Scootaloo's Dilemma

by PonyvilleDJ

Chapter 2

When the sun came up, the temperature was around eight degrees. Scootaloo woke up with a rather violent case of the sniffles. Sucking up a wad of mucus, she tucked her sleeping gear back under the floor boards and set out to meet her friends. Along the path to Sweet Apple Acres, she had several sneezing fits and just as many attempts to clear out her nose. She had just started to regain her normal color when Apple Bloom came into view.

“Hey there, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom called out to her. “Did ya have a good night’s sleep?”

“Not really,” Scootaloo replied. “That storm kept me up most of the night.”

While it hadn’t been the whole truth, Scootaloo hadn’t been able to truly have a dream, so she was still pretty sleepy.

“Really?” Apple Bloom inquired. “You could hear that? That downpour was just fer the orchard. You got real good hearing if that kept ya up all night.”

Scootaloo nearly had to kick herself for forgetting the reason for the storm. The only reason she WOULD be able to hear it is if she was at the farm. As if Apple Bloom was thinking the same thing, Scootaloo saw her face contort into one of curiosity. However, the two of them saw Sweetie Belle approaching so they let it be for the moment.

The three of them walked to school as per usual, talking about everything from tennis to cooking, to potion brewing. Zecora was still hesitant to let Apple Bloom near her hut, so they hadn’t had a chance to try anything there yet. When they got to school, they went to class just like every other day. Miss Cheerilee gave the same old lectures like always, scolding Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for the same rude behavior. Everything was the same as it had always been. Nothing seemed change.

It seemed like forever, but the lunch bell finally rang. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went to their usual table and sat around. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle placed their respective lunch bags on the table as Scootaloo set her school-lunch tray down.

“Hey Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom started. “Why do you always eat the school lunches?”

Scootaloo had just put her mouth on her extra cheesy, extra greasy cheese pizza when she paused to figure out how to best answer her friend.

“Hey yeah,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “I mean, that pizza doesn’t LOOK like it tastes very good.”

Glancing around the cafeteria, Scootaloo noticed that several other ponies also had the school lunch. Unfortunately, nearly every pony in that category had some sort of problem; some had broken families, some had special needs, and the rest were just downright poor. There really was no excuse. Finally, she straightened and responded.

“Actually,” she started. “It’s not that bad. You guys are just spoiled by sack lunches.”

Perfect. And having spoken in her usual cool voice, there was nothing else to do but believe her. After all, Scootaloo just seemed to have that air about her when she spoke. And when she DID speak, it HAD to be the truth. And so, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shrugged in acceptance, and the three of them ate their lunches, occasionally talking about random things.

When the day wound up, the Crusaders gathered their things and took off for the clubhouse. Along the way, Scootaloo had to tell her friends about the upcoming ‘Daring Doo’ book that was due out at the end of the week.

“I mean seriously!” she exclaimed. “The last one came out almost eight years ago!”

“I didn’t know you liked to read,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom chimed in. “Ah thought it wasn’t ‘cool’ to read books.”

“Hey!” Scootaloo shot back. “Daring Doo is awesome! She explores the whole world in search of treasures, exploring booby-trapped tombs, fighting bad-guys and monsters, all without ever losing her hat.”

“Yeah, well,” Apple Bloom argued. “It’s fine ‘n’ all, but Ah stopped readin’ Darin’ Doo a long time ago. I’m just sayin’ that Darin’ Doo is fer babies.”

Scootaloo was about to rebuttle, but as they passed the book store, she no longer needed to. Glancing up above the roof, Scootaloo saw a tiny cloud with a rainbow tail hanging off to one side. Trotting over, she turned her head to the cloud and called up.

“Hey! Rainbow Dash! What’s up?”

Up on the cloud, Rainbow Dash flailed about at the sudden shouting, apparently having been in the middle of a nap.

“What’s going on?” she yelled. “Is it Saturday? I’ve been waiting all week for this! I’m first in line!”

Glaring down from her cloud, Rainbow Dash’s expression quickly softened and she let out a small yawn.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said. “What’s up squirt? Are you in line for the new Daring Doo? Because, like I said, I’m first in line.”

“Wait a minute!” Apple Bloom shouted. “You mean to tell us the YOU read Darin’ Doo too?”

“Yeah, so what?” Dash replied. “Daring Doo is awesome! She travels the world, finding treasures, exploring booby-trapped tombs, fighting bad-guys and monsters, and she never loses her hat. How cool is that?”

“Oh no WAY!” Scootaloo yelled. “I said almost the exact same thing just a minute ago!”

Rainbow Dash leapt down from her cloud and started talking nonstop with Scootaloo. But being the good friends they were, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stayed put for the entire time. Finally, the conversation, which had become an entire ‘do you remember, how about the time’ quiz/recap of the entire series, came to a close.

“Oh hey,” Scootaloo started. “Do you know how much the new book will cost?”

Tapping her hoof to her chin a few times, Rainbow Dash answered.

“Oh, right. I think it’s going to be about twenty bits.”

“Twenty? I only have seven.”

“Well, you could always ask your parents to help you out, right?”

At that, Scootaloo’s expression grimed.

“Yeah, I guess I could.”

With that, she trudged off for the club house.

“What was that about?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom shrugged, just as confused.

“If I were you,” Rainbow said. “I would figure it out. Friends should always be there for their friends; especially when they look like that.”

With that, Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, flew back up to her cloud and continued waiting for the end of the week.

Comments

[NaturalGlitch]

Apple Bloom is two words.

[King Kiashi]

1086254 I think it's more of a preference. I myself prefer, "Applebloom," without a space. It's just a matter of opinion. Some people do it with a space, and some do it without a space.

[The Hero of Kvatch]

Did you mean 8 degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit? Cause if it was Fahrenheit that would be cold as fuck even though Celsius would be cold to but at least 8 degrees above freezing.

[PonyvilleDJ]

3171276 Whenever I write, I usually assume that anyone who reads it runs on Metric measurements seeing as it's the dominant system throughout the world.. 8 degrees Celsius is about 47 degrees Fahrenheit.

[DarthWill3]

Looks like Scoot and Dashie have something in common.
Oh my... Is Scootaloo an... an orphan?