Falling Back Down
The Only Chapter - Freedom
By Frostfur
Scootaloo quietly stared up at the ceiling as she lay in her bed. She was very careful not to wake up her husband Rumble, or he would be a pain in the morning. He needed his sleep for he was a full time Wonderbolt.
Scootaloo silently turned her head to the side, staring at her outstretched wing. It looked like any other pegasus wing, feathery and long. The only difference being it had plastic all inside it. She had fallen on it pretty badly when she was a filly, the memory of it still clear in her head to her dismay.
After she worked her wings too hard making them cramp, she had been unable to fly and ended up falling down, damaging her wing to the point of no return. Doctors back then could only put rather heavy plastic replicas of her bones in to save her wing. They had these weird spells on them that made them function like a normal bone would, like housing bone marrow and being a source of calcium.
And her wings still functioned normally, but all the added weight made it impossible for her to fly for long. Plus it was a bit strange to fly with them, for it just felt off. And don't forget she exhausted easily, for it was not only heavy but hard to fly with.
Scootaloo couldn't help but shudder at the memory of what had happened to it, the foulness of it filling her mind. It had been a normal day for her and the crusaders (plus Rainbow Dash), and nopony thought what happened would even happen in a million years. But it did, and it wasn't pretty.
She began to cry a little as the memory replayed in her head.
"Uh girls, me and Rainbow Dash-"
"It's Rainbow Dash and I!" Sweetie Belle cut her off, correcting her grammar. Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the ground.
"Rainbow Dash and I have some totally awesome flight lessons scheduled or whatever today. Do you mind if I bail out early on crusading?" Scootaloo asked as she pawed at the dirt below her, trying to avoid eye contact with her friends.
"Awww, but we were about to see if duck painting is our destiny!" Sweetie Belle whined, the duck she had been painting taking advantage of the moment and waddling off without her noticing. Scootaloo continued to look down as she spoke.
"Well, yeah, but maybe I'll actually fly up high today!"
Scootaloo then looked up, letting out a squee of excitement at the thought of flying by herself. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. But they then looked at the empty space where a duck was supposed to be standing.
"Uh, where's the duck?" Apple Bloom asked.
"QUACK!"
The three crusaders whipped around to see the duck struggling in Twilight's magical grip.
"Girls, why is this duck green and blue? And why does it have a... a piercing on its tongue?!"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked over to Scootaloo, who began to slowly back up towards her scooter, sliding her helmet onto her head.
"Yeah, uh, I gotta go... so see ya later!" She then hopped on her scooter as fast as she could, flapping her wings hard to hightail out of the place. The scooter sped away almost as fast as Rainbow Dash, leaving a trail of dust behind for Apple Bloom and the others to cough on.
Her wings made a buzzing noise as she sped down the dirt roads of Ponyville, hunting for a multicolored tail hanging out of a tree. She had probably forgotten about the flying lessons and fallen asleep in a tree. She knew Rainbow Dash so well...
Soon enough, she found an oak tree with just that. Her scooter came to a screeching halt right by it, waking up Rainbow Dash.
"W-whaaa what year is it?" Rainbow Dash mumbled as she climbed into a siting position, blinking away the tiredness in her eyes. She always forgot the year when she took naps. Once, she thought it was 2003 and went around blabbing about how she hated 2003. Suddenly she heard a small thud, causing her to look down and see Scootaloo setting her scooter and helmet down.
"Oh, hiya kiddo," she said, a yawn escaping her mouth as she stretched out her fore hooves.
Rainbow Dash is talking to me! Eeeeee! Thought Scootaloo as she rushed up to the base of the tree, her wings fluttering a bit in happiness.
"HELLO RAINBOW DASH!" she yelled in a booming voice, her wings fluttering even more with excitement.
"Ahhh!" Rainbow Dash, who had not expected a filly's voice to be so loud, fell out of the tree with a soft thud. A look of horror was now on Scootaloo's face.
"OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY!" She screeched, sounding much like a wild chimpanzee.
Scootaloo ran around the tree to Rainbow Dash, who was already sitting up and rubbing her head. She moaned a little as she continued to rub her temples, muttering some nasty curse words that, luckily, Scootaloo couldn't hear.
Scootaloo was on the brink of tears as she stared at her with worry. Rainbow Dash soon looked up to see this, quickly acting to prevent her from crying. Crying foals made her want to cry from the extreme annoyingness.
"Hey kid! I'm fine. Just try not to yell next time, for it can be pretty shocking."
