Scootaloo was resting her head against her hoof, leaning out her window when she saw a familiar blue figure in the clouds above. “Hey, Rainbow Dash! Down here!”
Swirling down through the overcast, Rainbow Dash flew up to Scootaloo’s window and gave her a grin. “What’s up, squirt?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Oh, y’know, just hanging out. Hey, wanna go flying?” she asked, her wings fluttering unconsciously.
Rainbow hemmed and hawed, looking around awkwardly as she tried to avoid Scootaloo’s gaze. “I mean, that sounds cool and all, but I’m, like, really busy right now.”
“Rainbow! Y’all busy right now?”
Scootaloo leaned further out the window and saw Applejack standing there waving her hat at Rainbow.
She noticed Scootaloo looking out the window and said, “Oh, hey there, Scootaloo. Sorry about Big Mac. Doesn’t know his own strength, heh.”
Scootaloo waved her hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. S’all good.”
“What’s up, AJ?” asked Rainbow, looking down at Applejack.
Applejack used her hat to point to a far off mountain. “There’s a dragon making trouble up on that there mountain. Twilight’s gatherin’ everyone to go try and talk to it. You comin’ with?”
Rainbow shrugged, fluttering down to land next to Applejack. “Sure, I’m not doing anything.”
Scootaloo practically threw herself out the window. “Oh! Oh! Can I come?”
“Ehhhhhh, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, squirt,” said Rainbow. “I mean, it is a dragon. It could be pretty dangerous.”
Disappearing from the window, Scootaloo reappeared a moment later wearing her scooter helmet. She smirked. “I ain’t afraid of no dragons.”
Rainbow glanced sidelong at Applejack, eyebrow raised. Applejack shrugged. Rainbow nodded. “All right, squirt. You can come along. Meet up with us at the south end of town in an hour.”
Grinning like an idiot, Scootaloo snapped off a salute. “Yes, ma’am, Rainbow Dash, ma’am! I’ll be there. Oh, wait,” she said, suddenly remembering something. “I gotta ask my parents for permission first.”
Raising an eyebrow, Rainbow said, “Parents? I thought they were dead?”
“Pfff, nah. I just pretend they are for kicks,” said Scootaloo, chuckling. She spun around and yelled downstairs. “Ma! Can I go fight a dragon?”
Her mother called up to her from the kitchen. “Did you finish your homework yet?”
“It’s summer!”
“You can go.”
Scootaloo grinned. “Sweet.” She went back to the window. “Hey, Rainbow, I can—Huh… she’s gone.” The street was empty, and Scootaloo felt her heart fall a bit. Sighing, she grabbed her scooter from its resting place against the wall and hurried downstairs. She flung open the front door and jumped on her scooter, revving up her wings until she was flying down the road. Weaving in and out of crowds, Scootaloo made her way southwards until she came to the edge of the town.
“Huh, Rainbow Dash isn’t here yet,” she remarked, noticing that there was in fact no one there at all. “Well, whatever. I’ll just wait here for her.”
Scootaloo settled down on a flat rock, laying out on her back, watching the clouds as they drifted by. The wind was blowing softly through her mane. She squinted, staring up at the sky. Using her hoof to waft air over her face, she said, "Is it just me, or is it hot here?"
“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash as she walked through the farmer’s market with Applejack. “Is it just me, or have you not seen Scootaloo for awhile either?”
Applejack brought a hoof to her chin. “Huh, now that you mention it, I reckon I ain’t seen her for at least two months."
“I see,” said Rainbow, absentmindedly looking up at the clouds, “I guess that woulda been around the time we talked to that dragon.”
“Didn’t you tell her she could come with us?” asked Applejack, raising an eyebrow.
Rainbow let out a long “Ooooooh”, smacking her hoof against her forehead. “Right, I think she was supposed to meet us somewhere. I wonder if she—nah. She wouldn’t have, right?”
