Of Dragons and Maternity

by SymphonicSync

(18) Technicalities

Scootaloo could hear the clack of her wheels against the stones embedded in the dirt road. It lacked the hollow ring that her helmet would normally give the sound. She hadn't planned on going across town when she left the schoolhouse today, but she needed to take a take a few laps. She'd returned her book on Monday, so there wouldn't be any more reading of that, and Rumble was sticking around with Snips and Snails, so she couldn't just hang out there, either. It was too early to head to bed, though, so... scootering.

The filly rounded the corner by Sugarcubes and slowed to a stop. Going further down this street would have her cross in front of Sofa'n'Quills and if she went that way then Davenport might see her. If he did, he may step outside and chide her not wearing the helmet he got for her last Hearthswarming or, even worse, simply shake his head as he looked out the window.

The back street wouldn't be much rougher than the main road. She turned the handlebars to point behind Sugarcube Corner and pushed off her front hoof. She felt the ground rest into a gradual decline as a steady acceleration overtook her scooter. For good measure, and the fun of it, the filly kicked off once, twice, three more times as she left the candy store behind her. The burst of speed sent a gust ruffling through her feathers and under her wings. It felt right, as if it was something she'd been missing.

Could she really blame Rumble for wanting to go to flight camp? Cheerilee told her to try and understand his point of view while they were at lunch after he came back. It'd only made her upset at the time.

Scootaloo looked up at the sky. Couldn't she understand him? Wanting to fly, to feel the wind this way at any time? She spread out her wings and felt them catch the air.

They only slowed her down.

She pressed them back to her side and kicked again. She regained her prior speed as a pop sounded from overhead. The filly might not have heard it if she had her helmet on. Up above, in the open sky, she saw the weather team captain busting a few rogue clouds. The way that mare chained together her loops and dives, how she could barrel roll out of a casual glide, while Scootaloo struggled to raise herself off the ground...

Could she ever understand Rumble wanting to spend time with Thunderlane? She doubted whether she could imagine having a Wonderbolt as a brother, or having a brother at all.

She just knew that if she had the chance to meet Rainbow Dash, she would take it.

In the next moment, the filly's view of the pegasus flying through a stray stratocumulus shifted to the dirt below her as the scooter jerked back and she went flying over the handlebars. She tried to open her rings and correct herself, but the attempt only set her off balance as she tumbled towards the ground. Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her spiraling to stop. She'd fallen from her scooter before, maybe not going quite this fast or without her helmet on, but she she could take a few scrapes.

The impact was softer than she expected it to be. She'd read that adrenaline could dull pain. That was a far more interesting fact to experience than it was on a page of a book. The matron should have some of those large bandaids around once she got back to the orph...

"Hey kid, you alright? That was quite a leap."

The unfamiliar voice of a mare was talking to her. It didn't sound like Mrs. Cake. Maybe one of the shoppers had heard her crash, as quiet as it had been. She opened up one of her eyes and saw nothing more than a cotton swab. As she peeked through the other, she saw two things; the gutter up the street that had caught the wheel of her scooter and the face of Rainbow Dash hovering beside her.

The filly's eyes shot wide as she scrambled to sit up. The cotton swab beneath her collapsed and swallowed her whole. She passed through it and gently landed on the ground. Dash pushed the cloud aside and looked down at her.

Scootaloo stared back up at her, unhurt and stammering for the words to say.

"Good thing you were making such a racket," Dash said as she flew over and picked up the scooter, "otherwise I might not have noticed you about to bite it." She effortlessly floated back and held the scooter out to the filly. "Though I guess you probably wouldn't have needed my help if you weren't on it..." The mare waited in the air, watching Scootaloo.

What should she say? Tell Dash her name, apologize for causing her hassle, declare herself the mare's biggest fan? The filly wanted to tell her how awesome she was. How grateful she felt, how stunning it was that Dash had caught her so quickly.

Instead, she said nothing as the words caught in her throat.

