A Flight to Rememberby The Spitfire Redneck
Chapters
Intro
Story Notes:
Yep, this is the first chapter of my Scootaloo story. Hope you gusta.
3:30 a.m.
Sweet Apple Acres: Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse.
An orange filly awoke in a cold sweat, her purple mane was pasted to her face. Her eye’s we’re swollen an bloodshot from the crying she had done in her sleep. The clubhouse was empty save for the few furnishings and decorations inside. It was ordinary December night in Ponyville, cold and bitter. The clubhouse was well insulated but had no heat source, all she had to keep her warm were the few torn and dirty blankets draped around her. Comfort was minimal as she rested on the wooden floor.
These past winter weeks had been worse than those of the autumn months, the cold nibbled at her sanity driving her into a deeper depression. It constantly reminded her of just how alone she truly was. “If only that day had never come.” she thought to her self. She thought back to that fateful week where her world had been torn completely apart.
~
1 ½ years prior.
Cloudsdale.
“Scootaloo! It’s time to get up sweety.” Scoots mother Clear Skies called from the lower portion of their cloud apartment. The mare was like most Pegasus, sweet and caring. Not one to raise her voice in anger. Scootaloo was nearly her spitting image, save for the brighter coat and blue mane her mother wore.
“Give her some more time Sky,” Scootaloo’s father Red Thunder spoke. “today should be pretty exhausting for her. After all, we’re gonna be giving her first flying lessons.” The grey Pegasus looked at his wife, ice grey eyes accented his coat which tended to give him a more stern than compassionate look, yet his dark red mane seemed to bring much unneeded attention.
“I suppose your right dear, after all she’s gonna need all the rest she can get.” Clear Skies smiled thinking of the beautiful daughter they had brought into the world. “Do you think we’re doing this too soon? She’s still very young.”
Scootaloo had heard everything her parents just said, she was so giddy sleep as virtually impossible now. She sprang from her Cumulus brand bed and bolted down the stairs to meet her parents endearing gaze. The smile on her face said everything, she was ready to learn.
Somewhere around 20 minutes later the family arrived at the Cloudsdale main park. Scootaloo’s excitement was impossible to ignore as she bounced around flapping her tiny wings wildly. “What do I get to do first!” the orange filly pried excitedly.
“The first thing you’re gonna do is stretch those wings a bit.” Red called to her. “unfold them like this an point them up as far as you can.” unfurling his wings as he spoke as to give an example of how to properly stretch. “Then give them a couple flaps to make sure they’re not stiff.” once again giving an example of the proper technique.
Scoots followed his directions precisely, and was surprised as to how much better they felt. She giggle to herself and commenced to fluttering her small wings.
“You catch on pretty quick, we should have this done in no time at all.” Clear Skies spoke as she watched her daughter succumb to the exercises so naturally.
“Think so?” Scootaloo beamed “That would be totally awesome! I’ll be like the first in our neighborhood to fly!”
“You just might.” Red smiled “Alright now if you’re good an stretched we can get started.”
“Oh yeah, I’m definitely ready!” Scoots could hardly contain herself.
Red smirked at the response “Well then lets get started watch how your mother takes off.” with that he gave Clear Skies a nod. She bolted forward and began flapping her wings simultaneously and with one quick jump was soaring above them. “The trick here is to wait until you feel a wind current, then you jump. Now why don’t you try it.”
Scootaloo took a deep breath then sped forward as fast as her little legs would take her, she methodically brought her wings up and down feeling the slight lift it gave her. Feeling a slight breeze she leaped upward, and came crashing back into the cloud floor. “Keep trying!” Red encouraged her. Scootaloo nodded and began her run once again, wings beating she kept her pace until she felt another gust, she jumped wings catching the slight breeze. She soared upward for what seemed like minutes to her. Yet in all reality was a mere second. Once again she crash landed, her immature wings were not strong enough to keep her a flight.
“COME ON!” Scootaloo yelled to herself.
