A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Scootaloo nervously fluttered her wings as she looked over the edge of the cliff she had landed on. Her scooter lay in a wreck behind her, one of its wheels still turning pathetically in slow circles.

‘Well I guess none of us are getting our over sized slingshot cutie marks.’ Scootaloo thought to herself still transfixed by the view from precarious perch. ‘Although I might get my mountain climbing cutie mark if I want to get down from here.’

She sat down, mulling this thought over as she took in the view. ‘You can see the whole town from up here. There’s Applejack’s farm ,’ Scootaloo could make out two figures in the distance, bucking some apple trees. ‘And Fluttershy’s cottage,’ she could see the yellow mare and another white figure walking beside her. ’And I think I that’s Rainbow Dash!’ Scoot shot up off the ground as soon a she saw the blue mare resting on a cloud a ways away. ‘Maybe I can get her attention and she can rescue me, that would be so cool!’

“Rainbow dash!” Scootaloo shouted. The blue mare didn’t even glance in her direction. Scoot frowned and tried again, “Rainbow Dash!!!” Nothing. Scootaloo took in a huge breath for one final try “RAINBOW DASH!!!!” the blue mare turned over and continued her slumber. Scootaloo just fell down on her rump, a rather large frown on her face.  ‘It’s alright, the girls will run back to town and find someone and then Rainbow Dash will come to rescue me.’

And so Scootaloo waited. And waited. And waited.

By now Scootaloo was pacing nervously around her island in the air. ‘What if they don’t know where I landed, or if it gets dark and they can see me, or something horrible attacked Ponyville and they forgot about me!’ Scootaloo wanted to cry, but she held the tears in. After all the super awesome ponies, like Rainbow Dash, didn’t cry. ‘Ya but unlike you, Rainbow Dash isn’t a flightless chicken,’ a little voice in the back of her head said.

Scootaloo stopped her pacing, “I am not a chicken,” Scootaloo muttered to herself. She took several steps toward the edge of the cliff, “I am not a chicken,” she said, louder this time. Heart racing she ran to the opposite edge of the cliff and leaped off, “I am NOT a CHICKEN!” Scootaloo shouted as she beat her wings as hard as she could. And for a brief moment the wind blew past Scootaloo and gravity loosened its grip upon her. For a moment Scootaloo flew.

Then Scootaloo fell.

***

The next thing she knew Scootaloo woke up in the Ponyville hospital. Her body ached all over and she could feel bandages all over herself. “She’s awake, she’s awake!” Applebloom cheered. Sweetie Bell, Applebloom, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all gathered around her bed.

“Ah think we can all see that Applebloom,” Applejack replied but smiling never the less.

“The doctor said that you were really lucky that we found you so soon, you were all bruised and had all of these broken bones, and-“ Applejack put her hoof over Sweetie Bell’s mouth to stop her from going into too much detail.

“And ya flew Scootaloo! Ya really flew! Not fer very long, but ya still flew!” Applebloom cheered.

“I did,” Scootaloo said quiet, but excited.

“Uh-huh, ya did. Not fer long, and then you fell and-“ Applejack put her hoof over Applebloom’s mouth now.

“Ah think we should give Scootaloo some time to get better girls,” Applejack said and started to steer the two crusaders out of the room, both giving highly enthusiast  good-byes.

Scootaloo waved good bye, and when the door closed her attention snapped to Rainbow Dash. “Were you with Applebloom and Sweetie Bell and Applejack when they came and got me? Did you see me fly?”

Rainbow Dash gave her a sad little smile, “Yup, saw the whole thing.”

Scootaloo’s whole face lit up with pride, and then started to blush, “I guess that means you saw the whole falling thing too, huh?”

“I did Scoots, and let me tell you something,” Rainbow Dash got closer and put a hoof on Scoots head, “I wasn’t born the most awesome flier in Equestria, I had my fair share of falls, but the difference between me and other pegusi was I got back up each and every time. That’s how I know you’re going to be an awesome flier one day,” Scootaloo smiled. “I was also able to get back up in one piece each time, be careful, alright?”

Scootaloo nodded, “You got it RD.”

***

Picture: Learn to fly

Artist: wonderlandfreak