"I am not obsessed with Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo grumbled to herself as she placed her scooter against the wall of a worn down shack near the edge of Everfree forest. She reached for the knob and stopped for a few minutes to prepare herself. Reluctantly, she turned open the knob as quietly as possible and pushed open the door.

A fat orange stallion Pegasus lay snoring on the tattered couch placed against the wall. A small trail of drool dripped from his mouth and with each snort of his breath the pony made the putrid scent of alcohol waft towards Scootaloo stinging her nose. She padded away from the snoring pony and headed through the open door of her bedroom, closing the door just as quietly as she walked.

Scootaloo looked around her room to find her belongings had strewn about the floor whilst she was gone. The posters nailed to her walls room's walls had been torn down and shredded littering the floor. She walked sadly to a nail that had been hammered into the wall, the base of a poster still intact. In black letters, "SPITFI-" had been written on it, the torn page cutting off the rest of the letters.

Scootaloo flooded with anger and slammed her hoof into the light wooden wall. The knocking echoed through the tiny shack and the snoring ceased shortly after. There was a loud irritated grunt and then the sound of heavy hoofsteps approaching her door.

"SCOOTALOO!" A voice screamed from outside her room.

Scootaloo spun around and ran towards the door. In a panic, she pressed down the knob's lock and began to slide her dresser in front of the door. There was a rattling on the knob followed by a fierce pounding that caused the door to shake.

"OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"

Scootaloo sat herself against the dresser, "I'm s-s-sorry dad, I d-didn't m-mean to wake you." she whimpered.

"YOU'RE ONLY MAKING THINGS WORSE, OPEN THE DOOR NOW!" The voice commanded.

"Please…" Scootaloo begged as her eyes filled with fearful tears.

The shaking of the door intensified, the dresser bouncing slightly. As each powerful thump hit the wood behind it, the hinges of the door began to creak and dust from the wood began to float off the wall. Scootaloo looked up anxiously at the hinges and silently prayed her father would give out before they did.

After one last deafening crash the noises stopped and the hoofsteps retreated back away from the battered door. Scootaloo continued quivering on the floor repeating comforting words inside her head as her body stayed completely paralyzed with fear.

Hours slowly passed and the sound of enraged curses faded into snores that reverberated around the wooden walls of the shack once more. The snoring removed the paralysis that froze Scootaloo, shakily she pulled herself off the floor and peeked through the small hole in the wall to find the sun no longer present. "Looks like I missed the race…" she thought to herself as she crawled into her bed.

Scootaloo desperately wanted to leave and stay at any pony's house so long as it wasn't here. Unfortunately she feared that moving the dresser would make too much noise and awaken her father for a second time. She stared at her bedroom door for hours, scarcely even blinking, hoping the rest of the night would be uneventful.

Scootaloo held her breath as the snoring stopped for the second time. Her heart pounded as the doorknob jingled for a few seconds then stopped. The sound of the front door squeaking open and slamming shut calmed her. After waiting for a few minutes she pushed her dresser back to its original spot and poked her head out the door to find the couch empty.

Scootaloo ran towards the door but she hesitated when feelings of doubt that she was safe coursed through her. She backed away and turned towards the single window of the building, pushed it open and climbed through it. She scouted carefully around the shack's corners finding only a trail of stubby hoofprints that lead away.

Relief washed over Scootaloo, she grabbed her scooter from its resting place against the wall. She pushed herself off with one hoof and started flapping her wings rapidly to help propel her forwards. The rush of adrenaline slowed as she moved further and further away from the Everfree Forest.

Scootaloo heart's beat returned to its normal pace once she reached the cobblestone streets of Ponyville. She took a sharp turn onto the dirt road towards Sweet Apple Acres. She wondered where she was supposed to start with tutoring, and her stomach fluttered a little and her mind blanked itself as she thought of Raven Flame.

Yesterday she had felt like a complete idiot, she had only managed to muster a few words. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her that her friends were teasing her about her so called obsession with Rainbow Dash, but with Raven Flame present it made her feel silly and it just embarrassed her.

Scootaloo suddenly remembered the race she had missed due to being locked up in her room. Now she was curious as to how the race turned out. She imagined Rainbow Dash standing triumphantly atop the first place podium holding a shining golden trophy.

Scootaloo was glad she would be tutoring Raven Flame. She did want to see the filly again even though she didn't know why, but it also gave her an excuse to find out about the race. Slamming her hoof into the dirt road beneath her she halted herself just a few yards in front of the open gates of the Apple Orchards.

Author's Notes

A Scootaloo chapter? Gasp! Anyway, I'd just like to thank everyone for reading the stories I'm writing. I'm a little amazed, I hadn't intended on the first story turning into the first of a series which is now officially as long as a full-fledged novel! Also want to say thanks again, nearly 40,000 hits so far on all the stories combined. Do I know what that means? Not really, but it was at 0 at one point so yay?