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After a medical exam, Scootaloo was given the news that she only has a 20% chance of ever being able to fly. Her aunt may be willing to accept that diagnosis, but Scootaloo isn't willing to accept her fate, and is determined to fly by any means possible, no matter what risks it may bring.
Set in the same universe as "On a Rainy Day", though this story is self contained.
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Very good I love it
I can't wait for the new chap
moar! Heheh.
Vinyl Scratch tag?
Vinyl Scratch as Scootaloo's aunt seems a little random, but okay.
Not a bad start anyway. Haven't seen many stories that delve into how pegasi use magic for flight, so it could get interesting.
2161794>>2161797>>2161943
Glad you all like it. The good news is that I actually do have most of the next chapter ready. The bad news is that I'm planning on doing a fair amount of revision and probably rewriting before posting. "Just Winging It" is more then just a fanfic title at the moment, too, since I'm mostly plotting as I go for the moment. I'm sure I'll come up with a firmer outline down the line, though.
2161949
Yes. As shown in the first scene, for this particular fanfic's universe, Vinyl Scratch is Scootaloo's Aunt, and Scootaloo lives with her and Octavia.
2162476
You know, one minor thing in the backstory of Wise Cracker's excellent Junior Flight Camp: The Crusader and the Bullhead was that Scootaloo lived with her Aunt Vinyl Scratch. It was mentioned in passing, but I thought it was a very interesting idea, and I like messing around with Scootaloo's backstory anyways. (Which is one reason why I've been heavily focusing on writing a sequel to Making Friends, in fact.) And I've also read at least one fanfic where Vinyl and Octavia adopted Scootaloo.
The funny thing is that while I haven't necessarily thought that much about pegasi magic for this fic, I've thought enough about pegasi, unicorn, and earth pony magic for the Making Friends sequel that I'm finding that I could probably do somewhat of a lecture on it easily enough anyways. Of course, how much Scootaloo pays attention is another matter entirely.
You have my interest and my following, looking forward to more
And poor Scootaloo, she just had.to ask that question...
This fic looks promising.
Scoots, run. when Twilight tries to alter stuff, bad things happen
2178417>>2188424
Yeah. Never a good question to ask. A bit late to run, though.
2182976
Thanks.
2191903 than I pray for her soul
when this started, I thought Cupcakes
Is it wrong that my first thought was "with a rolled-up newspaper"?
2192340
Spoiler: Her soul is perfectly fine.
2192348
Nah. Though I could see with her going into a basement, then being strapped to a table, you'd think that. But it's just Twilight being all mad sciency and not thinking through her actions properly.
I was actually worried about this chapter being a bit dark, but that happens occasionally...
2192870
Heh. Sounds about right, actually.
2193054 Okie dokie lokie!
Well that was an odd sort of entertaining. I actually found this chapter strangely cute more than anything, and it didn't seem dark at all until that very last paragraph. Amusing watching Scoot's nervousness about the whole situation.
But so yeah, I honestly wasn't quite sure what my general impression of this story was from just the first chapter, but chapter two definitely gave my expectations a boost.
wat will happen to scoot
<-(I wasn't actually crying 
)
2193907
It probably shows to some extent that I'm writing it as a break from writing another, as of yet unpublished fanfic, which I've written lots and lots of cute Scootaloo and Ditzy scenes for. Hmmm, reminds me, I should probably give her a full name from this fic, as the one I'm using in that universe wouldn't work. Probably Scootaloo ____ Scratch.
And yeah, writing her getting progressively more and more worried was fun. And the EMU thing gave me this headcanon of Scootaloo sitting down one day and reading up on all the various flightless birds out there. Probably after Sweetie Belle called her a dodo. (Of course, the term 'EMU' itself was swiped from an earlier fanfic of mine, Taking Time.)
2195240
Well, we'll find out soon enough. It'd be rather early in the fanfic for anything really bad to happen to Scootaloo, wouldn't it?
