Scootaloo's Dilemma

by PonyvilleDJ

Chapter 4

After being seen off by Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo walked toward Sweet Apple Acres. The sun was beginning to set as she reached the outskirts of Ponyville. Walking down the dirt path to the orchard, Scootaloo glanced up to see the moon peaking over the horizon of the night sky. Trudging down the road, Scootaloo was just coming up to the entrance of the orchard when she felt someone watching her. Looking through the trees, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Still, she could just FEEL eyes on her.

Finally, she made it to the clubhouse. Climbing up to the little building, she lifted the floorboard and pulled out her blanket and pillow. Spreading it out, she lay down and closed her eyes. As she began to drift off, she heard movement outside the clubhouse. Sighing, feeling her body ache from the work at Sugar Cube Corner, she forced herself to get up and check it out. She stepped out onto the balcony and looked out onto Sweet Apple Acres. The trees went on for miles and miles while the stars lit up the night sky. Seeing nothing else, she turned around and went back inside. Closing the door, she began walking over to her blanket when the sound of hoofsteps echoed throughout the clubhouse. Glancing into the corner, her eyes went wide with fear and shock as she beheld the royal form of Princess Luna. Facing Scootaloo, the Princess had been looking over the drawings and plans of the Crusaders when she noticed Scootaloo was looking at her.

“Good evening, child,” Luna said. “Forgive us for imposing, but We couldn’t help but notice thou art here to sleep instead of thine home and bed. We must wonder why, and so your Princess has come to investigate. The moon is raised, and so We are free until dawn. As such, We must ask why thou art here in this… place. Dear child, your Princess must know.”

Rising from a hasty bow, Scootaloo looked at Princess Luna with a somewhat fearful look. She had never fully gotten over her

initial impression from Nightmare Night. However, seeing as Luna was legitimate royalty, she couldn’t lie to her.

“Your Highness,” Scootaloo began. “I… I have nowhere else to go.”

“What?” Luna was genuinely shocked. “How can this be? Child, what has happened to thine home? Thine family? Why must thou come here?”

“It’s… I… I don’t have any. No home; no family.”

“Thou has… no family? But, how? What do you do for food? Lodging, it would seem, is no problem, but how dost thou take care of thine self? Thou art just a foal.”

“Look, your Highness,” Scootaloo said, holding up a hoof. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate your concern, I do. But I can take care of myself.”

Luna was flustered. She didn’t want to belittle the child before her, but she couldn’t just over-look something this important.

“Child,” she started, taking a breath. “As your Princess, We are required by royal duty and honor to help our subjects with their problems. Thou art one of our subjects, so We will do whatever We can to help. Please, just tell us what thine problems are.”

Sighing, Scootaloo thought for a moment before starting.

“Well, it started when I was really little…”

It was six years ago and Scootaloo had begun using entire sentences. Her parents were so proud of her, they couldn’t help but tell the entire neighborhood. Stepping into the den, Scootaloo’s mother, Greasy Spoon, walked over to her and picked her up. She was a pale-white unicorn with a spatula cutie mark. Her mane was a light red with orange highlights tied back and tucked under a do-rag.

“I think somepony needs to be changed,” she said, eliciting a giggle from Scootaloo.

“Nuh-uh mommy,” the little pegasus replied. “Me no need change.”

“Oh I beg to differ.”

Taking Scootaloo into the next room, her mother began changing her diaper. A few hours later, her father, Thunder Pop, walked through the door and hung up his goggles. He was on the weather team in Fillydelphia, and he had spent the whole day fighting a drought on the outskirts without flooding the streets within the town itself. As he trudged through the den, sweat poured off his dark brown coat in droves. Running a hoof through his deep-blue mane, he went to the kitchen to get some cider. After a long day fighting the weather, he just wanted to unwind.

“Honey?” Greasy Spoon called out. “Is that you?”

“It’s me!” he called back. ”I just got home!”