Dash laughed as her hooves touched the ground. "Left another one speechless, huh?" The mare crouched down and met Scootaloo at eye level. "Don't worry, kid, it happens to everypony." She quickly glanced up and down the street and, seeing nopony to hear her, leaned forward to whisper "Just last week, I went tail first into a Honeycrisp tree... let me tell you, not a sweet experience."

Scootaloo tried to hold back her giggle, but failed.

Behind her, a stallion chuckled as well. She craned her neck to see Davenport standing there, leaning out the back door of his store. As he opened his mouth to speak, her cheeks went flush and her eyes went wide.

He'd caught her without her helmet.

She hastily stood up, grabbed her scooter from Rainbow Dash's hooves, and took a few shaky strides before she exclaimed "Thank you!"

Scootaloo was about to roll away when the mare called after her, "Stay safe kid; Awesome's hard to find."

She grinned as she sped off.

As the filly disappeared down the bend, the mare turned and greeted the stallion, "Hey Davenport."

"Good evenin', Dash," he said in turn before nodding after the fading clatter of scooter wheels, "'Ave you met little one 'afor?"

She shook her head and he sighed. Dash paused for a moment, then asked "Should I go talk to her parents or something? It looks like she broke your spout, maybe more if I weren't around."

"Scootaloo is... she's heading back to Little Hooves."

"Oh."

Comments

[The Sandwich Guardian]

Good chapter

[TheArbiter1]

So scootaloo is an orphan here then?

[Hobbestc]

So was it Scoots that returned the dragon book?

[Baree]

"Oh" indeed. Curious where this is going to go.

[SymphonicSync]

11156981
I settled on the name "Technicalities" as a reference to Technoblade.

[Moonlight_Mist]

11156981
I'm surprised there aren't a lot of authors using Scootaloo's aunts and/or relocating them to Ponyville early. By series end she has a perfectly normal living situation with two loving guardians. Heck, I'm surprised I haven't seen any stories where Holiday and Lofty become mom and mother in some way, considering her biological parents. I wonder how many authors would mind them meeting an unfortunate fate for the sake of such an outcome?

[Esorial]

11173598
They show up in a fair number of EQG fics, or at least the ones I've read. Honestly though, I usually prefer her as an orphan, but that's probably because we knew nothing about her living situation for most of the time I've been a fan of the show.

[SymphonicSync]

11173598
11188541
This is in one of those camps where I'm more comfortable using the orphan idea for the narrative and also how I've yet to see Season 9, so I don't have firsthand experience with the aunts or other concepts from those episodes. Overall, I'm trying to look at the first three seasons for inspiration with only the occasional details from later on if they would fit, such as the EEA or Celestia's history with the Pillars.

In other stories, I might use her aunts or just stick with the old WoG answer of her just being very good at evading her babysitter because that's hilarious and very fitting of Scoots.

[musoperatica]

11188561
i'm 3 years late to this party/discussion but i like to throw my hat in...
Creator Lauren Faust said this on twitter ''scootaloo was never meant to be an orphan, her parents work & couldn't take of her"
(i do have a video to back this up so this doesn't come across as me being an angry fan)
she wanted princess luna to have more screen time & told her no '' why she's a villain.''
also had stated this bit of info ~ we never had a writer's room for my little pony and had to share one with pound puppies (2010 series)
lastly she wanted more creative control but hasbro wouldn't give it to her.
that's why she left early during season 2 & created another show with Super girls.

This part of the message is skippable!!
Hasbro never gave a damn about mlp:friendship is magic nor Faust's creative vision for the show!
personally i dont like g5 because it feels like a slap in the face to gen 4 & having 2 different shows because they know what kind of target audience to have! only positive i'll give them is for having a male pony being apart of the female cast/ensemble.
despite the huge fan following mlp:fim had i can see it's imperfections (like with cannon inconstancies & lore) i'm done with my rant.
[note/edit: i cannot find the video in question!]

this message was written out on 3/22/24