Making Sure That You Don't Fall
Wind gently flows between my feathers, the sensation chilling me to the bone. I lay here on the grassy knoll, contemplating over my life. I’m young, I have two of the bestest of friends, and I love to…
...I love to imagine flying.
Flying is something I’ve wanted—no, I’ve always wanted it. A pegasus who can’t fly is just another bird walking. I can’t be always on the ground…
So I imagine it: I lean back and let my wings flutter against the breeze. I love it. I just close my eyes and feel the weightlessness return every time. It feels rewarding.
I can’t stop doing it.
It’s my own addiction. My hopeless addiction. I can never get out of this slump unless I try. I try, though, but I don’t stop trying.
I’ve never given up.
It’s in my blood. I’m a pegasus: a pony that can fly without the necessary need of magic being the ultimate fuel. Some unicorns actually suggest getting treatment by getting magic poured into me.
It doesn’t sound good.
I wish… I wish I was normal.
But, then again, normal sounds boring.
I’m Scootaloo. I’m not some ordinary mare. I’m someone who can use a scooter like no one else can! I can… I can…
What can I do?
Another chill slithers down my spine, hitting every point in me. I squirm in the grass, the flight I wish I had was slashed. It feels like a thousand needles are poking me, stingy my skin. I can’t deal with this.
I need to go home.
I just wish I knew where that was.
The Grassy Knoll is my place. No pony else will have it.
It’s where I sleep, I breathe, I fly; this is my living quarters. I can never give this land up to any pony.
I wake up to Celestia’s sun and bask in reverie of Luna’s night sky, the moon shining bright for all to see.
It’s… nice to have company.
Whenever I go visit Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom, they’re always busy.
Apple Bloom was cleaning up the orchard with her family all the time. She told me harvest season has been a real pain in the butt. Wolves have been lurking around the orchard in search of some tasty pony. I wish they didn’t, but Fluttershy has been a bit sick.
She came down with sort of bird flu. I don’t even understand what it is. I just imagine it as a bird with the flu. Twilight tried to explain it to me, but all I got was this.
Magic in her wings are.... sick… lot’s of sneezing and coughing.
So it’s when her wings are sick and she does a lot of sneezing and coughing?
That doesn’t sound good.
If she doesn’t get better, well…
Hopefully she’ll get better, we all care about her.
Then there’s Sweetie Belle.
She’s still a bit torn up about Levi, her human friend. He’s in a tough spot, so to speak. He’s like Flutters, but sick with some magic radiation that they call M235. I don’t know the specifics, but safe to say that he…
“Scoots!”
Speaking of which, there’s Sweetie Belle right now.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle.”
She stands over me as I lie in the grassy knoll. “Are you ever not up here?”
I ponder over this for a moment.
“Nope.”
I hear a loud smack, followed by a groan.
Victory. Sweet, sweet victory.
“Scoots, you can’t just imagine this forever.”
“Imagine? Look who’s talkin’.” I wave my hoof at her dismissively.
I hear a growl. “I don’t imagine him!”
“Who said I was referring to him?” I must be wearing the biggest grin right now.
I turn to look at her, my friend’s face flushed. “I…” She tries to open her mouth, but can’t. She’s that broken.
I sit up and turn to face her. I let my wings spread out wide. “Com’ere.”
Sweetie Belle slowly walks over to me, her ears splayed against her. She sighs as she lies with me, my wings wrapped around her in a friendly, pony burrito. She snuggles against me, something that we used to do during sleepovers at her house. Unfortunately, that stopped when Rarity found us spooning.
Rarity thought we were dating.
It was tragic.
“You want to talk?” I ask the pony in my grasp.
She nods. “I… I miss him.”
I nuzzle underneath her muzzle. “He was a good guy.”
“So he wasn’t awesome?” she asks me.
“I’m the awesome one,” I boast, squeezing the filly tight. “And that’s the truth.”
Sweetie Belle giggles. ‘Of course, Miss Rainbow Dash.”
“I’m not Rainbow Dash…” I say in annoyance. “I just think she’s awesome.”
Sweetie Belle nuzzles me as we lay in the presence of the night. “Sweetie Belle?”
“Yes?” Sweetie Belle replies, looking at me with a smile.
“I wish I could stop imagining....”
