• Published 1st Aug 2013
  • 6,956 Views, 739 Comments

Feather Steel - Cold Spike



He had it, every pony's dream. But what happens when fate delivers a blessing and a curse in the same breath? What is given is taken away, leaving one young colt to pick up the pieces.

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Chapter Four Part I

"SPROING!"

“Oh, come on!”

Scootaloo was woken from her rest just as the first glimpses of sunlight started to filter through the clubhouse window.

“Get in there!”

"SPROING!"

"Whack!"

Something hit her in the back of the head, knocking her off her cot. The blanket softened her impact with the floorboards to a soft, whump, and she sat up with a groan. “It’s too early for this.” She glanced out the window at the bright sunrise that- “SUNRISE?! I slept in! Applejack’s gonna be making her rounds any minute now!” She ran over to Feather and started stuffing all his things into his saddlebags. “Hurry up, get this stuff put away, or- Wait a minute, why are you up so early? No, never mind that, just pack it up, we’ve gotta go.”

Feather didn’t look up from his repairs. “Go where?” After a few seconds he got up and started looking for something on the floor.

“Somewhere, anywhere, just not here!” Scootaloo saw a spring on the floor near the cot. She ran over to it and grabbed it. “Is this what you’re looking for?” She tossed it to him. “Now pack it up and let’s go! Applejack will be by any moment now, and we have to be out of here before then.”

This got Feather moving. He did not want to get caught, so he started packing. “Why didn’t you tell me this last night? I would have woken you up sooner.” Once everything was packed, he headed for the door. “Do you have somewhere planned? We can’t just head into town.”

“Of course we can.” Scootaloo pushed past him and jumped from the treehouse, spreading her wings and gliding to the ground. She retrieved her scooter from the base of a nearby tree and brought it over to the front of the clubhouse as Feather climbed down. “we’re kids, and it’s the weekend, we’re supposed to hang out and goof off.” She let out a loud groan as Feather started running in the direction of town. She followed after him, accelerating quickly and pulling ahead. She then pulled to a stop directly in front of him.

He went around her without slowing down. ”What are you doing?” He glanced over his shoulder. “I thought you said we had to get out of here!”

With a groan, she kicked her scooter up, revealing the wheels on the bottom. She then tapped her hoof against the side of it.

“Oh!” Feather ran back towards Scootaloo as she set her scooter upright and got back on it. He came to a stop in front of her. “Uh, how is this gonna work?” He circled around the blue and white scooter. “Thing’s obviously built for one pony.”

“Well,” she looked around the edges of the scooter, “you could stand on the front and hold onto the handlebars.” She put a hoof up to his head, just beside his ears and brought it over in front of her face. “Just duck your head down a little so I can see.”

Feather stared at her for a moment before sprinting off towards Ponyville. She followed just as a large, red shape reached the top of the hill.

“Eeyup,” said the pony atop the hill, watching the two run off, “nice ta know Ah ain’t the only one up this early.”

Feather stopped running just at the outskirts of town. Scootaloo, who had been purposely trailing behind, started slowing down, and he looked up as she came to a stop right in front of him. In between heavy breaths he asked, “Do-, do you think, any-, hah, anypony saw us?”

Scootaloo looked over her shoulder, significantly less worn out thanks to her scooter and innate athletic skill. “Nah. I think we’re good. If Applejack saw us, she’d probably chase us to Canterlot and back, thinking we’re apple thieves or something.” She let out a gasp and looked over at Feather. “You didn’t, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t,” he took several deep breaths, “didn’t what?”

Scootaloo leaned close to him and whispered, “Steal any apples?” She glanced around, making sure nopony heard, even though they were completely alone.

“Of course not.” Feather started walking again, this time at a much slower pace. “I have enough food left from the party to last me at least a day or two.”

Scootaloo followed him, pushing her scooter along lazily. “Are you really gonna eat that stuff? Doesn’t it get all smushed up in your saddlebag?”

“A little,” Feather shrugged, “but it beats not having anything.”

“So, what have you got?” Scootaloo inched her scooter closer to the walking colt and leaned towards him, sniffing at the saddlebags. “I can smell the snickerdoodles, but what else did you take? Not all of that stuff’s gonna last.”

Feather glanced back,shifting away from her so she couldn’t touch the saddlebags if curiosity got the better of her. “It’s not like this is my first time storing food for later, I know what I’m doing. The cheese dip has to be eaten soon, so that’s probably breakfast, the cookies and stuff will last two or three days, so I’ll space those out, and the bag of chips will be backup, since it’s still sealed.”

