And I Feel Fine
I dreamed that night.
In the dream, I’m a filly again, just barely out of her foal years. The warm breeze tickles my nose, causing me to sneeze. The butterfly that had made its nest on my head is jolted off, its wings flapping desperately to escape the desperate motion. I would often wonder if I had become that butterfly, leaving its cocoon to be at last capable of flight, only to fly away from things bigger than me.
It was a memory more than a dream, to be honest. I’ve always had very powerful, lucid dreams, so even my memories are prone to change with the slightest nudge, like the proverb about a butterfly flapping its wings. I had never really understood it when I was younger, my mind’s eyes only focused on the gift of flight, but the disorderly moral of the tale tasted like delicious irony now.
Standing up on my hooves, I focused, and my young form changed to that of an adult, barely into her mare years. Rearing up onto my hind hooves, I made the motion uniformly understood across equine lands as ‘Giddyap!’, and brought them slamming down into the soft earth as I made a running dash, building up speed to achieve take off into the air, letting out a wild whinny at the freedom I was given in the dream.
Don’t get me wrong. I have few bad memories of fillyhood, most of them revolving around the bully pair, Babs Seed before she made her hoof-face turn, and tree sap. I had three sisters, one whom was older than I was, and the other who were my best friends. Together, I felt like we had been one big family, sisters in all but blood. We still were, even if marehood had seen us drift apart due to responsibilities and obligations.
But it was when I grew up that I finally started to fly, and fly well. Somehow, flying as a young filly always just seemed wrong to me, not the wrong of getting a cupcake when you meant to purchase a muffin, but the wrongness of the feeling of something sticking to your hair, and even when you shave your head hair and mane and body hair, the sensation still remains, an oily vagueness that just sticks with you. It was basically like tree sap that affected the soul instead of the fur.
I turned around the bend of the tall trees, finally reaching my destination. The tall pillars of Cloudsdale were always a magnificent sight. Cloudsdale’s vantage above Equestria as the city built amongst the clouds was a unique one.
I’ve been to Canterlot, where the Platinum melds together with the gothic which segues neatly into the inappropriately-named Celestian layouts before surrendering to the neo-classical and modern architecture. Canterlot defines the last thousand years of history in every inch of its making. I’ve seen the Crystal Empire, where large crystal archs curve inwards, supporting the Crystal Palace, with one great spire that I’m told was once the ritual area for the greatest magicians in Imperial history.
I’ve seen Manehatten, where a small village quickly sprung forth into a nation of skyscrapers, only a few designated historical monuments testifying to its origins. The frontier settlement of Appleloosa calls on the popular imagery of the Wild West and the rodeo, incorporating a little bit of buffalo symbolism at the same time. Even my hometown of Ponyville stands out, the thatched buildings a throwback to the Earth Pony style several centuries ago.
To me, Cloudsdale towers over all of them, both literally and metaphorically. In a sense, I pity those pegasi who grew up in Cloudsdale, only seeing their home from the outside after already living there. Every Pegasus will lay her eyes on Cloudsdale for the first time only once a lifetime, inspiring an overwhelming sense of home. If you were to ground a Pegasus and spin her around, she would naturally point towards Cloudsdale. The call of the clouds was undeniable.
When I saw Cloudsdale that first time as a filly, turning the corner after a stroll through the Whitetail Woods just outside Ponyville, all I ever wanted to do was to fly for the rest of my life.
That didn’t exactly happen, unfortunately. It took me years to progress past hovering into the stage of full flight, putting up with taunts from others, and watching classmates many seasons younger than I achieve flight with ease. With the encouragement of my three sister figures, however, I finally achieved it.
I sighed. The glorious sight of Cloudsdale, the roaring waterfall pouring from one end creating a trail of dense mist underneath as the cloud city continued moving, could only keep me aloft for so long. Feeling the heavy emotions that were settling over, threatening to clip my wings of freedom, I slowly glided down, setting down at the edge of the Whitetail Woods.
Cloudsdale was a source of some of the best times of my short life. It was where I had gone for a flight training camp on the cusp of marehood, one of the oldest ones there, but in the end one of the most talented. It was where my coltfriend and I had gone on our first date, an awkward one that had ended up with the two of us making a mess in our Rainbow Snow Cones, but a warm memory in retrospect. It was where I had achieved my first flight record. However, Cloudsdale was also a reminder of what I hadn’t yet obtained.
