Dai led Scootaloo over to the edge, the orange filly watching him curiously as he stood near the edge overlooking Ponyville. The former navy seal snorted, looking down and feeling a slight sense of vertigo. Ehh, good enough. He stepped back out of the way, and said, "Okay, first things first. You obviously suck at flying," He said bluntly, as Scootaloo frowned and her ears pinned to her skull. "But I'm sure I can fix that."

One ear perking up, she tried to forget the slight insult before asking, "Y-you can?"

He nodded. "Yep, you gotta crawl before you can walk, or in this case... glide." He said, gesturing to the edge with a hoof. It wasn't too far a fall and would, at most only cause Scootaloo minor pain if she happened to fall. "You've been trying too hard to actually fly, flapping your wings and trying to gain lift. And yet all the times I've seen you try, you've never once tried gliding, so... I'm gonna teach you how to glide."

A raise of the eyebrow. "You're gonna teach me? You don't even fly yourself, how could you teach me how to glide if you won't even try yourself?"

Dai grunted at that, snorting afterwards. "I have my reasons for not wanting to fly, so shut up about that if you want my help." He motioned for the now grumpy Scootaloo to come over to him. Once she was next to him, he looked at her wings. They were on the small side, smaller then most pegasi foals and he wondered if it was because she was younger, or if she had a condition. "Extend your wings for me would ya?" Scootaloo confused by the request but did as asked, extending her small wings outward as Dai looked them over. "Okay, I want you to back up a few steps," Again she did as told, and once she was far enough away Dai said, "Now I want you to jog a bit and jump off, and glide."

Scootaloo gave a look to Dai, before snorting and readying herself. Dai watched her wings flap a few times, the feathers stretching to their fullest as he eyed her legs and body. Compared to the other fillies he'd seen at school, Scootaloo was a bit on the thin side but still rather good looking in his eyes. And after a few seconds Scootaloo jogged, or rather galloped her way to the edge before jumping off.

And she flapped her wings, very rapidly before quickly falling to the ground with a thump.

"I said glide not fly." Dai chided the filly, who got up with a huff.

"What's the difference?" Scootaloo question, turning to look at Dai as she climbed back up.

"Well for one thing, flying requires you to flap your wings and do a bunch of angling and shit." He told her. "Gliding, you just leap off, spread your wings and soar down. I've seen Dash do it plenty of times..." He pointed out, he had watched Dash fly plenty of times in the past. Sure he didn't want to fly, but watching her fly was kinda... mesmerizing in a way. Dai shook his head of the image of her doing a loop and exposing some parts of her to the elements as he said, "So don't flap this time."

"But if I don't flap I'll fall!" Scootaloo protested.

"Do. Not. Flap." He told her, enunciating his words carefully as if talking to a child...

...

Oh wait.

Scootaloo huffed again, taking up a position near Dai as he watched her from where he was sitting. His eyes trailing from the side of her head to her rear as she gave her rump a little wiggle, like a cat would do before pouncing on their unsuspecting target. He also caught a view of her tight filly lips, barely noticeable from beneath her purple tail. He had of course ogled the crusaders from time to time, they didn't know any better as their male friend always checked them out. Or so that's what he told himself, he didn't make much effort to hide it.

Eventually Scootaloo galloped to the edge again, and struggling not to flap she just held out her wings and tucked in her legs as her eyes closed. She fully expected to fall, instead of glide like Dai said. But for a brief moment, she felt herself become weightless and felt the wind whisking past her. Upon opening one eye, she saw she was still in the air, slowly falling to the ground. "W-whoah!" She cried out, suddenly ecstatic as she flapped her wings.

This ended about as well as you would expect as she wobbled in the air, before she fell straight to the ground with a thud.

Dai watched from atop the hill and winced. "Ouch." He trotted down and off the hill, headed over to Scootaloo who was getting up and rubbing her head. "You okay?"

