They were laughing at her. Again. With a small sigh Scootaloo picked herself up off the ground, wiping the dust away. That had been her third attempt, and like her first two that morning she had barely managed to get off the stage let alone fly.
She decided to give it a fourth try, she gave herself a running start on the stage and leap off into the air, her small wings beating furiously. Instead of soaring off into the wild blue yonder, she hovered for a few miserable seconds before falling to the ground again.
Ponyville’s outdoor amphitheater was completely deserted save Scootaloo’s friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, a lone stallion repairing a stone seat, and a certain pair of fillies who had managed to show up uninvited.
“Not only are you a blank flank but you totally can’t even fly!”
“Yeah, like you haven’t disgraced us enough with your banner waving last month.”
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle told her to ignore them. After all, they were just a couple of real bullies. She knew her friends were right, but deep inside she still felt as small as a bug.
Yesterday she had flown. She really had, honest! That’s why she and the other crusaders (a club that consisted of her, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle had been at the amphitheater in the first place. After flying home last night, she had called them to there that morning so they could see. After years of trying she was finally going to show her friends she could fly.
But now it looked as if she was going to chalk this one up as another failure.
“Don’t worry Scootaloo, we believe you.”
“Yeah, maybe your wings are just tired from flying last night.”
“Oh, so now she says she flew last night?”
The three crusaders turned to Diamond Tiara as she interrupted them.
“I bet she made the whole thing up.”
But she hadn’t. Had she? Scootaloo could almost still feel the wind rushing through her mane, under her wings, giving her the power to fly.
“And if she wasn’t lying, why can’t she fly now?”
That was the question wasn’t it? Scootaloo had flown. She truly had, but why couldn’t she fly now?
“What? No comment? That’s what I thought. Come on Silver, let’s go find something actually cool to do other than watching this nopony try to fly.”With Silver Spoon in tow, Diamond Tiara paraded out of the amphitheater.
“Come on Scootaloo, let’s go to the clubhouse.”
“Yeah, I think Granny’s making pie today!”
Her friends attempts to cheer her up fell on deaf ears.
“No thanks guys, maybe later. I think I’ll just hang out here for a while.”
Despite her friends’ best efforts, the discouraged pegasus could not be swayed and after a few minutes of fruitless discussion Applebloom and Sweetie Belle headed off for pie at the Apple farm. After trying a few more times (meeting the same result as earlier) Scootaloo turned to leave for her house, dejected.
Had she made the whole thing up? The night before had felt so real, it couldn’t have been a dream. Maybe-
“That was some sweet flying last night kid.”
Scootaloo almost walked into a post as she processed what she had just heard. She turned to locate the pony who had spoken. It was the repair pony, as he finished up the seat.
“You saw me fly?!”
“Yeah, you flew by real fast, riding those low winds like a pro. Good way to compensate for your lack of wing spannage.” He muttered to himself as he gathered up his tools. “hmm… spannage… that should be a word.”
“Yes! I knew I wasn’t making it up!”
The grey earth pony smiled and turned to leave the jubilant young filly, or tried to at least.
“How do I do it again?”
He looked back at her not quite understanding.
“Why can’t I fly now? But I could last night?”
“Because there’s no wind. Hate to break it to ya kid but your wings ain’t exactly cut out for flying, a bit on the small side. That’s why you needed the bit of updraft to fly last night.”
“Then how am I s-“
The repairpony cut her off halfway through her question.
“Find a high-ish place, wait for a good strong wind, jump. Not exactly rocket science.”
After thanking the repair pony, Scootaloo sped off on her scooter to find a suitable place to try to catch a ‘wind’. Rainbow Dash had told her not to try to fly unless she or some other pony was there with her. But Rainbow Dash wasn’t supposed to get back from Cloudsdale until that night and she couldn’t wait that long.
What would Rainbow Dash do in her place? The answer led her to the edge of a high cliff, with a long, long fall down. She could do it. She felt the gentle wind grow stronger as it blew slowly through her mane. She would do it.