Thunder and Sky ran toward her, unsure of whether or not they should continue. Scootaloo paid no mind and took off yet again, another leap and another second of air time was all she could achieve.
“I don’t know honey, I think she’s still too young.” Clear Skies looked at Red who merely nodded his head. “Scootaloo! Come on back, I think that’s enough for now.”
Ignoring her parents she attempted the feat once more, still only able to achieve very little flight. “I never thought it would be this hard.” Scoot moped. She turned back to her parents who gave a look of appreciation mixed with concern.
“Hey don’t give up, your wings just aren’t strong enough, give it some more time and I’m sure you’ll get it.” Clear Skies nuzzled her “Come on lets head back home.”
~
Monday 9:00 a.m.
Cloudsdale Elementary
At the time Scootaloo only had one friend, Mustang was his name, he had a grey coat and a short green mane with silver eyes. Far from shy he was considered the class clown, yet had very little friends. “Ey Scoots! Hows it hangin’?” He called to his best friend as she entered the gate leading into the schoolhouse.
“HI!” She beamed when she saw her one friend.
“Do anything fun over the weekend?”
“Kinda, my parents gave me some flying lessons…” Scootaloo blushed remembering how things went.
“No way! Was it fun? How did you do?” Mustang started belting her with one question after the other.
“Not so good… My wings aren’t ready yet” She moped.
“Hey atleast yours are normal!” He smirked “Have you SEEN how big mine are?” He unfurled them making Scootaloo giggle, the sight made him look like a fly with a toothpick on it’s back.
“Yeah, I’ve seen them before Stang. But that just means you’ll be a strong flier, I don’t even know IF I’ll be able to fly.”
“Oh please, you’re just saying that.”
“Maybe… Hey what did you do over the weekend?”
“Same thing as usual…” He looked down with a saddened expression. Which caused a look of concern to make it’s way across Scootaloo’s face.
“Hey, chin up. One day you won’t have to worry about him and we can live together.” She attempted a reassuring smile, it had some affect but not much. He could only agree with her.
“I know…”
The schoolhouse bell rang beckoning all the foals inside.
“Well time to go.” Scootaloo nudged Mustang toward the school.
“I’ll race you to class.” He smirked and bolted off leaving Scoots behind.
“Hey wait up!” With that she dashed after her friend giggling as they tumbled through the door into their home room.
“Too your seats you two.” Their teacher Ms. Wormapple glanced over at the two sternly “Move it!”
“Yes ma’am.” the two spoke in unison causing a giggle to escape from the duo. They trotted to their respective seats right next to each other, shooting one another mischievous grins.
“Hey Scoots, how do we mess with her today?” Mustang whispered.
“I don’t know, I’m plum out of ideas. I used them all up last week.”
“Shoot…” The two sat pondering how best to get on their teachers nerve that day, there were so many possibilities but not all could be done.
“I know! We’ll pull a classic!” Scootaloo grinned, rummaging through her desk she found it. A simple tack. “Go distract her, and I’ll put it on her chair.” Mustang grinned, saluted and trotted over to his teacher.
“Ms. Wormapple, I got a question.”
“What is it now?” She sighed and stood up. Mustang walked over to a map displayed on the wall.
“What’s this town called?”
“Stalliongrad…”
“And this one?”
“Ponyville…” Scootaloo took this time to sneak over to the desk and place the tack on her chair. Slinking back to her spot she coughed letting Mustang know the trap was set.
“Thank you Ms. Wormapple, I couldn’t read them very well.” The mare simply huffed and traipsed back to her seat. Not a second later did she sit down. She yelped eyes as big as dinner plates. Fury burning in her eyes she looked over the room of snickering foals.
“Which one of you little shits did that?!” The room fell silent, none of the foals had heard a teacher use such foul language. Then all the foals except Mustang pointed at Scootaloo. “I should have known…”
“I know, I know. To the principals office.” her head hung low as she slowly walked out of the room and down the hall to meet her fate.
