Scootaloo had hurried back to Ponyville as soon as she heard the news. Even Wonderbolts got time off for a funeral. The note from Apple Bloom said that it had been an accident, high winds that nopony had seen coming. Rainbow Dash went in to try to fix the problem, and went down over the Everfree Forest. By the time they found her, she was gone.
Now Scootaloo was standing in the bedroom she grew up in, obsessing over what to wear. It was never a big deal for her, usually. For today there were only two choices: nothing but her orange coat, or her uniform.
Rainbow Dash had been so proud the first time she saw her in that uniform. She traveled all the way to Manehatten to see Scootaloo in her first show. Scoot flew her heart out for her idol that day. Sure she was nervous, but she owed Dash the show of a lifetime, she owed Dash everything and she came through with it that day.
But years later, the last time they had spoken. . . Scootaloo started to cry as she berated herself for the things she had said, the way she had acted. If she had known it was going to be the last time they'd talk, she would have told Dash how much she meant to her, how much she loved her, how every time she put on that uniform she thought about Dash. Instead she waved it in Dash's face, trying to guilt her, trying to hurt her, trying to force that one last lesson out of the pony that had taught her everything.
It hadn't worked. Rainbow Dash got what she wanted in the end. The sonic rainboom was a legend now, and Rainbow Dash was the only pegasus in recorded history to know it's secret.
~*~
Breaking the sound barrier wasn't easy, but any Wonderbolt could do it. They were the best fliers in Equestria, after all. Scoot herself had done it nearly a hundred times, from every angle, in every weather condition she could find. It made a loud noise, and got her in trouble with weather control all over Equestria, but it never produced a sonic rainboom.
Her quest for a sonic rainboom started when she realized that Dash had given up, that she was never going to be a Wonderbolt. Scoot realized that day that she won. She was better then Rainbow Dash. She was a Wonderbolt, she got the dream, and Dash was still pushing clouds around in Ponyville. But Dash had one trick, one amazing feat that Scoot couldn't do. And come hail or high winds, Scoot would figure it out.
She wondered for a while if it was the mane and tail, so she took a week off once and dyed hers all the right colors. Not only did it look awful, it made her feel like a bad imitation and she still hadn't been able to do it right. She dyed it back before anypony saw her.
Finally, she came to her latest theory: there was a trick to it, and Rainbow Dash had figured it out. It had to be something small, a twitch of the wings at the right moment, a snap of the tail, a change in velocity. Something no one would notice when she was traveling that fast, but that one little thing had to make the difference.
She had asked Dash a million times, since she learned to fly, how to do one. Dash always said that it was her signature, and Scoot needed to find her own.
This time, using a day of leave to visit Ponyville, Scootaloo was going to get that secret.
She found Dash napping on a cloud. The weather control pony had always liked that part of her job, at least. Dash wasn't in her prime any more, but she was still in good shape, with the same vibrant colors and lean muscled build. But she seemed small to Scootaloo, who never got used to being taller then Dash, or to the effects that her hours of daily practice had on her orange body.
Scoot landed right next to Dash and poked her. “Hey, try-outs are coming up. You gonna go for it this year?”
“Mmmph? Oh. I'll check my calendar, see if anything's trying to destroy Equestria that week. If it's clear I'll give it a shot.”
Scootaloo laughed, “Dash, one year you were helping Fluttershy with sick birds. The year I tried out, Pinkie Pie needed help making the worlds biggest cupcake. I'm pretty sure Equestria would have survived.”
Dash just laughed and rose to her hooves, giving Scoot a friendly hug, “Maybe, maybe not. You came here to guilt me into going out for The Wonderbolts, at my age?”
Scoot hugged back, then pulled away with a cocky smile,“No, I came here to tell you that I figured out how to do a sonic rainboom.”
Dash smirked and raised her eyebrows, “Let's see it then. Do a sonic rainboom for me.”
“Don't feel like it.” Scoot said casually.
“Can't do it.” Dash taunted.
“Can too. It's all in the- well, you know. Do you ever have trouble with it?” Scoot asked, trying to look as innocent as possible.
Dash grinned, “Nope. Not once I figured it out. I'm not saying anything else because you don't know what you're talking about.”
“Fine, I don't.” Scoot admitted. “Don't you think it's time to teach me?”
“Don't feel like it.” Dash said, mimicking Scoot.
“Can't do it.” Scootaloo shot back.
Dash frowned a little, “If you believed that, you wouldn't be here. You only ever show up to bug me about this. Have you seen Apple Bloom or Sweetie Bell?”
“Nah, no time today. Why won't you just tell me?” Scoot whined, even though it made her sound like an immature filly.
“Because it's my move, and it's going down in history as my move. You already do things that wow the crowds. That's not what a sonic rainboom is for, really.”
Scoot rolled her eyes, “Don't give me that, Dash. You've done sonic rainbooms to wow crowds!”
“Sort of.” Dash said, then hesitated, “But that was different.”
“Why? Because it was you wowing the crowds, not me? Celestia forbid I out fly you!”
Dash sighed. “Scoot, you're a Wonderbolt, you know every trick in the book. I've got one claim to fame, and I'm holding onto it. You get the Wonderbolts, I get my sonic rainboom. It's totally fair.”
“You're just jealous because I got to be a Wonderbolt and you were too lazy to ever try out!” Scootaloo snapped.
At that, Dash narrowed her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that, kid. Why would I be jealous of a little squirt who can do some fancy tricks? Maybe I never made The Wonderbolts, but I am the element of loyalty, I've saved the world a few times in my life, and I can do a sonic rainboom. I think somepony's jealous, but it's not me.”
“I'm not jealous, Dash. I'm ticked off that you're being so selfish! You want the sonic rainboom to become a legend again? Cause that's what's going to happen, if you don't tell somepony.”
