Flightless

"Awh, come on Scootaloo, it ain’t that bad!” My best friend Apple Bloom put a gentle hoof around my shoulders, while my other best friend, Sweetie Belle, struggled to find something comforting to say.

“Besides,” The unicorn exclaimed at last, “You hate going out after dark!”

Applebloom gave her a sharp nudge in the ribs. I was going to retaliate; it’s not that I’m afraid of the dark or anything, it’s just so… dark, ya know?

However, I knew Sweetie Belle pretty well; sometimes she spoke without thinking, but her heart was always in the right place. So I choose to ignore that statement.

“It’s just… I’d totally accepted myself for not being able to fly.” I explained pitifully, “but today has just reminded me that I’m only like, half pegasus at best.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re a total pegasus! You got wings don’t ya?” Apple Bloom gently lifted one of my wings with her hoof, spreading out the magnificent orange feathers.

“And you can walk on clouds! That’s so cool!” Sweetie Belle added, a little more helpfully this time.

“Sure wish I could do that!” Agreed the country mare.

That actually cheered me up a bit. Galloping across the fluffy clouds sure was a lot of fun, but I always needed Rainbow Dash to drag a few of them down to the ground for me first. She would break them up and arrange them to form little cloud steps, so I could climb up and prance around in the sky with her above Ponyville, almost like a regular pegasus. If I wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s sister, I would probably get teased for that kind of thing.

“I guess so.” I replied doubtfully, not wanting to bring up that point and sound like a total downer.

“That practically is flying if you ask me!” I could tell that Sweetie Belle was exaggerating, in a desperate attempt to make me feel better - walking on clouds wasn't at all like flying.

“This 'special business', it’s only for one night ain’t it?” Applebloom asked,

I nodded, “Yeah, besides, I’m not the only pegasus left behind.”

“You’re not?” The two of them sounded surprised by this news, I tried not to be offended.

“Nah, turns out Derpy’s been excluded too.”

“Derpy Hooves? Gosh, I forgot all about her,” Applebloom replied, “What’s she doing nowadays?”

“Who knows?” I answered, “She was fired from her job, kicked off the weather team, and she doesn’t seem to leave her home all that much any more.”

“I saw her last week flying over ponyville, but it was just for a second.” Sweetie Belle added. "She was just sorta drifting overhead with a vacant expression."

“Ah feel kinda bad for her.” Applebloom admitted sadly, “Everypony treated her like she was just an accident ready to happen.”

“Yeah…” I suddenly felt a little selfish. Here I was feeling sorry for myself about being excluded, but at least I had two wonderful friends to comfort me. Derpy Hooves probably didn’t have any pony to talk to. “Derpy must be feeling kinda down about this whole thing too.”

I spent the afternoon with Applebloom and Sweetie belle, trying to forget about the situation and just have fun for a while. Applebloom built another obstacle course for me to tackle on my scooter, and for Sweetie belle to tackle using her magic. The three of us were always challenging ourselves in fun ways like that, ever since we were kids trying to gain our cutie marks.

We had a great time, and when the sky began to grow dark, I headed off home to finally start work on those scooters. I'd been putting it off all day, knowing that I now had the entire evening free since Rainbow Dash was heading to Canterlot. I kinda wanted to see her off, but concluded that it would be pretty awkward and depressing for the both of us. Shutting myself inside my home seemed like the best option. Besides, those scooters weren't going to fix themselves.

It took me longer than usual to repair the vehicles. My mind was elsewhere; this was the first time since I was a filly that I actually felt unhappy about not being able to fly. Sometimes I'd look up, and see the other pegasi soaring through the skies, and feel a bit down for like, a second or two, but then I'd just hop on Firefly and forget all about it. This was my talent, this is what I was meant to to, and no other pegasi could compete with me when it came to scooting and scooter maintenance. I may not be able to fly, but I had more than enough talent to make up for that. Rainbow once said that if I was an Element, I'd be the Element of Awesome!

So, why in Equestria was this potential 'Element of Awesome' feeling so crummy right now?

Before midnight, I managed to get the scooters in full working order, and waxed them both to give them an impressive shine - customer satisfaction is my number one priority after all. Then, I headed to bed, knowing that the following morning I would be reunited with Rainbow Dash, who would most likely wake me up and excitedly tell me all about her special Canterlot pegasi mission.

**************************

The following morning, I was a little disappointed to discover that I had awoken naturally, all by myself. I washed, styled my spiked mane into place, and was starting on my oat meal breakfast (we athletes gotta stay healthy) when finally, there came a stern knock upon my door.

