Scootaloo opened her eyes slowly, the light was blinding. She looked around the room, she was in a hospital, what was she doing here? Then it came back to her, a dog chased her up a tree, after a while somepony scared the dog away but then Scootaloo's hoof slipped and she fell, then everything went dark. If she could fly then that wouldn't have happened, she shook the thought from her head, there was no point in dwelling on the fact that she could never fly.
She let loose a sigh and looked around the room once more, finally noticing the two fillies curled up and sleeping on the end of her bed, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, she smiled, at least somepony cared enough to come and visit her. Scootaloo sat up, her head screamed in protest, she pulled the blanket off of herself and covered her friends with it. Hopping off the bed, she made her way to the bathroom, her head burned all the way there. When she got back, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had woken up, and where searching for her in silly places, like under the bed, in the sheets, under the chair, in Princess Cadence's mane- wait, what! Princess Cadence laughed as Sweetie Belle looked through her mane.
"I don't think Scootaloo is hiding in my mane." She giggled as Sweetie Belle finally stopped.
"Well, where ARE we supposed to look?" Applebloom asked.
"Well you could start by looking behind you." Cadence suggested.
The two fillies turned around, "Scootaloo!" they screeched as they tackled her, Scootaloo grunted in pain, her friends climbed off of her so they wouldn't cause her any additional pain. "We were so worried when we found out what happened!" Sweetie Belle stated in her high-pitch voice. "Are you okay? We heard you fell on your head! How many hooves am I holding up?" She asked rapidly while holding up one hoof.
"Guys I'm fine!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Sweetie Belle you can put your hoof down."
"Hello Scootaloo." Princess Cadence said. Scootaloo bowed.
"Princess, um, um, Mi......" Scootaloo said as she tried to remember the pink Princess' name.
"Please, call me Cadence." She said as she laid down so she was at eye-level with Scootaloo.
"Um, okay, Princess Cadence, what are you doing here?" Scootaloo asked as politely as she could.
"I was the one who brought you here." Cadence replied. "I stuck around until you woke just to make sure you were okay. But I can't help but wonder, why didn't you fly? You could have lost the dog if you flew into the clouds." She asked. Scootaloo's face fell.
"I can't fly." Scootaloo said in barely more than a whisper.
"Sorry, I just thought somepony of your age would be able to fly by now." She said, than she thought about what she just said. "I didn't mean to say that!" Scootaloo looked even more depressed now.
"No, its okay, everypony thinks it, your just the only pony to say it." Scootaloo sat down and looked at the floor, suddenly a tingling sensation coursed through her body, she reacted by shivering.
"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, can you go wait outside for a minute?" Cadence asked, the two nodded and left the room. Cadence looked back to Scootaloo. "Your handicapped, aren't you?"
"H-how did you know?" Scootaloo asked in reply.
"I scanned you." She answered simply. "And, I know how to spot somepony in your......position."
"Huh? What do mean, you can spot somepony in my position?" Scootaloo asked.
Cadence sighed. "Okay, I've never told this to anypony but, I'm also handicapped, I was born flightless." She replied.
"But I've seen you fly, your not handicapped!" Scootaloo declared.
"Well, its kind of a long story, but its true, I shouldn't be able to fly." Cadence said. Scootaloo got up, climbed back into her bed and pulled the sheets up to her chin.
"I have time." She said simply. Cadence smiled and moved up to the bed, taking a seat on the right.
"Well, lets see, where to start." Cadence began.
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The Royal Family sat under the big willow tree next to the pond, it was a beautiful day for a picnic. Celestia, Cadence, Blueblood and Ebonyheart were all gathered around, eating sandwiches, drinking lemonade, and just having a good time. Cadence and Blueblood got up to play, Celestia and Ebonyheart only looked away for a minute, but when they looked back it was to the sound of Cadence's screams. She flapped her wings as hard as she could but her fall didn't slow much, her mother shot into action and caught her before she hit the ground. Tears streamed from Cadence's eyes as she buried her face in her mothers white coat, Ebonyheart stroked her daughters mane while whispering gentle words of encouragement in her ears.
"Mommy," Cadence said in between sobs. "I don't understand, I flapped as hard as I could, like Daddy told me to, but, but I couldn't fly. Why Mommy, why couldn't I fly?" She finished before breaking into tears again.