This was how it was for so long. Greasy Spoon had just sent her forms in to finalize preparations to open a dinner while Thunder Pop was looking at a promotion to second in command of his team. As the family settled down for the night, there was something building that nopony could foresee. After testing out some recipes, Greasy Spoon had called it a night and put the dirtied dishes in the sink.

As the family slumbered, globs of grease began pooling on the floor in front of the sink. Coming to the kitchen for a midnight snack, Thunder Pop lit a candle and opened a cupboard. He grabbed a loaf of bread and some condiments. Setting them out on the counter, he turned to grab the candle. As he turned however, he slipped on the puddle of grease and fell over. Bumping the counter, the vibrations knocked over the candle, causing it to fall into the grease.

In a flash, the flame exploded into an inferno, engulfing the entire kitchen in fire. Rags caught flame and lit like dominos, One after another burst alight, spreading through the entire kitchen. As Thunder Pop ran out, the rest of the house began to catch as well. In no time at all, the flames had engulfed half the house. Thunder Pop ran through the halls as burning material fell all around him. He threw open bedroom door and yelled for Greasy Spoon to wake up. Once his wife was out of bed, they ran to grab Scootaloo before leaving. Running through the crumbling hall, the kicked the door open as they heard their baby’s cries for help. Stepping through the door, they had only to cross the room and they could leave. Unfortunately, happiness was not in the cards.

The house was built into a hillside about a kilometer outside of Fillydelphia. From the damage the fire had inflicted, the house began to twist and split. Debris rained down the incline as embers flew into the air. Off in the distance, the weather team was on approach to deal with the inferno. As half of the house fell down the hill, the pegasi swooped in with rainclouds to douse the fire. When the blaze was out, there was nopony to be seen anywhere. Overhead, a passing griffon dove down to investigate the debris. Sifting through the refuse, she found Scootaloo.

“Hold, fair child,” Luna interrupted. “Thou sayist that thou were taken by a griffon? But why did nopony look for thee? Thou wert right at the scene.”

Luna’s question was met with silence. Obviously nopony had even looked. But why? Were something like this to happen under her watch, she would have forced everypony to look. And then she would have imprisoned them in the royal Canterlot dungeon for a month for such stupidity.

“I see. Then why did the griffon not seek to return thee to thine family at a later time?”

“That’s another story,” Scootaloo answered. “You see, she was supposed to have had babies, but something called a ‘miscarriage’ showed up and something happened to them.” Scootaloo paused for a moment before asking a question of her own. “Princess Luna? What’s a miscarriage? Is it like a regular carriage?”

Luna cringed at the question. How was SHE supposed to answer a question like THAT?

“Um… Well… ” she stuttered. “We… shall tell thee when thou art older.”

Perfect.

“Anyway,” Luna continued. “If thou wert taken by a griffon, why art thou alone now?”

“Well,” Scootaloo spoke. “After about two years with Lucile- that was the name of the griffon who took and cared for me- we were getting some firewood when a dragon attacked us. He claimed we were trespassing on his territory. Lucile told me to run and not stop until I found help. I looked back and saw her in the air, clawing at his face.”

There was a brief pause as Scootaloo gave a crestfallen look.

“I never saw her again.”

Luna knelt down and put her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder, trying to comfort her.

“There, there, child,” she cooed. “The way thou s’told thine tale, the griffon, Lucile perished valiantly so that thou couldst live on. It be the ultimate form of love, despite no familial relation; that she would give herself for thine survival. She DID care for thee, make no mistake.”

Scootaloo buckled under not only Luna’s hoof, but her words. Her pain finally proved too much and her tears could no longer be held at bay. Under Luna’s attempts at comforting her, Scootaloo soon dropped all barriers and let it out. Crying like she hadn’t cried in years, she wrapped her arms around Luna’s foreleg. Glancing around the clubhouse, Luna caught sight of the doll Scootaloo made. Its rainbow mane and tail stood out against the dark purple and black outfit. With a gasp, Luna immediately recognized the design.

“Child,” she spoke softly. “What is this that We see before us?”

