Scootaloo the Fugitive

by Kaidan

3. My Name is Sweetie Belle

The rain had let up by the time the sun came up. Scootaloo had spent the night trying to find a spot under the roof of the barn with no cracks for rain to trickle through. Eventually she settled for the corner of the loft in the barn. Curling up under the damp blanket, she fell asleep as the first rays of the sun fell on the barn. She was exhausted and fell into a deep dreamless sleep, waking up once the sun was high in the sky.

Scootaloo pushed the blanket off, and stretched her hind legs. The muscles tensed, and then relaxed sending a wave of euphoria over her. She repeated the process with her forelegs, and then walked to the edge of the loft. There was a plank of wood missing here, and Scootaloo could see the area in front of the barn. The bright glare of the sun was scattered by the thick forest canopy of the Everfree. Thorny bushes grew around the trees, choking out all other plant life. The trees had several gnarls on them, and other odd looking protrusions. Several trees looked like they had faces, and all of them shared a dark black bark. The narrow path to the barn was the only area the bushes and vines had not spread to.

Stepping back, Scootaloo stretched out her wings widely. Forcing her feathers apart as much as she could, she stiffened and relaxed her muscles. After several knots had been worked out of the wings, she approached the edge of the loft. It looked about ten feet above the ground, and she was feeling bold. Her wings began to hum loudly as she steeled herself. It's not that far I can totally glide down.

Scootaloo leaped off the loft and hovered for a couple seconds. Just as she began to smile, she plummeted to the ground like a brick. Getting back to her legs, she examined her limbs and luckily had only damaged her pride. Looking around she saw the slanted, broken door to the barn. One door was intact, while the broken door had come unhinged at the lower hinge. The door was slanted inward nearly thirty degrees and could fall at any time. After examining the door, she was able to nudge it until the hinges had nearly lined up again. Heading over to the toolbox in the loft, she pulled out a hammer and looked for anything that might fit the hinge. There weren't any nails, spikes, or other useable items.

Taking the ladder this time, Scootaloo went back to the floor of the barn. Walking around the barn, she finally found what she needed. There was a rusty nail half-buried in the dirt. Dropping the hammer, she dug the nail out. Walking over to the door, she resumed her poking and prodding to get the hinge lined up. The nail only went in an inch. Heading back over to the hammer, she took it in her mouth and attempted to hammer the nail in. It was a lot harder to hammer something using her mouth than she thought. A unicorn sure would come in handy about now. After breaking a sweat bashing the nail, and every wood plank within a foot of it, she had managed to drive the nail through the hinge.

Pushing the door shut took the rest of her energy, the rusty nail was not a good substitute inside the hinge. Once it was closed, she tried the other door. It opened and closed much more easily, she could use it instead of the other door. Closing both doors, she saw two hooks on the bottom and two on the top that looked the right size to drop a two by four into. Carrying one of the pieces of wood from the corner, she dropped it in the lower slot. It would serve to bar the door at night.

A short time later, Scootaloo had finished eating the apple from yesterday and inspecting her scooter. Everything looked to be in order, and she could already feel the adrenaline pumping. Every pegasi was built to cherish the feel of wind through their mane, and the rush of speed, as the world blurred past them.

Closing the barn door behind her, she clicked the strap to her helmet and stepped onto the scooter. Buzzing her wings, she rocketed off down the dirt trail leaving a growing dust cloud behind her. She reached the edge of the forest in seconds, and made a wide turn towards town. The apple orchard from yesterday was empty, the owner must have harvested the apples.

Reaching the bridge into Ponyville, she sped up and used a rock for a small ramp. Landing on the guardrail of the bridge, she slid across and then spun through the air, before landing and continuing forward. Two mares were walking towards her, oblivious to the orange missile. Tucking her wings in, she passed between the two with only millimeters to spare. She heard them shout something from behind her, but it was drowned out by the glorious sound of her buzzing wings.

She had no idea where she was going, but as long as she had the energy she was going to turn this town into her racetrack. Rounding a corner, she nearly collided with the orange mare from yesterday whose name was Applejack. Weaving around her apple stand, she dodged behind a cherry stand and through a narrow alleyway.