“What ails thee, fair Scootaloo?”
My ears perked up, almost cat-like, a trait my coltfriend had teased me over on a few occasions, along with my tendency to lick the hair of my fetlock. That was a voice I could identify all too easily, a testament to the shared acquaintance I had had with the pony since I was a filly. “Princess Luna?” I asked aloud, knowing the Princess of the Moon was liable to stay hidden. She loved being cryptic sometimes, and I wouldn’t put it past her to take ages to show up.
She surprised me tonight, as a mass of writhing shadows appeared, forming a gelatinous blob before taking an equine shape, forming the corporeal Princess Luna, all in less than a second. “Yes, Scootaloo. It is I.”
Princess Luna had, for a long while after her return from exile in the form of Nightmare Moon, had troubles adapting to the modern vernacular. The nocturnal half of the Equestrian diarchy was much better than that first Nightmare Night, but Luna still had an odd fancy way of speaking, even in casual conversation. Despite the all-distracting verbal tic, I endeavored to answer her. She had helped me from a nightmare when I was a young filly, after all. “Oh, this isn’t a real nightmare, Princess Luna. It’s just, well…I’m a grown filly now, and still…” I let my gaze trail off to my flanks.
I always liked the colour of my body fur. A rusty orange, it was a clear day when the sunbeams caught it just right, and that was when my coltfriend claimed he first truly fell in love with me. By the raising of the moon, it resembled more a burnt orange, relaxing to the eyes in the less-intense light of Luna’s body. I will admit that I had perhaps been a bit narcissistic at times when faced with a mirror. My purple mane hair draped down over my orange body fur was one of the little things in life I could be vain about.
The only real problem with the orange of my fur was that it was uniform across my body. Even on my hindquarters, where there should have been an identical mark on either side.
“When I was young, I had Cutie Mark envy,” I admitted. Luna had at one point seen the dreams of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but I had no way of knowing if she recalled those. She must have visited thousands of nightmares. “Me and my friends were the last blank flanks in our age group in Ponyville, and we were desperate to get our Cutie Marks.” I pawed at the ground with one hoof. “Apple Bloom was the first to get hers. It was the happiest day of our lives to date, but Sweetie Belle and I were anxious to get ours as well.”
Sometimes, a pony just needed to be able to talk with somepony else listening. To my delight, Luna was fulfilling the latter role with a purpose. “Sweetie Belle got hers a month later, leaving me the odd one out. I thought maybe the talent I had with a scooter would get me it. No luck there. When I finally flew unaided, not hovered but actually flew for the first time, the second thought I had after getting over the high, the rush of flying, was to check for my Cutie Mark. Even then, I still had nothing.”
She spoke again at last, breaking up my monologue. “Then you broke some flight records, I hear.”
I nodded, “Yes. Rainbow Dash was the greatest. I could never hope to beat her in raw speed. The Sonic Rainboom is hers and truly hers alone.” I grimaced, thinking of the searing pain of torn wing muscles when I had attempted it. It made me wince even now, thinking of how Princess Twilight Sparkle had used the analogy of tearing paper apart in explaining what I had done. Some images just weren’t meant to be thought of. “But I trained, and I struggled, and I tried hard. I quickly found out I was meant for long-distance flying.”
“Yes,” Luna nodded. “We – my sister and I, that is – had heard how you were the first to complete the Crystal Empire – Canterlot route in under four hours, and the only pony to last through the entire inaugural Grande Colte Caneighdian Death Flight.”
I smiled in reminiscence at that. I had an offer from the mailponies’ guild after the first, and then an Academy offer from the Wonderbolts after the second for when I came of age. Years of hovering and running around with the girls had given me more than second burst of wind. I seemed to be inequinely capable of enduring long flights.
“But that’s just it, isn’t it, young Scootaloo?” Luna asked. “Even with all that you have done, you still have no Cutie Mark. It feels like you are still a filly, does it not?”
I returned the nod from earlier, sitting down on my plot. I realised with a startle that I had morphed back into my form as a filly. My control over my lucid dreams was nowhere near as powerful as to call myself a Dreamwalker like Luna was nicknamed, capable of entering the dreams and nightmares of others, but I thought I was better than that. I guess my mood right now and Luna’s words had made me turn young in body once more.
