By hook or by crook, Scootaloo has managed to land a job as the personal pedagogue for Princess Flurry Heart. Years as a Cutie Mark counselor have helped her bury any baggage she may have originally brought to the role, but perhaps a filly like Flurry needs Scootaloo the pony, not Scootaloo the professional social worker.
A big, Crystal Empire-sized thanks to Nitro Indigo for pre-reading and helping me get the tone of the fic just right. Scoots's portrayal needed to walk a very fine line, and Flurry Heart is a fun but challenging character to craft a personality for.
This is an entry in the Snippet Series, an anthology of old oneshots I (and my good buddy Str8aura) wrote based around interesting pics I found. New ones will be posted every Thursday for the foreseeable future.
You're really good at churning out unusual little thought-pieces. Seeing serious picture-prompted stories and their unusual inspiration is nice stuff, especially with duos I wouldn't have thought of before. Keep up the good work!
What does Flurry Heart's cutie mark mean? Isn't that why Scootaloo went there in the first place?
I like how Scootaloo has a similar speech pattern to her dad.
This is... wonderful
Awwh. So cute. And very fitting. Great job! <3
Two things. First, cute story. Loved the interactions between two characters who would other wise have no way to interact.
Second, that song is going to be stuck in my head all day now, thank you very much.
An excellent character piece, capturing an element of Flurry Heart I'd never considered. Definitely a favorite.
Very good and very cute... Too bad it's a little short... I for one could like to see Flurry reaction as Scootaloo began to tell her stories of things she did to impress her big sister
This is a fascinating and very realistic take on Flurry Heart. Feeling ashamed because everything was handed to her on a silver platter, while over in Ponyville was a crippled from birth pegasus who achieved incredible things through sheer hard work when the whole universe said she couldn't. It's a delightful paid-forward irony that Scootaloo ended up being an idol herself after idolizing something she couldn't be for so long.
Inspiring to Flurry, and inspiring to us. Well done. Flurry sure is self-aware for a kid her age.
Flurry doesn't like her cushy life, but, well, a cushy life for kids is something that is paid forward, not earned by the kids. Your parents give you a cushy, sweet childhood, and then, when you have your own kids, you give the same childhood to them. And so on.
10226922
Pretty much, friendo. I wanted this to be as much Flurry’s story as it was Scootaloo’s, so naturally they ended up being the support the other needed to rediscover a little bit of self worth. Like a lot of my Snippet Series entries, Idol is about two ponies being in the same place at the right time.
I love it when random searches result in finding good stories. Great first chapter!
10241379
Wonderful to hear that you’re enjoying this portrayal of angsty Flurry latching onto an older, slightly wiser Scootaloo. I work hard to churn out what I hope are interesting character vignettes.
I really liked the end of the story, but you may want to consider changing it all to one chapter. Alone the second chapter is very telly.
I was initially worried this story would be too big for its short word count, but I was totally wrong. You've articulated a neat niche of suburban child psychology here, and the piece's brevity makes it really easy to parse out the point and reflect on it.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh I adore this. I smiled the whole time like a mad pony
. Excellent work! I actually studied child psych and want to work with children as a therapist, so I can say with confidence that your characterization of Flurry is excellent! Plus I love how you interpreted Scootaloo as an adult.
Everything is just great! Great work!
Hello there! Guy from the Sub Reddit here!
Gotta say, I had my doubts, as when you claimed this was a pretty heartwarming tale, I was afraid you were just tooting your own horn. But in reallity, you delivered! I´m very surprised how you churned out a fascinating tale out of a character I didn´t think much of (Flurry Heart) And gave her doubts based off of what little information we have of her. You then proceeded to pair her up with a character I already really like and am fond of (Scoot) and weave a fascinating little character tale that manages to make sense and, indeed, turns out to be really heartwarming.
It´s nice to see that Scootaloo goes on to be somebody else´s Rainbow Dash!
God damn this has to be the most heartfelt depiction of flurry I've ever read.
I'm not a fan of either character, but this was so authentic I had to add it to my favorites.
A sweet story, which I would absolutely not mind seeing expanded at some point.
Flurry Heart was definitely not well developed in the show, she pretty much existed solely for profits and to wrap up the "Wedding arc". So I am always interested when I see someone giving her a personality. Who does she become in the future? a spoiled brat? a noble warrior-princess? does she resent her birth-rights?
I think this is a good fic, and along with what other people have said here, I believe one of the good things about this fic is its structure.
It's two chapters, but they're mirror copies of each other. The first chapter raises the questions and the doubts (concerns about nepotism from Scootaloo, having connections here and there and being pushed to the top, surface-level interactions and assumptions exchanged between Scoots and Flurry, and the hope for a lesson Cadance was expecting), while the second one quickly answers those questions and doubts (Flurry also has concerns about nepotism and being pushed to the top, surface-level interactions give way to their real selves, and a lesson then given). That you hook readers into the second chapter with Flurry Heart almost inexplicably (though you do foreshadow this, like, five seconds before it with an emphasis on that slight encouragement) cursing and talking about "hiding them"... for a short story such as this, making the reader hungry for more with the decision to split it into two chapters (with that mirror-copy mention earlier) is pretty nice.
There's also something Yordna pointed out that I missed, and that's the title: Idol. I did get Flurry idolizing Scootaloo, but there's a second level to it when I remember that Scootaloo's been idolizing Rainbow Dash... an expert Wonderbolt ace that Scootaloo just couldn't be. So, to paraphrase Yordna, it's thought-provoking to see how Scootaloo deals with idolatry when it's directed at her, much more so when it's implied that Scootaloo's probably got it rougher growing up than her own idol.
Anyway, there's not much else to say for me here now. This is a great fic with an even greater dynamic. Thank you for it!
It says "of of"
10241379
This is so relatable…
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!