"O-oh. Okay," Scootaloo whimpered, wiping a stray tear away.
They then stood there for a moment, awkward silence passing between them.
"Now, wanna get this super awesometacular flight session started?" Rainbow Dash asked, wanting to get this show on the road.
"Buck yeah I do!" Scootaloo yelled, completely forgetting her sadness from earlier. And the fact that she wasn't allowed to swear.
"Hey! No swearing," Rainbow Dash scolded.
Scootaloo gave her a sheepish look, rubbing the back of her head.
"Oh. Yeah, Sorry."
Rainbow nodded, climbing to four legs.
"Alright. Ya know kid, I've been teaching you for two months now, and you've gotten a pretty good hang of short distance gliding. Maybe it's time we go and see just how high you can fly."
Scootaloo squealed with excitement, her wings flapping like mad.
Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!
"Yeah, just do what I told you to these last two months and take off. Then maybe do a few circles up by the lowest cloud and come back down."
"Really? So I just apply all those wing movement techniques and stuff and give it go?"
"Yup. But don't be upset if you can't soar up beyond the first cloud on your first try. It'll probably take about another month before I even consider letting you do that, 'kay?" Rainbow Dash said, narrowing her eyes at Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded eagerly, spreading her wings out with a determined look on her face.
"Alright, go."
Scootaloo walked around for a moment, figuring out where the wind was heading. She was going to use the wind technique Rainbow Dash had taught her. Once she was facing it, she began to slowly move her wings in backwards circles, feeling her primary flight feathers drag, an essential to flight, as she slowly went faster and faster to take off. She began to remember one of Rainbow Dash's lessons for lift off.
"Now, lift force is produced by the action of air flow on the wings, which is an airfoil. The lift force occurs because the air has a lower pressure just above the wings and higher pressure below. Additional net lift may come from airflow around the pegaasus's body in some species, especially during intermittent flight while the wings are folded or semi-folded.
"So for take off, its one of the most energetically demanding aspects of flight, as a pegasus needs to generate enough airflow across the wing to create lift. With small pegasus a jump up will suffice, while for larger ones this is not possible. In this situation, they need to take a run up in order to generate the airflow to take off. Or they can take off by facing into the wind, or, if they can, by standing on a branch or cliff so that all they need to do is drop off into the air."
For an anti- egghead, she was pretty educated on flight and stuff. Suddenly Scootaloo's legs felt lighter, making her look down. She was beginning to hover.
Oh yeah!
She tried to flap harder to get an initial take off, but her body refused to. She growled with anger as she pushed herself to the limit, but nothing happened. Looked like this technique wasn't her style.
She finally let out a sigh of defeat, accepting she wouldn’t take off this way and returned her wings back to her sides, her feet making a small clop noise as they returned to the earth.
It seemed she would have to approach the take off another way. She remembered that Rainbow Dash had said running then taking off worked for some, so why not try that? But she also said something about a hop...
Scootaloo jumped into the air, flapping her wings hard. Nope. She simply returned to the ground like any normal non-pegasus would. Time to do the running thing...
She turned away from the tree, a long valley of grass and flowers before her. She spread her legs out a little, lowering her head and spreading out her wings as far as they could go. Proper positioning was a must.
Alright, time to go!
She started to gallop as fast as she could, flapping her wings vigorously to ensure take off. Her hooves pounded against the dirt as she increased her speed, a look of pure determination on her face. She began to remember her mother's words from an argument long ago between her and her father. Her dad had thought she would never fly.
"Scootaloo WILL fly!" Her mom had yelled, stomping a hoof down as she stared at her father with a menacing look.
Scootaloo's hooves began to feel lighter.
Yes!
Soon her hooves weren't touching the ground at all and her wings were doing all the work. It was quite a task to keep it that way, but she managed. Scootaloo then quickly spread out her fore legs and hind legs, now in the 'line' position.
Time to go up and test these bad boys.
She thrust her body upwards fast, her wings doing the rest. Her body began to fly straight up, the wind and maybe a few bugs whipping by her. She knew she was supposed to be back down there, circling around a cloud, but the sensation of flight was wonderful. A few stray tears flew out of her eyes as she flew up at very high speeds.
Scootaloo looked around herself to see the sun shining on the clouds, making them glow radiantly. The sky seemed to turn into a softer shade of blue that looked simply stunning. It was just so... magical.
"And remember kid, flying too fast and working your wings too hard can result in them cramping up, making you unable to use them for a few seconds. Now, it may not seem too bad, just a few seconds without your wings. But a few seconds in the air without your wings pretty much means death if you're lucky."