“Yes,” I said. “I went so long without a Cutie Mark that my Cutie Mark Envy faded away, but now that I’ve done beautiful things, magnificent things, things that other ponies praise me for…I just don’t know what my purpose in life is. I enjoy these things, so why don’t I have a Cutie Mark?”
Princess Luna extended out a hoof and squeezed my shoulder, and for once in a long time I felt at peace. I had poured out my heart to another pony who seemed to naturally empathise. It wasn’t near the same situation, but I suppose I had felt something like what Luna had when she was being overshadowed by her elder sister, frustrated by the ponies sleeping when the sun went down. Her night truly was a thing of beauty, the sky the canvas she painted her web-like pattern of stars all spun around the focal point, the luminous moon.
“I’m afraid you might never know, Scootaloo,” Luna replied. “It is very rare, but I have seen ponies grow into their full marehood who did not have their Cutie Mark. You might never know your true destiny.”
“Oh-ho-ho! I wouldn’t say that, Princess Luna!”
The two of us froze, and we both shook off the paralysis that had infected us, the infestation of spores being rejected. It was an odd voice. The tone was a deep baritone, but it also seemed to be like many voices put together, each one a fraction of a note out of synch. It almost sounded like the alien Queen that had invaded the royal wedding I had been in attendance at when I was younger. If I remembered rightly, her name was Queen Chrys-
“Discord! What are you doing in young Scootaloo’s dream?!” Princess Luna barked, the famed ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ in action as she proved me wrong as to the mysterious speaker's identity. Being a dream, the Voice seemed to be targeted at the dream intruder, and I thankfully wasn’t thrown off to the side by the sheer force behind the voice.
There were very few entities I was afraid of. Discord, the Lord of Chaos was one of them. Even reformed, he could still be a menace with his antics. I only had to remember the prank he had played on us in the Canterlot Boutique shortly before the first Grand Galloping Gala we three Crusaders had attended. However, I stood my ground when he appeared. I had no idea if the rumours that he could smell fear were true, but it seemed entirely plausible when it came to Discord.
“For shame, Lulu!” Discord said, the odd out-of-sync tone of his voice gone as he appeared in the flesh. Perhaps that wasn’t the best phrase given this was a dream, but I digress. “I thought you attended to the nightmares of your little ponies! This looks more like your sister’s idea of Boringville, Lamestria.” His one horn sprouted a wooden sign that said ‘Population: Snoozing’. Even as I repressed the fear deep inside me, I still had to hold in a snort at the joke.
“Discorrrrrd,” Luna growled again, her eyes narrowing to slits. “You know you aren’t supposed to be in somepony’s dreams unless you’ve been given explicit permission beforehand. And don’t call me Lulu!” She snapped at the end.
“Oh Loony, don’t be so upset, you know I’d never do something like that!” Discord replied, even as his midsection turned see-through, showing that he had crossed his fingers behind his back. “I just couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Scoots here, and her despair over her lack of a Cutie Mark!”
The Princess seemed to be holding her anger in fairly well, but I was curious myself, and couldn’t help but ask, “Discord, do you know something about my Cutie Mark?” The enthusiasm I had thought vanquished over ever getting it had revived, like the old mythical tale of the minotaur who had died for the sins of minotaurkind, only to come back to life three days later.
“Scootaloo, be careful!” Princess Luna warned me, turning around.
“Know something?” Discord seemed rather good at acting insulted. I had seen him be jealous once over Fluttershy inviting somepony other than him to the Grand Galloping Gala. If I was as good at telling a draconequus’ emotions as I was with ponies, he was faking his indignation. That, and the rather casual manner in which he was suddenly leaning on my shoulder clued me in. “Why, dear Scooterloo, I created the Cutie Marks magic in the first place!”
“What?!” For once that night, Luna and I were as one, and both of us looked at one another again before turning back to Discord. Despite her dark blue fur that got progressively darker as the middle of the night approached, I could still tell she had a light blush. She was the first to speak again. “So it is true then, Discord? My sister and I have badgered you for years about this. Oh, you better not be lying now just for another game, or else I won't bake you any mooncakes for the next month!” Luna punctuated these remarks by angrily stomping the ground in front of her several times.
Discord furiously shook his head, “Luna, on the honour of your mooncakes, I mean, on my honour, I swear I’m telling the truth. Satisfied? Good.” Turning around to face me, he asked, “Tell me, Scooty-Doo. You did a flight ultramarathon, right? Did you ever consider giving up during the race?”