OTOH, I could have the rest of the fanfic be about ScootAIloo, the robot Twilight replaces her with. That would be interesting.
2204860
Since we still don't know exactly how Equestrian naming conventions work, I'm not sure extending her name is necessary. In fact, I don't think they typically even have family names, so I'd personally find it kind of awkward if you made Scratch her last name, although it would be pretty insignificant. Up to you, of course. Hmm...or maybe her full name is Scoot A Loo.
Also, I actually sometimes kinda like to think of the muscly pegasus that was briefly mentioned in chapter one as Scootaloo's father, and that small wings run in their family. Obviously that has nothing to do with this story, but it'd be funny to see a fic with that idea some time.
By the way, I hope getting electrocuted or whatever at least took care of Scoot's itchy nose problem.
2204860 yeah, that would be cool
2206340
I know Scootaloo could be her full name, but I like to assume that some of the characters have full names we never hear, and are just usually referred to by one of their names. In the Making Friends sequel I'm working on, but haven't published yet, I have Sparkler being 'Amethyst Sparkling Star', to reconcile the fan names. And I do have a full name for Scootaloo I like in that universe, but I'll put it in spoiler text. Let's just say Scootaloo picked out her own middle name, though. How else would she end up as Scootaloo Daring Do?
Snowflake as Scootaloo's father would be amusing. I know I've seen him teaching Scootaloo how to fly at least once or twice in a fic.
Also, I can safely say Scootaloo is no longer noticing her itchy nose.
2216500
Yeah, like I said, it's your story, so I won't object to whatever you choose to do with her name, as long as it's not totally unbelievable. It's possible more pony names could be like Pinkamina Diane Pie. Probably not Rainbow Dash, though, since her "Rainbow Danger Dash" line implied Rainbow Dash is her actual full name. Then again, Pinkie also said "Pinkie Responsibility Pie" so who knows?
My Scoot A Loo joke made me wonder, though, what might a "loo" be in Equestria, and how Scoot would be one? And then it'd be rather strange to have someone ask your middle name, and you have to tell them it's just the letter A.
2216635
There's a good chance I'll never even mention a full name, unless I think of a good one, like I did for the other fic. OTOH, there's a good chance I'll write a dream sequence with Scootaloo as Ringo Starr, depending on how random I'm feeling. ^_^
A surprising number of fanfics have Rainbow as Rainbow Mariam Dash, actually. Though I read one where her name, surprisingly, was actually Rainbow Dashiel Silverhoof. Dance of the Rainbow was pretty good, actually.
Also, some people do just have a middle initial. And I'd assume loo would be the same as in Britain, toilet or lavatory. Scoot A Loo sort of suggests "Scoot of the bathroom", or "scoot to the bathroom" to me, which would be a rather embarrassing name. Reminds me of "Latrine" from "Robin Hood, Men in Tights".
Of course, loo also appears to be Scottish for love, which would be a much better name meaning.
Scootaloo's in trouble
Heh, Scootaloo doesn't seem to have the highest expectations of Rainbow Dash. It is interesting how I don't think we ever saw those two interact again after Sleepless in Ponyville. Is Dash more talk than action when it comes to filling the big sister role? It almost seemed like a deliberate joke that she left for the Wonderbolts Academy the very next episode. Then again, I'm not 100% certain this story is supposed to take place after those episodes.
Spike scratching behind Scootaloo's ears was really cute, by the way. I wonder how big Spike's role is going to be in this story. Maybe he'll suddenly sprout wings, just to make Scoot feel really frustrated.
And next to see how you write Octavia. Scoots shouldn't worry too much, though, she can just say that she was tied up and getting electrocuted in the library basement. That's a fairly good excuse for being home late, right? Although I suppose that might create some difficulties in receiving any more help from Twilight.
Also, you typoed Spike's name as "Spoke" in one spot.
2244220
Yep.
