A Pegasus Apple

Jackpot had been with the Apples for four months. Snow had fallen, he'd met all of Applejack's friends and was getting on rather nicely with everypony. But bullies at school added to his nervousness. They'd tease him about his eyes, call him names like Discord or Sombra. As such, Applejack bought him a pair of Wonderbolt goggles and asked Cheerilee to play along that he has an eye condition.

Applejack had also discovered that Jackpot couldn't fly properly. With that being the case, she turned to Rainbow Dash for help. She'd asked Applejack to have Jackpot meet her in the park on weekends so she could teach him. Today was Jackpot's first lesson. "So kiddo, Applejack tells me you can't fly."

"I can..."

"But not very good?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No..."

"That's ok, Jackpot. I'll help ya out!" She then began to circle her student. "Um... Jackpot? Have you ever preened your wings?"

"Preen?" he asked. "I'll take that as a no. Here, sit down. I'll show you how to preen your wings." Jackpot did as asked and Rainbow Dash sat in front of him. He watched behind his mirror lensed goggles as Rainbow Dash carefully plucked weaker looking feathers from her wings.

"See, the thing with preening," she said, in between feathers, "Is to look for weak or dead feathers. You get rid of them, new ones grow back, your wings get healthier and stronger. Here, I'll preen your left wing then I want you to try the right one by yourself, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hey, no ma'am, ok? Ma'am makes me feel old." Rainbow Dash chuckled. She sat behind him and asked him to lie against her. He placed his back against her chest and belly and waited. Rainbow Dash went to start. The problem was, most of Jackpot's feathers were in pretty poor condition.  She started from the tip of the wing and worked her way to the joint, aware that Jackpot was watching her every move. "Ow!" Jackpot cried out as she pulled a feather too hard.

"Sorry, buddy. Ok, so this wing is done. Let's see you preen. Now, just take your wing with your hoof like this, " She demonstrated, "and bring it around to your front. Then just pluck out the dead feathers." She watched carefully as he followed her instructions. "Whoa, hold it! That's a healthy feather! You pluck that, it'll hurt like crazy!" she said. Rainbow Dash taught him how to identify dead feathers from healthy ones and watched him as he continued. As he finished, she grinned. "Awesome. Just checking them daily and your wings'll grow big and strong. Heck, you may even become as fast as me."

"I hope so." Jackpot smiled. When Rainbow sent him home on the promise they'd start flying lessons tomorrow, he was stopped by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, he was fine around. It was Scootaloo that he was quiet around. "Hey, Jackpot." the girls said.

"Hi."

"C'mon! We're heading to the Everfree!" Scootaloo said.

"For...?"

"Yer Crusader Initiation!" Applebloom responded.

"We hid a cape in the forest for you! All you have to do is find it!" Sweetie Belle explained.

"Uh... ok..." Jackpot sighed. He wanted to be a Crusader, if nothing more than being able to fit in.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders led him to the edge of the Everfree Forest, near Fluttershy's cottage. "Ok, now if you aren't back by sundown, we'll come in and help you." Scootaloo said. With that, Jackpot entered. The Everfree scared him. He'd heard about the timberwolves and the bears and such that lived here. He wanted to get in, find the cape and get out. He searched for hours looking for the cape but to no avail.

Eventually, the Cutie Mark Crusaders lived up to their word and came in.

"Jackpot!" Applebloom called.

"Dude, where are you?" Scootaloo asked. The three were passed by a jet of blue. "RUN!!!" "Huh?" Sweetie Belle asked. All of a sudden, the trio heard the roar of a timberwolf. The girls screamed and ran! But something was wrong! "W-Where's Scootaloo?!" Applebloom asked. "I'm going back in for her! Applebloom, get Applejack!" With that, the blue blur buzzed back into the forest to find his friend!

Doing as asked, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle ran for the farm, calling out their respective sisters' names in the process. "APPLEJACK!!!"

"RARITY!!!"

Eventually, Applejack heard her sister's screams. "What's up, kiddo?" Speaking at rapid speed, Applebloom explained the situation. "WEWANTEDTOINCLUDEJACKPOTBUTHEGOTLOSTINTHEEVERFREESOWEWENTTOFINDHIMBUTWEGOTCHASEDBYATIMBERWOLFAND-"

"Landsakes, girl! Breathe!" Applejack chided. "Jackpot was gonna become a crusader but he got lost in the Everfree! We lost Scootaloo and Jackpot went in after her!"

"Aw no!" Applejack gasped. Over the months, she'd come to care for Jackpot as her own and if her plans were to come to fruition, his safety was as vital as Scootaloo's. She ran as fast as she could to the Everfree Forest. What she saw was heartbreaking. Jackpot was standing in front of an unconscious Scootaloo, staring down a timberwolf as if he, Jackpot, was a hardened warrior. But what worried her more were his injuries.

In the time it took for her to arrive, Jackpot was bleeding from several cuts on his forelegs, hindlegs and various spots on his body, a wing looked broken and was missing a couple of feathers and he had a cut along his snout that looked deep enough to scar. "GIT AWAY FROM HIM, YA GREAT UGLY BRUTE!" Applejack roared, slamming into the timberwolf. Applejack bucked the timberwolf in the snout which caused it to roar out. "SHUDDUP!!!" She roared back at the timberwolf, kicking out one of the legs. When the beast fell, Applejack stomped on its head. She turned around to find Jackpot had passed out as well. Grabbing Jackpot and Scootaloo, she bolted towards Ponyville.

Some time had passed from the fight. Jackpot had finally awoken to see Applejack and her friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders there. Everypony looked relieved to see he was ok. It was only Scootaloo who was crying. "Huh? Scoots, what's up, baby?" Rainbow Dash asked, consoling her daughter. "How long... was I out?" Jackpot asked.

"You were out for three weeks," Twilight Sparkle said. "Yeah, we were worried that you wouldn't wake up..." Flat Maned Pinkie said. "Mom... everyone..." Scootaloo started, "Can... Can I have a minute with Jackpot...?"

"Sure thing, kiddo." Applejack replied, "C'mon, Pinkie!" Applejack pushed a reluctant Pinkie out.

Scootaloo turned her eyes back to Jackpot. Her purple eyes looked at his red ones, welled up with tears and hugged Jackpot, sobbing into his shoulder. "Ow!" Jackpot exclaimed due to being sore from being in bed for three weeks. "Sorry! It's just... I fell and the timberwolf cornered me! And you fought it, trying to save me! For three weeks I was scared my best friend was gonna die!" she sobbed once more into the hospital bed. As best he could, Jackpot hugged his friend.

"Hey, Scootaloo, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I promise."

"I'm gonna hold you to that..." she sniffled, sinking into the hug as both were totally unaware of the red thunderbolts appearing on Jackpot's flanks.