It had been a few years that had passed since Scootaloo finally obtained her cutie mark. She’d always loved learning new tricks on her scooter, but it’d taken her quite some time to realize it was what she was destined to do in life. The day she’d gotten her cutie mark was one of the best days of her life. She spent the day celebrating with the closest thing she had to an older sister; Rainbow Dash. She’d agreed to take her under her wing and teach her everything she knew, and ever since then Rainbow had watched the filly every step of the way. There was, however, one thing that had both Rainbow and Scootaloo worried to a point of losing their sleep and appetites. Scootaloo had been growing very fast, but her wings hadn’t grown an inch, and she had never been able to lift herself off the ground. This left both the ponies very concerned, and in desperation, Rainbow finally took a day and took Scootaloo to a doctor, in hopes she’d be fine.
“I-I hope I’m okay, Rainbow Dash… I hope it’s just stunned growth or something….”
The cyan pegasus could do nothing but wrap her hoof around Scootaloo, and gently rub her back. “I hope so, too…”
The small Doctor’s office was very cool in temperature, but snug. The crisp air sent shivers through their spines. Rainbow, Scootaloo, and one other mare with her three foals were the only ponies there at the time. Scootaloo’s heart beat heavily against Rainbow’s chest. The rainbow-maned mare closed her hooves tighter inward, making the embrace warmer and more comforting. Scootaloo pushed her muzzle deeper into Rainbow’s chest and nearly fell asleep on her soft cyan fur.
For the longest time, neither of them said a word. They cuddled each other, trying to keep the near future off their minds. Rainbow didn’t even want to begin to imagine the broken heart Scootaloo would have if she found out she were handicap. They both forced themselves into the belief Scootaloo was simply a late bloomer, but it was taking far too long for any signs of growth.
Finally, after twenty minutes a caramel-coated stallion walked out of a door in the far left corner of the room. His dark red mane was styled casually and his tail hung low between his legs.
“Scootaloo!” the doctor called.
Rainbow and Scootaloo got up from the cushioned bench and entered the doctor’s room. He instructed Scootaloo over to a bed, and asked her to sit.
“What’s the problem?” was the first thing the doctor asked.
Scootaloo looked upward to the doctor. Her purple eyes lifted to meet his gaze.“My wings are still the same size they were ever since I was a foal! I can’t fly like the rest of the pegasi my age!”
The doctor gave a silent nod. “I think I may know your problem… But I’ll have to do a few examinations just to be sure…”
Rainbow waited in a nearby chair impatiently. Over the course of 45 minutes, the doctor took her temperature, heartbeat, and in the end a blood sample and an x-ray of her wings.
“It shouldn’t take long for me to get the results in… Please relax and have a seat.”
Rainbow and Scootaloo returned to the bench they were previously sitting on. The orange pegasus rested her head on Rainbow’s chest and wrapped her hooves around her.
“I-I just want everything to be okay…” Scootaloo’s eyes glistened and light shone against them.
“Don’t cry… I’m sure everything will be okay… You’re a strong filly…” Her hoof lightly rubbed her back as she tried hard to comfort her.
“But… I want to fly… I’ve waited my whole life to fly, and I’m afraid it may never happen…”
Scootaloo dug her head into Rainbow’s furry chest. She silently began to weep, and Rainbow could feel tears escaping. This was when Rainbow cracked. Tears began to fall down her face. She prayed everything would be okay in the end. She prayed and hoped and wished, but still had a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach something was wrong.
After a long half hour of waiting and worrying, the doctor finally made his way out of the room once more.
“Scootaloo… I have your results…”
Scootaloo and Rainbow both had a large pain growing in their stomach. Scootaloo was consumed by fear of never being able to fly, while Rainbow worried the same, she was also depressed by the thought of her little friend being crushed and detrimented by the news she’d most likely hear. She couldn’t imagine having to live with two beauties on your back, but never getting the chance to use them.
“Scootaloo, please have a seat…”
The purple-maned young mare sat on the same bed she’d been on when the doctor examined her earlier. Sweat built on Scootaloo’s forehead and she began to shiver.