Chapter End Notes:
A short intro chapter, I know. Hope it suffices though.
You Big Bully
A short gasp escaped from the orange foal as she lay on the barren floor of the clubhouse, she noticed the night was getting colder. “I’m gonna freeze to death in here.” Scoot sighed through clenched teeth. Once again she brought herself back to the past recalling every detail. Hoping to find some closure from the incident.
~
9:30a.m.
Cloudsdale Elementary, Principal Ashard’s office.
The mustached stallion glared down at his frequent visitor. “What’d you do this time Scootaloo?”
“Tack on the teachers chair…” Scootaloo decided to skip any formalities or try to play it off.
“When are you going to learn? You can’t keep this up and expect to stay in school.” His cobalt eyes showed compassion as well as discipline.
“I don’t know… I just like making everybody happy, her class is SOOOOO boring it drives me nuts!” Scootaloo was obviously over-exaggerating.
“So you take it upon yourself to cause your teacher pain and stress?”
“I don’t care, she’s mean.” Scootaloo remembered what her teacher had shouted at the class. “She called us little… ‘shits’.”
“Excuse me?” Ashard was now surprised at what he heard spouting from the filly’s mouth.
“She called us ‘little shits’. Isn’t that a bad word?”
“Yes, yes it is…” Ashard tapped his chin contemplating a course of action. “3 days detention for you, as for Ms. Wormapple, I’ll be having a word with her after school. Now back to class.”
Scootaloo smirked, she had gotten off easy today, and to boot got her teacher in some hot water. “Have a good day Mr. Ashard.” With that she galloped out of his office and down the hall to her class. Opening the door slowly she feigned a state of sadness. Glancing up at Mustang she winked which came as a surprise.
“What’s the damage?” He whispered as she sat down.
“3 days of detention, easy stuff. But I got Ms. Wormapple in trouble.” Scootaloo couldn’t help but giggle at her accomplishment causing Ms. Wormapple to glare at Scoot.
“What are you giggling about?”
“Nothing.” Ms. Wormapple’s eyes narrowed at the orange filly, staring her down almost peering into her soul. Giving up she turned away and began lecturing the ponies, which of course didn’t interest Scootaloo. Her ‘accomplishment’ made her confident that she would no longer have to deal with her teacher.
As the school day dragged on Mustang and Scoot joked around making comments about the teachers many lectures. When the bell rang for school to be released the two foals bolted out of the schoolhouse giggling and playing as they always did, up until Mustangs father Bull had shown up reeking of hard apple cider. The large stallion with a drum of a chest and burly muscles to match glared down at his son and Scootaloo.
“Whas thish? Yer lil’ fillyfren’?” His words slurred together making his speech almost incomprehensible. “Ya got nah time fer fillyfren’s Mushtang, ya gossa ge’ home an do stuff.” He swayed from side to side glaring at the now frightened colt. Scootaloo looked over at her cowering friend confused.
“Scoot, go home.” Mustang tried his best to act brave in front of the drunkard and his best friend. “I’ll be alright, just get going quickly.”
“But Mustang, I thought…” Scootaloo tried to debate the issue but was quickly cut off.
“Just go, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mustang hung his head knowing what to expect when he got home.
“Ok… I’ll see you tomorrow.” Scootaloo turned and began trotting away toward her home. She hadn’t gone far when her ears caught shouting and crying from behind her. Turning her head around she saw the whole event. A large dark grey stallion towering hoof raised. It was obvious what was coming next. Not a second after the shouting was the tiny foal struck by the massive hoof of his father, the blow nearly knocking him out. Tears began streaming down Scootaloo’s face, she knew she had to do something but there was nothing she could do.
“Nopony hurts my friend.” Scootaloo shouted through tears, a number of Pegasus turned to see what all the commotion was. What they saw reflected that of David and Goliath, a small brave creature taking down a massive antagonist. Scootaloo galloped at the unwary stallion, wings flapping she leaped into the air plowing head first into the stallions side. Being hindered of balance from his drunken stupor the slight shift in weight toppled him over. “YOU BIG BULLY!” Scootaloo shouted at the beastly Pegasus as she rapped at his face one hoof after the other.