Nearing the end of the alley, a white filly stepped in front of it, blocking the exit. She was looking off at something in the distance, and didn't see Scootaloo bearing down on her like a bullet. Before Scootaloo could think, she reacted. Her wings had already spread out perpendicular to the ground, beating furiously to slow down. It looked like she might slow down in time as the white filly turned to see what the buzzing noise was. Scootaloo registered a wide-eyed expression of shock on her face before they collided. Scootaloo jumped off the scooter, hoping to spare the filly some of the force of the impact, and skidded across the dirt to a stop.

"ugh, my wing. . ." Scootaloo glanced at her wing which, though it appeared intact, had taken the brunt of the impact. A couple small orange feathers were still floating to the ground. Checking her wings she was relieved none of the larger feathers had been ripped out. It would probably be sore for a couple days. Remembering about the filly she ran over, she glanced back and quickly went to her aid.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Scootaloo watched the white unicorn's eyes roll around in their sockets for a couple seconds. "I don't usually run ponies over, honest!"

"Oww. . .Whoa what was that?" The white filly stood up and began dusting all the dirt off her white coat, and out of her pink and purple mane.

Scootaloo rubbed a hoof over the back of her neck. "Well, it was a scooter. I was going down the alleyway but you blocked the exit."

"Oh well I suppose I should pay a little more attention to where I'm going. My name is Sweetie Belle, what's yours?" Sweetie picked up the scooter and handed it to Scootaloo.

"I'm Scootaloo, thanks." Taking the scooter she quickly checked the key areas: axles, wheels, and bolts seemed to be in order.

"I haven't seen you around town before, did you just move here?"

"Yeah, well if you're ok I've got stuff to do."

Sweetie's eyes fell on Scootaloo's flank. "Wait! You're a blank flank too?" Sweetie Belle trotted right alongside Scootaloo. "I um. . . My sister wants me to go to this cuteceanera to make friends. I really don't want to go because I don't have a cutie mark. Maybe you can come with me, there will be lots of cake and snacks."

Scootaloo's ears perked up. "Snacks?" Her stomach rumbled in agreement. "Yeah sure, so what's a cuteceanera?"

"Haven't your parents told you about it? When somepony finds their cutie mark you throw a big party."

"I guess it sounds fun, when is it?"

"I was on my way there when you collided with me. Wait, are you ok? It looks like some of your primary feathers are missing."

Scootaloo folded her wings more tightly against her back to hide the few feathers left that had obviously been clipped with scissors. "Yeah it's nothing, pegasi lose feathers all the time! Just uh. . . molting! So let's go check out this party!"

Sweetie Belle picked up her pace and led Scootaloo to Sugarcube Corner. Once there, Scootaloo could smell the many wonderful treats inside. Putting her scooter and helmet away just inside the door, she followed Sweetie Belle in. Not many fillies had arrived, and the adults were still setting up tables and streamers. One pink mare in particular seemed to have an entire roll of streamers, several party hats, and an endless supply of confetti in her mane.

"So I guess you can introduce me to some of your friends Sweetie?"

"Oh, I don't have many friends yet. . ."

Scootaloo grabbed a couple cookies and began eating them. "Why--not?" The cookies were still warm, the chocolate melted before it even hit her tongue.

"I'm still new myself, my parents moved to Ponyville so I could spend more time with my sister Rarity. I have been studying so much for school I haven't had much time for friends."

"Ha! studying is for eggheads." Scootaloo grabbed some licorice off a nearby tray. It tasted like fresh cherries.

"Well don't blame me when you fail a test. . . Say I haven't seen you in Cherilee's class, you go to school right?"

"No."

"Oh your parents are home schooling you?"

Scootaloo glanced around and many other fillies and colts had shown up. "Uh, maybe. We're really new so I don't know yet." Scootaloo grabbed a cup of fruit punch.

"Oh quick, it's Diamond Tiara." Sweetie tugged Scootaloo's leg and pulled her under a table. "She is the one with the tiara, and her friend with the glasses is Silver Spoon. She's always giving me a hard time for being a blank flank."