“Why,” Sweetie Belle begins, wiggling herself a bit out of my grasp. “I thought you loved to imagine.”
I shakily sigh. “I always think of it now and I don’t want to be thinking of it anymore.” My eyes look into hers for a moment, the green pools staring right back at me. “I want to be it and nothing more. Living life to the fullest, ya know?”
She nods. “You always wanted to go flying ever since we started the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Scoots.”
I smile. “Yeah, it was my main motivation, next to being best friends with you and AB.”
“For a second there, I thought you didn’t value our friendship,” Sweetie Belle states.
“Don’t worry, I love you and AB just the same…” I say before trailing off, a star shooting past us as we lie together in harmony.
A shooting star.
I know who they are.
They are what we want.
They give ponies like me a chance to believe.
I want that chance.
With a smile, I say my wish to myself, not disrupting the big pack of fluff beside me.
She must’ve seen it too, a light gasp telling me all I need to know.
“Did you see that, Scoots?” Sweetie Belle asks, a slight squeak conveying her overall excitement.
I grip her tight. “I did.”
“Did you wish anything?”
I stop for a second. If I tell her, would it not come true?
I can’t take the risk…
“No,” I reply lamely, shifting my gaze to her. “I was too busy thinking about our past to really wish anything.”
Sweetie Belle nudges me. “It’s not too late to make a wish!” she squeaks.
I sigh. “Do you really want to know?”
She nods rapidly. My, she has a lot more energy than me.
“I wish I could fly.”
I weakly let out a cry as the one who hears me sighs. She wraps her hooves around my back as I feel the moisture begin to rise. “S-Sweetie Belle…”
All I get is a hum in response.
“I-Is this what it f-feels like with Levi?”
She nuzzles me as I let loose, sobbing all the while. The pain is too great, the desire is there; I wish it would happen to me but all I can do is wish.
As I continue to calm, she answers my question.
“Yes, every day and every night.”
I smile and hold her close, my wings staying at my side. “I’m sorry for not calling him awesome.”
Sweetie Belle giggles. “It’s okay,” she begins before squirming out of my grasp. She sits up, her eyes set forth to Ponyville. “We both know that he is awesome in his own way.”
I nod as I wipe away the tears with my hoof.
“Anyway, I need to head back to Ponyville.” She glances back over to me and continues, “You want to come?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Like a sleep over?”
She nods. “Just like old times.”
“Of course!” I say proudly as I sit up and stand on all four hooves. I stretch, popping my wing and legs with ease. I let out a satisfied moan as the wing bone cracks just right. “That felt good,” I say mindlessly while in a state of complete and utter pleasure.
Sweetie Belle giggles. “Bet you it’ll feel good if you used them a bit more.”
“Oh no you didn’t…”
She smirks and runs down the hill. “Yes I did!”
Of course, she would do this.
I smile and lift off as I hover over the ground, flying low to try and steal the show. All I can do is hover, never will I fly.
I’m not a pegasus. I’m a low, hovering no-show.
I shakily sigh as I leave my knoll. I haven't been off that hill for a while. It's scary to think about. I'm not in my safe haven.
As if the wind heard me protest, it whisks over me. The feeling is there, but not the comfort.
I just wish I coul—what was that?
I heard a noise.
It’s getting louder.
“Sweetie Belle!”
She stops and turns. “What?”
The sound is hissing right behind me
“Get down!” I say, rushing towards her in panic. I tackle her to the ground, the two of us sharing a ceremonial impact of harmony and pain.
But no one expected the sound to hit.
A large explosion of fire emits to our west.
We have to check it out.
“Come on, Sweetie,” I say as I lift her and I up. “Let’s go see where that landed.”
“It could be dangero—”
“You can’t say that,” I fire back. “You're part of a group that bungee jumped in a ravine because they thought they were going to get their cutie marks in it.”
My friend sighs. “You’re right…” She pauses for a moment to consider her options. Obviously there are none. Her and I on our own adventure? It’s an opportunity she can’t pass up. “Gah, okay. Let’s go.”
And bingo was his name-o.
“Come on!” I say happily as I grab her by her hoof. “We gotta see this before anypony else does!”
As we carry on, there was one thing that I thought.
I wonder if my wish had something to do with this.