Tiara repeated, shaking her hoof, asking Scootaloo to shake it and accept the apology.

“You don’t expect me to believe that do you?” Scootaloo asked angrily, feeling like she was being treated like a fool. “I KNOW you wrote that Gabby Gums column in the paper!” she said, pointing an accusatory hoof. She didn’t know for sure but she could think of nopony else who might have done it.

“If you remember right dear Scootaloo I was demoted to printing. I haven’t written anything in there. I just print what Featherweight tells me to. Why don’t you ask him who wrote it?” Diamond Tiara replied, a little less coolly than she intended to.

“Featherweight? Why didn’t I think of that?” Scootaloo said, slapping a hoof into her temple to kickstart her brain. If anypony knew who had written that thing then Featherweight would. He even seemed kinda nice. He had blackmailed her into returning the tiara but he hadn’t really asked for anything in return and, as far as she knew, hadn’t shown Diamond Tiara the pictures. Not if she was this well behaved. He might tell her if she asked him. “Thanks for that, but I still don’t believe your nice girl act.” Scootaloo said.

“I didn’ believe her either at first.” Apple Bloom said. “But you shoulda seen her, being so nice and everythin’.”

“You’ve changed a lot lately, haven’t you? So why can’t she?” Sweetie Belle added. Scootaloo couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Every time she thought her friends could be trusted and that she was wrong about them, they seemed to just do something that proved her right and told her they couldn’t be. First what she told them ended up in a newspaper and now they were taking Diamond Tiara’s side. Against her no less! When Scootaloo allowed herself to think it over for a few seconds though she heard the truth in Sweetie Belle’s words. She herself had changed so much in such a short amount of time. She was more open and had even made flying her second priority after Rainbow Dash. The only reason Rainbow Dash lost out to flying before was that Scootaloo thought she would have to fly to catch Dash’s attention. She knew in her heart that a pony can change, and a part of her wanted to believe Diamond Tiara really had changed for the better. She knew if she didn’t encourage Diamond Tiara now, then she would possibly be stopping a positive change. Plus Diamond Tiara had just given her a great solution to her problems. In the end she felt she had no choice. She reluctantly extended out a foreleg and shook Diamond Tiara’s hoof.

“This doesn’t mean I like you, or trust you.” Scootaloo said. It looked like it was painful just for her to shake Diamond Tiara’s hoof. Liking, and definitely trusting, was most certainly a long time away.

“You don’t have to. I know I can’t change your mind overnight. But I am sorry and I hope you see that in time.” Diamond Tiara said before turning around and walking away. She started muttering to herself but none of the Cutie Mark Crusaders could make out the words. Scootaloo recognised the tone though, it was the same one Star Shine used when he was rambling on about something, often a plan or a mistake he had made. She was walking shakily too, clearly more focused on what she was thinking and not what she was doing.

“What the hay just happened?” Scootaloo asked when the bizzarity of the moment had passed and she realised she had just technically forgiven the bane of her existence.

“Ah think ye just accepted DT’s apology.” Apple Bloom said, walking up to Scootaloo and slapping a foreleg around her.

“I still think she’ll slip up. There’s no way she’s nice now.” Scootaloo replied, turning back around. She saw Sweetie Belle looking at her and remembered something. “Oh.” she said, facehoofing. “Sweetie I forgot to tell you, you’re walking home with me and Rainbow today. We’re going to Rarity’s to pick up some things.”

“Will that guy be there?” Sweetie Belle asked, tapping her head as she tried to remember Star Shine’s name.

“Yeah, poor guys paying for the things.He’ll be meeting us there though” Scootaloo replied, giggling.

“Oh. Say, what’s that on your wings?” Sweetie Belle asked, pointing a hoof at Scootaloo’s sides. She hadn’t really had a chance to ask with Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara dominating their conversation. Apple Bloom looked down and noticed the brace. She took a few steps back so that Scootaloo could show it to them.

“Oh this?” she asked, spreading her wings as far as she could. “It’s something Star Shine gave me. It’s to boost my wingpower and help me fly.”

“You’re flying now? That’s awesome!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, a small burst of magic flying out of her horn in her excitement. Apple Bloom cheered and hugged Scootaloo, spinning her around.

“Uhh...no....” Scootaloo said when Apple Bloom stopped and her world stopped spinning. She was tempted to lie about it given how her friends were so excited for her and she didn’t want to ruin that. She knew she shouldn’t lie about it and she wanted to tell her friends more about her life though.

“Oh...sorry...” Apple Bloom said nervously. She had gotten a little too excited for her own good and so had Sweetie Belle. They both knew how much Scootaloo had always wanted to fly up high in the sky.

“Don’t worry about it girls cos I’ll be flying real soon. Shine’s giving me another lesson today and I know I’m going to do it this time.” Scootaloo said with determination. Her friends huddled up to her and they sat like that for a minute before they heard a bell ringing. It was the signal that their break time was over and Scootaloo headed back inside with her friends and a newfound determination to fly. Not just for herself but for her friends too.