Scootaloo closed her eyes and smiled as the roar of the wind pounded against her ear drums, the occasional piece of a cloud brushing against her shoulder. Maybe a bug. Maybe...
But suddenly, she began to feel her wings and legs thrust upward. Gravity's pull on her began to strengthen by the second. Scootaloo opened her eyes in confusion, suddenly realizing that she wasn't flying anymore, but falling.
Fear began to fill her body as she looked over her side frantically, the ground becoming bigger and bigger as she neared it. She let out a high pitched scream and flailed her hooves around helplessly, hoping that her hero Rainbow Dash would come to the rescue. She saw Rainbow Dash in the distance try to save her, but the ground was first to catch her.
As she hit the ground, everything was racked with pain before it all went black.
Once the memory had replayed in her mind, she was weeping on her pillow, Rumble being awakened by her muffled sobs. Not only did she lose the ability to fly that day, but she lost all trust for Rainbow Dash too. Her role model had betrayed her...
"Hey, honey what's wrong?" He asked, silently stroking her mane as she cried.
"I want to fly again, Rumble. I want to hear that roar pound against my ear drums. I want that feeling of being free all inside me as I fight the bonds that keep me attached to this planet. And Rainbow Dash betrayed me that day. And I-I w-w-want..."
A low pitched sob escaped her mouth again before she cried even more.
She began to remember what Rainbow Dash had said to her when she was lying on the hospital bed.
"Kid, this is my fault. I had been staring off, ignoring you. If I had payed attention, I could have prevented this. You could s-still fly. I'm so sorry, Scootaloo. I'm so sorry..."
Rumble continued to stroke her mane, whispering 'it's okay' as she continued to cry.
The therapist had said she would just need some time to get over this, and the best thing to do was to be there for her as she went through this 'phase'.
The next day had been a blur for Scootaloo. To her she woke up, performed her scooter stunts for a school, got home, ate dinner, tried to go to sleep. Tried. Yet it was just like the day before, having her staring up at the ceiling she had become so familiar with over the month.
But instead of being sad, she wanted something.
It was freedom.
The freedom she had felt when she had flown up. It had been short, but she still remembered it clearly. And wanted it clearly. It was like her soul had been detached from her body, free to go wherever it wanted. Free to do whatever it wanted.
The urge to just jump out of her window and test the limits of her wings was very strong. Her wings twitched a little at the thought.
But would she really risk it? Her family, her friends, her destiny? Her comfy little life she had now?
Honestly, she didn't know anymore.
Maybe she would...
The next day was the same, except the urge to fly was stronger. It was nearly overpowering, but she had a strong will.
Rainbow Dash had influenced her quite a lot as a foal... Her wings also twitched a lot, concerning her husband. She had just said that all the stress from work and therapy was giving her 'restless wing syndrome'.
Yet the idea of flying was behind it. And it became more and more appealing. Maybe she could just take a quick fly up and come back fast. Nothing too challenging, she'd just have to balance herself pretty well. And be careful with how exhausted she became.
Her logical side began to question if she wanted to risk her life again, and she was beginning to think about saying yes. Like, the risk of death wasn't too high...
That feeling she had in the sky was one of a kind, and the only way to even come close to it was to fly again. She was a pegasus, for Celestia's sake! She was meant to fly, built to fly...
But what about Rumble? If she makes a mistake up there and ends up killing herself, would Rumble ever forgive himself? Would she be responsible for her husband's death?
No. She would resist this urge, and stay here at home where Rumble needed her.
The next few days the urge got stronger and stronger, but she still put her hoof down and said 'no' to herself. But each night saying no became harder and complying with the urge seemed easier.
Rumble would get over it. And he had always had a bit of an eye for Sweetie Belle...
So one night she did it, sneaking out of the house and running off into the night.
Scootaloo stared out upon a vast plain as Luna's gorgeous stars shined up in the sky, the wind blowing back her mane and tail as she stood with her wings spread out. The soft, bright green grass gently brushed against her hooves as she took one step forward, breathing in the smell of fresh air and possibly a hint of dew. It was the exact field she had lost her ability to fly like a normal pegasus, this field in which Rainbow Dash lost all of her trust.
But in this field, her dream of freedom and urge to fly would be satisfied. This simple field didn't have to contain all bad memories. Some good ones would be nice. She hated having a place where only bad memories were.
"SCOOTALOO!"