"Why? There's nothing wrong with having a blank flank. I've dealt with plenty of bullies, I just need to knock her down a peg."

Sweetie grabbed Scootaloo to stop her from getting out from under the table. "No! You'll get us both in trouble if you pick a fight. Let's just wait a bit until she talks to somepony else and we can go get more snacks."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

The music was suddenly interrupted with a screech of the record. Looking over at the fillies that Sweetie had mentioned, she saw them approaching a yellow filly.

"Oh that is an amazing cutie mark." The two fillies appeared to be mocking her, backing her into a corner.

"Nice try, blank flank!" The silver fillies in their frilly saddles taunted the yellow filly in unison. They continued to laugh at her as she stood alone and the whole room watched.

Scootaloo could feel her blood boiling. She wanted to rush out and make them eat their words. Sweetie was right though, this wasn't another orphan picking on her in an orphanage. This was a room full of adult ponies. "Sweetie, follow my lead."

"You got a problem with blank flanks?" Scootaloo stepped out from under the table with Sweetie Belle nervously in tow. Several ponies gasped as the new fillies. "I said, you got a problem with blank flanks!"

"The problem is, I mean, she's like, totally not special." Silver spoon gestured with her hooves and the yellow filly looked ready to cry. Sweetie and Scootaloo moved to stand at her sides.

Sweetie retorted. "No, it means she's full of potential!"

"It means she could be great at anything!" Scootaloo spread her wings to make herself look a little more intimidating. She took on a shrill tone to mock Silver Spoon. "The possibilities are like, endless."

"She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer. She could even be mayor of Ponyville someday."

Scootaloo grinned and moved in for the kill. "And she's not stuck being stuck up like you two!" She pointed right at the pair, and now they felt just as alone as the yellow filly had been a minute ago. The ponies were laughing again, but at them and not at the blank flank.

"Hey! This is my party, why are you two on her side!" Diamond Tiara's face was turning red and her eyes narrowing. This was her special day, not theirs.

"Beacuse." Both fillies turned to show their blank flanks to everypony in the room.

"You don't have your cutie marks either! I thought I was the only one." The yellow filly was smiling again, standing on her rear legs in excitement.

"We thought we were the only two!"

A lavender unicorn stepped forward. "I for one think you are very lucky fillies."

"Lucky?" Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow. "How can they be lucky?"

"They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they're meant to be."

Applejack stepped forward. "And they've got all the time in the world to figure it out, not just an afternoon."

Everypony gathered around to chat with the blank flanks. There was a mass of fillies talking about all the opportunities they had. A few of them even wished they'd gotten a cooler cutie mark.

"Name's Scootaloo."

"And I'm Sweetie Belle."

"Applebloom."

The trio headed over to a table to chat. Once the music started back up everypony started dancing. Scootaloo never had friends, at best she had ponies that would go a week or two without picking on the small pegasus. Standing there at the table with Sweetie and Applebloom, she felt whole for the first time since her parents passed away. That familiar feeling of warmth, once almost forgotten, returned to her. Now she would have something to do aside from racing around town and avoiding predators at night.

"So I was thinking, now that we're friends. I mean, we are friends, right?" Applebloom glanced back and forth at the two fillies.

"How could we not be, we're totally alike. We don't have cutie marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy." Scootaloo rolled her eyes for emphasis.

"Totally crazy." Sweetie chimed in and then laughed with her friends.

Applebloom had an idea to share with her new friends. "Well now that we're friends, what if the three of us worked together to find out who we are, and what we're supposed to be?"

"Oh oh, we could form our own secret society!"

"I'm liking this idea!" Scootaloo waved an approving hoof in the air.

"A secret society, yeah, we'll need a name for it though." Applebloom put her hoof on her chin and stared into the distance for inspiration.

Scootaloo's head sprung off the table. "The Cutie Mark Three?"

"The Cutetastically Fantastics?" Sweetie's high pitched voice cracked a little.

"How about, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

"It's perfect Applebloom!" Scootaloo and the other two fillies began speaking over each other in their excitement.