The wind picked up.
She jumped.
Her wings spread, flapping vigorously, straining to catch the wind.
She flew. Scootaloo flew, and while far from graceful she was flying.
Or she was at least until the wind died on her, leaving her stranded out in the open air.
She fell.
Her little wings where working as hard as they ever had trying to keep her aloft, or at least from hitting the ground too hard. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an earthbound grey blur coming towards her.
Great, now there would be somepony there to see her break a leg or two. Instead she landed on the poor sod, who had obviously been trying to catch her. With a grunt the gray stallion took as much of the impact off the young pegasus as possible. Scootaloo landed in a bruised and battered (but mostly unharmed) pile of feathers next to a now very familiar gray earth pony who was panting heavily.
“By…. Celestia’s… mane kid… think you… could’ve waited… (he took a greedy lungful of air) until I was a bit closer before jumping?”
Scootaloo wasn’t sure how to thank her savior, until a question came to mind.
“You knew I would try it?”
“Of course I did. I knew you’d try it before I even told you about wind currents. You alright?”
Scootaloo briefly checked herself.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Good, now get your hide back up halfway to the cliff there, and don’t jump until I say so!”
Realizing that the stallion wasn’t going to reprimand her, Scootaloo hurriedly climbed to the desired height. Maybe now that she had a teacher she could really fly.
“Okay, now just try to get to me. Preferably without crashing.”
They waited about a minute for the wind to pick up again.
“JUMP!”
Scootaloo hesitated.
“Jump darn it! Do you think Spitfire would’ve ever made the wonderbolts if she didn’t overcome her fear of heights? I know you’re not afraid, so JUMP!”
Scootaloo jumped.
They spent about an hour this way. The gray stallion gave her pointers on how to maximize her small wing span, broke her harder falls, and greatly improved her confidence. As he walked her back into town later in the day, she kept on asking him questions about flying that he tried his best to answer. As the building she identified as her house came into view, Scootaloo thanked him and ran off. She didn’t get far before turning around, a question in her eyes.
“Thanks again for all the help, but I never did get your name. I think it’s awesome that a real trainer like you would help me out like you did today.”
“My name’s Hack Saw, and I’m no trainer. But I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“But then how did you know so much about flying?”
Hack Saw shrugged and turned to leave.
“Wait! If I couldn’t even fly before you helped my out, how did I fly last night?”
“Life is full of miracles kid. Guess I’ll see you around sometime, though I’ll probably have to look up.” With that, he walked off in direction of the center of town leaving Scootaloo to most likely try flying from her upper story window on her own.
* * *
“Princess? Ah, good. You’re in.” Hack Saw removed his hat as Twilight Sparkle came down to meet him in the library’s sitting room.
“Hack Saw please, I really you and the rest of town would stop with this entire royalty thing.”
“No can do your highness. I just came by to tell you that I finished the repair work on the seats like you asked. The amphitheater should be ready for the other sisters’ visit.”
“Thank you and I really am sorry that you had the wrong books delivered to your house. I doubt you found much use in Wing Theory or Wonderbolts: Rise to the Top.”
Hack Saw was quick to assure the alicorn that the reading had in fact proven to be most useful.
“Now I should get going.” As he opened the door to leave, he was struck by a thought.“That was some fancy spell-casting the other night.”
Twilight let out a small laugh as she remembered the event.
“Oh so you did see that levitation spell last night.”
“Sure did, you almost hit me.” Truth be told, if he hadn’t tripped trying to avoid a certain filly on a scooter it probably would’ve.
“I really am sorry, I’m just glad it didn’t hurt anypony.”
“You know what your highness; it might actually done a heap of good.”
* * *
Late that night, Scootaloo lay awake in bed as the wind brushed the limbs of a tree outside against her window. Even though she hadn’t been able to fly for her friends, the day had been a great one. She wished little miracles would happen more often.