“Scootaloo NO!” Mustang shouted at her, she hadn’t heard him through her sobbing what came next struck an immense amount of fear into her, Mustang and all the pegasi witnessing the debacle.
Reaching both hooves up the stallion grabbed her mane wrenching her from his face kicking and screaming. The noise only angered him more, making his next decision one out of pure rage. He stood up still grasping the filly. Looking for the hardest surface he could find he hurled the orange filly through the air at a wall hoping to incapacitate and possibly maim the foal.
“C’mere ya little shit!” turning his concentration back at Mustang the stallion began making his way back over to his son.
“NO!”
“What?” It was obvious now that if Bull got a hold of Mustang nothing good would come of it. Two pegasi that had been observing the issue stepped forward in front of the foal.
“Take one step closer to this young stallion and you’ll be living the rest of your days on the ground, capische?” A cyan Pegasus eyed the drunkard angrily.
“Buck you! Ee’s my kid an I’m takin’ ‘im ‘ome”
“Not gonna happen, now back away before I get to beating you into a pulp.” The stranger snorted and pawed at the cloud floor.
“You just be glad Red ain’t here,” the other Pegasus gestured his head over toward Scootaloo, another bystander was now attending her making sure she would be alright. “if he saw this there wouldn’t be a trace of you left.”
“Ah could take the two a ya on…” Bull was itching to fight something now.
“Go NOW! Leave this colt alone and you can avoid the closest thing to hell that Equestria has seen in a thousand years.” The two Pegasus had stepped forward more and were now face to face with the crazed drunk. A yellow Pegasus was now behind them holding Mustang trying to console him.
“Ya don’t scur me. C’mon Mustang we’re goin’ hum.” Bull began to walk away, but stopped when he noticed hi son wasn’t following. “Git over ‘ere ya little runt!”
Deciding enough had been enough the two pegasi jumped Bull, the following brawl resulted in a beaten and broken Bull and two minorly bruised Pegasus ponies.
~
The yellow Pegasus that had been comforting Mustang earlier was now walking with him and straddling an unconscious Scootaloo on her back. “Where does she live?” The Pegasus inquired.
Mustang had been crying softly the whole way and pointed down the street toward her house. Sniffling he looked up at the kind mare and asked “Is she gonna be alright?”
“She’ll be hurting for a while, nothings broken though so she’ll be fine.” The yellow Pegasus tried her best to reassure the young colt, with little success.
The two approached the entryway to Scoots abode, knocking on the door they patiently awaited an answer. A mere couple seconds later a worried Clear Skies opened the door immediately breaking down in tears. Red approached from behind to witness the commotion. “What the hay is goin’ on over here?” When his eyes caught Scootaloo battered and bruised, his jaw dropped eyes ablaze with anger. “Who the buck did this to Scootaloo? I want names now! Was it you?” Red thrust a hoof toward the small grey Pegasus at the door.
Mustang cowered back in fear. “No sir… It… It was my dad.” His head hung in shame.
“M-may I bring her inside?” The yellow Pegasus inquired.
“Yeah, bring her in here and set her down on the couch.” Red was fuming, ready to kill whoever hurt his one and only Scootaloo.
“I’m so sorry about all this, Mustang tried to make her leave so she wouldn’t get hurt. Apparently it didn’t work out so well. The stallion that did this was also significantly drunk.”
“Well where is the wretched puke? I got half the mind to rip his wings from his back and beat him within an inch of his life.”
“I-Im afraid I don’t know sir… B-but I fear Mustang here will receive a beating far worse than what your daughter received if he goes back to his father.”
“Then he’s staying here until I hunt that mule down.” He looked down at Mustang. “You’re nothing like him are you?”
“N-no, not at all.” Mustang trembled at Red’s presence, yet somehow felt safe and secure for the time being. “Me an Scoot are friends.”