“Wow, you have everything planned out, don’t you?” Scootaloo pulled ahead of him on the path.

“Yeah,” he snorted, “I’ve even started saving for college.”

The scooter came to an abrupt stop as its rider looked back. “Really?”

Feather gave the filly a questioning stare. “Do you not understand sarcasm or something?” She stuck her tongue out in response and started off again. Feather followed her. He didn’t know where she was leading him, but he didn’t particularly care; It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be right now.

They traveled in silence for a few minutes before Scootaloo broke it. “So, Whaddya want for breakfast?”

The colt sighed. “I just told you, I’m eating the cheese dip before it goes bad.”

Scootaloo came to a sudden stop, spinning her scooter at the same time. She lifted her right hoof from the handlebars and pointed it straight at Feather. “Not what I asked! I said, what do you want? Pick something, anything, even if you think it’s impossible. What do you want for breakfast?”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Fine, chocolate chip cookies. Happy?”

“Ha! That’s easy.” Scootaloo turned her scooter around and started pushing it along again. “Follow me.”

Feather followed her with some hesitation. “Follow you where?”

The filly kept rolling along. “To get breakfast, of course.”

He sped up so he was walking alongside her. “Where are we getting breakfast?”

She sped up as well, pulling ahead of him. “Where I usually get breakfast.”

He sped up again, almost breaking into a full gallop to catch up with the orange pegasus. “Quit stalling, and tell me where we’re going.”

Scootaloo looked over at the running colt with a sheepish smile. “We’re going to go see Pinkie.” She started flapping her wings, boosting her scooters speed dramatically.

Feather watched as the scooter pulled away from him with ease. In that moment, he was faced with a choice; Follow the filly to town and risk being seen, or let her go and lose his guide... and probably still get seen. At least with another pony, he would have an excuse for why wasn’t with family. He took off running after Scootaloo. More accurately, he started running after the rapidly fading cloud of dust that marked where Scootaloo was. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”


Feather caught up to Scootaloo just as she was parking her scooter outside Sugarcube corner. She leaned it up against the front of the building and headed for the door. Feather hurried over to her and stopped her with a hoof before she could make it inside. “Are you crazy? You’re just gonna leave your scooter there for anypony to walk off with?”

“Dude, calm down.” The filly pushed his hoof away, stifling a cry of pain as the sap-covered limb pulled away a clump of orange fur. “We’re kids,” she hissed through the pain, “any dead-beat who’d steal a kid’s scooter won’t make it far in this town.” She inspected her coat carefully, but the small amount of missing fur didn’t seem to make a difference. “Besides, the only other thief in this town got run out pretty quickly, some gryffon, I don’t know the whole story.”

Feather immediately started looking around. “Will that happen if anypony finds out about me?” The colt did have to admit that getting run out of town was much more appealing than jail time, or ending up in the custody of Foal Protective Services.

“Probably not.” Scootaloo was about to put a hoof to her chin, but remembered the tree sap just in time to prevent another painful, sticky mishap. “Tiara knows, so I guess that makes it ok in re- um, re- retrograde?”

Feather rolled his eyes. “Retrograde is when a relative motion makes something appear to go backwards compared to something else, you’re thinking of retrospect.”

Scootaloo stared at him coldly. “Remind me not to introduce you to Sweetie Belle.”

“Fine with me,” the colt scoffed, “the fewer ponies I meet in this town, the better. Why are we even here? I thought you told me to stay away from Pinkie?”

“It’ll be fine.” Scootaloo gestured towards the door, willing the colt to go in. “We aren’t going to be staying too long.”

Feather didn’t get the hint. “How long is too long?”

Scootaloo groaned. “Longer than we’re going to be staying! Look, we go in, we ask for food, we get out. Where’s the problem?”

“You said you had suspicions about her,” the colt pointed at the candy-themed building to illustrate his point, “knowing you’re really an orphan, and you,” he pointed at Scootaloo, “want to go and ask her for free food. Do you honestly not see the problem with that?”

“Look,” the filly tried to go around Feather, but the colt kept blocking her path, “occasionally, I show up, and she offers me cereal and such, ok?. What is the big deal?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How often is occasionally?”
.

“Uhh, just on weekends,” she replied meekly while giving her best sheepish smile, “and tuesdays.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” He gasped and quickly glanced around town. Much to his surprise, if anypony had noticed their erratic behavior, they didn’t seem to care. Even so, he lowered his voice before continuing. “Scootaloo, do you know how reckless that is?”

