Scootaloo sat on the fluffy white cloud looking up, watching her idol soar across the clear blue sky at maximum speeds. Rainbow Dash was practicing her moves for an upcoming race. She had invited Scootaloo to her cloud home so she can watch and cheer her on. She watched her with wide eyes. She watched every little move dash made. She would lose sight of her for a second, but would then find the cyan pegasus zoom past her. Scootaloo loved watching her practice. She loved the way she moved across the sky. She only wished she could fly with her. Scootaloo looked down and let her ears droop.
"... and that's how you prepare for a race!" Dash said walking towards Scootaloo. She looked at her and could see that she was upset. "Hey, Scoots, what's wrong?" Scootaloo quickly noticed Rainbow Dash standing in front of her and quickly wiped her frown off her face.
"Nothing. I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About what?" Dash asked sitting next to her.
"Nothing. It's not important." She put on a slight grin and looked away. She started to look at her wings.
"Your thinking about flying, aren't you?" Dash said raising an eyebrow. Scootaloo looked down and a single tear fell. "Look Scoot, you can't let this get to you. I know your depressed about it, and you aren't sure if you can even fly. You need to stop thinking about this small problem."
"This isn't a small problem Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo snapped. She looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. "I am a pegasus who can't fly. I should have been flying long ago."
"You need to give this time. Maybe you'll fly one day." Dash said putting a wing over Scootaloo's shoulder.
"But what if I never fly?" She put her hooves up to her face and began to cry. "Do you know what it's like to wake up everyday and be completely different from everypony else? I wake up, look at my self in the mirror and see nothing but a useless pony. You have no idea what it's like to be this different." she said through her tears. Rainbow's ears drooped. She tried to think of something to say.
"I-I guess I don't." Her ears then shot back up. "However, I know somepony who does!" Scootaloo looked up and wiped her eyes.
"Huh, who could be as different as me?" Rainbow Dash stood up..
"Come on! I'll take you to her house!" She put Scootaloo on her back and flew off. They flew for what seemed like hours. They were pretty far. They were near the Everfree Forest and she couldn't see Fluttershy's cottage anywhere. "Well," Dash said landing. "We're here!" Scootaloo looked at the little house in front of her. She had the strangest feeling that she knew who lived here. She just couldn't make out who. Dash sat her down on a tree stump. "OK, you sit here while I go get her." Scootaloo nodded and Dash walked away. Dash walked up to the door of the little home and knocked. The door opened and a purple, filly, unicorn with a blonde mane answered.
"Hello, hello? What do you want?" Dash smiled at her. "Oh, Rainbow Dash! How are you doing? You looking for my mom?"
"Yeah, is she around?" she said peering into the house.
"No," the filly said. "she just left to get some treats from Sugarcube Corner. You can come in if you want." She opened the door even more so Rainbow Dash could get through. She looked back to Scootaloo and signaled her to come over. When Scootaloo walked up to the door, she immediately recognized the filly.
"Hey, I know you. You sit behind Twist in class. Dinky, right?"
"Yeah. Your Scootaloo, right? You have that club The Cutie Mark Searchers, right?"
"Yep, and it's Crusaders. Not Searchers." They laughed and walked into the house.
"My dad is in the kitchen cleaning. I'll go get him." Dinky said walking towards the kitchen. When she came back, she had a light brown stallion walking with her. He was wearing an apron and Dash began to chuckle at the sight.
"Nice apron, Doc." she said with a laugh. He smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Rainbow Dash, how have you been?" he said hugging her.
"Good. I brought a guest. Scootaloo," she said pointing to her. "this is The Doctor." He looked at Scootaloo and smiled.
"Ah, so this is the famous Scootaloo that we have heard so much about. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." They walked to the dining room and sat at the table. "Do you want a drink? I just made tea." Scootaloo nodded and Dash nodded as well.
"Yeah, that will be great. Thanks." Dash said. The Doctor came back with both of their glasses and sat down as well.
"So, what brings you here?" he asked, sipping his dink. Dash looked at Scootaloo and then back to the Doctor.
"Well, you see. We came here to speak with..." She was interrupted by the front door opening. A voice called out from the door.
"Dinky, Doctor, I'm home!" Dinky's ears perked up and she stood up.
"Yay! Mom's home!" She ran up to her mother and gave her a hug. Her mom walked into the kitchen. She saw Rainbow Dash sitting at the table. Scootaloo now recognized who she was. It was Derpy!
"Oh, Rainbow Dash! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?" she said setting the treats on the table.
"Well, Derpy, Scootaloo wants to discuss something, uh, 'personal' with you." Derpy understood what she was getting at. She turned to Dinky.
"Hey, Dinky. Can you do me a favor."
"Yeah, what do you need?" she asked walking up to her mom.
"I have a package waiting for me at the post office. Can you go get it? You might need to take your father with you just in case he needs to sign for it." She winked to The Doctor and he got the message.
"OK!" She smiled to her dad and they made their way to the post office. She sighed and returned to Rainbow and Scootaloo.
