Shard: Flim and Flam's Traveling Sideshow Spectacular

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Scooters and Stripes

Fluttershy made her way through Ponyville, Luna following close by. It was a pleasant and cool afternoon. The sounds of ponies talking and foals playing could be heard.

"Fluttershy?" Luna asked, "How come I don't have bat wings?"

The question made Fluttershy stop, turning to look at her charge curiously.

"That's seems like an odd question to ask so suddenly."

"Well I was thinking about it," Luna said, rubbing at her mane. "I'm supposed to be the princess of the night when I grow up, right?"

"That is what Princess Temporal said, yes," Fluttershy agreed.

"Well, batponies are supposed to be ponies of the night. That means that they would be under my rule, wouldn't they?"

"...I guess they would..."

"So it just seems to make more sense that if I am to rule the night, and batponies are ponies of the night, then I should have bat wings like they do." Luna spread her wings out. "So how come I have feathery wings like a pegasus instead?"

Fluttershy sat down, rubbing her chin.

"When you put it that way, that is actually a good question."

One she could not really come up with a good answer for. Fluttershy knew nothing about Luna's birth parents (if she even had any), so she could not really say it was genetics. Best idea she could come up with was to avoid the subject by changing it.

"Well," she finally said, "I suppose that when you get older, you could probably use your magic to give yourself bat wings if you wanted."

Luna's ears perked up as her went wide and she grinned.

"Yeah!" she nearly shouted. "I could give myself big bat wings. And make my fur all black. And-"

"Look out!" A voice shouted, causing the two to look up.

An orange filly on a scooter was heading right for them at a rapid pace. Her eyes were narrowed and jaw clenched in determination as she kept coming. There was a faint buzzing sound in the air that grew louder and louder as she came closer, seeming to speed up.

Just before crashing into them, the filly jumped up. With a kick, she and her scooter turned to the side, flying over the pair. She was so close, the Fluttershy thought she felt the filly graze the top of her mane. Once past the pair, the filly landed upright on her scooter and kept going.

Fluttershy and Luna both stood there a moment, eyes wide and jaws open as they watched the filly ride off down the street.

"Who was that?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Fluttershy responded.

There was a gust of wind as a blue blur shot past them overhead, leaving a trail of rainbows behind it. As soon as it went by, Luna chased after it.

"That was Rainbow Dash!" she called out as she ran.

"Luna!" Fluttershy shouted as she chased after the filly.

Catching up with Luna was easy enough since the filly could not fly and Fluttershy had longer legs. Catching up with Rainbow Dash was not something she could do. Even flying her fastest, the batpony could never keep up with the rainbow maned pegasus. Fortunately, there was a rainbow colored contrail that the pair could follow.

Fluttershy and Luna caught up just in time to see Rainbow Dash swoop down and grab the orange filly. The filly let out a squeal of surprise as it was grabbed, keeping a grip on the scooter and carrying it with her.

"Got you!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she floated up in the air, holding the orange filly.

"Noooo!" the filly cried out. "I was so close."

Rainbow Dash grinned, letting out a small chuckle. Slowly, she floated her way back down to the ground, setting the filly and the scooter down before landing herself. The filly let out a sigh as she pulled off her helmet. As soon as she did, Rainbow Dash wrapped a hoof around the filly and ruffled her hair.

"Maybe next time, squirt."

"Excuse me," Fluttershy said as she walked toward the pair. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh," Rainbow Dash responded as she looked to see the other two. "Hey. Yeah, everything's fine. Why do you ask?"

"You just ran past us chasing this one," Luna replied, pointing an accusing hoof at the orange filly. "What did she do? Rob a bank? Steal all the apples from Applejack?" She let out a gasp. "Try to overthrow the princess and rule Equestria? I'm watching you!"

"Woah woah woah," Rainbow Dash called out. "It's nothing like that."

She placed a hoof on the orange filly's shoulder.

"This is Scootaloo. She's a friend, a fan... for some reason..." Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow to look at the filly from the corner of her eye. "And a training assistant."

