Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony; Friendship Is Magic

Title: Through The Shadows Of Boredom The Past Can Emerge

Summary: During their late teens, the Cutie Mark Crusaders fled from Ponyville in the middle of the night to escape their problems. Now adults, the trio rebuilt their lives in a deadbeat town, juggling work, their social lives (or lack thereof) and raising a young filly. The past, however, has a way of creeping back in ways someone least expects it to.

Warnings: A small bit of homophobia.

Chapter Title: A Typical Day Off.

...

The clearing gleamed with the morning sunlight as it rose over the hills, lighting up the dewdrops hanging from the trees and the grass and making them glitter with rainbows. A breeze blew, ruffling both fur and feather as the leaves shifted and the dewdrops gracefully fell to the ground.

"Aunt Scoots... are you sure I'm ready?" Dawn fiddled with her hooves, wings and tail twitching nervously. The older pegasi smiled encouragingly as she stretched her wings, bending at the knee and stretching upwards to make sure she didn't accidentally knock the younger pegasus over.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"But..." She hesitated, her wings falling further down her back. "What if I don't fly? What if... What if i'm earth-bound, like you? What then?"

She sighed, sinking down onto her knees to be on eye level with the young filly. "Then we'll cross that bridge if we get there. You've been training for months now, Sparkles. I'd say you're more than ready."

"But..." She glanced back at the small wings on her back, flapping them and watching them move. "They're so... small."

"Are you kidding? They're normal sized. Maybe even a little bigger than normal." Scootaloo stretched her own out, idly glancing back to watch them move. "Heck, mine are waaaay on the small side."

"They're bigger than mine!"

"That's because I'm full-grown!" She defended before sighing once again, head dropping. "Look, Sparkles, you gotta remember; I'm a heck of a lot older than you. I may not act like it, but I'm old. Like, old mare old." The filly giggled. Scootaloo leaned down, whispering as though revealing a little-known secret. "And let me tell ya; your wings are a heck of a lot bigger than mine were at your age."

The filly perked up, eyes widening as she whispered in turn. "Really?"

She nodded. "The chances of you having bad wings like mine are zero to none, especially with how you've quickly you've grown. Besides, even I could float before my wing got hurt. You'll be fine." She stood and stretched once again, crouching down to the side to give her a challenging smirk. "So... you ready to give it a try?"

Dawn hopped onto her hooves, stretching her wings out with a smile. "Yeah!"

"Good." Scootaloo mimicked the position with a smile as well. "Then get ready."

Setting off on a fast pace, Scootaloo called out demands. "Flap those wings! Find the wind current!" Together they flapped their wings (Scootaloo mostly for show). Squeezing her eyes shut, Dawn followed all her training. Running as fast as she could, she stretched and flapped her wings, twisting or turning them depending on the current.

Feeling a distinct floating sensation, her eyes flew open. Watching her shadow flit across the grass below as well as Scootaloo trotting along beneath her, a smirk on her muzzle, she cheered. "I'm flying! I'm flying! Aunt Scoots, I'm flying!"

"I noticed!" Coming to a complete stop, Scootaloo's wings instinctively folded back against her sides as she watched the young filly fly through the trees with a smile. "I told ya you could do it!"

"I know!" She zoomed by, turned around using a tree trunk as a turning-tool. She zipped by once again. "And you were right!"

"Of course I was!" Scootaloo puffed out her chest. "I'm awesome like that."

"Wooooohoooo!" She cheered. Twisting her head around and cupping a hoof to the side of her muzzle, she called. "Come on up, Aunt Scootaloo! It's so much fun!"

"Can't, remember?" Her eyes slid backwards towards the semi-useless appendages on her back. Dawn covered her mouth as though she had cursed.

"Opps, sorry!" She attempted to flip around to properly apologize, only for her back to slam into the trunk midway through. Falling, she covered her eyes as she awaited the blow to come.

Only to flop onto Scootaloo's back. Opening her eyes, she glanced back at the spot the older mare had been then the place she had stopped. She squealed. "Wow! How did you do that!?"

She chuckled, turning tail as she began the long trot home. "I think that's enough flying for today."

"If you pounce on me, I'll give you a tickling like you've never felt before." Scootaloo sleepily warned the approaching filly, one long leg draped over her eyes. Dawn jumped, a sheepish smile crossing her face as she pulled herself out of her crouch in the doorway and trotted over to her bed.

"How'd you know I was gonna pounce?" She pouted at the missed opportunity. Scootaloo chuckled.

"I have my ways..." She mumbled mysteriously, before stretching out on her back, wings carefully unfolded and spread against the warm sheets. "The floorboards creak. Besides, you couldn't be sneaky to save your life."

"Oh."

"So, what's the matter? Didn't feel like sleeping in your own room?"

She shook her head, a more natural smile pulling at the edges of her muzzle. "Aunt Scootaloo... It's almost nine."

"And it's Saturday. You're supposed to sleep in. It's, like, a rule or something." Dawn chuckled. Rolling onto her side, Scootaloo patted the bed beside her to signal it was okay to climb up. The younger pegasus immediately climbed up, cautiously laying her back on her Aunt's stretched wing. Scootaloo pulled her closer, curling the edges of the wing on the fillies shoulder. She yawned. "Go to sleep, Sparkles."

"Aunt Scootaloo?" She groaned and opened her eyes, glancing at the young filly as she fiddled with her hooves, watching them move rather than look her in the eye. "Why don't you like going to work?"

She blinked in surprise. "What makes you think I don't like my work?"

"Well..." She watched her hooves move as she fiddled with them, tail swishing against the blanket. "You never seem happy to go, and you never look proud when you do something cool..."