“It’s not that reckless,” she stopped talking and smiled pleasantly as two ponies walked past the two young ponies and into the bakery, “everypony comes here for breakfast. Calm down, we’re kids. If you’re nervous, it’ll put the grown-ups on edge. Try to relax.”

Feather crossed his hooves and turned his head to the side. “I am relaxed,” he snorted, “why wouldn’t I be? I’m just trying to keep a secret from an entire town by hanging out with a pony who seems to like advertising the fact that she’s an orphan.”

Scootaloo started snickering. “Dude, I can’t believe you just did that.”

The colt’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Just did what?”

“Nothing,” the filly cleared her throat, “don’t touch anything, let me handle the talking, and we’ll be fine.”

“Fine.” Feather uncrossed his hooves quickly and had to choke back a cry of pain as his sticky, sappy hooves pulled a clump of the fur from his chest. Scootaloo started snickering as the colt checked to see if his mishap left a bald spot.

“Fine, let’s go.” He grumbled and stomped off with her out in front. They made it to Sugar Cube Corner in less than a minute. He noticed that the place was packed with all types of ponies sitting and eating at their tables as a teal and pink mare hurried about, waiting on them. He relaxed when he noticed certain tables had younger guests to themselves.

They made their way through a nearby door, into the kitchen, where an all-too-familiar pink pony was busy making Flapjacks and other dishes. Pots and pans clanged and clattered as she worked, mixing ingredients with reckless abandon, and filling the kitchen with noise. “Hey Pinkie!” Scootaloo yelled over the din, hoping to get her attention.

The busy pink pony looked over without breaking the rhythm of her work. “Hey, good morning, you two!” She grabbed a pan off the stove, and gave it a good flick, tossing the pancakes within high into the air. “I take it you’re here for some breakfast?” The pancakes landed in the pan with pinpoint precision.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo scratched at her mane, “I hope it’s okay if I brought Feather along, but he’s new and I thought I’d show him around town a bit.”

“No problem.” The pink pony went back to her cooking. “Just help yourselves!”

Feather turned to Scootaloo and whispered in her ear. “That’s it? She just lets you raid the pantry for free?”

“Yeah,” she whispered back, “she’s nice like that.” She led the colt to a small pantry away from the main part of the kitchen. “Sometimes, she even lets me try out new items before they go on the bakery menu.” Her nose wrinkled slightly as she opened the pantry. “It can be hit or miss sometimes, but it usually works out.”

The inside of the pantry held a wide variety of foodstuffs, everything from crackers and potato chips, to cereal. There were even bottles of salad dressing, and jars of salsa. Feather’s stomach started rumbling just from looking at it all. “Um, I’m not a cook, but why does a bakery have all this? This seems more like the sort sort of pantry somepony would have in their house.”

“Speaking from experience?”

Feather spun and jumped away from the voice behind him, crashing into the pantry and knocking several boxes and one heavy glass bottle on to his head. He yelped in pain and brought his hooves to his head, rubbing furiously. He glared at the pony who had snuck up on him. “Was that necessary?”

Diamond Tiara smirked at him. “Of course, it was. So, what’s up, blank flanks?”

Scootaloo glared at her as she started picking up the scattered food. “None of your business, your prissiness.” She inspected the glass bottle carefully, making sure it wasn’t cracked. “Sauerkraut? Blech, we’re lucky it didn’t bust open.” Once she was sure it wasn’t damaged, she placed it back in the pantry. She put back everything except for one box of cereal. Scootaloo glanced over at Diamond Tiara. “If you’re still here, why don’t you make yourself useful and grab some bowls? Or is that too much work for your delicate little hooves?”

Tiara chewed her lip for a moment. “Fine, I’ll get the bowls, but don’t even think about leaving while my back’s turned, ‘cause I’ll find you.” With that, she trotted off towards Pinkie.

Scootaloo groaned loudly as she left. “Of all ponies, why did she have to be here?” She picked up the box of cereal she left out and walked out of the kitchen.

“Wait, where are you going?” Feather followed the pegasus out, but kept a watchful eye on the two earth ponies in the kitchen. “Diamond Tiara’s not gonna be happy if we leave, and is Pinkie gonna be ok with us taking the whole box of cereal?”

Scootaloo gave a flippant snort. “We’re just getting a table,” she said around the box in her mouth, “chill out.”