Applejack shrugged. “Guess we better check, huh?”
With all the urgency of a by-the-hour plumber, Applejack and Rainbow Dash casually strolled across town to where they had told Scootaloo to meet them. When they got to the spot, something caught Rainbow's eye.
“Hey, isn’t that Scootaloo’s scooter sitting by that tree?” asked Rainbow.
“Yup, sure looks like it.”
“Where’s Scootaloo?”
Applejack approached a flat rock and jerked her head towards a pile of bones sitting on top of it. “Looks like she was waiting for awhile, huh?”
Rainbow frowned. “It’s only been, like, two months. How could she be a pile of bones already?”
Applejack shrugged, taking off her hat to cool herself off. “Whoo. It’s awful hot here, ain’t it?”
Suddenly, a thought came to Rainbow. “Wait!” She snapped her hooves, which wasn’t possible but she tried to do it anyway. “I remember now!” She turned to Applejack. “Twilight said she was setting up a huge mirror somewhere around here to try and see if she could melt rock.”
Applejack chuckled. “Well, ain’t that just a kick in the head? Guess Scootaloo really warmed up to this place, eh?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “‘Least the dragon didn’t get her, huh? That woulda been pretty lame.”
Applejack shook her head, placing her hat back in its place. “Can’t say I saw this one coming.”
“Welp, no use in crying over spilled Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash started walking back towards Ponyville, followed shortly after by Applejack. “Hey, wanna get some ice cream?” she asked.
“Only if you’re buying.”
Goddammit, Alex.
Chicken. EXTRA-crispy.
Dark humor. My favorite kind.
4002147 Well, I don't personally have a problem with it, but others might. It's better to be safe than sorry.
All of my yes.... Glorious Scootabuse
Sound advice, right there.
If that line doesn't become a thing I will be severely disappointed
I expected more of a reaction from Rainbow when Scootaloo said that about her parents.
Also, I expect an explanation for Scootaloo constantly reincarnating at some point.
Also, goes to fight dragon and killed by not-dragon. Nice.
...This brought a smile to my face
4002210 Honestly I imagine she does it like Kenny on South Park, but without the memory erasing part.
I imagine her mother hates it.
4002303
As I don't watch South Park, that doesn't answer my questions in the slightest.
All of my YES. This should be a thing.
4002312 Short version? He dies, his mother gives birth again. To him. At least I THINK that's how it worked.
4002380
...how does that even work?
4002391 Well you see when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much and go to a cult meeting dedicated to things like Cthulhu for beer and drugs.....
He dies, his mother gives birth again, he grows back up within minutes/hours/lessthenaday.
4002391
His parents went to a Cult of Cthulhu meeting because it had free booze.
4002399
...
...
...I am now even more glad than usual that I don't watch South Park.
4002414 It came up all of 4 times, the episode that showed how he kept coming back, and the 3 parter that went into WHY. Other than that it never matters.
4002423
Not really helping the case to watch the show.
4002443 Fair enough.
You like Welcome to Night Vale?
4002451
Never heard of it.
4002457 Some weird podcast about a small desert town out that seems to be straight out of the Twilight Zone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBurGwvMkCE
So... they're aware of her reincarnating. Think they might use that to their advantage?
4002457
4002479
PMs exist for a reason, guys. I'd appreciate it if you didn't have personal conversations in the comments.
< An accurate representation of my reaction to that line.
RIP Harold Ramis
4002494 Of course not. Why would you think that?
So, I've read all chapters so far, and the only thing I can still say is "Wat?". Good for you.
-Missy
halarious
halarious
You've beat me to the best pun-ch lines in story. I'm just wondering if the many deaths of Scootaloo aren't going to wind up forming a retelling of the 10 Little Indians rhyme.
4002210 I'd strongly recommend against showing how. I used to follow an open round-robin (as in, anyone could sign up to write a chapter) comedy fanfic years back where one character kept getting killed in various ways. Eventually one author made a point of explaining how he came back, and the joke stopped being as funny.
