Rainbow Dash was not called upon as a reserve for the Wonderbolts’ Air Sprinting show in the Crystal Empire. And neither were any of the actual Wonderbolts reserves. Spitfire kicked up quite a fuss when Miss Harshwhinny insisted that they have Lightning Dust on hoof in case a Wonderbolt had to sit out the competition.

“Lightning Dust isn’t eligible to join any of our groups!” Spitfire protested.

“Yes, yes. But if you’ll recall, Lightning Dust took the Air Sprinting gold for Loch Azure in the Equestria Games,” Miss Harshwhinny said. “The crystal ponies would love to see her go against the highest profile flyers.”

“If you want high profile, we could just call our most talented reserve,” said Spitfire.

“If you are referring to Miss Rainbow Dash, I cannot allow it,” said Harshwhinny. “We don’t want a repeat of all that arguing and gambling the Millennium Rally wrought, do we? As compelling as Miss Dash’s speech was after the rainbow flood, I doubt every single pony in the country took her message to heart. Therefore, I insist you allow your former academy cadet to be your extra.”

“Is this a deal breaker?” asked Spitfire crossly.

“If it must be,” frowned Miss Harshwhinny, “then yes. Have no fear. It’s not as though she has a chance of rejoining you if she gets to compete and wins.”

Rainbow Dash was no less excited about this event even though she was barred from taking part. Scootaloo was more indignant on the subject than her.

“With the way she treated you and all the other cadets at the academy, I don’t get why the Wonderbolts didn’t drop out of this event,” she said as she and Rainbow unpacked their luggage in their hotel room.

“It may have been too late for her, but she has learned not to treat others like roadblocks,” said Rainbow Dash. “You didn’t see her try and shove me and Spitfire outta the way in the Millennium Rally, did you?”

“Uh…”

“Oh, right. You didn’t see the whole thing. You were busy freaking out and then saving everypony’s lives.”

Scootaloo blushed a bit. “So… you think Lightning Dust was a good choice for a reserve?”

“I don’t remember seeing her pummel Updraft in the Equestria Games either, so why would she knock over a Wonderbolt now?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I admit I’d like to have won the reserves lottery, but if the crystal ponies liked seeing Lightning Dust, they can have her. Actually, they liked seeing you too. When you and your friends showed them your flag carrying routine.”

“Yeah, but I can’t be a backup for the Wonderbolts,” remarked Scootaloo.

“Not yet,” grinned Rainbow. “You’re still practising those moves I taught you, right?”

“Every day.”

“Then it won’t be long before you get to amaze everypony with your own signature performance… whatever that ends up being.”

Scootaloo had taken to mimicking aerial acrobatics demonstrated to her by Rainbow Dash, accept she did so on the ground and on her scooter. For the most part, Rainbow was restricted to two dimensions so that Scootaloo could copy her. Every so often though, there were bumps or bins or upturned carts for Scootaloo to launch herself from. This gave her an opportunity to practise looping. Her success rate with this was about fifty-fifty, and she was sure she’d get the hang of it sooner or later. Rainbow Dash would always monitor her and let her know if any ponies were straying into her path. And if Scootaloo was going so fast that she couldn’t hear anyone calling her, Rainbow never failed to swoop in and grab her well before a collision could happen. Normally, Scootaloo was good at avoiding trouble when driving her scooter. She and Rainbow were both convinced that if she kept up the practise on her scooter, she’d soon gain enough wing power to fly. As for signature moves, Scootaloo hadn’t made up her own, and had no idea what she would incorporate into it if she made one up. All she knew was she wanted it to be a three-dimensional thing, and so she probably wouldn’t be making one up any time soon.

“It was nice of you to stop by,” Amber Aldis said to Starlight Glimmer when she saw her coming.

“I’m not stopping by,” said Starlight.

“Well you’re not staying here,” said Amber firmly. “Come on. We both know how happy you were when Double Diamond sent you that invite.”

“Yeah, I was,” Starlight frowned. “But I made a promise to you, and…”

“I don’t see any chemistry gear with you,” Amber tilted her head pretending to look around Starlight for potion bottles and cauldrons. “And we didn’t find anything the last time we were both here, so what’d make this time any different?”

They both looked at the Crystal Heart spinning beneath the castle.

“Are we gonna spend another day just looking at that thing and waiting for it to show us the answer?” Amber grinned.

“Well… no, I guess that’d be stupid,” sighed Starlight.

“Look, I know you’re not a Wonderbolts fan,” Amber went on. “And I know you want to visit Double Diamond and Party Favour and everyone else in your old village. We both could do with a break from trying to find a cure for my disease.”

“You’re sure you don’t want someone to watch the show with you?” asked Starlight.

“I could always join up with Rainbow over there.”

Amber pointed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo out to Starlight.

“She didn’t come here with all of her friends, did she? No, see? She just brought Scootaloo along.”

“You’re right,” smiled Starlight. “Alright. I will meet up with my old… uh… my new friends. See you in three days.”

“Bye,” said Amber. “Have fun.”

