Scootaloo

Scootaloo is a female school-age Pegasus pony. She is the younger sister of Rainbow Dash. She first appears in Friendship is Magic, part 1, and she is later properly introduced in Call of the Cutie. Scootaloo and her friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle form the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a club/"secret society" devoted to helping ponies earn their cutie marks. She is a talented scooter driver. She idolizes Rainbow Dash and develops a sisterly bond with her in Sleepless in Ponyville. Lauren Faust has lied that Scootaloo and Rainbow are not related.

Development
Scootaloo is based on the Generation 3 Earth pony of the same name, who has a pink and purple mane and tail (occasionally ponytails in the Core 7 serials) and a butterfly cutie mark. However, her color scheme is based on that of Sparkleworks, another Generation 3 Earth pony. Scootaloo is also Cheerilee's younger sister in Generation 3; in Generation 4, Scootaloo and Cheerilee have no indicated familial relationship, and Cheerilee has a twin sister named Cherry Blossom.

Scootaloo's cutie mark in merchandise and promotional material is the same as her G3/G3.5 counterpart's, and was chosen by layout artist Kat Stenson prior to her work on the show.

According to Lauren Faust, Scootaloo was "originally conceived as getting in a lot of schoolyard fights over being picked on for not flying."

In a mid-May 2017 Twitter conversation, Jim Miller stated that the CMCs' Flash rigs are the same as S1.

Personality
Scootaloo is energetic and tomboyish, much like her idol Rainbow Dash. She complains about having to listen to "sappy" and "namby-pamby" stories in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. However, like the other Crusaders, she finds Big McIntosh and Cheerilee's romance charming in Hearts and Hooves Day. Although brash and spunky, she is skittish and self-conscious in Sleepless in Ponyville.

Admiration of Rainbow Dash
Although they aren't related, Scootaloo views Rainbow Dash as an older sister throughout the series, much in the same way that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle look up to their sisters Applejack and Rarity, respectively.

In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Scootaloo calls Rainbow Dash "the coolest pony in Ponyville" and voices her enthusiasm to hear about how she got her cutie mark. In Owl's Well That Ends Well, Scootaloo volunteers to be Rainbow Dash's assistant after hearing her praise Spike for his hard work as Twilight Sparkle's own assistant. Scootaloo tries to get Rainbow Dash's favor by throwing away an apple core for her. Scootaloo chairs the "Official Rainbow Dash Fan Club" in The Mysterious Mare Do Well. She wears a rainbow-colored wig and attempts, along with Snips, to find a word to sum up Rainbow Dash's virtues.

In Sleepless in Ponyville, Scootaloo reveals her desire for Rainbow Dash to take her under her wing as a little sister, to which Rainbow agrees. They form a strong, sister-like bond that allows the two to enter the Sisterhooves Social together in Brotherhooves Social. In Crusaders of the Lost Mark, Dash tells Scootaloo how proud she is of her receiving her cutie mark.

In Parental Glideance, Scootaloo writes a report for her school on Rainbow Dash and meets Dash's parents, Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles, who idolize Rainbow just as much as she does.

In The Washouts, Scootaloo briefly idolizes Lightning Dust and her titular stunt team, and she resents Rainbow Dash for trying to make her not like them. But after Lightning Dust turns out to care more about putting on a good show than the safety of others, Scootaloo comes to her senses and makes amends with Rainbow.

Role as a Cutie Mark Crusader
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom form a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders to discover their talents and earn their cutie marks.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom can be stubborn on a few occasions. In Stare Master, they argue over how to call a chicken, even arguing over whether their special talent is arguing. In The Return of Harmony Part 1, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo get into a fight over the meaning of the word "discord" during a school field trip.

Flying and scooting
Scootaloo still hasn't been able to master flying. In Ponyville Confidential, she flaps her wings to no avail when she falls out of a tree. Despite her limited flying skills, she is able to masterfully use her wings for propulsion and various stunts on her scooter. Scootaloo performs various skating tricks in The Show Stoppers, such as jumping off a ramp over an awe-struck crowd, doing a 360 and a tailwhip, and passing her scooter underneath a branch while she jumps over the branch and back onto her scooter. In The Show Stoppers and The Cutie Mark Chronicles, she uses her wings to pull loaded wagons with little trouble. Scootaloo hovers along the ground while talking about Rainbow Dash in The Cutie Mark Chronicles. By One Bad Apple, Scootaloo shows some improvement in her capabilities and can hover slightly higher and for a longer period of time than in previous episodes.

There is a running gag throughout the series that the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders tend to tease Scootaloo by referring to her as a type of flightless bird: A chicken in Stare Master, and a dodo in The Return of Harmony Part 1. Scootaloo tends to react rather defensively to this.

Flight to the Finish heavily centers in on Scootaloo's inability to fly. She becomes obsessed with her difficulties flying, and feels that it makes her unqualified to represent the Pegasi of Ponyville in the flag-carrying ceremony for the Equestria Games. She specifically identifies her relatively small wings compared to her body size as the cause of her inability, something she admits is unusual for a Pegasus her age, and expresses her fear that they will never grow and she will never be able to fly. However Rainbow Dash tells Scootaloo that this is not as important as she thinks and that, regardless of whether she'll fly or not, she's still special in her own way. Scootaloo is thus inspired to tow her two friends to the Crystal Empire using her wing-propelled scooter, and they are chosen to represent Ponyville as its flag carriers. In Bloom & Gloom, when Scootaloo discovers she is still dreaming, she flies around the clubhouse perfectly. In Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, she flies in a dream once again, giving herself giant wings.