Sorry, messed up the last comment.
I said, put her in microwave.
Oh I can't wait to see how she'll die. So many episodes, so many options. And no pony will care, at all.
...how the hell is she gonna come back from being a pile of bones?
So she doesn't come back to life until someone notices her corpse?
Hmm... If a tree falls on a Scootaloo in the woods, and no one's around to see it, does she really die?
4003465
Look, I really hate to be that guy, but this is just your opinion, which is fine, but don't tell this like it's fact. I'm writing what I think is funny, and if you don't find it funny, well, I guess we just have a different sense of humor then, but other people seem to like it. I'm not saying you're wrong, or they're right, I'm just saying that I'm gonna do what I wanna do regardless of how funny or un-funny any one person finds something.
That being said, I do appreciate the criticism, and hope that you'll keep giving it. I didn't disagree with all of it.
4003758 Only if someone is actively doing the Schrodinger's cat experiment with a real lion.
Oh Oh! Make Sweetie Belle mess up a spell and it ends up incinerating Scoot's or something!
hey could you put the episode the chapter is taking place in at the top or something, It gets a wee bit confusing when you don't exactly know it at first.
4003465
I would disagree with that statement.
Based on my "fanfic headcannon" of scoots respawning whenever her corpse is found, this is VERY GOOD continuity. Its actually something that i have liked throughout this series, and why i keep it favorited.
all how you look at it, though.
Keep up the good work @alexmagnet
4004078
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'll do that retroactively, and in future chapters. Thanks for the suggestion.
4004089
Well, objective insofar as you believe them to be objective. Saying "it just makes things logically confusing, taking away from the overall experience." is not an objective statement. That doesn't mean you're wrong, it just means it's your opinion, and thus subjective.
I understand that you're trying to help me, and like I said, I appreciate the criticism, but part of being able to take criticism is realizing that you don't always have to agree with all of it. If you don't think it's funny, then sorry, but that doesn't mean I'm doing something wrong, per se. It simply means you didn't find it funny. If this were something else, I might be more inclined to agree with you, but I happen to really like this sort of continuity. I like the implication that Scootaloo dying is just a normal occurrence and people have just come to accept it as, "Oh, that Scootaloo, always dying. What a card." I think that's funny. You don't. That's fine.
You asked that I consider what you said. I did, and I did before I replied to your comment. I seriously considered it and asked myself if I thought it would be better to make the kind of change you're talking about. The conclusion that I came to was that it wasn't.
I realize that this may sound like I'm being a pretentious douchebag or something here, and I really hope I'm not (that would suck), but I didn't just dismiss your criticism without some critical thought of my own. I hope this helps explain why I said what I said.
After re-reading this chapter four times, I believe I missed something. How did scootaloo miss going with them? From what I read, she turns to ask permission, turns back around, and x amount of time has passed, x being somewhere between a day and a week (I'm assuming here, due to the rate at which she decomposed...) How exactly did she miss the dragon? It's not even explained.
I can live knowing that she reincarnates after every death, because I expect that after 5 chapters of it. But, this is new, and not even hand waved...
I can only suspend my disbelief, not hang it entirely...
Sincerely, A very confused pony...
4004363
It's supposed to be implied that she was killed not long after laying out on the rock, since it's basically acting as big frying pan. RD and AJ either passed right by her without noticing anything, or they forgot about her and took a different exit out of town. Scootaloo then decomposed extra quick because of the added heat.
4004319 k thx
4004319 Is Scootaloo going to become one of Pinkamena Diane Pie's Cupcakes in a future chapter?
Poor, Dear sweet Scoots! No pony loves her at all!
4004451 Oh, so she dies before they leave... well, I did read this late last night, so it was probably 25% ambiguity and 75% brain fatigue
Thank you for explaining this.
Here, have a moustache for your time.