It was a rather normal question. The only thing that really made it odd was who was asking it. Figuring there was no point in lying, I answered in the affirmative. “Many times. Halfway through the race, every breath I took was painful. My wings were burning shortly after that, and I resorted to gliding multiple times to rest. Every time I got close to the ground, it was a struggle to flap my wings again and continue flying.”
“Uh-huh,” Was all the dragon-pony-hybrid-thing had to say as he took a tiny magnifying glass out of nowhere, no smaller than the size of one of his claws, before the glass progressively got bigger and bigger, until it was the size of my head. Peering through the magnifying glass, he sarcastically remarked, “Well, no Super Mare here! Just a normal Pegasus, of the chicken variety.”
“Hey!” I barked at him, climbing onto my back hooves as a sore childhood memory reared its ugly head. “No chicken comments!”
He scrambled back a little bit, putting his magnifying glass away…somewhere…and put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Maa, maa, everyone’s a critic.”
“Discord!” Luna sharply interrupted again. “Is there a purpose here? You said you were the origin of Cutie Mark magic.” Perusing her own flank, she said, “Even when my sister and I were growing up, Cutie Marks were ancient then. Just how far back do they go?”
“Who cares?” Discord shrugged his shoulders, seemingly of a desire to annoy the Princess as much as possible that night. “What I do know is that her Cutie Mark won’t appear except under the right circumstances.”
For many seconds, I could see the light at the end of the dark tunnel that seemed to be my life. At the beginning, it was like a cramped crawlspace. The presence of friends had given me breathing room, enlarging it to a comfortable hallway before it narrowed to a cave shaft in my Cutie Mark Envy. My success with flight had opened it up to a gaping corridor like those in the Princess’ opulent castles, before narrowing again with this latest bout of Envy. Throughout it all, I had continued walking, unaware of my own destiny, but determined to never stop until I could open the door at the end, the purpose of life within my grasp. And then…
“What’s the catch?”
Initially, I thought those words came from Princess Luna. Then I realised they had come from me. Looking over, however, I saw Princess Luna had come to a similar conclusion. There was something Discord was keeping from us.
“Oh, nothing much,” Discord said, a globe of the world with all the known lands suddenly appearing in his paws. He then tossed it over his shoulder, the globe shattering on impact. “All it requires is a little bit of this, a little bit of that, you know, some good ol'-fashioned blood, fire, chaos, glory, death.”
“Discord!” Luna barked again, seeming to finally lose her patience. It was a good thing she had done it, because I was left speechless. I felt if I had a mirror before me, I might see my fur turn white, giving truth to that old expression.
The man of the dream-hour turned to me, and pulled me in close. His mismatched eyes disgusted me when he wasn’t trying to be funny in a nice way, but I stood my ground and didn’t allow him to peer into me, window through window to the soul, and see the fear that was Scootaloo. He...he looked impressed?
“You’re a fighter, Scootaloo,” Discord said at last. “More than that, you’re a survivor.”
He stood up completely, pacing back and forth before facing us two ponies again and continued talking, “Any pony can stand up and fight back against hardship, but you’re more than just a hoof above the rest, you’re several hooves above just about anypony else. Say I was to intend to conquer Equestria again.”
“Not happening,” Luna hissed, but said no more, entranced by the Lord of Chaos.
Discord waved her off, “Hypotheticals, my dear Mooncake. Hypotheticals. In any case, you and your sister would no doubt try to stop me, as well as the Elements of Harmony. Assume I defeated both of you. Chaos would rule Equestria again, and Harmony would have to go boo-hoo bye-bye! A few ponies might struggle to challenge me, and I’d kick them to the curb just like that,” He said, making a kicking motion with one of his mismatched legs.
He spun around, pointing a finger at me, “But you! You’d fight me to the bitter end, eye, tooth and hoof! You’d find a way. Maybe you’d rally ponies to your cause and fight back with an army, or maybe you would go it all alone.” His beard suddenly grew longer, just in time for a claw to come up and scratch it, before twirling it around the individual digits. “It’s been so long since I’ve actually killed a pony, I can’t honestly recall it, it always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that even being the personification of chaos can't wash aways. For ages, it’s been about me attempting to discord somepony. Fluttershy was the last pony who really gave me any pushback, and even she folded easily once I got a bit more forceful.”