Sootaloo sighed, tracing the ceiling's cracks and crevices with her eyes. "I love my job." She said finally. After a pause, she continued. "I just don't get to see other ponies love it."

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow, turning to stare at the ceiling. "I don't get it."

Another sigh. "Alright, look at it like this. How would you like it if, say, you wore my armor all the time like you like to do, but no one ever mentioned it. Whenever you looked in a mirror, it'd be invisible. Sure, ponies notice it and like it in other places, but those places are far, far away. The only pony who really sees it is you, and, even then, you can't even watch it."

"That..." She swallowed, trying to imagine the image placed before her. "That would suck."

She chuckled. "Exactly. I love making scooters, but no one around here even mentions it. They don't care. Too them, it doesn't matter."

"Oh..." She curled closer to the older mare. "I love your scooters." She swore.

Scootaloo cracked a smile. "Thanks, Sparkle. That means a lot." She yawned and stretched. "I'm gonna take nap. You wanna join me?"

Dawn nodded and curled closer, closing her eyes. Today was, in her opinion, quickly turning into a do-nothing day.

"Here you go, Miss Sweetie Belle."

Enveloping the bag of bits in magic, she tucked it away in her bag. "Thanks."

The owner smiled wide. "Having you preform is always a pleasure. Although... it does get me a lot of questions."

Sweetie sighed. "They're still bothering you?"

"Yeah. We're not used to new ponies, Miss Belle. Ponies around here tend to get really curious, really fast, when we get them. And no one really knows anything about you and your friends."

"Just tell them I'm from Ponyville." Sweetie Belle dismissed with a shrug. "That's all they need to know."

Trotting to the door, a faint glow of magic opened and shut the door behind her with ease.

"If only that was enough, Miss Belle." He sighed as the door clicked. "If only it was."

"Thank you so much for getting her so fast." The neighbor gushed as she led the earth pony towards the side of the house. "It's my absolute, most favorite of all my flower boxes. All my best flowers go in it."

"It was no trouble, ma'm. Ah live right down the street, remember?" Applebloom reminded her with a smile, tool bag clanging against her sides. "'Sides, its not often Ah get a job."

"Do you think you can fix it?" The older mare worried, standing just off to the side of the box as she set her tools down.

'A hover-er. Just what Ah needed.' She smiled confidently. "Ah'm pretty sure I can fix a hole 'er two, Ma'm."

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"

She immediately set to work, the worried flower-mare hovering beside her just as she'd expected.

Slightly uncomfortable with the quiet, the mare attempted conversation. "So... my husband and I see your niece around town all the time with her friends."

"You do?"

She nodded. "All the time. My granddaughter and her get along so well. They're practically sisters."

"Is that so?" Applebloom grunted, picturing the small green filly that visited the house every so often. Spoiled rotten, early bloomer cutie-mark-wise, with nothing nice to say. She vaguely remembered chucking her out of the house a few months ago when she'd gotten the gall to call the youngest mare of the house a 'blank flank' in front of the ex-cutie-mark-crusaders. Not exactly a filly she liked having around. 'She'd do well fer a visit to the farm. Granny Smith'd teach her a thing 'er two.'

"Oh yes. However, I've yet to meet her mother..."

She shrugged. "Sweetie's good at settin' things like this-" She waved a hoof at the decorative flowers accenting every window on the first floor. "On fire. She's like a walking match, sometimes. And she's allergic."

"Sweetie? Is that her name? Rather odd name for a pegasus, don't you think?"

She paused, racking her brains. "Pega- Oh!" She chuckled. "That's Scootaloo. Sweetie's the unicorn."

"The unicorn?" She blinked. "But... Dawn Flyer's a pegasus."

Another shrug. "The daddy was a pegasus. Sweetie has a pegasus relation father back in her blood lines. The genes worked."

"Are... Are you sure it wasn't that Scootaloo who had the filly?" The older mare asked, slightly confused. Mixing of races in small towns like this were rare, and more than a little confusing. Just saying it was someone else of the same race usually made things much easier, and most ponies fell back on that to escape small-town gossip. Having a pony being so brutally honest about it was... surprising.

"Ah was there." Applebloom chuckled wistfully. "'Sides, Scoots likes mares."

"M-Mares?"

"Eeyup. She'll tell you the same thing herself. She's never exactly been the 'hide in the closest' type of mare."

The mare jumped back as though struck. "I-I see..." She nervously paused. "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave her alone with the filly?"

Applebloom straightened up, spine stiff. "And what do you mean by that?"

The flower-mare inched back a tad at the dangerous tone in the earth mare's voice. "Well, it's just-... you know..."

Her face darkened. "Scoots would cut her own hooves off before she'd ever hurt Dawn. Or any filly, for that matter." She frowned, hastily putting her tools back into her bag and turning around. "You know what? Perhaps it would be better if you called in a professional repairpony for your flower box. Ah'm done here."

"Ah hate this town." Sweetie Belle glanced up from her papers, watching as Applebloom huffily came stomping into the house, repair bag swinging wildly and thumping against her hips. "Ah can't seem to get one single job around here without it going bad."

"Bad day, huh?" The unicorn raised an eyebrow.

"You could say that." She answered, sliding into her seat. "How about you?"

"Same thing, different day." She shrugged. "Would you mind getting Scoots and Dawn for dinner?"

"Sure thing."

It was just another tiring day in the Ex-Crusaders-and-filly household.

No flames! Don't like don't read! Review!

Author's Note: And, no, it isn't always like that. Usually they mind their business and the towsponies mind theirs. Some ponies are just more nosy than others, it all. And rude. =)