2246247
I haven't really established whether Sleepless In Ponyville is canon in this yet. It's clearly before Just For Sidekicks, and Magical Mystery Cure is not canon, due to Twilight being able to fly five minutes after getting wings. But, yeah, either it didn't happen, or she's been flaky since then. If it wasn't for that episode, I wouldn't have high expectations of Rainbow Dash either. Scootaloo's spent all this time following her around and cheering her on, and she's never, say, offered flying lessons?
Thanks. I enjoyed writing the scratching behind the ears scene. It was also really weird typing 'hand' and 'fingers' in a mlp fanfic. I kept wanting to fix it. As far as Spike's role, we'll see. His role so far rather surprised me. I kept getting Spike x Scootaloo vibes for some reason. But I've read so many fanfics where Spike is pretty much invisible or missing for scenes in the library that I couldn't bear to do it here. So far, he gets to be the sane one balancing out Twilight.
Yeah, that's the problem. Scootaloo could get herself out of trouble by saying that, but she risks ruining any chance of getting help from Twilight by doing so.
I also decided I was using a variation of a backstory for Scootaloo from another unpublished fanfic, so that's why I started to go a little more into why Scootaloo is living with Vinyl. Of course, only piece I have of the next chapter so far is Octy vs. Scootaloo.
2246679 Spike x Scootaloo vibes, huh? Heh, to be honest, after their interactions this chapter, I actually double-checked if this story had a romance tag. Spike is good at being the voice of reason when the ponies need one, though.
And yeah, Scootaloo's hero-worship of Rainbow Dash always had a touch of sad to it before Sleepless in Ponyville. In fact I almost made a kinda mean comic about that after Ponyville Confidential. It was going to be titled Sisterly Bonds, and be about how they missed out on a perfect opportunity to show Dash giving Scoots a little affection for once at the end of the episode. While Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were both in the background affectionately making amends with their sisters, I was going to show Scootaloo stuck with just that balloon Rainbow Dash.
2247032
Yeah, and I like to think he's being nice to her because of what had just happened to her, and that he would have done the same for somepony else in her place. A gallant gentledragon and a filly in distress, basically. The bath might have been a bit questionable, but she's young enough I could see it, and as mentioned, she was too tired to really take a bath by herself anyways. At least it was better then being scrubbed down in a bucket.
imageshack.us/a/img689/9068/cmctakeabath.png
This one?
imageshack.us/a/img41/7749/rdballoon.png
I always thought it was interesting that backstage at the talent show Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash came to pick up the crusaders. And I have to wonder what Scootaloo did during the Sisterhooves Social...
2247369 "It occurred to Scootaloo that maybe she ought to get to know Spike a bit better. A flightless dragon was as much of a rarity as a flightless pegasus, wasn't it?" was actually the bit that made me wonder, even though I figured it probably just meant as friends. But yeah, this chapter easily could have been the beginning of a little Spikaloo shipping, but at most it was only faint hinting of the mere possibility. Perfectly reasonable that he was simply helping her out, just to be nice.
And yes, that's the balloon I meant. That thing seems to be just pretty much indestructible, because it's been around since Mare Do Well, if not earlier. Well, unless she just keeps making more of them. I thought it was interesting that while Bloom and Sweetie were both bonding with their sisters in the background, Scootaloo just walked past by herself, carrying a newspaper.
The scene after the talent show always makes me laugh from the expression on Rarity's face, like she's thinking, "Why am I here again?" Dash being there too is curious though. Maybe she went backstage just because she was already there hanging out with her friends? But Scoots during Sisterhooves Social...no idea. The "Who needs sisters anyway" event at the orphanage? ...maybe not. I just can't believe they still haven't given her a family, though, even something as simple as putting her face with a check-mark on the clipboard during Family Appreciation Day.
2247962
Yeah, as far as that line goes, she meant as friends. It could become more then that, but I wasn't particularly intending on that happening in the course of this fanfic. Doesn't mean it won't, necessarily, since I'm, well, winging it a lot on this fic. But it'd interfere with where I was going with it.