I chanced a look at Luna. She seemed as hypnotised as I was, absorbed into Discord’s rant. “Somehow, I think if I tried to discord you, it would never take. Or maybe if I did discord you, you’d find a way to break out on your own. Faust knows it’s happened before, but I can count on one paw how many times it’s happened!” As he held his right paw up, one claw disappeared, then another, leaving him with just two remaining. “Yep, still on one paw! You’d push and struggle and I would have to break one of my few vows for a more permanent solution.”
“So what would my Cutie Mark be, then?” I asked, breaking the spell he had put us under long enough to ask.
Discord slapped his hands against his head, “Oooh, your Cutie Mark! Maybe a mushroom cloud, or perhaps a Discordium atom! Oh, oh, I know! Maybe it’ll be three triangles orbiting a circle all in another circle!” he snapped his finger and a strange symbol appeared in the air, ☢ is what it was shaped like.
“A what?” I had no idea what the last two were about at all, and as for cloud mushrooms, despite the best attempts of Cloudsdale’s gardeners, they haven’t yet been able to grow fungi up there.
“Or maybe,” Discord said, suddenly in between me and Luna again, hugging the two of us close together, “It’ll be a cockroach.”
Now a cockroach I knew. “Ewwww,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Why would you say that?”
“It’s simple!” Discord said, throwing the two of us, still wrapped together, off to the side. Awkwardly, I disentangled myself from Luna’s limbs. Trust me, the only time you ever want to be entangled with another Pegasus is when being intimate, because trying to extract four sets of hooves and two sets of wings is a menace. “Cockroaches are notorious for surviving everything!”
“I still don’t see what that has to do with me!” I shouted, getting a little bit angry finally. I took a deep breath, converting the nervous energy built up inside me into a more relaxed, honed energy, ready to spring at a moment's notice. I was perceiving Discord as a threat all too easily, it appeared.
“Oh, please!” Discord blew a raspberry. “Time takes strange turns. That’s the fun of chaos! If there was no chaos, there would be no Cutie Marks, and you’d all be like that maniac Starlight Glimmer’s followers were!”
“So that’s why he created them,” Luna mumbled under her breath, “Why am I not surprised?”
“With even the slightest change of events, the future could have been very different. For example, in one future an unknown enemy might have caused a magical catastrophe that kills every living pony, and even their close relatives!” Discord pulled open a paper screen from his hammerspace, with the silhouette of a pony, a zebra, a donkey, and what looked at a guess to be a hippogriff, the hybrid offspring of rare pony-griffin couples. Each of them had a red circle around them with a red slash mark, a symbol understood to mean a negative. “Well, all except for one pony, who survives for over twenty five years in the hazardous wasteland left behind after the sun was destroyed and the moon crash-landed into the earth, eking out a living despite the death of all her friends.”
“What.” The scenario he had described was just so unbelievable I couldn’t even muster a question mark to it.
“Oh! Or maybe it won’t be so bad, in that everypony except for you will disappear and you’ll be subjected to an eternal day, quite naughty of your sister there miss Lovegood! There’ll be a lot of blood and tears and magical barriers but through cleverness you might still find a way to reverse everything!”
“Or maybe the apocalypse will happen, and you’ll survive, but decide you’ll serve a higher purpose in death rather than struggling to life. You’ll sacrifice the last of your health to make a recording that will no doubt encourage ponies in the future to rebel against a tyrannical Pegasus dictatorship in Cloudsdale that exiled your precious Rainbow Dash and sent an assassin after her.”
My mind buzzed, and I felt faint at the possibilities of what-could-have-beens that Discord was describing. “Cloudsdale would never-“
He continued on, crowding out my feeble attempts at talking. “Then of course there are all the futures where Twilight Sparkle turns evil!”
Princess Luna was finally roused back to action at those words. “Twilight Sparkle would never be evil!” She said, mustering up a defense that she knew was merely spirited.
Discord’s nose grew, and grew, and grew until it was so long its sheer mass tipped the rest of Discord over, leaning against the end of his nose. Squeezing his nostrils right next to his face, the excess nose came clean off, before dispersing into a small amount of mist. “Maybe not in this reality anymore, though I would argue against that, but need I mention her fascination with the Want-It-Need-It spell?”
Luna was visibly taken aback, as she tucked her wings in in visible reproachment. “We…er, I admit that it could have happened at one point.”