“Oh.” Feather glanced around. There were a lot of ponies in the bakery, but most of them seemed to be lined up in front of the yellow stallion working the main counter. The tables were mostly empty,with a few small groups of ponies scattered here and there. He found the most secluded table, a booth in the corner, and pointed it out to Scootaloo. She gave a firm nod and walked over to it, but said nothing else as she set the cereal down and climbed into the booth.

Feather climbed into the opposite side of the booth and glanced back at the ponies idling about the bakery. Only his head was visible over the wall of the booth, so he slipped his saddlebags off and arranged them on the seat beside him. It was kind of a hassle to carry around two pairs of bags, but his machine wouldn’t fit in the bags Twilight gave him. “Hey, Scootaloo, is that librarian going to want her saddlebags back?”

The pegasus leaned against the table, looking towards the kitchen. “Did she tell you she wanted them back? If not, you’re probably ok.” She tapped on the cereal box, trying to be patient as she waited for the bowls that Diamond Tiara was supposed to bring. “Finally.” The pegasus gestured across the bakery. “Here she comes.”

Feather looked over as Diamond Tiara made her way through the crowd, balancing a stack of bowls and a bottle of milk on her head. She walked over to the corner booth and dumped the bowls on the table with a loud clang. Feather noticed two things; there were no spoons, and there were three bowls. Tiara climbed into the booth next to Scootaloo, shoving her over so she would fit.

“Hey!” Scootaloo shoved the earth pony back. “Why don’t you sit on the other side?”

“Because, it’s full.” Diamond Tiara gave the pegasus one last shove, then nodded towards Feather. “I’m not happy about this either, but he’s got the whole seat taken up with his bags.”

“Fine.” Scootaloo grabbed the top bowl and the milk. “What do you want anyway?” It was far more a demand than a question, but for some reason, Diamond Tiara kept on smiling. It wasn’t a mean smile, which just annoyed Scootaloo even more.

“I just want to help.” The earth pony filly took the next bowl. “Well, that, and I want to see his flying device work!” She slid the last bowl towards Feather.

Scootaloo wrenched the metal bottle top off of the milk with her hoof. “Why?” Another demand. She poured some milk into her bowl before setting the bottle down and scraping it across the table towards Diamond Tiara. “And, why are you eating breakfast with us?”

Both fillies narrowed their eyes. Feather watched carefully from across the table. He half expected both of them to start fighting and call attention to their table but to their credit, they kept their animosity contained.

“Look, I get bored, easily.” The earth pony filly poured some milk into her bowl before offering the bottle to Feather with a smile. “Helping out with this device gives me something to do. Besides, it seems, I dunno...exciting! Plus I could use a new pony to hang out with.” She finished by grabbing the cereal box and leaning back on her seat.

Scootaloo grabbed the box from her. “What about Silver Spoon?”

“What about Silver Spoon?” Tiara grabbed the box back from the pegasus. “Do we have to do everything together?” She slumped back against her seat and ripped the cereal box open. She then shoved a hoof into the box and grabbed a bunch of cereal.

Scootaloo’s eyes went wide as the normally snooty earth pony filly shoved a hoof full of cereal into her mouth. “Uh, did something happen between you and Silver Spoon?

Diamond Tiara caught herself before shoving her hoof back in the box for a second helping. “No, um,” she cleared her throat, “nothing important.” She set the box down on the table.

Feather picked up the cereal box and started pouring cereal into his bowl. He wasn’t about to complain about having food, but he had to wonder why Scootaloo made such a big deal out of him picking what he wanted for breakfast if she wasn’t going to deliver. It was then that he noticed that the cereal he was pouring into his bowl was made up of miniature chocolate chip cookies. He stared at his bowl and shook his head. “Seriously?”

Scootaloo looked over at him. “Yep, seriously. Now, quit hogging it.” She grabbed the cereal box and poured some into her bowl. She passed the box to Diamond Tiara, then grabbed the milk bottle and chugged the rest of its contents.

Tiara poured herself some cereal as the other two started eating their cereal, not hesitating to use their bowls as a trough in the absence of silverware. After watching them for a moment, she slowly leaned down to her bowl. She stuck out her tongue to lap up some of the milk and cereal, but suddenly pulled her head back, unable to bring herself to eat like that. “I’ll be right back.” She edged her way out of the booth and made her way back to the kitchen. She came back a few moments later with a single spoon. She sat down and started eating her cereal in silence. After a few moments, she spoke up. “Now then, we need to talk about Feather. Feather? Would you please leave for a second?”

