Scootaloo’s Mother
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 7

Scootaloo stretched, feeling bones along her back crack into place. The air was chilly but very fresh. She barely felt the cold as she was wrapped in a thick, warm, blanket.

Her eyes eased open and she was met with the beautiful sight of the wide blue skies. No ground, no walls and the only roof was the roof of the world itself. It was just herself and the clouds. She thought, this must be how pegasi feel all the time. She wished she could fly.

Slowly the little filly eased herself up from the corner of the deck that had become her bed. Pink Lady had perfectly adequate sleeping areas but she had stayed on deck, staring up at the field of stars that decorated Luna’s night. She had fallen asleep there and supposed Pink must have given her a blanket at some point.

Pink Lady was at the wheel. She looked tired but still managed a smile. She had the wheel on one hoof and a large mug of hot coffee in the other. “Good morning, Scootaloo. There’s breakfast in the cabin, if you like.”

Scoots shrugged the blanket off her body and stretched out her wings. The warmth of the sunlight spread through them, then slowly across her whole body. “Morning Miss Pink. I’m not hungry, thanks.” Her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble like an avalanche. Scootaloo smiled sheepishly, “okay, maybe I could have a little something.”

Pink chuckled lightly. “Go on, youz skipped dinner last night and you ain’t eaten since.”

Scootaloo trotted off into the cabin, returning several minutes later with several slices of toast and a large portion of hay bacon. “Sho,” she said with a mouth full of toast. “wherre arr re?”

Pink Lady smiled and sipped at her coffee. “We passed Canterlot a few hours ago, so we’ll be coming up on Cloudsdale soon.”

Scootaloo stopped mid-chew. Cloudsdale, so close. If her stomach didn’t feel so empty she would have claimed to lose her appetite. Her excitement was growing into a nervous anticipation.

Pink steered the air ship around a cloud bank and the city of Cloudsdale came into view. The great hills of clouds, columned buildings like Atheneighan temples. Falls of water and liquid rainbow only added to the beauty of the place. Pegasi flew in flocks, dark specks against the white clouds. The scale of the place was almost impossible to take in. The closer they got the more Scootaloo’s mind kept telling her ‘it can’t get any bigger,’ only for the city to continue expanding. The cloud city could be the size of Manehatten, perhaps bigger.

Scootaloo gulped down her mouthful of hay bacon. The city was easily the size of Manehatten and she had to find one pony, in all of that.

Before her thoughts could descend into a full panic she was distracted as a flock of pegasi started flying around the air ship. Many of them were just curious bystanders —or by-flyers if you wanted to be technically accurate.— One pegasus though, a white cold with a dark blue mane, flew so close he was hovering over the deck.
“Hi, name’s Brolly.” He waved to Scootaloo and Pink Lady. “Permission to come aboard.”

Pink had to laugh. In her experience Pegasi usually felt like they owned the sky and everything in it, this was the first time she’d ever had one ask for permission to land on her ship. “Granted.” She called up to him.

Brolly happily touched down next to Pink. He looked around with an intense curiosity. “This is fantastic.” He casually called over his shoulder. He opened the door to the cabin, giving it the briefest of glances before turning his attention to the propellers. “We don’t get many airships coming to Cloudsdale.

“Might have something to do with the fact only non-pegasi own airships and only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds.” Pink said, perhaps a little more shortly than she’d meant to.

Brolly however didn’t seem to notice the curt tone in her voice. He had started flying again, gliding up next to the balloon, checking out the rigging. “Yeah, that might have something to do wit hit,” he laughed. “So what are- oh hello little one.” He finally noticed Scootaloo. He landed in front of her and held out a hoof. “Brolly.”

Scootaloo took the hoof and they shook. “Scootaloo.”

Brolly nodded, a smile on his face he turned his attention back to Pink. “Is she yours?”

Pink gave him a dubious expression. She wanted to point out her lack of wings but in all of her long travels she had heard of earth ponies giving birth to pegasi or unicorns. Genetics could be funny like that. “She’s just my passenger.” She explained. “Dropping her off at Cloudsdale and then I’ll be on my way.”

Her attention was broken from Brolly as the balloon of the ship almost his a pegasus. She tweaked the controls and slowed the engines. They were getting close to Cloudsdale now and they were attracting quite a crowd of curious onlookers who, it seemed, didn’t always know they had to get out of the way of the large flying machine who wasn’t as agile as they were.

Scootaloo took the paper out from under her wing. “Mr Brolly.”

Brolly looked down at the young filly again.

“Do you know where Cumulus Villa is?”

Brolly put a hoof to his chin as he thought about it. “Cumulus Villa. Cumulus. Cumulus.” He nodded. “Yeah, yeah I do, nice neighbourhood. You trying to get there?” He looked around the airship. “A lot of cloud homes in the villa, you’ll never pilot this ship through there.”

Pink Lady slowed the engines down to just above hovering speed. “Do you know anywhere nearby I can let her off?”

Brolly had to shrug. “Hard to say. Cloudsdale isn’t really made for air traffic involving ships.” His eyes brightened as an idea occurred to him. “Hey kid, if you want, I could take you there myself.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “You’d do that?”

Brolly shrugged. “Why not? Anypony can always put a little time aside to help another.” He glanced over his shoulder to Pink. “I can take her right now if you want?”

Pink flicked a control and brought the engines to a full stop. The ship now hovered in their air, less than half a mile from the entrance to Cloudsdale. In life Pink Lady had discovered that most things could look beautiful from a distance but that beauty tended to fade as you drew closer. This was not the case with Cloudsdale. What had seemed like a beautiful from a distance was beyond words close up. All kinds of finer details could be seen now,, from the way the clouds had been carefully shaped and sculptured by hoof, painted with liquid rainbow which enhanced the designs without being too garish. Pink Lady wished she could walk on clouds so she could see the city proper.