“Exactly!” Discord said, holding up an umbrella. I looked skywards, leery for anything to indicate sudden rain in her dream. The waterfall from Cloudsdale was the only source of precipitation I could see, and the cloud city was moving away from the conversing three in my dream. “But let’s assume she did! She would take over Equestria all too easily with a sneak attack on the other three Princesses. Nopony would expect it from her! Young Scootaloo here might take time to rouse to action. Usually she’d still be young, and nobody could expect a filly to fight! But when she grows up, she would be a force of action. If she had a crippled wing and was missing an eye, she would still be a force of nature against evil Twilight’s forces. In another world, where Twilight might have been possessed by a Nightmare parasite instead, lil Scoots here would still be fighting strong even into her fifties, when other ponies would be settling down for retirement.”
A dead lightbulb appeared above the draconequus’ head, then turned on. “Aha!” Discord snapped his fingers again, turning around to look at Cloudsdale. He stated positioned that way, before his head, and only his head turned completely around. “Sometimes you even survive the Rainbow Factory, an unheard-of feat.”
“Huh? What about the Rainbow Factory?” I barely even understood what he was talking about, and his body facing one way while his head was looking this way left me feeling a little bit sick.
“Never you mind that,” Discord waved my question away. “Maybe just refrain from eating any more rainbow snow cones.”
For once, I got angry. “Have you been spying on me?” I let out the best snarl I could at Discord.
Discord’s pupils widened, then they continued widening until his eyeballs were all but pupil. This action I at least understood, the fight-or-flight reaction of many creatures involving the dilation of the pupil. I also understood he was mocking me. “If I didn’t know how much potential you had to have to toughen up and become more than a nuisance, I might have actually found that cute! At least you're not an orphan here, or else you'd be even more difficult to put up with!” His pupils got pinprick small in a split second, and he looked at his arm. “Oh, never mind me, look at the time, I gotta go! Hope that answers your question, Lula! Maybe I’ll tell Sunflanks more about Cutie Marks on our date! Say hi to Dragonmaster Alex for me!” With another snap of his fingers, Discord was gone. His arm had been bare of any wristwatch.
I took a few deep breaths, not quite dropping into the meditation I had learned to deal with pre-race nerves, but sufficient enough to get over Discord. It mostly worked. “Is Discord always like that these days?” I asked Princess Luna, standing beside me with a bemused look, my voice slightly growling. Mostly.
“He has better days,” Luna said. I wasn’t quite sure if that was a defense. She eyed me curiously, making pointed glances at my blank flanks. “What Discord said was rather interesting, young Scootaloo. Half-truth upon Discordisms, but no outright lies.”
“Can you trust that?” I asked her, still a bit wary of him.
Luna paused, her mouth wide open, then smiled. Even during the daytime of the dream, there still seemed to be moonlight that cast its radiance down upon her, making her smile glitter like the twinkling stars of the night sky she represented. “Confident enough to prepare something more that could save us from an apocalyptic future like the ones Discord described. Tell me, Scootaloo, did you know that I was thinking about teaching a new apprentice?”
I don’t know how to describe my feelings right then and there. I think it would have been impossible to describe the overwhelming feeling of rightness that had set in, like a soap that could remove the greasy taint clinging to my sense of self. But there really was only one appropriate answer for the Princess then, a hallmark to the past as much as it was a herald to the future.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Post-Apocalyptic Survivors Yay.”
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Nice story! It really captured how she never gives up and how her life could turn out the same even under different circumstances. Going in my library for future rereading.
I really like this for some reason. Maybe it's because I like the idea of some ponies having special conditions for having their Cutie Marks appear, maybe it's because I like the idea of Discord creating Cutie Marks in order to make ponies more 'interesting,' but mostly I think it's because Luna actually listened to Discord.
Sure, she was skeptical, and understood that even if Discord told the truth, that it wasn't the whole truth. But still, she listened to his words, grasped that there was a deeper meaning, found the pattern in her day-to-day life, and decided to make a contingency plan while also helping out an old friend at the same time. You know, like an actual leader is supposed to do, as opposed to an immortal brat with nigh-omnipotent power.
You would not believe the number of times I've seen the Princesses ignore big, glaring warning signs about the impending apocalypse... simply because of who delivers the message. I mean, I know someone has to juggle the idiot ball in order for some of these set-ups to work, I'd just really rather it not be people who should definitely know better. It doesn't take a thousand plus years of wisdom to internalize "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."