“Rainbow Dash!” I leapt out of bed and hurried over, My heart was pounding; I couldn’t wait to hear all about her adventure in Canterlot.

Sure enough when I opened the door, there stood my awesome sister. But she wasn’t smiling, or holding out her hooves to hug me, and she didn’t look all that eager to talk, either.

“Hey Scootaloo.” She gave a meek smile, “Can I come in?”

“S….sure… is something wrong?” Rainbow Dash never asked to enter my home before, she normally just let herself in after I opened the door, and she rarely called me by my full name like that - something was clearly amiss.

“Yeah.” She trotted slowly past me, and took a seat on the couch.

I followed and sat next to her, she looked troubled. I thought if I showed a bit of enthusiasm, it might perk her up a bit.

“About the mission? Oh my gosh, what happened?” I fluttered my wings in anticipation.

“Yeah, about that.” Rainbow Dash was rubbing her front hooves together nervously. “I… I can’t tell you about it… at all… sorry - Celestia’s orders.”

“Wh…” It felt so strange to hear Rainbow Dash talking like that. She sounded so serious, almost... miserable. I could tell she was having a hard time giving me the news, so I shook off my disappointment and shuffled closer to her.

“That’s... that’s okay, rules are rules.” I smiled, “I’m just happy to have my sister back.”

I thought that statement would make Rainbow happy, but I was wrong. She stared at the ground with wide, sad eyes. It seemed as though she was struggling to look at me.

“Actually Scootaloo…. I won’t… I’m not going to be in Ponyville for a while.”

My mouth fell open, “What?”

“Celestia wants all the pegasi to do some special training in Cloudsdale, outside of weather duty. I can’t give you the details, but she’s put me in charge of something really important, and she wants me and a few others to stay in Canterlot permanently for a while.”

I was speechless, so Rainbow continued,

“It’s really important Scoot, I’ve had to abandon Wonderbolt practice for this, as well as my position as leader of the weather team, and we can’t tell any pony about it. It’s my duty as an element barer to serve the Princess. You understand… right?”

I gulped, I didn’t know how to react to that. Rainbow Dash had taught me to be tough, and to not let my negative emotions get the better of me, but this was just too much to take. I felt like crying, I wanted to put both my hooves and wings around her, and beg her not to leave. What task could possibly be so important that Princess Celestia would take my sister away from me? I rapidly blinked my eyes a few times in an attempt to rid them of tears, then shook my head furiously and gathered my thoughts.

Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty, and this task did sound extremely important; it was probably something only a pegasi as amazing as her could take on. As much as it pained me, I didn't want my sister to feel any worse than she already did about leaving. I should be proud of her, I should be supporting her! I just had to be strong... at least until she left my home.

“Sure Rainbow Dash. I…understand.” I gave the fakest smile of my life and we sat in silence for a few minutes.

That’s the great thing about me and Rainbow, we can just lie there without speaking for hours and somehow still understand one another's thoughts and feelings. We may not be sisters by blood, but our heads and our hearts are intertwined, and right now, we both felt the same, deep level of sadness.

“So… when do you leave?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“This afternoon, after my final weather shift.” She answered. "I have to choose some pony to take my place during that time."

“Oh," That meant we had little to no time left together. "And, when will you be back?”

“I’m not… entirely sure. It won’t be for too long though, don’t... worry.” She nuzzled me, but it didn't help; she looked doubtful, so my eyes welled up again.

“So you’re going to be in Canterlot, doing some special secret important thing, and all the other pegasi will be training in Cloudsdale?”

Rainbow’s response surprised me, “…No.” She shuffled a little, “Um Scootaloo, there's something else."

Else? What else could there possibly be? It felt as though Rainbow Dash was dropping bombshell after bombshell upon me that morning. First she tells me that the mission was top secret and  - despite being a pegasus - I can't know about it, then I get the dreadful news that she's leaving Ponyville - I couldn't bare to think what was next to come.

"When we took off last night, as we were all flying over Ponyville, I looked down, hoping to see you... but, I didn't"

"Rainbow... I couldn't..." I started to say, but she interrupted,

"I saw somepony else instead. Some pony watching us from a roof top. She didn't look sad, but she looked kinda... solemn"

This was freaking me out. Rainbow Dash never used words like 'solemn', her vocabulary was always so casual. I guessed which pony she meant almost instantly - earth ponies and unicorn's didn't really spend much time on roof tops.

“Scootaloo, did you know that it was me who got Derpy Hooves fired from the weather team?”