She sighed and looked to her filly passenger. “It’s your choice Scootaloo. I can’t really get any closer anyway.”

Scootaloo trotted past Brolly and stood next to Pink. “Thank you,” she said timidly. “You didn’t have to help me but you did. So....” She smiled sheepishly. “well...” She lunged forward and wrapped her hooves around Pink Lady’s neck. The mare smiled and patted the filly’s back. “Thank you.” Scootaloo repeated.

“You’re welcome, Scootaloo.” Pink pulled herself away from the youngster and smiled down at her. “Ya’know, my little sis said youz was all great ponies and friends in Ponyville. She was right. If she’d do anytyhin’ for youz, then so would I. Now, go on. Go finish this.”

Smiling, almost laughing, Scootaloo jumped across the deck to Brolly’s side. He knelt down for Scoots to climb onto his back. She gave Pink Lady one last look. “If you see, Apple Bloom and, Sweetie Belle again, tell them....well...tell them I made it.”

Pink nodded. “You betcha.”

Brolly rose to his hooves and spread his wings wide. “Ready, Scootaloo?”

“Ready.”

Brolly jumped over the side of the air ship and soared into the sky. He banked hard and circled the air ship once, giving Scootaloo the chance to wave goodbye properly to Pink Lady. Then he banked and climbed towards Cloudsdale.

Scootaloo was silent, her eyes wide as she tried to take in all the details of Cloudsdale around her. She had never been to the capital city of the pegasus ponies before. If things had been different, if her mother hadn’t given her away, she could have grown up here. Then, of course, she wouldn’t have ever met Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle. She probably wouldn’t have ever heard of Rainbow Dash. She would have had different friends and different idols to look up to. Had she grown up here she could have turned out an entirely different pony. It was an odd thought. She liked who she was and couldn’t imagine being any different. Could she have been meek and quiet like Fluttershy? Or perhaps even a prissy bully like Diamond Tiara? Could she have learned to fly by now or would she still be waiting for her wings to become strong enough? If she had grown up here would she have her cutie mark by now? The only thing she could say with any certainty was that if she had grown up in Cloudsdale she wouldn’t have known her friends and she wouldn’t have her scooter. No pony she knew in Ponyville would have come to Cloudsdale, even if they did she wouldn’t have none them. And scooters and clouds didn’t mix.

“So why looking for Cumulus Villa, Scootaloo?”

Brolly's voice snapped Scootaloo out of her thoughts. She shook her head and tried to take in the question she’d only half heard. “I’m... looking for somepony.”

“Somepony special?” Brolly asked. He dove down beneath an archway and banked sharply to the left, through a narrow ally.

“Real special.” Scoots responded casually, as though the break neck speeds and sharp turns weren’t happening. She’d hung around with Rainbow Dash too long for the thought of smashing into a cloud wall to even make her nervous.

Brolly waited but no explanation was forthcoming. He would have shrugged his shoulders had he not been flying. He was a stranger, there was no reason for Scootaloo to share her story with him.

He continued flying through the streets at high speed, twisting and turning among the buildings, avoiding pegasi left right and centre.

“Brolly.” Scootaloo asked gently.

“Yeah?”

“Why all the twisting and turning, why not just fly over the buildings and go straight?”

Scootaloo couldn’t see Brolly’s grin. “Where’s the fun in that?” he laughed. “Sure I could fly straight there, it would be quicker. But it would be a lot less fun.” To prove his point he fell into a steep dive, flying to the cloud floor at high speed. Scootaloo clung tightly to his mane. Instinctively her own wings spread out wide in a vain attempt to soar on the wind rushing over her body. Ten feet from the cloud floor Brolly pulled up suddenly. He gritted his teeth as the g-forces pulled at his body. His wings strained against physics, fighting to get him back up into the air. Then gravity suddenly lost its hold on him and he shot up like a cork out of a champagne bottle. The two ponies rose up, up, up and over the tops of the buildings.

Brolly pointed to a group of homes crammed onto a cloud hill. “Cumulus Villa.” He banked and flew towards the neighbourhood.

...***...

In what felt like no time at all Brolly was touching down in the middle of the Cumulus Villa estate.

Scootaloo leapt off his back, her hooves touching cloud for the very first time. These were the semi-solid clouds used for streets but they were almost as soft and springy as her fluffy bed back home. Celestia only knew what a cloud bed could feel like.
“Thanks Brolly.”

The pegasus just laughed, “hey, it’s no problem kid. I’d do the same for anypony.” He spread his wings and took to the air again. “Good look kid. Hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Scootaloo yelled a thanks and waved until he was out of sight.

Finally glanced at the paper she’d been carrying with her this whole time. 328 Cumulus Villa. Quite by chance Brolly had landed near 300 Cumulus Villa, which meant the home of her mother was nearby.

Butterflies started rising in her stomach. The nerves she’d felt before were beginning to return. It took all of her will not to give in to those nerves and make her trembling body move. What she wanted to do was run away, or curl up into a ball in the middle of the road until everything went away; either her problems or the whole of Equestria, whichever came first.

Far too soon for her comfort Scootaloo found herself outside house number 328. She stared up the short path to the small cloud home. The pegasus architecture and decoration aside it wasn’t so different from the average home in Ponyville.

“Okay, Scoots, you can do this. Think what Rainbow Dash would do. She wouldn’t sit here panicking, she’d go in there and be awesome.” She took a deep breath and strode up the short path to the front door. A cloud door, a surreal sight. She didn’t know if Dash had a door on her cloud home. She probably did.

Lifting one shaking hoof Scootaloo knocked.