"I don't know sweetheart, I don't know." Ebonyheart looked to Celestia. Celestia's horn flared with golden magic and she performed a medical scan of the weeping filly, her face turned into one of pity after only a few seconds, she leaned into Ebonyheart's ear and whispered.
"Cadence has a.........defect, in her wings, its more severe in her left wing but the effect remains. Cadence can never fly, I'm sorry." Ebonyheart gasped slightly, she looked to Celestia, then back at her crying daughter.
"Oh my precious, precious filly, I'm so sorry." She said, it was lower than a whisper so nopony heard it.
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Time continued to flow as it always does, Cadence and Blueblood grew until they were "Not Foals", Ebonyheart, Cadence's mother, had passed on the previous year, her father, the year before that. Cadence moved in with her great aunt Celestia, who she called "Aunt Tia", and her cousin Blueblood. Her grandfather Blackheart was grieving over her mothers death, and didn't seem to have any interest in taking care of her. Cadence roamed Canterlot Castle aimlessly, she was so distant now that she could barely move out of the way whenever she was on a collision course with somepony, Blueblood was always trying to cheer her up, but was getting nowhere, he'd probably try something later today.
As she walked, Blueblood ran past her with a ton of water balloons in his magical grasp, he shouted "Hi Cadence!", but didn't turn to look at her. She entered her room and sat in front of her window, it was wide enough that she could probably jump out of it, but she hadn't quite reached the suicidal point yet, as she gazed, the sun was lowered, it was just reaching to the horizon, like it wanted to see the horizon again, as though they hadn't seen each other in years. Suddenly the door swung open and Blueblood charged in, Cadence was about to say something but he grabbed her and charged out before she had the chance to speak, he took her up onto one of the mountain ridges, finally she could speak.
"Blueblood, what is the matter with you! Can't you see that I want to be alone!?" Cadence screamed at him, she turned to leave.
"Please Cadence, humor me this one last time, I promise I will leave you alone after this." He knew she'd jump at the opportunity to make him leave her alone. She nodded her head. "Thank you, please sit down." He pointed to a large rock, Cadence sat.
"Hurry up Blueblood, I have much better things to be doing." Not wanting to keep his cousin from sulking in her room, he began. He levitated some water balloons from the ground and lifted them high into the air and exploded them, breaking the water droplets into a spay, the light from the setting sun struck the water and formed many little rainbows, but some of the water only glistened, instead of creating rainbows they just sparkled, it was one of the most beautiful things Cadence had ever seen. Her frown softened slightly, but not enough, he had to do more. He poured his magic into the air and caused a ripple that made the rainbows appear to dance, then he felt a new, saltier droplet of water enter the air, then another, and another, he turned and found Cadence crying.
"Cadence," He started. "are you okay?" She was about to answer when another magical pulse from his horn caused the ground to shake just enough that the ledge he stood on broke off right where his back left hoof was, causing him to tumble backwards, off the cliff. Cadence jumped after him, she put her forelegs together in front of her and tucked in her wings, making her go faster, when she got close enough she grabbed Blueblood by the waist, then she opened her wings, and forced them to stay straight. They continued their deadly fall, Cadence could see Celestia flying towards them, but she wouldn't get there in time, this was up to Cadence. The ground seamed to be coming to them, but before it could take the two, Cadence angled her body upwards, using the wind that had tried valiantly to slow their fall, she soared back into the sky, and for the first time in a long time she flapped her wings, and this time, she flew.
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"Wow, you just......flew?" Scootaloo said in a questioning tone. "That is so awesome!
"I'm glad you think so!" Cadence giggled.
"But, I still don't understand, how is that possible?" Scootaloo actually asked this time.
"Well you see Scootaloo, everypony wields a type of magic, Unicorn magic is just the more obvious. Pegasus magic is shown through their ability to fly, and nothing can ever truly take that away." Cadence answered. "One day Scootaloo, you will fly."
"Thank you Princess, one day I'm gonna join the Wonderbolts, so I have to start putting my heart into learning how to fly!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Cadence smiled, then there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" Scootaloo called.
"Hey squirt, I heard what hap- Princess!" Rainbow Dash bowed.
"I'll leave you two alone." Cadence said as she walked past Rainbow. "Goodbye Scootaloo."
"Bye!" Scootaloo called after her. "Rainbow Dash I'm gonna practice my flying one hundred and twenty perce-" The rest was cut off as Cadence closed the door, she smiled, she hadn't thought about that day in a long time.