Presumably she was just continuing to distribute the newspapers to the other townponies, but it was a little odd. I'm vaguely reminded of a fanfic I read where she was an orphan, and homeless, but it wasn't an issue. Everypony in town knew she was an orphan, and every night she just knocked on a random ponies door and got food and shelter for the night. It stuck in my mind since I hadn't seen that take on it before.
And I was rather amazed after Sleepless In Ponyville to find that her origin as shown in Making Friends was still possible after that. I was expecting parents or a home to show up, but One Bad Seed did the story more damage by showing where Sweetie Belles home was.
2248290 Yeah, Spikaloo could be cute and make fair amount of sense, but thinking just in terms of Scootaloo's rather single-minded focus on her flying problem in this story, it does seem like a somewhat unlikely turn of events here.
And that's actually kind of a neat take on the Orphanloo theme. Do you remember the name of that story?
As for Sweetie Belle's living situation... well, it seems like most people STILL completely disregard the fact that she even has parents. More often than not, people still have Sweetie living with Rarity all the time. I've seen like two stories ever that mention Sweetie's real home/parents. It's actually kinda funny. Well, three now, I suppose, since I just took a look at your Making Friends story. Somehow, though, maybe it was because I went into that story from this one, but I was pretty much expecting that outcome right from the start. But it was still a cute story anyway.
2248891
It was a oneshot called Breaking Babs, and obviously that concept wasn't the focus. I wish more time was spent on it, really.
Right. If I wanted to do a romance between them, it'd probably be a separate story in the same universe.
What bugged me was seeing in 'One Bad Seed' that Sweetie Belle lives right next to the pond I had them take an epic trek to. My explanation at this point is that the house she' was living in at the time got destroyed by parasprites and they moved.
And that's one reason I didn't put Scootaloo as a character tag on Making Friends. If you are thinking about Scootaloo at all when reading it, it's pretty obvious. I'm still amused by my chapter title for it, "Imaginary Ponies Are the Best Ponies". Glad you liked it, though. You can probably see why I've been working on a sequel since a few days after writing it.
Entropy increases. You can't get something for nothing. There would be consequences to something like that happening, and I wanted to write about them. And exactly how real is Scootaloo? What does she have in the way of memories? And how independent is she of Sweetie Belle?
And I wanted to write lots of Ditzy/Scootaloo fluff, of course.
Even though I haven't published it, there's an excerpt from chapter 4 here.
2246679
That was just a glide, not true flight. (She got Shining Armor to launch her off of the North Tower.)
2276793
Yeah, that's a possibility, too. I'll probably just avoid the issue by having this fic never get as far as the end of season three.
And I decided that Sleepless In Ponyville is canon at this point. Rainbow Dash just hasn't been acting like the best big sister since then...
I actually have the next chapter written, incidentally. Not sure if I'm satisfied with it, and it needs polish, though, Only got to the end of it last night.
D'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
if dash is her sister, luna is like her wise grandmother she can talk to, or a family friend adult.. or counselor. Whatever, i just love how she helps her.
2315680
Thanks. I really like this relationship, too. I figure part of Luna's duties includes monitoring dreams, and if somepony has persistent nightmares, she'll get to know them pretty well. In this case, she's clearly come to care about Scootaloo a good deal.
The murder scene was hard to write, as well, because I knew what happened, but Scoots was very carefully trying to screen it out as best she could. And she'd been through the scene enough times that she was able to do it. Sad thing is that in this universe, things went much better then in another one, where she continued down the stairs...
Ah, a nice pleasant chapter about Scootaloo's happy back-story. Fond memories of the time her parents had such a fun party that they accidentally spilled some juice on her stuffed frog, then left on an epic quest to find a new one for her. And then Luna shows up to chat just 'cause they're pals.