Dread filled her as the familiar and almost always cocky voice rushed to her screaming ear drums, seemingly bleeding as the voice pounded against them. She didn't even bother to turn around when she spoke, not wanting to see her face.
"So you've come here to watch another mare possibly tumble to her death while you think about the Wonderbolts?" She hissed, praying that it would make her just go away.
Rainbow Dash stopped dead in her tracks, a frown on her face.
"Don't you dare try to fight me with the past. It was partly your fault!"
Scootaloo scoffed at her words. How pathetic.
"I was a filly! You apparently didn't know that, so you let me fly unsupervised. Then you think it's a wonder why Soarin' doesn't want a foal with you!"
Rainbow Dash gasped, then narrowing her eyes at the back of Scootaloo's head. Scootaloo could feel her unblinking gaze like daggers being shoved into her, but she remained silent as she waited for Rainbow Dash's reply.
"That is none of your business! And I specifically warned you about flying to fast and straining your wings!" Rainbow Dash retorted.
"Oh, so it's my fault that I forgot that and ended up falling while you fantasied about making out with your 'precious' little Sorain'?!"
Oh, she just had to bring her husband into this. Rainbow Dash was about to yell something nasty back, but then she knew what Scootaloo was doing. Why, that little...
"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! You are not going to use the past to make me forget the situation at hoof. I will not let you fly, Scootaloo. I admit that I made a mistake back then, I don't plan to make it again!"
Scootaloo's mom filled her head again.
"Scootaloo WILL fly!"
I'll fly...
She leaped into the air, taking a few moments to balance herself. The wing with pipes in it wasn't very flexible, so she had to stay flying. No hovering with that stupid thing. She turned her head to the sky, flapping her wings to go upwards. The mighty roar of the wind whipping by her ears began to pound against her ear drums again, giving her this wild feeling as she flew. They blocked Rainbow Dash's screams, making her feel even better.
Her wing began to hurt within seconds, but she ignored it. The clouds this time seemed to have a soft, soothing glow as the moon shined down upon them.
Gravity's grip on her seemed to become less tight as she flied up, pieces of cloud gently brushing against her shoulder and tail. Scootaloo smiled as she closed her eyes, enjoying every moment in the sky. She could feel the stars' light shining upon her coat as she flew up.
And without anyone stopping her, she felt this joyous feeling well up inside of her. A certain feeling she hadn't felt in years.
Oh, how free she felt. And she wanted that moment to last forever. If she could choose a way of death, it would be like this. And it seemed Celestia heard her...
She hadn't even realized how tired she was, and how her wing hurt like Tartarus. Soon it stopped moving, leaving her to frantically flap her good one. It was no use.
Gravity seemed to snatch her out of the sky as she began to fall back down, just like she did on her first flight.
But even as she hurled to her death, she smiled.
Perhaps she could fly in Heaven with her mom and dad...
Click! Scootaloo felt something strong wrap around her hoof, stopping her from falling. She opened her eyes, seeing a crying Rainbow Dash before it.
"I can't make the same mistake again..." She whispered, looking at Scootaloo with sorrow.
"And I understand," Scootaloo whispered back to her, a smile still on her face.
"But I need this Rainbow Dash. I need to be free again. I need to fly again. And if I die tonight, I'll have died flying. That will be my last memory, a good one. And then I'll go to Heaven and continue my flight with mom and dad."
"Scootaloo, you have a family. You have Rumble, and maybe even a foal coming along. I heard about that pregnancy test Scootaloo! So are you really going to give that all up? You can wait for this freedom, you know. It may be a long wait, but you can do it. Because not only does your family need you, but I need you."
She was now crying like mad, a few tears getting onto Scootaloo's shoulder.
"I know, and I don't want to give this all up."
Rainbow Dash smiled at her, all worry gone as she began to haul her back onto the cloud. Scootaloo smiled back, letting her pull her up.
"And that's why I'm so, so sorry..." Scootaloo was now crying.
"Wait, wha-SCOOTALOO!"
Scootaloo pried off Rainbow Dash's hoof, letting gravity do its sweet work. She saw Rainbow Dash above her crying, trying to reach her in time. But Scootaloo knew she wouldn't.
"Look Rainbow...Finally...I can fly."
Scootaloo closed her eyes with a big smile on her face, a few tears flying off from her eyes.
"NOOOOOO!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she saw the orange bundle below her hit the ground.
For Scootaloo, everything hurt, then disappeared as a overwhelming sense of calmness spread throughout her. All her worries and pain vanished along with her senses, making her imagine she was smiling before a blinding white light suddenly appeared.