Chapter 6 Camping Trip
"What?!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she was taken off guard by this news. "Once I'm a human, I can't turn back into a pony?"
Bruce nodded "I'm afraid so. Though it's your choice, no one's pressuring you." be reassured.
Scoots took a moment before deeply inhaling and released a long exhale. Bruce was right, this was her choice and nobody was putting any pressure on her what's so ever, so she was overeacting.
"Y-you're right Bruce. I'm making this into a big deal." she said.
"So I assume you've changed your mind then?" Bruce asked receiving a nod from the filly.
"Yeah, I guess I'm not gonna be a human after all."
Bruce shrugged "Alright, I'll call my friend and tell her your answer." he said before walking away.
Scootaloo headed up into her room and sat down on her bed. She felt good with her answer and believed it was the right thing. Her eyes suddenly started squinting as she noticed something bright at the corner of her right eye and used her hoof to shade it.
The young filly looked in the direction of the light and saw the sun going down above the city in the distance. With her hoof shading above her eyes she was able to stare at the city for a long while. How she wanted to get out. She did feel like getting out of the house earlier, but not this much. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life inside a mansion.
She shrugged "Oh well, I'll adjust."
She did not adjust. Sure she somewhat found the feeling of being in a big house with litterally seven bedrooms, a pool, a movie theater, a gym, and a garage with over twenty carts was pretty cool, but it was getting stale. As each day passed by she wanted to get out more and more. Two weeks went by and she felt the urgency to get out increase more and more.
Harold already found a new place to live and moved out with Ace. Now the only ones at the manor were her, Bruce and Alfred. Actually, it would just her and Alfred when Bruce went out on his nightly patrol. In the morning Scootaloo would watch the news about Batman stopping a crime and the person doing the report would eaither be some girl name Vickie Vale or some guy named Jack Ryder on the Gotham Gazette.
She'd go out into the yard sometimes, but even though it was big there was nothing much to do aside from just walking around or just staring at the clouds. Scoots would have a conversation with Bruce and Alfred once in a while and she didn't mind that, but she wished it would be more people she could talk to.
One afternoon Scootaloo was sitting on her haunches on the steps of the manor looking at the city in the distance. She didn't notice the big double doors open behind her.
"Scootaloo?"
She heard a voice and turned around to see Bruce standing at the door and smiled.
"Oh, hey Bruce." the young filly waved as the billionaire came over and sat next to her.
"What are you up to?" Bruce asked.
Scootaloo shrugged "Eh, nothing much." She pointed with her hoof at the city off in the distance "Just enjoying the view."
Just then she noticed a few birds hovering over a near by tree before flying their way to the city. Scootaloo sighed at the sight. She wished she had what they had. Freedom.
Bruce noticed this and he sensed feeling of sympathy within him. He wished he could help, but how? She can't go outside, someone will see her. It's not like he could take her somewhere where nobody even goes. Wait a minute.
"What if I took you camping?" Bruce asked.
Scootaloo's ears perked up as she turned her attention to Bruce "You really mean that?"
Bruce nodded "Of course."
"But, where would we go?" Scootaloo scratched the back of her head.
"I own fifteen acres of land" Bruce said "we could hike to a spot to camp somewhere on the property."
A smile grew on Scootaloo's face as she was quick to hug Bruce "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Bruce was surprised by the sudden reaction, but returned the hug.
The next day they were all packed. Alfred had gone to the store and got a red sweat shirt that was just about Scootaloo's size. She'd be needing it after all considering that it'll be cold at night. She and Bruce packed some bug spray, pillows, sleeping bags, water bottles, and pretty much anything else they need.
"I wish the both of you a good camping trip." said Alfred as he stood by the backdoor.
"Thanks, Alfred." said Bruce as he and scootswere ready to leave. Both wearing hiking backpacks their size containing their things over their backs. "We'll be back sometime tomorrow."
Alfred nodded as he opened the door for them both.
"See you later, Alfred." Scootaloo said as she and Bruce made their way out the door with Alfred closing it behind them.
The two made their way over to the long wall which extended around the entire back yard all the way up to the front yard with a gate on both sides. Bruce took the key out of his pocket before unlocking the gate, pushing it open allowing him and the orange filly to leave before locking it behind them to the forest that was a short distance away.