And yes, I had indeed noticed that Scootaloo in particular always seems to survive far longer than she should in these kinds of stories. On the other hand, she does tend die a lot while still a filly in many fics. Particularly through some kind of unfortunate accident, or sudden illness, interestingly enough though, almost never through hardship. It almost seems as if there's even a slight chance of survival, she'll survive, and if she makes it to marehood, she becomes exponentially more difficult to kill off for good.
I'm pretty sure I read that comment. Neat idea with all the references.
I loved it!!
I loved the references, I loved the characters, I loved all of it*! I also like how this relates to me so much. How long-distance flying matches up to long-distance running and how rainbow dash ' s speed is similiar to that of a sprinter!!! And how scootaloo is not good short Bursts of speed rather, but enduring a good long running race. It's just like running!! How a person can either be a good long-distance runner or a sprinter!!! And scootaloo is better at long distance flying than just short sprints like what rainbow does. I also like how scootaloo realizes that she's better long-distance flying than sprinting - fly style. It truly explains how I am. I'm good at long distance running but a little lousy and mediocre in sprinting as a sprinter. This is 
Me in a nutshell! I'm just like scootaloo!!! Lol.
In essence, Scootaloo, hope you never get a cutie mark, because if you do, then it is truly the end of days.
I loved this! New favorite!
6487754 Thanks for the long comment, I really appreciate getting feedback like yours. Luna, in her head, thinks there's no guarantee she would survive an Apocalypse event, if one even comes to pass, but she says “Confident enough to prepare something more", so she's definitely been planning for the end of the world. Training Scootaloo is one more way to either ward it off, or to make things better if the Final Day does come to pass.
6488146 Scootaloo's Cutie Mark, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
(or she could become an Alicorn. I mean heck, it happened in your fic she became an Alicorn and still didn't have a CM!)
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Yet.
6491831 A guy can hope for an update
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6491511 I suppose it's a good thing I got this out a week ago as opposed to waiting to write it
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Yep I have had ideas get smashed by canon before mid-write -- it is painful.
6513954 I'm just hoping they don't decide to bring back the Pony of Shadows before the end of the season, I have a delicious delicious idea for making it a villain.
I'm not sure how to feel about the bit where Discord claims to be responsible for cutie marks. While the explanation is reasonable enough, cutie marks are too much of a 'harmonious' concept. They are things that ponies are proud of. Even if Discord wants to do something to pony kind in order to make them more interesting, I doubt he would do that.
All that aside though, the point is clear and true. Scootaloo does tend to go through a lot of rough stuff, even if Discord is breaking the fourth wall to prove it.
Did you reference one of my fics? O.O
6641170 Yes. Did you actually read it? I might have gotten a detail or two wrong, but it's quite obvious there
6641207 I'm reading it right now; granted I only came by this fic through random chance. Maybe you should contact the authors of the fics that you referenced?
Oh, now I see why you didn't contact us. They were just short, cute references. Cool, I feel honored.
As for the fic itself, it was very interesting. It did have a few grammar mistakes and sometimes where the narrative got a bit weird. Like this:
“I still don’t see what that has to do with me!” I shouted, getting a little bit angry finally, converting the nervous energy in me to something of equal energy but a different form.
I don't know what you meant there and it probably could have been explained in a different way. Just little things like that slow the pacing of the fic down. If there's one thing that I felt was odd would be the inclusion of Princess Luna. While she does play a role for the ending, the whole fic could have been done without her. She doesn't do much and the plot, what Discord explains to Scootaloo, is all about her. Luna technically didn't do anything except set up a potential sequel and let us know that Scootaloo's talent will not go to waste. You could have cut her out and had her simply show up right at the end. It would have left you with more writing space for Discord hijinks!
Oh, I don't know if the title makes sense, after all it's not the end of cutie marks in the story. At least I don't think I read that?
Anyway, it was still an interesting little tale. Thanks for writing it.
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Thanks for the comment. (If you read my other fics and look at the comments, you'll see that me leaving massive comment replies is a typical thing)
I'm fairly certain I wrote this thing in one sitting, which usually doesn't happen for me, and it tends to bring out some weird metaphors. The equal but different form of energy is supposed to be a sort-of reference to the Law of Conservation of Energy, where Scootaloo channels her nervous energy into anger instead, but it does come off odd.