“Planning my funeral already? I'm not that old. Besides, somepony will figure it out again someday. It isn't raising the sun, I did it before I even had my cutie mark. You could barely fly at that age.” Dash smirked, she knew it drove Scoot crazy when she brought that up.
But Scoot wasn't going to be distracted. “How is somepony going to figure it out? By accident, like you did? You got lucky.”
Dash seemed to think about that, and the smirk fell from her face. So did the anger. She didn't look sad, but she looked more serious then Scoot had ever seen her when she answered, “I did, Scootaloo. I got really lucky that day. And right now, I don't think you can understand how lucky I got, and I don't think you could ever do a sonic rainboom. You just don't have it in ya, kid.”
That was the last straw for Scoot. “Yeah, right! I'm better then you are! I'm better then you ever were! I'm not a coward, for one thing. I'm a Wonderbolt. I went after my dream. I think you're the one who's not good enough. I bet you couldn't do a sonic rainboom anymore if you wanted to.”
“Oh yeah?” Dash said. She still seemed serious.
“Yeah.” said Scoot, unwilling to back down.
“Fine. You wanna see a real sonic rainboom? This is for you, Scootaloo.”
Rainbow Dash flew into the air, higher and higher. Scoot could see it wasn't as easy for her as it once had been, as it still was for Scoot, but Dash was still a very good flier. Scoot was only a little worried when she turned and went into her descent. Despite what she'd said, she hoped that Dash knew what she was doing.
She saw Dash picking up speed, then fighting the force of the cone. Scoot watched closely, not even blinking, as Dash pushed through, breaking the barrier. And sure enough, the sky lit up with colors, and the rainbow trail darted up across the sky.
It was hard not to feel a sense of wonder in the presence of a sonic rainboom, and Scoot was momentarily humbled. But that was washed away by anger. If Dash wanted to take something this beautiful to her grave, to hide it away for who knew how long, then Scoot was finished with her.
Scoot flew off before Dash came back, and neither of them so much as wrote one another a letter, ever again.
~*~
Scootaloo folded her uniform and left it on her bed. She wasn't wearing it today, she wasn't going to this funeral as Scootaloo the Wonderbolt. She'd failed Dash by doing things that way. She was going as Scoot the kid, Dash's student and biggest fan. She quickly ran her hooves over her mane, and hurried to Town Hall for the funeral.
The service was nice, for that sort of thing. Princess Celestia herself gave the eulogy. Scoot stood between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell, though they each had their husbands on the other side. Scoot didn't have anyone, there wasn't really time between practices and shows.
When it came time for Dash's friends to say a few words, they stood up together. Fluttershy didn't even try to speak, and never once stopped sobbing. Only Twilight Sparkle and Applejack managed to be coherent when they spoke, and even they broke down several times and turned to the others for a shoulder and a hug. Scootaloo understood perfectly. Despite trying her hardest not to cry, she was relieved when Sweetie pulled her close and handed her a tissue.
After the service, they moved to the graveyard on the outskirts of town. Scoot had been there a few times, she knew what the graves there looked like. The gravestones were uniform and neatly kept. Even so, when she saw the fresh grave she was shocked.
The gravestone was too small, in Scoot's mind. It should have been a monument. Something enormous, with a statue on top, or a torch that burned with rainbow hued fire. Instead they stood in front of a regular gray gravestone in front of freshly laid earth, carved with the cloud and lightening cutie mark, her name, and below that just a single word for an epitaph.
Loyalty.
Scootaloo stared at the word for a long time as other ponies laid flowers in front of the stone. She finally understood. Dash wasn't making excuses all those years, she hadn't tried out for the Wonderbolts because her friends needed her. And if her friends needed her, there was no choice for Dash. She was never bitter about it, never sad, because she was doing exactly what she wanted to do. She was bearing an element of harmony in the world.
Finally, something clicked. The sonic rainbooms Dash had done. Scoot had kept track of all of them. The first one was for Fluttershy's honor. The second saved Rarity's life. The third was at the request of Princess Celestia. Then there was the one Dash did that day for her, and Dash's challenge when Scoot lied about knowing how to do one; ”Let's see it, then. Do a sonic rainboom for me.”
Scootaloo took off, without a word to anyone else at the funeral, flying as high into the sky as she could. She had to be right, this was the secret. Every sonic rainboom Scoot had ever tried had been for herself, to try to impress the world, to try to make herself special. Rainbow Dash had never done a sonic rainboom for herself, every one she'd done had been out of loyalty to somepony special to her.
As Scootaloo reached the height she knew she'd need, she pivoted and started straight down. As the wind took her breath away, and she felt the cone start to form around her, she put her all into it. All of the love she had for Dash, all of her appreciation. This wasn't showing off, this was a memorial, a thank you for a lifetime of loyalty. She whispered, “For you, Rainbow Dash.”
She pushed the cone to its limit and felt it burst, a ring of colors spreading in all directions. Glancing back, she saw the rainbow trailing behind her, and she looped it through the sky. As she did, she could have sworn she felt the draft of wings beating above her.
After a few moments, she landed to the stunned faces of everypony at the funeral. She was crying and out of breath, and had no idea what to say.
“She said that no other pony could do one.” Twilight whispered, amazed. “Scootaloo? She told you how?”
“Dash taught me a lot of things. I'm still learning some of them. That was the last time, the sonic rainboom was hers.” Scoot paused for a moment, considering. She looked at the other element bearers, and thought hard about what Dash would want. “Unless. . . unless any of you wants to see one again, to remember her. I'll only do it for you, and for Rainbow Dash.”
Scoot bit her lip and rubbed the tears from her eyes, sniffing a little. She looked at the grave, and finished, “Because that's how you do a sonic rainboom.”