As they walked Scootaloo took her time to look at the area around them. They were surrounded by trees and only the sounds of their footsteps, or hoofsteps in her case, and the birds singing could be heard. The sight of the manor behind them was shrinking to the point where they couldn't see it possibly due to the covering of the trees.
This reminded Scootaloo of the camping trip she took with Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash to the rainbow falls. While she deeply missed her friends it was good to be reminded of things she did with them. For a while their walk was silent until Scootaloo decided to speak up.
"So, have you gone camping before?" She looked up at Bruce.
He looked back down to her and nodded "Yes, my father took me camping somewhere on the property when I was a boy."
"That must've been fun." Scootaloo commented.
"Oh yes, it was very fun." Bruce replied "Whenever he'd propose we go on a camping trip I'd immediately start packing even if it was only a week away."
Sometimes Bruce wouldn't look back on memories of his childhood. He thought it best to ignore the past and rather focus on the present. He once thought thinking about his childhood would bring him back that awful memory of what happened to his parents. But Alfred told him that he shouldn't remember how his parents died, but how they lived. So sometimes he would look back on memories from when he was a kid and remember the good times he had with his mother and father. His father taking him camping, his mother reading to him, the lessons they taught him, it brought him happiness.
After a while of walking and occasionally talking, they reached a clearing with a fire place in the middle and some stacked up wood in a corner.
"This is the spot where my dad would take me camping." Bruce said as he was removing his backpack and setting it on the ground in front of him "I think we should camp here."
Scootaloo nodded "Sounds like a great idea." She sat on her launches as she removed her backpack too, putting on the ground.
She zipped it open with her teeth before she took her rolled up sleeping bag out and laid it on the ground, rolling it open. From her bag she also pulled out some bug spray, then started shaking the can and sprayed some on so she wouldn't get bitten by any mosquitoes. Bruce did the same as he also decided to take his water bottle and have a drink.
It was mid day, so they both decided to eat some lunch. Bruce walked over to the pile of stacked wood before taking a few logs and placing them in the fire place.
"Where did all that wood come from anyway?" asked Scootaloo.
"I went camping here once, so I left some fire wood available in case I'd ever go camping again." Bruce answered.
"Oh, so you go camping here sometimes?"
"Not a lot." Bruce answered "It's not really one of my ideas to go camping, but whenever I'd go it would be to clear my mind."
"Would Alfred be the one to suggest it to you?" The young filly raised an eyebrow as she smirked.
Bruce chuckled "Yes. Although sometimes I'd go camping with Dick."
"Who's Dick?" asked Scootaloo.
"Dick was my first ward." Bruce said reaching in his pocket to pull out a lighter. He held the lit lighter under the wood for a moment before a small flame made contact with it. Bruce pulled away the lighter as he gently blew onto the flames to make it bigger. After a few moments the flames started to rise to the perfect point so they can cook their food.
"There," said Bruce "now we should be ready to cook something. Let's get our food out."
"Great, I'm starving." Scoots reached her head into her backpack to grab two faced down toaster forks with her teeth. As she pulled her head out she saw Bruce standing next to her as she handed the toaster forks to him, receiving a hair ruffle from him as she chuckled.
From his bag, Bruce took a hot dog packet and a bag of hot dog buns for himself and a plastic bag with ears of corn for Scootaloo. He took an ear of corn from the bag, putting it on a toaster fork and handing it to Scootaloo who grabbed it with her teeth.
The young filly just sat there cooking her food over the fire with Bruce on the opposite side cooking his hot dog.
They were both silent until Scootaloo decided to bring up a conversation.
"So," she began "this kid, uh, Dick. He was your first ward?"
Bruce nodded "Yes, he was a great kid."
"Did he know you were Batman?"
"Yes he did, in fact he was a superhero as well."
Scootaloo's eyes beamed "Cool! What was it?"
"Robin." Bruce answered as he just got done cooking his hot dog and rested it on a bun he pulled from the bag.
Scootaloo raised her left eyebrow in confusion "Wait, I thought Tim was Robin."
"He was," Bruce said "but he wasn't the only one. Dick was the first one to dawn the mantle."
"Oh, now it makes sense." Scootaloo nodded in understanding as she took her corn from the fire and removed it from the metal stick, holding it between her hooves and started eating it.
