A Study In Nonsense

by Professor Piggy

It Gets Better As We Go

The screaming, roaring crowd below came alive as the Pegasus spun through the air, moving this way and that faster than any of them could ever dream of. Dozens and dozens of ponies, some she knew and some she didn’t, all absolutely captivated, and all of them calling her name. Their eyes were fixed on her, adoration shining in each and every face – almost. She saw her, and her heart skipped a beat. She stood right in the centre, face set in a smirk and eyes burning with pride. As their gazes locked Rainbow Dash nodded, just once. Just once, but it was enough. She had done it. She had succeeded, and made them all proud. She had made Dash proud.

As she alighted to the ground, the roars of the crowd echoing in her ears, Scootaloo was grinning.

For a moment she just stood there, feeling the soft grass on her hooves and letting the soft breeze roll over her. She breathed deeply, and took in the familiar smell of home. A hundred days. A hundred days since she had smelled that smell, felt that breeze. A hundred days since she’d left to find her destiny.

She opened her eyes, and the crowd was gone. Her grin didn’t falter, though – not for a second. The cheers would’ve been cool and all, but they couldn’t match the sight before her: Ponyville. Boring, stupid, unchanging Ponyville, looking just the way it had the day she’d left it. For a moment she just stood there and stared, as if she’d never seen it before. Sure felt like a lifetime since she had. And then she started walking – not running, or dashing, or racing. Just walking.

It was strange. Like she’d forgotten how. And maybe she had – in the three months since she’d left she’d barely stopped to rest. Racing on the tracks in Las Pegasus, trekking through the desert, fighting Griffons in the sky way out beyond the borders. She’d even paid a visit to Trottingham and said hi to Pip – the look on his face had been priceless, partly from shock and partly from the fresh scars across her face from the whole Griffon thing. And even before she’d gone she hadn’t slowed down for a second: her cutie mark was for awesome, and she intended to live up to it.

So walking was weird. But it was kinda nice, too. Ponies waved to her as she passed with smiles, some called out to her – the Cake twins ran right up and flung their arms around her as a pair, laughing and hugging her tight. She kissed him on the head and tried not to cry and made them promise not to spoil the surprise – it’d been months in the making, after all, and she didn’t want it ruined before it ever got off the ground.

There were the other ponies too, of course. The ones that glared at her or rolled their eyes. A few that immediately turned and started in the other direction. It hurt, but she couldn’t blame them – she hadn’t exactly been the least destructive pony in town before she’d left. Or now, for that matter – but at least she wasn’t going to be accidentally wrecking buildings or anything anymore.

And there it was: Sugarcube Corner, where she’d spent so much time huddled up with her friends scheming schemes, plotting plots, and dreaming about leaning over the table and planting a kiss on Sweetie Belle.

Or maybe that last one’d just been her. Whatever – just cause they were friends didn’t mean they had to share everything. Although…

She shook her head to clear that particular stray, meddlesome thought from it – or at least file it away for later. There were better things to think about right now… or at least more important ones.

Her heart beat a little faster as her legs moved to match. As the corner grew closer the smell of freshly baked deliciousness washed over her and her grin grew a little wider – Pinkie’s cooking wasn’t the main reason she was making a beeline for the bakery, but it didn’t hurt. She raced up the stairs, raised a hoof to push the door open, and froze.

What if they didn’t want to see her? She hadn’t exactly left on a high note…for just a moment she considered spinning on a hoof, taking to the skies and never looking back – and then she grinned. She hadn’t become the pony she was by thinking twice, even when it was a good idea, and in this case turning tail would be about the least cool thing possible. For her, and for her to do. And if she was nothing else, she was pure coolness embodied in pony form.

The door swung open easily, and she stepped inside. At a table not far from the door sat a pair of ponies, blabbing away at each other – with the way the pink one leapt up as she came in, eyes wide and shock on her face, she almost thought she’d interrupted something. And then Rainbow Dash turned, looking a little confused, and their eyes met.

For a moment, tension hung in the air between them. Their eyes met and she saw Dash’s narrow just a bit, a flash of anger in them and a small frown forming on her face. Neither said a word. And then, just as suddenly as it had come, the dark look was gone and Dash was up on her hooves grinning at her warmly. A second later, she was grinning back.

“Hey, squirt.” The older mare said casually.

“Hey.” Scootaloo replied, and after a moments hesitation added , “Hey, listen –”

“It’s cool,” Dash cut her off before she could even get the words out, “Don’t worry about it.”