“It’s never easy telling somepony news like this….” He started off.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo’s hearts both broke at the awful words. Their eyes began to water, but they continued to listen patiently.
“I’m sorry, Scootaloo, you’ll never be able to fly… Your wings stopped growing a long time ago…”
Scootaloo’s purple eyes widened and tears filled them within seconds. She broke out against her will and streams of tears ran down her face, neck, and eventually down her stomach. Her whole body gave into it as she grieved over something she always had, but could never use. Rainbow began to cry as well. Tears trickled down her face as she held her adopted sister close. Their tear-drenched coats touched and their hearts beat in unison. The doctor simply watched them being broken. He kept opening his mouth to speak, but neither of them could hear through the crying and wailing.
Finally, the doctor cleared his throat and spoke. “There is, however, one solution.”
Scootaloo and Rainbow’s ears both perked straight up. Their tears stopped flowing as hope quickly defeated their sorrow.
“What is it?” the two pegasi chimed in an almost joyful tone.
“If there could be a volunteer who’d be willing to sacrifice their wings for her, then we could easily operate and replace her wings with another pegasus’. It wouldn’t be too expensive, and there would be no internal damage.
Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. Tears began to once again take over Scootaloo’s eyes. Rainbow heartbrokenly looked at her, and then at her pride and joy. The reason she had her cutie mark, and the one thing that made her happy; her wings.
“Doctor…this operation… could I have a day to think about it…?”
The doctor nodded, and Scootaloo gasped and looked up at Rainbow in complete shock.
“Thanks, Doc…” Rainbow lightly stroked Scootaloo’s mane.
Rainbow and Scootaloo both walked home silently. Scootaloo was still in complete bafflement over Rainbow’s proposal of possibly sacrificing her wings for her. She didn’t know what to think. Her mind was fuzzy with mixed feelings. She really wanted to fly, and she had her whole life. The thought of flying made her feel free, and whenever she saw Rainbow up in the air, her heart would fill with excitement, and a bit of envy, but on the other, hoof, she’d be taking away what made Rainbow herself. Rainbow had always taken great amounts of pride in her speed and agility. What would she be without them? She was one of the fastest flyers in all of Equestria, and she practiced countless hours, pushing herself and trying to make herself the best. She couldn’t imagine Rainbow functioning without her wings. She lived in a house in the sky, too. She’d have to completely move and everything, just to give Scootaloo something she’d survived years without.
Rainbow Dash lied awake in bed for many hours, debating over her decision. She’d lived her whole life with her wings. She remembered when her dad taught her to fly for the first time, her first race, her sonic rainbooms, and just about everything she did involving her wings. She couldn’t imagine her life without them, but every time she thought of keeping her beauties, the image of Scootaloo crying from not being able to fly, and the leap of hope that filled her heart when she heard there was another way crossed her mind. The thought of letting Scootaloo down broke Dash’s heart and made her eyes water. But, she couldn’t have expected Rainbow to make such a big sacrifice… The picture of being a pegasus and never being able to fly saddened her. She knew the joys of having wings, but her adopted sister may’ve never…
The cyan pegasus rolled over and looked at her alarm clock.
“10:30?”
Rainbow sighed and picked up the phone on her nightstand. She dialed in a number and held it up to her ear. After only a few rings, it was picked up on the other line.
A familiar male voice answered. “Hello?”
“Yeah, Doc? I was thinking about that operation….”
Golden rays seeped through Rainbow’s curtains and masked her face. Her eyelids sprung opened, revealing her bright, magenta eyes. She let out a sigh and sat up. Her rainbow mane unevenly stuck out in various directions. Without wasting time to even comb her mane or brush her teeth, she flew out her window and into the twilight. She smiled as the wind whipped through her rainbow mane and tail. Her eyes narrowed with ambitioned as she gained speed. She felt great. She looped effortlessly around clouds and swooped down, feeling the most freedom she could ever feel. Her pulse rose and sweat began to build on her forehead, which didn’t slow her down, but only encouraged her to go faster. She tried desperately to shake off the awful feeling in her heart that kept coming, but could only keep it down a few minutes at a time.