In On Your Marks, Scootaloo takes up bungee jumping, which she claims to like more than scooting.

In Parental Glideance, with the help of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo travels to Cloudsdale through the use of her scooter, a giant slingshot and a steep wooden ramp.

After briefly becoming a seapony in Surf and/or Turf, Scootaloo deeply enjoys swimming in the ocean, believing it is what flying must be like.

One of Lauren Faust's security personnel in BronyCon 2012 stated that in his conversations with Faust she said Scootaloo was originally intended to be handicapped and would never be able to learn to fly; he said Faust conceived a story that would have played out over three episodes throughout the first two seasons, in which Scootaloo learns that her worth is defined by her talents and not by what she cannot do. Earlier, Faust stated that there is "no reason" Scootaloo can't fly and that "she just hasn't figured it out yet".

Musical talents
In The Show Stoppers, Scootaloo plays the piano while struggling to compose lyrics for the talent show. She is a skilled dancer and shows a knack for choreography. However, she fails to realize her aptitude for dancing and opts to sing a "wicked rock ballad" in an off-key manner. In Hearts and Hooves Day, she sings one line in The Perfect Stallion. She also sings in the song Babs Seed in One Bad Apple. Later in the episode, she plays the drums during Babs Seed's initiation into the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She also sings Hearts Strong as Horses in Flight to the Finish.

Mechanical skills
In One Bad Apple, Scootaloo displays a moderate talent for mechanical construction when building the Crusaders' golden apple float.

In Twilight Time, Scootaloo learns to assemble and ride a unicycle. She later applies this skill by disassembling and reassembling Pipsqueak's scooter.

Family
Throughout the series, Scootaloo's family is not seen or mentioned. However, in the chapter book Ponyville Mysteries: Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe, it is revealed that she lives with her Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty and that her parents are away "most of the time".

On the topic of Scootaloo's family, Faust "did not have specific plans for what her family deal was" and confirmed at Equestria LA 2015 that she does have parents, but the topic of it was never brought up. Faust later clarified over Twitter that, according to her vision for the show, Scootaloo indeed has parents, but they both have demanding jobs and that Scootaloo is good at evading her babysitter.

Depiction in My Little Pony The Movie
In My Little Pony The Movie, Scootaloo appears in a cage with the other Crusaders during the Storm King's takeover of Canterlot, and later during Rainbow.

HubNetwork.com description
''Scootaloo has the same need for speed as her idol, Rainbow Dash. Even though she's a Pegasus, she zips around Ponyville on her scooter. Scootaloo can be a bit impulsive -- but she'll always screech to a stop to help a friend. Her best friends are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Together with Babs Seed, they make up the Cutie Mark Crusaders.''

My Little Pony mobile game description
One of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who idolizes fellow Pegasus pony Rainbow Dash.

The Elements of Harmony guidebook
''In addition to earning her cutie mark, SCOOTALOO is determined to learn how to fly. In fact, Scootaloo has fashioned herself a special pony scooter, and she uses her Pegasus wings not to fly but to propel her wheeled contraption through the streets of Ponyville! Scootaloo idolizes the adventurous Rainbow Dash and often tries to imitate her "too cool" attitude as well as her athletic skill.''

Volume II guidebook
''SCOOTALOO doesn't like standing around listening to somepony blather on about the past. She's too excited for the present! Scootaloo's passion makes her an anxious sort who sometimes acts before thinking. It happens. Her fellow Crusaders are quick to remind her to focus her to [sic] on the tasks at hoof. Scootaloo has skills, too! She's a musical maestro, a masterful mechanic, and the head of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club.''

Appearances
Beginning with Lesson Zero, she is added to the remastered intro at the end of the train along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

Merchandise
A version of Squishy Pops Scootaloo has the same butterfly cutie mark as in earlier promotional material.

Promotional material
On October 27, 2012, The Hub's website began offering a PDF file containing seven recipes, each themed to either Littlest Pet Shop or My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, with accompanying illustrations. The "Cutie Mark Crusaders Chocolate Popcorn" recipe's accompanying illustration depicts the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Prior to a revision in early November 2012, a different illustration was used depicting grown-up versions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders with cutie marks, Scootaloo's cutie mark being the same butterfly as in later merchandise. This illustration was drawn by show layout artist Kat Stenson prior to her work on the show.

Quotes
"I said, you got a problem with blank flanks?"

- Call of the Cutie

"It means she could be great at anything. The possibilities are, like, endless."

- Call of the Cutie

"No matter what we try, we always end up without our cutie marks. And, surprisingly often, covered in tree sap."

- The Cutie Mark Chronicles

"What are you, a dictionary?"

- The Return of Harmony Part 1 and Family Appreciation Day

"I'm so, so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I just wanted you to hang out with me and see how cool I was so you'd take me under your wing, teach me everything you know, and become like my big sister!"

- Sleepless in Ponyville

"So what if my wings can't get me off the ground?"

- Flight to the Finish

"Winners or not, we still have the chance to be awesome!"

- Equestria Games

"I don't care if I ever get my cutie mark as long as I get to hang out with my best friends."

- Crusaders of the Lost Mark

"And trying new stuff might even make us better at helping them, like how I used my bungee jumping to change the sets!"

- On Your Marks

"Growing up, I never thought I'd be the best at anything, because nopony ever told me. But your parents told you over and over again."

- Parental Glideance

"You know, Rainbow Dash was right. Eavesdropping on your own fan club isn't weird at all."

- The Washouts

"Squawk! Look—I'm a chicken!"

- Princess Luna and the Festival of the Winter Moon