And that was it. Weeks of worrying, hours of trying to figure out exactly what to say, all for nothing. She breathed a sigh of relief – right before the wind was knocked out of her by a bright pink blur.

“So how’d it go huh huh huh did you find what you were looking for I mean I bet you did because I haven’t seen you smile like that in a real long time and that’s the smile of a pony who knows she belongs and I know because I remember when I didn’t belong and –“

“Pinks, don’t you think we should wait for her friends to get here before she tells the story?” Dash’s voice was gentle and amused as she pulled the earth pony off of Scootaloo, nuzzling her softly as she did. “And besides – Apple Bloom might want those ribs intact so she can break ‘em with her hug. You can’t be selfish with stuff like that, you know.”

The pink pony giggled and nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right – what do you say Apple Bloom?”

Scootaloo snapped her head toward the door and found herself staring up at the amused smirk of her old friend. Without missing a beat the earth pony answered, “I reckon Scootaloo ain’t broken her habit of fallin’ on her butt quite yet.”

“Hey!” Scootaloo shot back, “The way I remember it you fell on your butt just as often!”

“Only on account of I was tryin’ to catch you.”

“Maybe I didn’t wanna be caught!”

“If you didn’t wanna be caught, why’d you drag me along with you all those times, huh? Just for the company?”

“I dunno, maybe I thought it’d all be a blast to do together!”

“Nah, I don’t think that’s it at all. I think maybe you were scared.”

“I was not scared! I’m never scared!”

“I think you were. I think you’re just a big ol’ chicken!”

“Shut up! I’m not a chicken!”

“Are too!”

Scootaloo grinned, her eyes darting towards Applebloom’s flank. “I think you’re just sore ‘cause your cutie mark got you stuck hanging out with ‘em all day. You got chickens on the brain.”

Apple Bloom grinned back, eyes narrowing just a touch. “At least my cutie mark ain’t for being dumb!”

The two were circling each other by now, and Dash and Pinkie were trying to fight back laughter.

“It’s not for being dumb! It’s for being awesome!”

“You got it by jumpin’ off a building!”

“Awesomely! I didn’t get a scratch!”

“That don’t mean it ain’t dumb!”

“She’s right, I’m afraid,” Sweetie Belle chimed in from the doorway, “The fact it worked out well doesn’t really mean it was a clever thing to do.”

Apple Bloom snorted as she said it, and Scootaloo let out a laugh. “Okay, yeah – it was totally dumb. But you know it was kinda awesome, too.”

The other two nodded in sync, with a “mmhmm” from both of them.

For a moment, the three grinned at each other. As Scootaloo stared at Sweetie, her heart beat a little faster. But she pushed that aside, for now – there’d be time later. She was home, and she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“So,” Dash interrupted casually, “You gonna tell us this story, or shall I kick your flanks in a race first?”

“Story first,” insisted Sweetie softly, “the two of you can compete later – and besides, with Scootaloo tired from her trip, you’d have the edge.”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo agreed, smirking to hide her relief, “You’re just trying to cheat me ‘cause you know you’ll lose this time!”

“Yeah yeah, keep telling yourself that kiddo. And well you’re at it, tell us the story already – before I get bored and go home.”

With a quick glance around the room and a smile, Scootaloo sauntered up to the table, slammed her hooves down onto it and began to speak.

“It all started a hundred days ago, with a pair of awesome Pegasi and a little town in the middle of nowhere….”

Comments

[Professor Piggy]

The prompt: Around the world in one hundred days.

[TheAlmightySage]

Brilliant piece, but it screams cliffhanger. I mean this concept could honestly could be spun into an epic yarn of a tale.

[Professor Piggy]

1239744 Hee. You flatter me.

I am considering exactly that, though - this is one of the two story ideas in here I'm seriously considering turning into a big story as of the moment. I haven't quite decided which one, though - either this or Daring Do. And this really, really does kind of scream cliff hanger, huh?

[TheAlmightySage]

1239774

It really does read like a short opening chapter designed to hook the reader's interest. I love it

[jhnz]

1239774

Well I've gotta say I'd love to see this extended on. I'm already gripped by this timeskipped setting.

[ForSpite]

1239774
Clearly, the only answer is both. But maybe finish your excellent Fluttershy piece first?

The one that's already set up as a stand-alone not the Daring Do/Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash one, that'd be redundant.

[Altair4]

Seriously, you really must write some of these up as longer stories. Your writing is really really good.