After a good two hours of spreading her wings and getting her morning fly in, she flew to Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo were no longer the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they hadn’t been for years, but they were still close friends. They still hung out in the little tree house they had when they were much younger fillies. Scootaloo often slept there, and was the usual place for Rainbow to find her.
Rainbow landed on the wooden floorboards and took in a deep breath. She raised her hoof to the small door and gave it several light taps. A young mare answered the knock and closed the door behind her. She was a yellow land pony, with a twisted red braid to one side. She had bright orange eyes, but that day they seemed to carry sadness.
“Oh, hey, Apple Bloom…” Rainbow muttered. “Did you hear?”
She did nothing but simply nod.
“May I see her?”
Apple Bloom opened the door and called through, “Scootaloo… Rainbow’s here…”
Scootaloo shyly made her way out of the club house and into Rainbow’s presence.
“Oh, hey Rainbow Dash….” Her eyes darted towards the ground and her ears drooped sadly,
“Get ready, Scoots… We’re going to the hospital today…”
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in disbelief. “Are-are you serious?”
Rainbow let out a sigh and a nod. “I’ve had many great years with these wings… I can’t even begin to describe how much they mean to me, but…” She gave Scoots a warm smile. “I love you like a sister, and I can’t see you suffer like this…”
An unimaginably wide grin formed on the young pegasus’ face. Her heart almost exploded out of her chest with joy. “Th-thank you! You have no idea how happy I am!”
Scootaloo proceeded to wrap her hooves around Rainbow and squeeze her tightly.
“Thank you so, so, so much! I could never repay you!”
“No problem, kid…”
Rainbow’s tone fell sadder than it already had been. “Come on, we have to go in an hour.”
Scootaloo could feel a sudden sense of guilt emerging inside her. “A-are you sure you’re okay with this, Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus did nothing but give Scootaloo a quick nod. “Don’t worry about it…”
Scootaloo’s mind quickly tried to forget about Rainbow, but her heart wouldn’t let go of the thought of her sacrifice.
“Alright, Rainbow; this won’t hurt a bit, I promise. Just relax, and this stuff will put you right out.”
The doctor used magic to levitate a needle filled with a clear liquid. Rainbow tried to relax her body. She didn’t want to fall asleep, because she knew the moment she’d wake up her precious wings would be gone for the rest of her life. Scootaloo told her she didn’t have to do this, and she desperately didn’t want to, but she’d already made up her mind. She looked at Scootaloo, who was directly across from her in the room. She mouthed something, but Rainbow couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. An expected, but not prepared for pinch could be felt in Rainbow’s right flank. She let out a short, “ah!” and then everything went black.
“I-I don’t know about this… Are you sure it’s safe?”
A blue pegasus stroked through Rainbow’s mane lightly to calm her.
“Just do it, Dashie. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”
The stallion above her gave her a sweet smiled along with gentle look in his gold eyes. Rainbow hunched her back, licked her lips in ambition, and with full confidence leaped off the cloud she was standing on. The stallion above watched the little filly plummet down to Earth. The little filly opened her wings and began to furiously flap. To even her shock, Rainbow began to fly. She was levitating, and she was in complete control of herself. She looked up at the stallion with a large smile.
“Daddy! I’m doing it! I’m flying!”
She swooped upward awkwardly, but still succeeded in remaining balanced. Her heart pounded and she felt reborn. She made herself all the way back up to her start point and wrapped a hoof around her father. He hugged her back gently.
Although the memory of her first flight lasted the longest, she had many more flashes of her casually flying, her first race when she obtained her cutie mark, the Youngest Flyers competition, the few times she tried to impress the Wonderbolts, her days at flight camp, the beautiful Sonic Rainbooms she’d made, and every trick she’d ever learned continuously circled through her mind. It felt like an eternity of looking through your whole life over and over again.