"There. That should keep them busy for a while. Now, what did you want to talk about?" Rainbow Dash took a deep breath before answering.
"Well, Scoot. Care to tell her?" Scootaloo looked down and her ears drooped.
"You see, I have an issue with flying. My wings haven't grown enough for me to fly and I..." Tears began to form in her eyes. "I don't know what to do. I have even picked on by some fillies in my class because of it." Derpy frowned at this statement.
"It wasn't those two bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon was it?" she asked sternly.
"Uh, yeah. How do you know them?" she asked, wiping tears away from her eyes.
"UGH! Figures. Those little twerps have picked on my Dinky before." She stood up and walked into the living room. She picked up a picture of her and Dinky sat on a shelf. "She'd kill me if I told you this." she said softly. "Dinky has a hard time using her magic. Those two bullies picked on her and teased her because of it." She set the picture down and went back to the table. "After that little incident, I had a long talk with their parents. After some strong words were used, they left Dinky alone." She smiled and let out a small chuckle. "So, Scootaloo, what did they do to you?" Scootaloo wiped her eyes.
"They picked on me because I can't fly."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Dash then cut in. "They teased her when she and her friends were practicing for the flag carrier try outs for the Equestria Games. It got her so bummed out that she nearly quit the team because of it." Scootaloo said nothing. She just looked down and let her tears fall, remembering the harsh things that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon said to her.
"I... I..." She tried to speak up, but couldn't make out the words. "It's hard for me to even get out of bed in the morning. I wake up and look at myself in the mirror. All I see is a useless pegasus who can't do the one thing she was born to do, fly. Everyone says they understand what I'm going through, but I know they don't."
"I do." Derpy spoke up. Scootaloo looked up to her and saw that she was crying as well. "I understand fully. I have been in your situation when I was younger." Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
"Sure you did." she said in an irritated tone. She had grown tired of ponies telling her that.
"No, I do! Scootaloo, look at me. You see my eyes?" She pointed a hoof to her eyes. Scootaloo looked at her eyes.
"You have a lazy eye. So what." she scoffed.
"Well believe it or not, but I was tormented as a child because of it. having a lazy eye wasn't so common back then. The fillies and colts in my class would call me names like stupid, dumb and retarded. It hurt, and being clumsy and forgetful didn't help it either. I remember I would come home from school and just go straight to my room. I would lock myself in there for hours and cry. I remember this one time, two fillies cornered me after school and beat me up. All because of my eyes and because I was different. I went home that night and stayed in my room. When I didn't come down for dinner, my mom came up to my room. She heard me crying and decided to come in. She saw me face down in my pillow and sat next to me. She saw the bruises and told me to sit up so she can see. I sat up and showed her my cuts, scrapes, bruises and black eye. She flipped and went to the school the next day. The two fillies were expelled after that. I didn't go to school for a week, though." She stopped and wiped her eyes before continuing. "When I went back, I thought the problems would be over. I didn't. I was so scared to go to school. I would have dropped out if it weren't for one filly. Rainbow Dash." She pointed to the now crying cyan pegasus. "She stood up to the bullies and became one of my closest friends." She looked back to Scootaloo. "Anyways, as I was saying before, I understand completely. In fact, be glad that it stopped right away. You could have had it worse. Also, be glad you have the friends you have. They will stand up for you when your in trouble. You'd do the same for them, wouldn't you?" Scootaloo wiped her eyes and smiled.
"Yeah, I would."
"Also, I'll give you the hard truth. If you can't fly in the future, the teasing won't stop. You need to prepare yourself for those jerks out there. I'm sorry, but it's true. I get teased and made fun of, even today, because of my eyes. You know what I do when somepony makes a rude remark to me about my eyes?" Scootaloo nodded. "I simply do what Pinkie Pie taught me. Laugh! Even though their insults hurt, I know I have a loving family waiting for me back home. So don't worry about is, sweetie. You have your whole life ahead of you. Just concentrate on the important things like school, family and earning your cutie mark with you friends." she said with a giggle. Scootaloo thought for a minute, wiped her tears and spoke up.
"Hey, Derpy." she said softly.
"Yes."
"Thank you. Your right." Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look.
"You sure your OK?" she said raising an eyebrow. She turned to Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah. You were right Rainbow Dash. I should give this more time. So what if I can't fly. I don't care about that right now, and I know I am getting really good on my scooter. Maybe I can remake it into a flying type machine if I can't fly." She smiled. "I need to focus on the important things. More important than flying. Having fun. I could have it worse and could be tormented daily by fillies and colts about it." She turned back to Derpy. "So thank you. I think it finally sunk in. It's a tough lesson to learn, but it's a great one to learn. Just because I'm disabled doesn't mean I'm useless. It means I'm special. Different than everypony else, and that's OK." She leaned over and gave Derpy a hug and thanked her once more for her help and for the talk. She then turned back to Rainbow Dash. "Hey Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah?"
"Can we go back to your house and finish practicing for your race?" Rainbow Dash smiled and hugged Scootaloo.
"Of course we can, Scoot."