The colt was one his last bite of cereal, and broke into a coughing fit at her words. He cleared his throat and then spoke up in a raspy voice. “Why?!”

Tiara smiled at him. “Feather,” she said in a syrupy-sweet voice, “you want us to help you, right?”

He nodded. “Uh, I guess.”

The earth pony filly pointed at the door. “Then wait outside!” Her voice this time was loud enough to draw stares from some of the other ponies in the bakery, and Feather quickly gathered up his saddle bags and left to avoid making a scene.

“This about him going to school?” Scootaloo asked in a nonchalant voice as she continued on her breakfast.

“Actually, yes.” Tiara stirred at her cereal. “How are we going to get him enrolled? Forge some documents?”

“Hmm.” Scootaloo lifted her bowl and drank the last of her milk. “That might work, but where do we get them?”

“City Hall, I was there with daddy the other day, and I saw where they keep them.” The earth pony pushed her bowl to the center of the table. “One of us will get the documents while the other shows him around.”

Scootaloo followed suit. “Don’t you think it will be just a bit suspicious if a child gets the documents?”

Diamond Tiara shook her head but Scootaloo spoke up again. “Look, you clearly know how to ‘sneak around your daddy’ as you put it, but other adults aren’t so easy. There is a reason why Feather acted the way he did at the party, he’s scared of adults and for good reason. Now he’s way more paranoid than he needs to be. I, for one, trust plenty of grownups, but asking for school enrollment papers without an excuse is just asking for trouble, don’t you think?”

She rubbed her forehead for a while and then sighed. “You’re right. How about this: Both of us enter City Hall and tell the receptionist that Ms. Cheerilee needs a new set of school enrollment forms and she sent us. Think they would buy that?”

“I think they would, yeah. But I wanted to show him around town first, just so he never gets lost.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll come with,” Diamond Tiara replied without thinking. Scootaloo coughed once but spoke up.

“Um, no offense, but you and I don’t exactly get along. Remember?”

“I’m willing to remain neutral around him.” She crossed her front hooves with a stoic expression.

“Won’t other ponies think that it’s weird that we are suddenly hanging out?”

“If you mean the other ‘adults’, I wouldn’t worry about it. We are all classmates to them. As for your bl- I mean friends, I’m sure you will think of something,” she finished with a smirk. Something past Scootaloo caught the earth pony’s eye, and she stood up in her seat to look out the window behind the pegasus. “Would you look at that?”

Scootaloo turned around. Through the window, she could see Feather cowering in the shadow of a large red stallion pulling a cart. “Look, I don’t trust you for a second, but let’s get going before he has a heart attack or something.”

Tiara nodded and hopped off the seat, rushing outside with Scootaloo close behind. The earth pony filly made it to feather first, and quickly greeted the stallion. “Good morning, Mr. Macintosh.”

“Eeyup, it sure is, miss.” The wheat stalk in his mouth moved from one side to the other as he chewed. “This colt here a friend a’ yers? Ah tried talkin’ to him, but he’s quieter ’n me.”

Before she could speak up, Scootaloo slammed into her side. “Oof, sorry about that.” She looked up at the red stallion towering over them. “Hey, Mac! I see you met Feather, he’s new in town, and kind of shy, so we’re showing him the sights.”

The tall farm pony watched passively as the pegasus filly started pushing the other two along from behind. “Make sure ya introduce him ta Fluttershy.”

Scootaloo looked back and nodded. “Will do, thanks!” She continued pushing the two until they finally got the hint and started walking on their own. Once they were a good distance away from Mac, she poked Feather in the side. “I can’t believe you froze up like that.”

“Did you see how big that guy was?” he questioned in a panicked tone. “Ponies aren’t supposed to get that big! Even gryffins don’t normally get that big.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “That’s Apple Bloom’s brother, he’s well known around here, and really friendly. If you ever need anything, you can usually ask him. I mentioned him when I told you about the paper route, right?”

Feather shook his head. “No.”

“Oh, well, now you know.” Scootaloo shrugged. “He buys the papers, and I deliver them. Well, enough about that, let’s go see the town!”

Feather shook his head and sat down. “Not until you tell me about everypony I’m gonna be running into around you. They may be used to you, but if I slip up around them, I’ll be in big trouble.” Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo exchanged glances, then started pushing him along. “Hey! Wait!” He tried to resist, but they still managed to push him along with ease. “Why do they both have to be stronger than me?”

Author's Note:

Sorry if this chapter did not reveal much of anything else either. I promise real stuff happens next time and it will come in a week or two!