I shook my head. Rainbow continued,

"When I came to Ponyville, Derpy was one of the first friend's I made. She was pretty fun to hang out with, and a really sweet pony. We were very close as kids. I used to look after her and stuff, and stand up for her when the other ponies were being jerks. In return, she was a pretty great friend to me. She kept telling me how cool I was, and never let me think otherwise. I think... Derpy really helped me to gain the confidence that I needed, in order to become the awesome pony I am today."

I briefly noticed a faint smile appear on Rainbow's face, as though she was recalling a happy memory, but it soon faded.

"When we became weather ponies, Derpy's clumsiness was more than any of us could take. She was constantly messing up, causing quite a lot of trouble, and a heck of a lot more work for us. In the end, it was me who shouted at her, and it was me who bought the topic of Derpy's behaviour up in one of the meetings. The weather team supervisors watched her closely from then on, and I could see the poor mare trying her best to do well, but she just cracked under the pressure and messed up even more. I felt pretty awful when I saw how much she panicked when the bosses were watching her."

"So... she was fired?"

Rainbow Dash nodded,

“I'd sorta tried to forget about it. I told myself Derpy just wasn't made for the weather team, and that it was the best decision for everypony, but when I saw her there last night, she reminded me a lot of you, Squirt."

For whatever reason, Rainbow Dash calling me 'Squirt' made me feel a lot more comfortable, she had been addressing me by my name all night, and it was starting to make me nervous.

"She looked at the sky, longingly, as though she really wanted to know what was going on, and was wondering why she had been left out."

"Poor mare." I added, "She probably didn't even know about the pegasi travelling to Canterlot."

Rainbow Dash sighed, "I'm not gonna lie Squirt, I felt pretty awful when I saw her there. The whole time I was in Canterlot, I was thinking about it, and about you, and then... well I thought that maybe you and Derpy could...."

Suddenly there was another knock at the door. It was a loud, odd, clumsy, knock that I didn't recognise at all.

“She’s early!” Rainbow suddenly leapt up, it was the fastest I'd seen her move since she arrived. She bolted over to the door and opened it just a peep “What are you doing here? I haven’t even asked her yet!” She sounded annoyed, and I could pretty much guess who she was talking to.

After some whispering and mumbling, I climbed down from the couch and trotted over to see what was going on.

Rainbow heard me coming, and after a quick sigh, she to gave in and opened the door fully, to revealed a grey mare with a blonde spiked mane and golden eyes; one looking upwards, the other looking downwards.

"Derpy's... here?" I was confused,

“Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash looked guilty, "I thought that... maybe...since you were the only two pegasi in Ponyville, it would be cool for you to hang out together… don’t you think so?”

I understood perfectly. Rainbow Dash was tough, but she sure had a big heart. Seeing Derpy on that rooftop the other day must have really gotten to her, and the thought of leaving me behind must really be getting to her as well. However, it was pretty awkward to put us both in a situation like this. What if I hadn't been so cool, calm and collected about Rainbow leaving? What if I'd reacted differently, gotten upset and... No, Rainbow knew I wouldn't do that - she knew her little sister was tough.

I looked up at the grey mare who stood in front of me. Derpy was Rainbow Dash's age - five years my senior. She didn’t look unhappy at all, she was smiling hopefully at me, and scrunching her muzzle.

“Sure, that would be… fun.” I said politely, and gave another fake smile.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash looked extremely relieved. Clearly she had no idea how I was going to react to Derpy showing up unexpectedly like this. She turned to me, with a face full of pride, and love.

"Squirt, you really are awesome." She ruffled my mane and hugged me tighter than ever before.

Tears fell from my eyes when Rainbow Dash hugged me, I couldn't hold them in any longer. She didn't seem to mind, in fact I could have sworn she was welling up as well.

"Take care of my sister." Rainbow said to Derpy Hooves, "Make sure she doesn't slack off!"

Derpy nodded. I smiled, happy that Rainbow Dash was back to talking like her usual self. She leaned closer to me,

"And you Squirt, take care of my friend alright?" She said quietly, as though worried in case the request offended Derpy.

I nodded, Rainbow sure did care about her friends.

My amazing sister ascended into the air and saluted us both, we saluted her back, and wished her the best of luck. Then, she flew off at the speed of light. Once she was out of sight, my tears fell heavily. I felt a beautiful mixture of sadness and pride, and as I watched her beautiful rainbow trail slowly fading away, I suddenly felt like a part of me was disappearing right along with it.

Suddenly, a soft, grey hoof reached out and caught one of my tears. It was a sweet gesture, and I smiled at Derpy, gratefully.

Then, the mare stretched out her hooves and pounced at me, knocking me to the ground and hugging me till I could barely breathe.