She held up the doll as Scootaloo wiped her eyes.

“Oh, that?” she said, sniffling. “It’s just a doll I made. I saw Rainbow Dash dressed like that last Nightmare Night. She said that she was dressed as a member of your flight team; the Shadowbolts.”

“Dear child, We have no fliers under our command. Tis just the Wonderbolts whom Rainbow Dash should strive to join. They are the greatest fliers in all of Equestria.”

“But Rainbow Dash said- She told me that she had talked to them herself.”

“Child, the Shadowbolts were but a trick used by Nightmare Moon to make Rainbow Dash abandon her friends. They were never real.”

Scootaloo looked at the floor for a minute. Rainbow Dash was wrong; mistaken. The Shadowbolts weren’t real. But at that thought, she perked up.

“But, Princess Luna? Couldn’t you organize a team? Like, if you wanted to, couldn’t you put together a group to compete against the Wonderbolts? It would be like a friendly rivalry or something.”

They both rose as the thought sank in to the both of them.

“Yes…” Luna finally spoke. “Yes… Yes! Oh dear child, YES! We must return to Canterlot and begin preparations at once!”

Luna was about to leave when she stopped, remembering why she was there. Turning around, she looked down to Scootaloo. She thought for a moment. She couldn’t just bring her with her. Surely, she thought, there was school and friends to worry about. To just take her away would be just as wrong as leaving her here. Finally, she spoke.

“Child, how safe is this structure? Wouldst thou be in danger here?”

Scootaloo shook her head. It had lasted all this time, hadn’t it?

“Very good. We must return to Canterlot. But fear not, for We shall do all within our power to figure something out.”

“Wait!” Scootaloo cried out. “Please, Princess Luna! Don’t tell anypony about this!”

“But why, child? Thou art forced to subsist in this place whilst thine friends slumber in their beds. Why wouldst thou relegate thineself to such an existence whilst options of better life make themselves so readily available?”

“I just… can’t let anypony know. It’s something I have to figure out myself.”

Luna was about to protest, but she held herself back. Taking a breath, she sighed and gave in.

“Very well, child,” she said. “We shall allow thee to continue thine self-imposed… lifestyle. We can offer thee luxury, but We cannot force thee to take it. Remain here until thou can rise out of this life thineself. But fear not to ask for help. We are THINE Princess; We are here to help.”

“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Scootaloo sighed in relief.

And with that, Luna turned and stepped outside. Opening her wings, she left the clubhouse and headed for Canterlot.

Comments

[fabianguzman18]

its sad to see when offered so much she refuses and chooses to live with so little

[PonyvilleDJ]

fabianguzman18>>1138246
That's pride talking. I don't need help! I can do it myself!

[fabianguzman18]

1138536 but is pride worth starving and never asking for help?

[PonyvilleDJ]

1138626
You would be surprised...

[fabianguzman18]

1138673 guess i would

[TrebleBass]

2 things
1) uhhhh where'd Luna come from?
2) Could grease from 1 dinners worth of cooking really be enough to cause a huge house fire? I mean, other than that I feel you could tidy up the back story a bit, I mean "First there was a fire, when a griffon saved me and told no one. Then, she got into a fight with a dragon"
Just seems kinda far-fetched.

[PonyvilleDJ]

1166646
1) She was raising the moon and saw one of her younger subjects out and about, looking very out of place. She said herself that it's her duty to help her subjects.
2) It specifically said that multiple recipes were tested. It wasn't just a single dinner.

Everything else will be explained in more detail as it unfolds.

[TrebleBass]

1184767
mkay.

[DarthWill3]

I didn't expect Luna to make an appearance. I mean, she appeared before Scoot in "Sleepless in Ponyville," but this? Wow!
Poor Scoot. If only she wasn't so alone...
The Shadowbolts made real, eh? Not a bad idea...

[Princess Serafina Luna]

Sometimes one's pride make them refuse to accept help because it makes them weak in their own eyes. I know this from my own experience.