"So," she began, her mouth full of corn "how'd you and Dick know each other?" she swallowed.
Bruce chuckled with a piece of his hot dog in his mouth before swallowing.
"He and his parents were part of the Haly's Circus as acrobats, they were called 'The Flying Graysons'."
Scoots wondered at this "That sounds cool! What was it like growing up in a circus?"
Bruce shrugged "He told me he it was the best childhood he's ever had. They often moved around the country, but he loved performing for any audience. He and his parents would do various death defying stunts without the safety of a net."
"Wow." Scootaloo marveled "That sounds amazing. How'd you meet him?"
Bruce's expression changed it's mood as he frowned and took a long pause before taking a deep breath. "When their circus came to Gotham, I was in the audience. Right when his parents were performing, the rope snapped and..." Bruce trailed off as the memories came back to him.
"They what?" Scootaloo asked, growing more concerned.
Bruce sighed "They fell."
The billionaire heard a gasp erupt from the filly as he saw her hold a hoof over her mouth with wide eyes. She removed her hoof to speek.
"D-did they..."
Bruce nodded, he knew what she was gonna say.
"From that, he was an orphan. A man named Tony Zuko was responsible for their deaths by putting acid onto the ropes, making them snap." Bruce explained.
"Why would he do that?!" Scootaloo asked, feeling enraged.
"He tried to sell insurance to the owner of the circus. He knew he was trying to con him, so he refused. So Zuko thought he'd try to get a point across."
"But he didn't have to do that!" Scootaloo pointed out, her voice risen.
Bruce nodded in agreement. "Yes, but in his own sick mind he thought it was the best option."
Scoots nodded then her expression changed "So, what happened to Dick?"
"Well, the people at the circus wanted to take him in, but the police were afraid Zuko might come back and kill him, so I decided to take him in. It then became my priority to find his parents' killer and make sure he would pay. Eventually Dick found out I was Batman and wanted to help me find Zuko. I told him it was too dangerous, but he wouldn't listen."
"Did you find this Zuko guy?" Scootaloo asked with hope in her voice.
Bruce nodded "Yes, he was sentenced to life in Black Gate Prison."
"Yes!" Scootaloo cheered "Good, 'cause he deserved it."
Bruce smiled at this filly's sense of satisfaction.
"After that, he wanted to help me protect Gotham, so I trained him until he was finally ready."
"Than he became Robin, right?" Scootaloo asked.
Bruce nodded "Yes."
Scootaloo took a huge of her corn before asking "Where is he now?"
"Right now he's in Blüdhaven and is a superhero of his own called 'Nightwing'." Bruce answered.
"Cool, is he like you?"
Bruce shook his head "No," then he silently muttered "and I hope it stays that way."
"Oh, and you're okay with this?" the filly asked.
Bruce nodded "Yes, I wanted him to grow up on his own path."
Scootaloo nodded in understanding as she and Bruce started eating their food again. Scootaloo was just about done eating her second ear of corn as Bruce was finished eating his second and final hotdog.
"'Scuse me, Bruce" the filly got his attention "were there other Robins beside Dick and Tim?"
Bruce lowered his head. Of course he knew someone else that carried the Robin mantle, but should be even tell her about him? If so, then he might have to tell her about why he no longer dawns the mantle. Something that he didn't want to talk about with others.
"Uh, Bruce?"
He looked up as he heard the filly's voice and noticed the concerned look on her face. He knew that he was gonna tell her someday, so maybe now could be the right time. He inhaled a deep breath before releasing a long exhale.
"Yes," he nodded "there was another person. He was the second to become Robin right after Dick and right before Tim." he paused for a second, letting the memories of the comrade he failed flow into his mind. "His name was Jason. Jason Todd."
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I take it Scootaloo will change her mind about being human
This is an interesting take as in the previous story Scootaloo jumped at the chance at being human. Here she is giving it some serious thought and she is also learning about her future brothers. This is good growth for her and hopefully she can be more ready to don the tights when it will be her turn.
9113246
Who knows? He could be dead or alive, we'll see.
Why didn't you make Scootalo into a human. She would be a great robin.
9114038
Idk, I personally like the idea of this tiny pony in a robin costume.