Scootaloo turned to Dai and he saw her look, she was incredibly excited right now. "Did you see Dai! Did you see that! I flew!"

"No, you glided, but close enough." Dai smiled that rare smile of his at Scootaloo, nodding his head as he looked between her and the cliff edge. "Now do it again," At her curious look, he clarified. "Look, gliding is good and all for someone like you, but you need to build up your strength and practice."

Scootaloo groaned, plopping down onto her rump. "I've been practicing since I could walk!" She protested, looking at Dai carefully. "Ever since I could walk, all I've ever wanted was to fly like all the other ponies..." Scootaloo hung her head after that, ears drooping. "But I can't... my wings are too weak..." She sighed sadly, wings drooping at her sides. "Sometimes I feel like I should just give up..."

The colt looked over Scootaloo once more, sitting down himself as his smile faded into his ever pensive frown. Seeing Scootaloo so down in the dumps made him feel sorry for the filly, he knew how long she had been trying to fly for, for years since he met the young pony. Each day she would practice, she would strive and push herself to try to fly. Only in the end she's failed several times.

"Listen..." Dai started softly, his frown still in place but he did have a soft look in his eyes. "I know its hard to practice, when there's barely anything to show for it, but you can't give up." he told her sternly, "You just need to work on your wings a lot, do stuff like gliding and exercising." When Scootaloo looked up at him, he continued speaking. "If it makes you feel any better, I used to be like you... except it was more with how my body looked before I joined the navy."

Scootaloo blinked. "What do you mean?"

Dai sighed, chewing his cheek slightly as he looked up into the skies. "A decade ago or so, before I came here to this world. I was trying to join up with the Navy, but I was a bit on the small side, thin... barely any muscle." He went on to explain. "I wasn't gaining any muscle to join up with the Navy, because I needed to be a certain weight regarding muscle and fitness. But no matter how hard I trained my body I couldn't gain any muscle, and I was like you... I was close to giving up."

Looking at the thestral colt, Scootaloo asked, "Did you?"

Dai shook his head. "No... my old man talked me into not quitting on myself, same with my brothers." Dai told her, looking back down at her and letting her see his eyes... and she could see something in them. "They helped me train, put me through some of the most strict training I'd even been through in my whole life." Another smile came across his face, a happy one of him remembering a time that was long lost to him. "They helped me through life in the past, and they helped me one more time before the war..."

The young filly watched as his expression went more sad, his smile faltering slightly and his eyes going downcast as he looked up into the trees around them. She had never seen him like this before, his tone had gone from happy remembrance to barely contained sorrow. It made her frown sadly, wondering if he really missed his family. "Dai... if you miss your family, then why don't you go back to them?" She asked, ears perked up slightly.

Dai slowly looked down at her, and shook his head. "It's not that simple..."

"But, I mean... Princess Twilight said you ran away from home s-"

Dai hissed, teeth bared in anger at the filly. "I am getting really sick and tired of everyone saying that!" He growled, making Scootaloo's ears fold back down. "I didn't run away from home, because I have no home here! I don't have any family in this fucking place, but no... you damn ponies all are so insistent that I'm some kind of runaway kid. If I could go back to my family, I fucking would!" He yelled, making Scootaloo back away from him.

The two had a stare off for some time, before Dai stood up and walked away, leaving behind a slightly frightened... but incredibly worried Scootaloo in his wake. She watched as he trotted away slowly, head hung low until he disappeared into the woods nearby around Ponyville. Not the Everfree of Course, just the trees leading to the Apple Tree Orchard.

Scootaloo looked down at the ground in thought... and wondered, What do I do?

Author's Note

Pfffffffffft... I'm real sorry for not updating, but this chapter has been giving me some troubles as of late. And yes I know its shorter then most of the ones I've posted before, but I promise you, next chapter...

Next chapter is when the real fun begins.

So... yeah, enjoy and I'll see you guys next year, because fuck I'm taking me a break.