But oof, settled on the post-camping trip, bitter disappointment route with Rainbow Dash, I see. Or at least for the moment anyway. I'm curious if Dash will become a positive figure in this story, or if she'll be a prime example of what Lauren meant when she said Rainbow Dash wouldn't make the best sister. It's easy to give someone high hopes with a few promises during a moment of stress, but how well she'd live up to those expectations is hard to say.
I do kinda wish you'd gone with some other reason Scootaloo's parents are dead. Murdered in a break-in just seems so... well, like something that would happen in real life. I like to at least think ponies wouldn't treat each other that way, so even if it had been a couple diamond dogs or such instead. Biased nitpickery, though, perhaps, and it's probably rather silly to expect the death of her parents to be at all satisfying in any sense. Sorry if I keep griping about little preference things, though, since they aren't really criticisms as much as quibbling.
By the way, do you want typos and such pointed out? I noticed maybe half a dozen little corrections that could be made. Didn't really keep track of where they were, though.
2318584
Lets just say every relationship is going to have bumps along the way, and this is one of them. I'm not saying anything major happened. Rainbow saying she'd take Scootaloo under her wing, immediately taking off to the Wonderbolt Academy for a few weeks, then ignoring Scootaloo a few times after getting back would be more then enough.
And, yes, Scootaloo's parents death, by the nature of the event, isn't going to be satisfying. Think of it this way. Robberies and deaths related to them do happen in my Equestria, but a lot less then here, and are likely do be cracked down on harder. Essentially, what happened that night was front page news, and would have been even if it didn't involve the death of a fairly popular singer.
I did feel some of the mother / daughter interaction, and the Scootaloo / Luna moments were important to get in. I kind of feel like her father got robbed of screen time, but that happens.
As far as typos, I'd be glad to have them pointed out, so I could fix them. Reviewing, I do see at least two spots I should clean up. Think I spent too much time futzing around with Luna's dialogue...
Shame I didn't get much description in for her parents:
imageshack.us/a/img14/5841/scootaloofamilypicture2.png
2322388
Heh, that might not've been the best Scootaloo vector to pick for that picture. Kinda looks like she's afraid of them. So, I don't remember seeing the exact relationships mentioned anywhere, so I'm gonna assume Vinyl is Scootaloo's mother's sister, whether or not it matters at all.
But yeah, Rainbow wouldn't have to do anything cruel at all to disappoint Scootaloo. All she'd have to do is act on par to how she did in Wonderbolt Academy when she didn't bother to ever send Pinkie a letter. Dash seems like the type to get wrapped up in whatever she's concerned about, oblivious to how it might be affecting those around her, with no mean-spirited intent at all. Or maybe a few impatient snarks that come off sounding harsher than she realized. Maybe Scootaloo speaking up could be all it takes to get Dash to make the effort again, but then maybe she'd just forget again two days later. So you could go either direction with that relationship and have it be believable.
I just did a quick scan for typos, so I might have missed some, but most seem to involve apostrophes. Small stuff, really.
Lets have a look
still felt she needed Twilights help
Scootaloo demeanor changed
put all the other pegasus to shame --> pluralize pegasus
At the end of the stairs was nook --> was a nook
that her parent's attackers --> parents'
2322651
Yeah, that's a bit of an old picture, actually. It predates season 3. I should put in a better Scootaloo vector, but I still had it hanging around, and that is about what her parents look like for this. And, yes, that's the family relationship I had in mind.
Of course, I also have Vinyl possibly being related to Shining Armor somewhere in the back of my mind. Both white unicorns with similar colors of mane...
And, yeah, Rainbow isn't trying to hurt Scootaloo. It'd be amusing if she tried to get advice on being a sister from Rarity. ^_^
"Being a big sister is like Applejack. Seriously. Go bug her."
Apostrophes do tend to be a weak spot of mine. And it's a lot harder to see your own mistakes, unfortunately, because your mind fills in what you intended.
And, you know, sometimes I put in little things that are probably too subtle. I happen to be a John Lennon fan, and his last album before his murder was Double Fantasy. And the song "Beautiful Boy" on that album ends with him whispering "Good night, Sean. See you in the morning."...