“Tell me what happened than.”
“Well… We were playing around… and my pa showed up… I told… I told Scoot to go home… He hit me and started yelling at me.” He cringed at the thought of being struck by his father again. “Scootaloo saw it happen and she attacked him… I don’t know why… So he threw her at a wall… I’M SO SORRY!” The foal broke down in tears. He couldn’t bare the thought his father had hurt his best friend.
“And then?” Red was thoroughly pissed .
“Well… Fluttershy made sure she’d be alright. A couple stallions came up and beat him up and sent him home.”
“Shouldn’t have let him leave.” Red muttered to himself. “Tomorrow, take me to your house and I’ll sort his sorry flank out.”
“Yes sir… Do you think she’ll be alright?”
“If she ain’t then there’ll be hell to pay.” Red looked over at Clear Skies as she stroked her daughters mane sobbing.
~
Back inside the clubhouse Scootaloo lay shivering. “Maybe I can stay at Apple Bloom’s place tonight…” Scootaloo stood up and wrapped the blankets around her, stepping out into the frigid night she looked around. “I sure hope some pony is awake.”
As she made her way through the snow Scootaloo noticed an unfamiliar numbness in her hooves. Trying to shrug it off she kept forward, cresting a hill over looking the farmhouse. All the lights were out, not a single noise came from inside. “Maybe I should go back.”
As she turned to leave a series of barks erupted behind her. A light from the house flickered on and out stepped Applejack. “Winona what has gotten into ya?” The dog resumed it’s verbal assault on the strange pony up on the hill. Applejack looked up and saw her, through the moonlight she noticed it was Scootaloo. “Scootaloo? What in tarnation are ya doin’ out here? Git over here right now.”
Scoot hesitantly stepped forward, only to slip on a tiny patch of ice that had formed. She rocked forward and tumbled down the hill. When she reached the bottom she looked up to find AJ galloping toward her. “You alright there sugar cube? Come on inside, it’sa freezin’ out here.” She scooped Scootaloo up out of the snow and carried the trembling filly inside.
~
Fiamma
I apologize for the relative shortness of this fic, I meant to get it out sooner but, well I've been somewhat busy. Nonetheless here you go, and be sure to thank searcher8 for throwing this fic off of it's intended course with his random comment that just happens to have changed the story.
Now cuddled up next to the hearth and wrapped in fresh blankets presented by Applejack, Scootaloo was content and warm for the first time all Winter.
“T-thank you Applejack…” Scoot was still a bit ashamed to be accepting what seemed like charity.
“Tain’t nothing’ sugar cube, now ya’ll wanna tell me why ya’ll were out there in the cold?” Applejack smiled warmly and laid down next to the orange filly.
“You remember the day I arrived here in Ponyville? And how I didn’t say anything about my family when you asked?” A look of concern grew on Applejack as she listened to the filly.
“Ah sure do, is that why ya’ll were out there? They kicked ya out or somethin’?”
“No…” A tear fell down her cheek just then “They’d never do that. I was out there because I had nowhere to go. I’ve been sleeping in the clubhouse ever since you gave it to us.”
“Oh… Ah’m so sorry Scoot, Ah didn’t know.” AJ moved in to nuzzle the lonesome foal in the hopes to comfort her. “Why didn’t ya say somethin’ early on?”
“I was ashamed… and I didn’t want to tell anypony…”
“Scoot, we will love ya no matter what happens… Ah got half the mind ta let ya live here jus’ as long as the others don’t mind none.” Scootaloo smiled, this was the kindest gesture she had received in a very, VERY long time.
“Thanks AJ, but I didn’t tell you the whole story…” With that Scoot began explaining the events of the year prior.
~
“Don’ worry ‘bout it Red, we took care of ‘im.” A black eyed Pegasus sat in the corner booth of a small tavern in Cloudsdale. It was a regular meeting place of sorts for Red and his accomplices.
