I Can't Teach You

Hailstorm arrived at the place Scootaloo was leading her to. It was an isolated area of Whitetail Woods. There was near nothing but somewhat sparsely placed trees all around them.

“You’re probably wondering why I didn’t fly here,” said Scootaloo, “Unless you put two and two together.”

Hailstorm paused, “... I guess I haven’t.”

“Snrk,” snrked Scootaloo.

“What?” said Hailstorm.

Scootaloo got close to Hailstorm and touched her shoulder.

“Listen kid,” said Scootaloo.

“I am an adult,” said Hailstorm.

“Yeah, well I’m adulter,” said Scootaloo.

“You don’t look much adul- much more adult than I do,” said Hailstorm.

“Listen kid,” said Scootaloo, a bit more sternly this time, “I- I’m the reason.”

“What?”

“I’M THE REASON!” yelled Scootaloo.

“No, I heard you,” said Hailstorm, “I was trying to get you to elaborate.”

“Elaborate?” said Scootaloo.

“Er, further explain what you mean,” said Hailstorm.

“Pfff, what are you? A thesaurus?” said Scootaloo.

“No, but I like to read them a lot,” said Hailstorm.

‘This girl might be the dorkiest stunt flier I’ve ever met,’ thought Scootaloo, ‘Maybe not the dorkiest, Soarin’ seemed really dorky when I met him, but she’s definitely up there.’

“Anyways, I’m the reason Dash is telling you no and flying off,” said Scootaloo.

“How?” said Hailstorm.

“She- she doesn’t want to teach anypony because she thinks she failed me,” said Scootaloo.

Hailstorm’s eyes widened slightly.

“How did she fail you?” said Hailstorm.

“It’s not really her fault…” said Scootaloo, “I just can’t fly. She couldn’t teach me and she blames herself, even though I just CAN’T fly.”

‘Oh! that seems really obvious now that she’s said it,’ thought Hailstorm, ‘Now I feel a tad stupid.’

“That seems a bit extreme that she’d give up teaching just because one student of hers failed,” said Hailstorm, “I mean, if she was teaching you she’d have a few more students too, right?”

Scootaloo smiled and shook her head while her eyes were shut.

“Rainbow’s not actually much of a teacher,” said Scootaloo, “Really she was teaching me ‘cause I’m her little sister.”

“You are not!” said Hailstorm.

“Hm?” said Scootaloo.

“You’re not her little sister,” said Hailstorm, “I checked her family tree, Ms. Rainbow Dash doesn’t have any little sisters!”

“We’re not related by blood,” said Scootaloo, “but we’re just as close as if we were. Also, MS. Rainbow Dash?”

“It’s a sign of respect…” said Hailstorm, eyes looking downward.

“Not to Rainbow Dash,” said Scootaloo, “If you want any chance at all, make sure you don’t call her that.”

“Y- yes, very well,” said Hailstorm, “How come I’ve never heard of you if you’re so close to Rainbow Dash?”

Scootaloo shrugged, “I don’t know, bad luck I guess.”

“I mean, I checked every public record I could find of her. From world records to family and housing records!” said Hailstorm.

“What about, like, magazines?” said Scootaloo.

It was that moment that Hailstorm realized that she hadn’t. Scootaloo saw the look of realization on her face.

“Did you really do the obsessive fan activities while neglecting to do the regular ones?” said Scootaloo.

“Oh shush, you,” said Hailstorm.

“I’ll show you some of my favorite articles later, I guess,” said Scootaloo, “Anyways, don’t tell her this, but Rainbow Dash basically lost her confidence when she found out that she could not teach me.”

“Why exactly is that?” said Hailstorm.

“My wing muscles didn’t grow right,” said Scootaloo, “or rather, my wing muscles were never going to grow right. I don’t quite remember the name of the condition, it was all like medical jargon name.”

“Okay…” said Hailstorm, “Shouldn’t that bother you? That you’re a pegasus who will never fly?”

Scootaloo gave her a solemnly subdued smile.

“It certainly used to,” said Scootaloo, “but, for the most part, I’ve gotten over it a long time ago.”

“Then…” said Hailstorm, “it bothers Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, sort of,” said Scootaloo, “She doesn’t care that I can’t fly, but it hurts her a lot that she was unable to teach me. She had already worked hard trying to get me fit to fly for months before we found out about my condition, heck, my wing power is actually near the world record. I just can’t quite make the correct motions for flight.”

“That’s a bit sad,” said Hailstorm.

“Meh, I’ve gotten over it,” said Scootaloo, “I mean, it’s not like my mom died or anything.”

“So why exactly does Rainbow despise teaching again?” said Hailstorm.

“She doesn’t hate teaching or anything, she just can’t teach a student to be a stunt flier,” said Scootaloo, “it reminds her that she couldn’t do it with me. That she’ll never soar thru the air with her sister side by side. Makes her sad and junk.”

Hailstorm went silent for a moment.

“Do you think I should just leave?” said Hailstorm.

“Actually, I kinda want you to stay,” said Scootaloo, “I wish that Rainbow would take up a student to teach her moves to. A few other super-fans before you tried to get her to teach them too, but they didn’t get anywhere.”

“You want me to learn from Rainbow Dash?” said Hailstorm.

Hailstorm stopped for a moment to think of something.

“How were those other ponies driven off?” said Hailstorm.

Scootaloo snapped up, her gaze directly at Hailstorm.

“I… actually heard about all of them second hand from Rainbow herself,” said Scootaloo, “They just gave up on their own, I guess.”

“So none of those ponies ever talked to you?” said Hailstorm, “Her reason?”

“I guess not,” said Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo,” said Hailstorm, “please help me get Rainbow Dash to teach me.”

“Sure thing,” said Scootaloo.