I think you meant to say Apple Bloom instead of Scootaloo.
2419397
Gah.
I swear I remember fixing typing the wrong name somewhere else in this chapter before publishing it, too. Oh well, fixed. Thanks!
"Maybe he can help me learn to fly!"
"Maybe he can help me learn magic!"
"Maybe he can help me get a brain!"
"... Pinky Pie, why did you say that, and why are you wearing those funny clothes with straw poking out all over?"
Sorry, it was the first thing that popped into my mind reading this chapter.
2419598
I almost worked in an oz joke, actually. Because I was thinking about the same thing near the end. Though I had Apple Bloom in mind, since it is the CMC.
But I already had Sweetie Belle singing "Move On Down the Road" in Making Friends, and continued to work Oz references into the unpublished sequel, so I figured I'd let it go here. (Especially since that universe gave me Scarecrow!Ditzy Doo headcanon...).
Singing Sweetie is win.
Scoots seems a little bit sassy with Octavia, kinda funny. When it first came up, I was definitely slightly dubious about Octavia and Vinyl essentially being Scoot's foster parents, but it seems to be working well enough, so yeah.
So Scootaloo sure is managing to get some strong allies in her corner to help her out with her flying problem. With Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna both taking personal interest in her case, seems like if there's any way to get her flying, they should find it. There's probably some other little filly elsewhere in Equestria with the exact same problem, but just giving up because she doesn't have the attention of anypony who can help. But I wonder how Sweetie Belle is going to factor into things.
And then normally "everyone" is a perfectly suitable word for ponies to use, but something about that "Everypone attack!" line struck me as more amusing than it probably should have been. It always makes me wonder, though, how ponies are aware of real-life references like that.
Saw some more minor typos and things, largely apostrophes again:
"She looked up as Scootaloo come down the stairs." came
"and the it came out of its sleeve"
"and had only been on the Flaming Tulips final album" apostrophe
"The band had actually disbanded after her mothers death" apostrophe
"The doors unlocked, you two" apostrophe
"really old looking books" old-looking
Also, this chapter could use a bit more diversity in the character identifiers. There were a few points where I had to stop and try to figure out which pony the "she"s and "her"s were referring to. Pretty minor thing, though.
2431269
Yeah, I'm happy about how the family dynamic between them is working out. And Octavia and Scootaloo is funny. Of course, it's also a sign of a healthy relationship. Scoots is comfortable enough with Octy that she's willing to tease her without worrying too much about punishment. (And the nickname "Octy" is definitely Vinyls fault. She's just given up on protesting.)
It's an interesting family dynamic in that Octavia ends up becoming the primary caregiver despite not actually being related to Scootaloo. It's largely because Vinyl and Scoots are too similar, and Vinyl would let her get away with too much. But Octavia clearly cares about Scootaloo...
And yes, I'm sure there is another filly or colt or two giving up on the same issue due to lack of help. To be fair, in my headcanon, Luna has a similar relationship with a dozen other children across Equestria, and if Twilight wasn't there, would have found some other way to help. Essentially, "Children of the Night" combined with Sleepless In Ponyville in my mind at some point.
You know, Sweetie Belle wasn't in my first draft of this chapter. I've got ideas for her and the next chapter, though.
Oh, and believe me, that went from everyone to everypony to everpone in the course of writing this, and I left it as the letter because it highly amused me, too. In my mind, it's not so much a real life reference as the singer mispronouncing "everypony" to make it fit better in the song, which does happen.
Thanks for the corrections! I went through and took care of the typos you pointed out. I recognise some of the non-apostrophe related ones as being from last minute changes, too. I really should just get a proofreader.
I do tend to find that the character identifiers are always a pain, especially in the mlp universe. I'll take a look at that if I get a chance. One of the issues is that everypony is female, so I never get to use he vs. she.