I'd have to disagree about Luna's timing of being there in the dream. Certainly, she gets relegated to the background for most of when Discord appears, but actually hearing it straight from Discord is more effective than just showing up at the end and hearing from Scootaloo "Oh my special talent is surviving apocalypses". Her earlier talk with Scootaloo about Scootaloo being envious of others with Cutie Marks also sets up for Discord's whole meta-conversation.
Besides, Discord making fun of Luna's name is hilarious with references to other fictional Lunas. That was one of those things that I don't plan ahead of time and the character does something that just pulls you in and you just go along with it. Although now I realise I made a Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete reference, but not the obvious Sailor Moon one
The title "End of Cutie Marks" is actually a reference to the title of shortskirtsandexplosions' End of Ponies (and I certainly did leave a note on his page since the reference to that fic are a lot larger), and a bit of a double play on Scootaloo's own situation.
I do actually have an idea for a sequel, since Scootaloo as Luna's apprentice is pretty much a unique idea I haven't seen done anywhere else. It's on the backburner for now, however. Part of that is I think some of my other one-shots can fit together in a shared universe, so it wouldn't just be a fic about Scootaloo and Luna. Besides, given Scootaloo's situation it has to involve some sort of mass extinction event, or else she'll never get her Cutie Mark
6641344 Ah, man. You know I've played Lunar on the Sega CD, but for some reason not the PlayStation. Terrible translation on the CD, but I've heard not only is it better on PSOne, but also the combat is more like Chrono Trigger's with non random battles. I really need to get to that game... one of these days.
The reference to that "law" can be used in something that makes more sense; there's certainly nothing wrong with using it, but maybe for, like, a unicorn using magic or something. Rather than how you used it? I dunno.
As for getting her cutie mark, it's simple: Have Discord warp her to a crappy Equestria dimension and kill everypony there - then bam - cutie mark! Then warp her back.
6641357 Ah, but you forget, Luna's supposed to be at least somewhat savvy here, given she's training a pony who might revive the world following a cataclysmic event.
What point is there in having a possible early warning system for the Apocalypse if you send her to another dimension to get her Cutie Mark and come back? Nothing says Scootaloo has to wait until after the Apocalypse happens to get her Cutie Mark
It'll probably never happen in a sequel, but I can see apprentice Scootaloo feeling a warm glow on her flanks, looking over to see her Cutie Mark, rushing into Luna's bedchambers going all "Luna, I've got my Cutie Mark!" and Luna locking down Canterlot with all sorts of defensive mechanisms. The Apocalypse still happens, but instead of, say, 99.9% of ponykind perishing, only 98% do.
6641660 The pony race is stubborn like that.
This was a very interesting and enjoyable story and I really liked it!
I thought the title was clever. I got that song stuck in my head now.
How can this one small fanfiction somehow incorporate the events and timelines of some of the longest and most complex stories in the fandom?
I'm going to have to read this.
I liked reading this.
Atomic number 312 and a quarter.
Oh my gosh, what did I just read?!?
Actually, you had me an Caneighdian LOL
Really interesting dream-sequence where I wasn't really sure what was reality for the context, but the odds of her surviving apocalypses and catastrophes is really funny to me... and you know why...
Really interesting read. Poor Scoots!
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Yeah, that's why it always amuses me every time I see a new story pop up that basically has Scootaloo survive some sort of high-stakes scenario and/or fight back in a war. I had that reaction when I saw your story originally, probably doubly so because it was also a grown-up Scootaloo without a Cutie Mark too.
If she ever gets her Cutie Mark, it can probably be while she's all by herself surrounded on all sides by ten thousand changelings and a hundred thousand timberwolves, and she survives.
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Oddly enough, I hadn't really read any fan-fiction when I started writing mine, so I had no idea that it was a thing. And here I thought I was original! I'm just glad you are still entertained enough to keep reading.
Without giving spoilers, I had always planned to get Scootaloo her Cutie Mark before my story ended, and I have planned for this. The turns the show took after season four made mine way off in Alternate Universe territory, but I'm glad the readers don't seem to mind.
Thanks for giving my fic a chance, and I'm looking forward to reading more of your stories in the coming days!
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I guess there's just something about Scootaloo's character that makes people think "I bet she could survive the pony apocalypse"