"I head for Sugar Cube Corner," Scootaloo explained, "and Dash chases after me. If I manage to reach the front steps before she catches me, she'll buy me whatever treat I want." The filly's wings gave a flutter as she grinned widely. The grin suddenly vanished.

"I haven't made it even once."

"Not yet," Rainbow Dash agreed, "but you're getting closer." She smiled, giving Scootaloo a pat on the back.

"Well it's nice to meet you," Fluttershy said to Scootaloo. "I'm Fluttershy, and this is Luna."

"Hi."

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Luna and Scootaloo all turned to look toward the shout.

"Rainbow Dash," Pinkie Pie said again as she bounced up to the four. "There you are." Her eyes were wide as she started to bounce in place. "It's bad. Bad-bad. I just know it is. You need to investigate right away."

Rainbow Dash reached out and put a hoof against Pinkie Pie's mouth, stopping her talking.

"Take it easy," she said before pulling her hoof away. "Now, what are you talking about?"

"Do you know what today is?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Saturday?" Scootaloo and Luna both said

"Jinx," Luna and Pinkie Pie called out at the same time.

"Double jinx," Pinkie Pie added, getting a pouting glare from the filly in response.

"Anyway," Pinkie continued, "it's not just any Saturday. It's the first Saturday of the month. And Zecora isn't at her spot in the town market."

"Who's Zecora?" Fluttershy asked.

"She's a zebra that lives in The Everfree Forest," Rainbow Dash explained. "Comes to town like once a month, sells some stuff, buys some stuff..."

She turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Are you sure she's not just late, or coming a different day or something?"

"I'm sure," Pinkie Pie insisted. "After I finished helping with the morning rush I went to the town market to see her, but she wasn't there. So I asked some of the ponies nearby, and none of them had seen her all that day."

She grabbed Rainbow Dash and started shaking her.

"Something terrible must have happened to her!" Pinkie shouted into Rainbow Dash's face. "We need to do something to save her!"

"Okay okay," Rainbow Dash groaned. She stood there as the shaking stopped, her eyes still swirling around in circles as she felt dizzy. Closing her eyes, she gave a hard shake of her head, getting back under control.

"I will go to her shack and check to see if she's home. If something's wrong, I'll let the town guard know so we can look into it. If not, I'll find out why Zecora didn't show up today and let you know. Does that work for you?"

There was a loud popping sound from Rainbow Dash's spine as the pegasus was squeezed in a bear hug by the pink party pony.

"Yes!" Pinkie Pie squealed out as she continued to squeeze her friend. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Pinkie," Rainbow Dash wheezed. "Lungs. Air. Breathe."

"Oh." Pinkie let out a chuckle. "Sorry." She released her grip, watching as Rainbow Dash went limp.

"Uhm.." Fluttershy moved closer, "Do you need help?"

"Nah," Rainbow Dash replied as she got up and brushed herself off. "I can get there pretty quickly on my own, and it's not too far into The Everfree so I should be fine." She twisted her back, popping her spine as she got it back into its proper place. With a flap of her wings, she took off into the air. The others watched her go.

"What's that?" Luna asked.

"It's my scooter," Scootaloo answered. "You wanna give it a try?"

Luna grinned before turning to Fluttershy.

"Can I?"

"...I guess so.." Fluttershy answered after a moment, "but not here. There are too many ponies around."

"Don't worry," Scootaloo said with a grin. "I know a big field we can use. Come on."

"Go ahead," Fluttershy responded before Luna could even ask. "Just be careful and home before dinner."

"Yay!" Luna shouted before running off with Scootaloo to play.

"Hey, Fluttershy," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "Want a snack?"

"Oh, thank you," Fluttershy answered. "That sounds nice." She then followed her friend into Sugar Cube Corner.

Comments

[Codelyoko22]

"Hey, Fluttershy," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "Want a snack?"
"Oh, thank you," Fluttershy answered. "That sounds nice." She then followed her friend into Sugar Cube Corner.

And that was the last time they saw Fluttershy...