Author's Note:

I loaded up this chapter yesterday preparing to do some rewrites and I found myself realising I had nothing to rewrite. I was...happy with it. I could have written the morning that Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had but I was keen to get her back into school. Original plans for this chapter did include Scootaloo lying to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and saying she could fly now, but I changed that. Even though it would have come into play nicely later, it wasn't really something I think Scoots would have actually done. I also decided to have her respond positively to her friends mistake at the end, rather than having her respond negatively. If you want her to respond negatively, wait until Wednesday when what happened the day before will come up. The reason it didn't come up now is because Scootaloo was able to distract them with Diamond Tiara and the brace on her wings. I assure you that blowout is definitely coming.

Before anypony starts bitching at me Diamond Tiara is NOT good. I repeat, NOT GOOD. This will definitely come through during the next day of school, and I hate giving things away, I just don't want a bunch of people saying "you suck cos you made Diamond Tiara good." But, you know, they'd say it with a lot more spelling mistakes. She's actually more evil than ever. I'm not a big fan of bad guys suddenly being good but I do love a good cunning plan, where an evil person pretends to be good, and trust me it's going to be pretty cunning.

Finally, yes, every time I have an answer in a story without a question I make it 42. 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. I Douglas Adams.

Comments

[Penmore]

Fantastic as always! I can't actually picture DT as nice but who knows stranger things have happened.....in other fics. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Dasponi]

2841692
Thank you very much If it helps she's only faking and, as she started muttering to herself, it is driving her a little nuts to even ACT nice

[Frankie2]

Diamond Tiara is definitely up to something. She's probably waiting to catch Scootaloo alone and is sure no one will come to her aid. Either that, or she was snatched by some hitchhikers.

[Dasponi]

2841851
Why can't it be both? I am trying to work in a situation where it's just the two of them though.

[historia]

how many roads must a man walk down.

[ShiningNova]

If you add up all the points on the stars in Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark it equals 42 . And you named a chapter after not being able to name a chapter how meta of you. Don't worry I don't trust that Diamond Tiara as far as I can throw her.

[Dasponi]

2842258
No matter the question, 42 is ALWAYS a viable answer . Unless it's a maths question where the answer isn't 42

2842455
Is...Is that true about Twily? That's just...I really hope that's a deliberate reference. Also DT is pretty small and probably light, I bet you could throw her a good distance

[moguera]

Okay...the big issue is that you don't need to tell us about Diamond Tiara. In fact, you shouldn't. It spoils the tension of the story if you're just gonna reveal twists like that ahead of time. Have a little more faith in your readers that we'll stick with you, even through developments that seem unwelcome or unusual at first because we have faith in you as an author to resolve them. We've stuck with your story this long haven't we?

That said, I don't think most readers have anything against a reformed Diamond Tiara, as there are several fics in that vein already on this site, many of them well written and popular. So whether or not her reformation is genuine (I'm just going to pretend that you didn't up and blurt out the answer to that already), you can bet people will be willing to accept it as long as you execute it fairly gracefully, which you have so far.

This goes back to the crux of the problem that, in previous chapters, had you throwing up notes proclaiming that there was nothing of shipping going on, or that it was minor, or something in that vein. At the end of the day, you need to have enough faith in skill as an author to let the story tell itself. Relax and give your fans and readers a little more credit that they will stick with you even when things happen that they might not like at first. That's part of creating tension for the story, which elevates interest and increases the payoff when it's resolved.

[Cold Spike]

DT.....

[Dasponi]

2842743
That's all well and good until you remember I'm a delusional maniac convinced that the world hates me and is going to poop on everything I love and do.

...the sad thing is that's not far from the truth But thank you. I did consider not saying that DT was faking, and as I said, I absolutely hate giving things away, but to be honest I genuinely was scared of the reaction I would get. I would rather get someone telling me I shouldn't be scared than someone saying that I suck because I did something they didn't think I should. I see far too many stories torn to pieces just because it didn't go in the direction the reader wanted. I loved a story where that happened.

I trust my readers, but not the general public.

[moguera]

2843718 In cases like this, visceral and vehement reactions are actually a good sign, because it means that your readers are emotionally invested in the story and the characters in it. For example, with this trick you've done with Diamond Tiara. Had you chosen not to spoil it and gotten a lot of enraged and/or confused reactions from the readers, then that's a sign that you're gonna get a huge payoff when DT's revealed to not be reformed. Again, it comes down to letting your story speak for itself. You needn't spend your author notes trying to justify this interaction or that element of the plot, let your readers do some of the work for themselves.

[Dasponi]

2842743
I'm also pretty manic so as soon as I write something out, it tends to be all over with too. I'm even tempted to post something I told myself I couldn't actually post. I'm not massively afraid of criticism, and I even have faith in my writing, so I'm good really. I just get scared at times.

[Dasponi]

2843769
If I got people getting angry with me I'd react badly. Either with anger of my own or with depression. But I do see your point It's a pretty good one too and one I shall keep in mind. I do like to let my stories speak for themselves but I've noticed I do that less when I upload in installments like this.

[twilightsparkle13]

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*
(only you know why I'm *SQEE*ing, unless you haven't read my message yet...)

[Dasponi]

2844273
I haven't but that implies it's related to something I said or did which is always nice. I'm going to go read it.