"Hey," Sweetie Belle said as she went onto the balcony of the clubhouse, two bottles of cider floating beside her.
"Hey," Scootaloo replied, staring at the horizon.
"Brought you something." The bottle floated down next to Scootaloo. "Between Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash it was a miracle I managed to get any. It was a fierce battle, but in the end I prevailed." Sweetie Belle sat next to her friend and took a sip from her bottle. "By that I mean I had to pull a Fluttershy."
Scootaloo snorted. Her wings, no larger than when she was a filly, flapped several times before freezing to their usual still state.
"I used to love sunsets," Scootaloo said.
Sweetie Belle nodded, choosing to remain silent. It was a sight to behold: Celestia's sun was halfway gone, covering Equestria in a deep orange blanket of light. What was more, today was a special sunset—the final day of school, the end of childhood. Tomorrow everypony's life would change as they went on their separate trots of life.
"Sorry, that's so uncool," Scootaloo laughed. "It just went a bit fast, you know."
"Maybe." Sweetie Belle smiled, then without warning shoved her friend with her shoulder. "So what's bugging you?"
"Nothing's bugging me." Scootaloo looked away. "It's just a lot to take in. I reached the big eighteen a week ago, now school's done and..." her voice trailed off.
"Scootaloo." Sweetie Belle narrowed her eyes.
"Look, just..." The pegasus hesitated. For several seconds her mouth opened and closed, like a drawbridge trying to decide whether to welcome questions or keep the castle well defended. "You really want to know?"
Sweetie Belle nodded, a giant grin on her face.
"And you won't laugh?" Scootaloo narrowed an eye.
"Of course not." Sweetie Belle eagerly shook her head.
"Okay. But you don't tell this to anypony, understand?" Scootaloo looked around. Finally, when she was satisfied they were alone, the pegasus moved closer. "It's about my wings," she whispered into Sweetie's ear.
"Huh?" Sweetie Belle blinked. "Wha the wha?" She tilted her head slightly, puzzled expression on face.
"Don't make me repeat it," Scootaloo grumbled, pulling away.
"Yes. I mean no. I mean. I thought you were over that. You can fly much better than when we were fillies. Hay, at shorter distances, it's almost as—"
"It's not about the flying!" Scootaloo snapped.
"Huh? If it's not about the flying then what?"
"You really don't know?" The pegasus sneered. "Like, you really don't? If this is you trying to be funny, I swear by the stars that—"
"I really don't know, sheesh!" Sweetie Belle crossed her forelegs.
"Well. Err. With pegasi wing size matters." A faint blush appeared on Scootaloo's face. "It matters a lot. Especially for mares."
"I don't get it. Why would—"
“Stars! Bigger is better, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo shouted, cheeks flushing.
“Ooooh." A moment passed. Then Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Colts are dumb.”
"Yep," Scootaloo sighed. "And my wings are not that great. " She flapped a few times.
"Wow, Scoots. I never knew. I always thought it was the flying that got you down. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not something I like to talk about, okay? Being a flightless pegasus was bad enough. Going through puberty with small wings... I even spent money on wing enhancement herbs." She frowned. "That's a huge scam, let me tell you."
"Really?" Sweetie Belle giggled. "It would explain a few things, though."
"Not funny."
"Sorry, it's just that this is so out there, like... wow! Well I'd heard that 'wing size matters' but I never considered it in that way. Same has been said for unicorn horns and that's a total pile of crap. As long as they look good and can cast spells all horns are the same."
"Well it's a big deal for a pegasus. When stallions say 'look at them wings' it's not flying they are talking about. Trust me on that."
"Duly noted." Sweetie Belle smiled. "But then what's so special about big wings? I mean aside from flying."
"Are you serious?" Scootaloo stood up. The sun had dipped beneath the horizon, plunging Equestria into darkness. In this light the young mare almost looked like an earth pony, her wings invisible on her silhouette. "The bigger they are the more there is of them," she said in a matter of fact voice. "Stallions can get away with it if they have other qualities, but for us—for me—that's the difference between hot and not."
"Oh, come on!"
"I'm serious!"
"You're telling me that everything is determined by wing size?"
"Have you ever seen pegasi fashion magazines?" Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Take a look sometime. The pictures of the mares on the covers are always modified to add a few inches wing length. Ever wonder why?"
"For aesthetic purposes?"
"Yeah, you could call it that," Scootaloo laughed bitterly. "Aesthetic for all the stallions out there. Just think back to class. Did you ever wonder why no pegasi ever took me on a date?"
There was an alarming amount of truth in that. During high school Scootaloo had had her share of flings, yet they had all been unicorns or earth ponies. Rumble, despite spending massive amounts of time with her as hoofball vice-captain, had never asked her out, even when there had been advances on her part.
"Wait!" Sweetie Belle jumped to her hooves. "All the times Diamond Tiara called you micro wings, does that mean...?"
"Oh, definitely." Scootaloo hissed. "That saddleskin knew exactly what she was saying. You've no idea how many times I wanted to kick her in the muzzle. Thank the stars she got herself a colt."
"Ouch, Scoots. That's horrible. If I'd know sooner..." Sweetie Belle went to her friend and gave her a pat on the back. "I feel like such an idiot."
"It's okay. At least you weren't listening to rap humming 'I like big wings and I cannot lie' non-stop." Scootaloo winced. "I really felt like strangling Apple Bloom back then."
Sweetie stifled a laugh. The lyrics of the song seemed a whole lot different right now.
"Guess I see why you don't want to celebrate." The unicorn took one last sip of her cider, then levitated the bottle away. A few steps away, Scootaloo had gone back to looking at the night sky. "Say, does that mean that every time I was staring at somepony's wings, I was checking them out?"
"Nah, only matters if you're a pegasus."
"Thank the stars!" Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of relief. "I've been staring at Princess Celestia's wings each time she's come to visit Ponyville. Her wings are huge."
"Yes, really huge." A note of envy crept in Scootaloo's voice. "And you're not the only one. Trust me. There are a lot who get really excited when she fluffs her wings up. You can bet that if I had wings like that, I'd flaunt them every chance I got."
"I bet."
Sweetie Belle yawned, then sat next to her friend. The cider she had been drinking the whole evening was starting to have an effect on her. Fighting to keep her eyes wide open, she leaned against Scootaloo.
"So now what?" the unicorn asked, her mind blanking out with every second.
"No idea." Scootaloo shrugged, causing Belle to grumble and readjust her head onto the pegasus' shoulder. "Wing implants maybe. Of course they cost a fortune and are uncomfortable as Tartarus on a stick."
"Well I think you have nice wings," Sweetie Belle said, half asleep as she relaxed even further. "Lovely small little wings..." she murmured before breaking out into a snore.
Scootaloo stiffened. For nearly a minute she remained still as a statue, staring forward, as if scared that the slightest motion might cause an Equestria-wide cataclysm. Then she laughed, her voice mixing with the sounds of the night and Sweetie Belle's snoring.
"Damn right, Belle," she said, as the moon began to peek from under the horizon. "Damn right." She flapped her wings. There was no denying their size, but at the end of the day they were hers and so far had never let her down. "We'll continue this when you're sober."