On her external body, her eyes began to twitch and she began to lightly shake. In her deep sleep, she began to sweat and shiver, and within little time of her body panicking, she awoke, flat on her back. She’d never felt anything so weird before. Her bare back touched the bed sheets where her wings should’ve been. Her whole body tensed up and her sweating escalated from the new, odd sensation. Slowly, she sat upward, her body still being in intense shock. She made her hoof to her back and lightly rubbed where her wings had always been. Instead, there was nothing but a tightly wrapped bandage.
“My wings….”
She struggled hard to fight back strong tears and emotions. She kept telling herself it was her own fault, but still hid in denial. She tried convincing herself it was all one big nightmare, but failed with every attempt. Finally, the tears triumphed over her and made an effortless escape. They fell down her face and glistened softly in the lights above her. And although she tried to calm down before somepony saw her, the streams only turned into rapid rivers and heavily went down to her back and left. Although her sorrow remained silent, she tried desperately to make it all stop, knowing she’d have to be checked on eventually. That’s when she heard a door slowly creak opened. Using her hooves, she tried to quickly wipe her eyes, but her coat was still tear-stained along with the bed, and her eyes were watery and lightly pink.
“Rainbow… Are you alright?”
The cyan pony gave a pathetic nod for a lie, and tried to force a smile. The doctor was very aware of her depression, but chose to ignore it.
“The operation went great. Scootaloo should be able to fly any time now.” He gave her quick smile. “Would you like to talk to her?”
The rainbow-maned equine nodded quietly and the doctor called Scootaloo’s name, whom walked in with a smile so large it came off as creepy. Onto her back were stitched-on light blue pegasus wings. They were a tad bit big for her, but she would surely grow into them completely. Although the dramatic color difference stood out awkward, she still looked beautiful. She was sure Rarity could make some kind of dye to make the colors blend.
“D-do they work?”
“You tell me,” Scootaloo replied cockily with a smile as she slowly flapped her new pair of wings up and down.
At that moment, Rainbow’s regret and sadness seeped out of her like sweat on a hot summer’s day. The negative emotions were replaced with a certain sense of pride and accomplishment.
“You look great,” she acknowledge with a genuine smile.
“I know!” The overly happy pegasus hopped onto the bed and gave Rainbow a tight hug. “Thank you so, so much! Is there anything I could do to repay you?”
Rainbow broke away from the tender embrace, and let her pink eyes meet Scootaloo’s. “Just promise me you’ll take good care of them for me... Okay?
Scootaloo gave Rainbow a quick salute, followed along with a proud, “Yes, ma’am!”
Rainbow smiled at her adopted sister and warmly embraced her once more. She allowed her hoof to gently stroke her passed-down wings, but this time it was much easier to fight off the tears that wanted to overtake her once more.
That evening, Rainbow had taken Scootaloo a small cliff, where she’d planned on teaching her how to fly. Scootaloo stood on the edge. Her heartbeat increased to a point it may have busted out of her chest while she ambitiously licked her lips. Rainbow was getting used to walking everywhere, and although she was still getting over it, being with Scootaloo made her much happier.
“Alright,” Rainbow began. “I’m going to teach you to fly the simplest and easiest way I know.”
Without warning or hesitation from the cutoff of her speech, she picked up Scootaloo, but was only able to get her an inch or two off the ground do to having no wings. She held her over the edge of the cliff.
Scootaloo began to squirm slightly. “Wh-what are you doing?”
Scoot’s question was answered by a demand. “Start flapping!”
Rainbow dropped the pony off the cliff and watched with a smile as she plummeted towards the ground. Scootaloo screamed in terror, but quickly tried to flap her wings. She stopped falling. She didn’t hit the ground, but remained suspended in the air. A large smile grew on her face.
“I’m doing it Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow smiled down at her with satisfaction. “I never doubted you!”
Scoots flew upward and squeezed Rainbow tightly, and then jetted off into another direction, feeling confident with her new wings. Rainbow’s eyes began to water again. This time she didn’t know if she were happy or sad, all she knew was her heart was being devoured by a strong emotion that once again made the salt water run down her face.
“That young mare is going to do great things….” She spoke softly to herself, looking beyond at the little mare whom should could much compare to herself, and had been filling an unsatisfied void for years.
Author's Note
I know, this story is very short. It was not meant to be long.