Now if I can just persuade myself to start the next chapter. I wrote first and second drafts of the second and third chapters for a fic I'm calling "Cubic Zirconia" instead yesterday. Of course, I was able to do that largely because I took a few days off...
2431770
I did find it kind of interesting how Octavia seems to be playing the caretaker role in this, and Vinyl's just kinda relaxed about everything. I think that's what got me wondering about it last chapter when I asked if Vinyl was Scoot's mother's sister. I suppose that means the way it's playing out makes sense, if I can guess the blood relation independently of which of the two is acting more like a concerned parent.
And as soon as Sweetie Belle showed up in this chapter, I started imagining her getting strapped down for that same experiment that didn't go so well for Scootaloo. Sweetie might want to run if Twilight suggests running some tests on her next.
I meant the song itself was a (slightly modified) real-life reference, along with the Rocky Horror Picture Show mention. It always catches my attention when ponies talk about songs or books or such from Earth. Ponify it to some degree, like you did with the song, and it's just a reference; directly name-drop something, seemingly unmodified, and it feels a little like fourth-wall breaking or something. I once read a story where Shining Armor teased Twilight by telling her spoilers from Hunger Games, and I think Harry Potter, and it made me wonder how they got their hooves on straight-up human books.
And yeah, the "she" thing can be tricky.
But hmm, Cubic Zirconia... Somehow sorta sounds like it could be a SweetieSpike story, perhaps. Or possibly something about Rarity. Hard to guess what a story will be about from just the name, unless it's really blatant.
2433668
You can also think of it this way, to a certain extent. Vinyl already had an established role in Scootaloo's life before her parents died, namely that of the wild and crazy aunt who spoils her niece rotten. Transitioning from that to a responsible mothering role would be difficult.
Octavia hadn't spent too much time with Scoots before then. It was much easier for her to take over the parental role.
As far as Sweetie Belle goes, Twilight knows what she did wrong last time, right?
But don't worry, I don't think Scootaloo would stand for that, and there's always Spike. 
Plus we have a responsible adult present at the moment.
And I suppose I should have gone with what I did in an earlier draft and not directly named the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Or called it "The Rocky Horror Pony Show". I was imagining it as ponified, of course...
It's rather difficult to have a dj without referencing music, and it's easier to reference existing music, such as ELO's 'Mr Blue Sky', unfortunately. Besides, singing "Ballroom Blitz" fits well with my interpretation of her character.
Ah well, I'll try to avoid doing that too much without at least ponifying it. (Like my earlier 'Sandmare' reference.)
And, yeah, I see what you mean. Cubic Zirconia stars Diamond Tiara, actually. One of her more nasty tricks on the CMC lands Apple Bloom in the hospital. And an overreaction on her fathers part lands her on the streets. Not sure how realistic it is, but I'm having fun writing it, anyways.
I've got the draft of what I've written of Cubic Zirconia linked on my user page right now, along with various unpublished junk, actually. Most of the other fics linked are cancelled or on long hiatuses, though.
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Yeah, referencing music that way is generally pretty harmless, and can be quite fitting or even just about a necessity sometimes, so how you handled that aspect was just fine. Plus it made for that funny "Everypone" bit. It was really just the Rocky Horror part that gave me pause, but obviously, such a show would have to be acted by ponies, meaning it's automatically ponified at least a little. So it wasn't nearly as out-of-place as the books mentioned in that other fic, which I can't even remember what story that was from anymore. In any case, I really didn't want to make it seem like a big problem or anything, which was why I made only a passing mention of it originally. I might not be the biggest fan of references, in general, but I know a lot of people find them fun, as long as they aren't overdone.
And holy crap! Diamond Tiara's father kicks her out? That's mean, but kinda funny in a serves-her-right sort of way. Diamond Tiara definitely makes sense for that title, though, not sure why I didn't think of that. If you're going to publish that one, I'll probably wait until then to read it, but I might take a look at some of those other scraps some time, if I ever manage to actually catch up a little more with my backlog of regular updates.