Despite the hundreds of ticket-holders there were in town, there weren’t many ponies in the streets of the Crystal Empire. A lot of them were trying to catch a glimpse of the Wonderbolts practising, be it from outside the stadium, or from their house or hotel windows. This freed up a lot of space for Scootaloo to do some practising of her own. Rainbow Dash had never run out of stunts she wanted to demonstrate to Scootaloo, and today was no exception. Scootaloo performed splendidly every time she mimicked a move by Rainbow Dash. The only time she faltered was when a crystal pony strayed across her path and Rainbow had to intervene. No damage was done and the crystal pony in question wasn’t upset. After about two hours of watch and repeat, Rainbow Dash was exhausted, but Scootaloo was still full of energy.

“That’s what I like to see,” panted Rainbow Dash as she touched down. “A no-quit attitude.”

“So what’s next?” asked Scootaloo enthusiastically.

Rainbow wiped away some sweat. “Uh, why not try some of those moves again?”

“Oh, come on. I’ve done every move you showed me like twenty times,” said Scootaloo. “I wanna try another new one.”

Rainbow Dash was having trouble keeping her eyes open, but she was still able to spot Lightning Dust hovering nearby, overlooking the crystal stadium.

“Maybe she could show you a few,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Lightning!” Scootaloo called. “Why aren’t you at the stadium?! Shouldn’t you be practising with the Wonderbolts?!”

Lightning Dust hovered closer to the road. “Spitfire says reserves are only allowed at scheduled practises, and the one they’re doing right now’s just a warm-up. But I’ll bet they’ll make some excuse to keep me outta the stadium tomorrow. I mean, if Harshwhinny wants me as a back-up, who are they to shove me aside?”

Scootaloo didn’t know how to answer, but Lightning Dust changed the subject so quickly, she didn’t have to.

“I saw you racing around the road there. Rainbow Dash got you working out?”

“Yeah, but she’s wiped out,” Scootaloo nodded.

“Wow. You wore Rainbow Dash out,” grinned Lightning Dust.

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “Anyway, she said I could learn a thing or two from you. If you don’t mind.”

Lightning Dust’s face went blank for a second.

“Did she say that?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah. She says you’re not that bad… anymore,” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Well… I guess hanging out with you, her, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and her sister did get me to appreciate others more,” she said.

Lightning Dust, spirits lifted, agreed to show Scootaloo a few aerial acrobatics, but the ones she demonstrated were much too complex to mimic on a scooter.

“Huh. I guess you can’t do loops on that thing,” Lightning Dust said when Scootaloo brought this up. “But you could still do tilts.”

“On my scooter?” asked Scootaloo. “If I lean too much, I’ll fall off.”

“If you’re going fast enough, you won’t tip over,” replied Lightning Dust. “Go on. Try it. Do circles around me.”

Scootaloo mounted her scooter, leaned over, and fell over instantly.

“You don’t start by leaning on it,” chuckled Lightning Dust. “You gotta get speed up first.”

Scootaloo’s second try went infinitely better. She found herself circling Lightning Dust at a 45 degree angle.

“Not bad,” said Lightning Dust while Scootaloo was still zooming around her. “Now how about you try circling the castle pillars over there?”

“Sure,” replied Scootaloo.

She sped away towards the Crystal Castle, going fast enough to straighten up and avoid toppling off her scooter. She reached a pillar and drove around it, keeping great balance at such a high speed. When she got to the next pillar however, she began to wobble a bit. She was getting dizzy, but didn’t realise it soon enough to reduce her speed.

Rainbow Dash had been lying on a bench half asleep since sending Scootaloo off to take a few tips from Lightning Dust. The piercing yell that came from the castle woke her right up. She bolted to the source of the noise, where the Crystal Heart stood spinning in the center of the empire. She arrived to a startling sight. First she saw Scootaloo’s scooter lying on its side in a sidewalk gutter, then she spotted Scootaloo sprawled with scrapes on both her forelegs, and finally she caught sight of Amber Aldis lying on the pavement near the Crystal Heart clutching her shoulder and wincing.

“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash, running over to help Scootaloo up.

“I… I didn’t…” Scootaloo could hardly see straight. “It was like she just… darted in front of me.”

“Where’s Lightning Dust?” Rainbow asked. “Why didn’t she catch you?”

Scootaloo gave her head a shake and looked around. “There she is.”

Rainbow Dash turned and saw Lightning Dust making sluggish progress towards the scene of the collision. Some other ponies, crystal and otherwise, were approaching as well to see what had happened.

“Where were you?!” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“Uh… back there,” replied Lightning Dust.

“Why weren’t you watching Scootaloo?! You’re supposed to keep an eye out for other ponies!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“Oh. I didn’t think of that,” Lightning faltered.

Rainbow groaned and leapt over to Amber Aldis, who had picked herself up, but was still grasping her left shoulder.

“Are you alright, Amber?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Does this look alright?!” snapped Amber, removing her hoof from her shoulder.

Rainbow, Scootaloo, Lightning Dust, and some of the other ponies present gasped. There on Amber’s shoulder was a steaming bright red burn in the shape of a heart.

Author's Note

Inspired by Cars 2, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Tale of One Shadow, and Fall of the Crystal Empire.