“Could he walk afterward Giovanni?” Red wore a blank frown on his face as they discussed the events of yesterday.
“Well yeah, but he ain’t gonna be showin’ hide or hair roun’ here for a while.” The other Pegasus, Clubs, chimed in reflexively checking the bandage just above his left eye.
“I don’t care, I want that slimy buck crawling.” Red slammed his hoof on the table in order to emphasize his point. “And if you two can’t do that, than I will.”
“If ya really wanna do that boss, go for it. We won’ stop ya.“ A sudden light entering the tavern stirred a curious glance from the trio toward the entrance. “Might as well start now, cause that’s him.”
Red made no hesitation in sitting up from the booth and making a bee-line toward Bull. Slightly delirious from yesterday Bull hadn’t noticed the formidable Pegasus coming straight for him. “You the bucker that hurt my foal?!” Red shouted throwing a hoof into Bulls burly chest. This quickly gained his attention, looking directly into Reds eyes he almost too calmly stated.
“Yes.”
One word, just one measly word was all Red needed. Jabbing at Bulls throat and pushing him out the entryway into public Red made it a point that his voice and actions would be witnessed and remembered by any and all. “If you haven’t realized who I am yet, let me introduce myself to you. I am RED THUNDER, I am the DON of the Thunder Family, and YOU made the mistake of bucking with ME and MY family. I don’t care WHO you are, WHERE you’re from or any of that horse shit.”
Bull slowly rose to his feet gagging, with little effort he was able to cough up small speech. “Red Thunder eh? *cough* I been meanin’ at get my hooves on ya. *cough* I’m no Don, but by buckin’ me up ya brought a war between the families, I just hope you rea-*cough* Realize that my brother Don Trotto Fiamma will have yer head for this.”
Red albeit infuriated, held a bit of shock from what he had just heard, he had just incited a war between the two most powerful gangs in Cloudsdale, all because one surly stallion had the bright idea to maim his foal. “Then so be it, but before then you’ll be crawling back to Trotto Fiamma and kissing his hooves for forgiveness.”
Red let out a whistle informing his comrades to come outside and help him out, he quickly trotted up to Bull swiftly placing another hoof directly beneath his chin. However the motion was quickly shrugged off as Bull threw his own set of ‘Hail Mary’s’ and ‘Uppercuts’ at Red, a straight out brawl, no rules no holds barred, a slug fest. One after the other they traded and dodged hits to one another. This only lasted for a good minute before Giovanni and Clubs decided to intervene and help finish what their boss started. They each brandished a pool cue from inside and set to work on the outnumbered stallion.
Two broken pool cues and one crippled Pegasus later, Red stood menacingly over his bloodied opponent. Red made it a point to spit on the broken stallion before making his next words stick. “sulla casa per il vostro capo vi puledra patetico.” Red turned to make his way back home, he walked five paces before turning his head and addressing his minions. “Tomorrow we take the fight to them, it’s time we got rid of them and let our presence be the only one here in Cloudsdale.” Giovanni and Clubs nodded and headed back to their own abodes to get ready and inform the others.
Twenty minutes later Red walked into his home and noticed his wife sitting sullenly in the kitchen. “Clear, you, Scoot and Mustang are gonna need to go to Mama G’s for a while, I don’t want you two getting hurt.”
“What?!” Clear Skies turned to her husband bewildered, “Why? What happened?”
“A war between Thunder and Fiamma, go get Scootaloo and Mustang I’ll help you two get there safely.”
“You can’t be serious, the Fiamma Family? You started a gang war with the Fiamma? Are you insane or just plain stupid?”
“They’re the ones that hurt Scoot, an’ I’ll be damned if I let them get away with it.” With that Clear Skies turned and headed for her daughter’s room where Scoot and Mustang sat talking and laughing about something.
“Scoot get your things, we’re going to Mama G’s.”
“Mama G? COOL! Mustang you’re gonna love Mama G, she always spoils her grand-foals.” Scootaloo beamed and hurriedly packed her things. “Let’s go!”