"What do you say we celebrate with some of these delicious cupcakes?" Scootaloo balanced a cupcake on her nose before letting it fall onto the table. Her mouth was already salivating at the prospect of more free food. It was too bad she didn't have a saddlebag, or she could carry home enough sweets for a week.

Applebloom stopped Scootaloo with her hoof. "Not the cupcakes! Trust me."

"Let's see if there are any cookies!" The trio headed off to find other snacks, having only narrowly avoided Pinkie Pie's Tobasco cupcakes.

The three danced for a while, discussing what to do first. "We should start looking for our cutie marks after school tomorrow. You're both in Cheerilee's class right?" Applebloom was doing a small square dance, tapping her hooves with the rhythm.

"Yeah, I sit in the back row." Sweetie belle danced along in an awkward two step.

Scootaloo said nothing and just continued to flow with the music. She never realized how fun it could be to just dance.

"What about you Scootaloo?"

"Oh. . . I haven't started school yet." If she walked into class, the teacher would probably insist on meeting her parents. There were probably applications, and placement exams. Then she would be stuck there every day learning. On the other hoof, they might have a school cafeteria, and she would get to hang out with Applebloom and Sweetie every single day.

Sweetie answered for her. "She just moved to town so she hasn't signed up yet. All you need to do, Scootaloo, is show up to class and sign the roster. She has parent-teacher meetings every few months to introduce herself to the new filly's parents."

Scootaloo smirked, in a few months she could think of something. For now, she would get to hang out with her two best friends. "Sounds awesome, what time does it start?"

"Eight in the morning, it's at the end of main street near the park."

"Oh, I haven't been there yet. I uh. . . live near Applejack's farm." Scootaloo gave them a wide, innocent grin.

"That's perfect! Applejack's my big sis, I can meet you in the morning and show you the way to school."

"Why don't we try to get a cutie mark tonight too?" Sweetie stopped dancing to think of something fitting. "Sewing? No. Baking? Nah."

Applebloom looked over at Scootaloo. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well gee, where are we going to find a 12 foot stunt ramp at this time of night?"

"No Scootaloo, we can be Cutie Mark Crusader Dancers!"

"Awesome! I saw this rad break dancing move once, watch." Scootaloo spun around on the floor, winding up dizzy and out of breath. Odds are it looked pretty cool, so it was totally worth it.

"Hmm we're missing something. . . I know a cheer! Shout Cutie Mark Crusader Dancers with me on three. One. . . Two. . . Three!"

CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DANCERS!!!

---

Author's Note:

Proofread by: 11thWonder

Comments

[Brony_9_9]

I like it… continue.

[temerarii pulsat]

good work but the cupcakes were burnt to hell under the frosting not spicy lol

[Kaidan]

2102897 that's right, I should have watched the whole episode. On the bright side, at least Pinkie seemed to enjoy them.
(went in and fixed it, that's what I get for paralleling an episode w/o watching the whole thing.)

[temerarii pulsat]

2102975 that she did

[Cold Spike]

Cute story so far, please go on.

[Kaidan]

2105406 Thanks. I've read stories that reference her as an orphan in Ponyville (End of Ponies referenced some good Scootalorphan scenes.) Her escape to Ponyville was brief, but the past will catch up with her at the end of the first major story arc. Then I'll move on to my second arc, and hopefully think of a third by then. I've always wanted to see Scootaloo as a wonderbolt. . .

[Autarch Prime]

Liking the three chapters i've read so far.

[Alex Warlorn]

Scootaloo grinned and moved in for the kill. "And she's not stuck being stuck up like you two!" She pointed right at the pair, and now they felt just as alone as the yellow filly had been a minute ago. The ponies were laughing again, but at them and not at the blank flank.

I wonder how much what Scootaloo said ended up being 'nice job breaking it hero' and left Diamond Tiara thinking a spoil bully is ALL she could be.

[Jonny Bench]

You can easily get a ramp that size at ramps-R-us, for your every ramp need

[Witchrblizzad]

the place scoots is staying in is gonna be the clubhouse iznt it.

[Biker_Dash]

*coughcough* Just thought I'd point this little detail out...
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