Short Stories

by Catalysts Cradle

11. Just Like You, feat. Scootaloo

Prompt: All good things must come to an end.

---

When Scootaloo closed her eyes, she could almost see the spectacle as the Wonderbolts pulled off their new trick to the delight of the stadium full of cheering ponies below. She pictured Rainbow Dash punching through the sound barrier, filling the sky with an explosion of color as the other trailed her, wrapping flames and lightning around her rainbow wake. She could just imagine herself being there, staring up at the sky as her hero flew by. Upon opening her eyes, however, the teenage filly was met only with the sight of the the blank ceiling tiles above her bed. She picked up the letter which she had been clutching to her chest and read through it letter once again, even though she practically knew it by heart already.

Scootaloo always knew Rainbow Dash was destined for greatness. Rainbow Dash was the most awesome pony in all of Equestria, and Ponyville could only contain so much awesome. But now, as a member of the Wonderbolts, she could travel all around the world and wow ponies everywhere with the high-flying, death-defying stunts. The Wonderbolts gave Rainbow the opportunity to share her greatness with the rest of Equestria, and Scootaloo couldn’t be happier for her.

With a sigh, she rolled off of her bed and slid the letter into a drawer in her desk. Dreams of Wonderbolts and sonic rainbooms still in her mind, she trotted down the stairs and grabbed her helmet and scooter.

Stepping out onto her porch, she donned her helmet, and took off down the streets of Ponyville, the warm summer air rushing past her wings as she sped down the main thoroughfare. Scootaloo looked up at the clear blue sky. These days used to be her favorite; with no clouds for the weather pegasi to clear, it would have been the perfect day to catch Rainbow Dash practicing her stunts.

Yeah, Ponyville was a different place without Rainbow Dash. No accidental rain storms, fewer silly pranks, no days where she could just lay on the cool grass and watch her idol soar through the skies, no post-flying-session trips to Sugarcube Corner...

Scootaloo skidded to a halt, nearly passing her destination, the local skate park. She and the rest of the crusaders help build it after she got tired of getting yelled at for riding through the market. It wasn’t much – a halfpipe, a few ramps, and a couple of rails – but she held fond memories of the place. After all, this is where she got cutie mark here so many years ago. She recalled how excited she was that day to show Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo made her way over the the halfpipe and, positioned herself at the lip with her scooter. If there’s one thing Rainbow Dash her instilled in her, it was that being awesome didn’t come easy. It was something you had to practice at everyday. And today, awesome was trying to finally perfect the triple backflip, 540 twist. She launched herself down the halfpipe, and coming up the other side, she kicked off the ramp, launching herself into the air. She buzzed her wings to and tucked her body inward to speed her rotation. As she felt herself reaching the apex of the jump, and then coming back down, she extended her body, and shuffled her hooves to line her wheels up with the ramp.

“Yeah!” she shouted as she touched down, the adrenaline of landing a new trick, rushing through her veins.

“Wow, that was so cool!”

Scootaloo turned to see a little teal pegasus filly clapping her hooves. Scootaloo smiled and waved at the kid, then went back through her practice routine, with some standard jumps and grinds. With every trick she landed, she could hear the small filly cheer. After a few minutes, Scootaloo stopped, wiped some sweat from her brow and turned to the filly.

“Hey kid,” said Scootaloo. “Not that I don’t mind the audience, but don’t you have anything better to do on a day like this?”

“Well, um, you see,” the filly paused. “I just moved here from Los Pegasus, and I saw the skate park, and thought, wow, I haven’t ever seen anything like that, but I’ve never seen anyone use it even though I come by everyday, but then today I show up and see you and wow! You’re like this, and zooming over there, and—”

Scootaloo let out a laugh. “Okay, I get it.”

“But I can leave if you don’t want me here,” the filly replied, her eyes lowering to the ground.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” said Scootaloo. “Catch!”

The filly caught Scootaloo’s bright red helmet in her hooves, and gave it a puzzled look.

“You wanna learn how to ride a scooter?”

“Do I ever!” she shouted and she ran over to Scootaloo.

***

“Hey, you did great, kid,” said Scootaloo. “Keep working at it and someday, you’ll be as good as me.”

The filly’s eyes widened. “You think so?”

“If you practice, yeah.”

“Oh, I will, everyday!” she responded. “When I grow up I wanna be just like you!”

Scootaloo smiled. “You know, when I was your age, I said the exact same thing about an older friend who used to live around her.”

“Did it happen?”

“Huh?”

“Did you grow up to be just like her?”

Scootaloo looked off at the clear blue skies, and then back down at her new friend. With a smile, she wrapped a foreleg around the filly’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

Comments

[Devildogg20]

6805942 oh well that sucks... Great job with the story! Maybe you can create another story based on these two, maybe with them getting a better ending, that sounds like it could be interesting!

[Catalysts Cradle]

6805952 Thanks. I mainly went with the tragedy angle because of the particular prompt. I do have a soft spot for Pinkie/Changeling shipping, and here are some other fics that feature a similar pairing:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/195499/changelings-love-and-lollipops
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/263445/doyou

[Devildogg20]

6805967 thank you! I'll be sure to check them out! Can you please tell me if you decide to write something like I said? Even if you don't ,glad for the story!

[Catalysts Cradle]

6805972 Sure. I currently don't have plans to write a story like that, but I'll be sure to let you know if I do. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[Catalysts Cradle]

8589310
tl;dr is an internet abbreviation that stands for "too long; didn't read." It commonly is placed at the end of a long post as a summary of the post for those who don't want to read a wall of text.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tl%3Bdr

[Catalysts Cradle]

8589317
A golem is a mythical creature from Jewish folklore. Golems are monsters that are typically made of clay, mud or rock that are magically brought to life (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem). It is also the name of a rock-like Pokémon:
cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/f/f2/076Golem.png/250px-076Golem.png

[Kunama Windrider]

8589579
Who was this a reply to?

[Catalysts Cradle]

8590187
That post was a reply to your previous comment
8589310

tl;dr What is this? Is it an alien symbol?

Did I not understand your question correctly?

[Kunama Windrider]

8590297
I wanted to know what it meant.