Supercrusin' Chapter 1

by Rainbowflash

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rarity, Adventure, Applejack
Length: 5254

Scoot scoot scootaloo

Scootaloo has always craved the freedom of the skies. After a bit of reluctance, Rainbow Dash decides to train her. However, what Rainbow discovers about Scootaloo - and her gift - suddenly takes Rainbow back to one of her past competitors, a little mare with a powerful ability; the ability to Supercruise.

Published 2011-12-05 07:23:49 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-05 22:31:59 UTC

Part 1

Supercruisin’
By Petal Laboratories.

“And that’s how I got my cutie mark.”

Rainbow Dash finished her story, turning around to show off the rainbow lightning bolt on her flank, with its three individual, vivid colors of red, yellow, and blue, emanating from a thundercloud.

“Whoa…”

The three fillies sighed in unison.

The pegasi had been doing their job well for the past few weeks. Scootaloo woke up to the sound of wings and dialogue as these dependable winged ponies moved the clouds, one by one, out of ponyville, exposing a clear and beautiful blue sky. Inside her house, the window was open, and a wind picked up as Scootaloo awoke.

A fresh breeze wafted in, faintly smelling like cut grass. Scootaloo rubbed her eyes and scrambled out of bed. Her hooves hit the wooden floor, making a muffled tapping noise as she moved tiredly into the kitchen. On the table was a plate of flowers and a note. Scootaloo slowly placed the flowers absent-mindedly in her mouth as she read the note.

Hey Scootaloo! This is Applebloom. Come on over to Sweet Apple Acres. Me and Sweetie Belle have something awesome to show ya!

Applebloom

“Alright, alright,” Scootaloo yawned.

Scootaloo went to her garage to find her helmet and her scooter. It was in the corner, covered with dust and spiders. Using her wings, she flapped all of the debris away, and then put on the helmet, buckled the straps, and pulled the scooter outside. There was a light breeze, and the grass wore a light coating of dew. It was still early; the sun was flickering faintly on the eastern edge of Equestria.

Scootaloo rushed off into Ponyville. Her scooter ran smoothly and, aided by her flapping wings, she zipped over the hard parvement. It was a catharsis for her to ride her scooter; She loved speed. She loved to hear the wind whistle beside her and flow through her coat.

Only one thing was missing. She was still on the ground. As she headed towards Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo looked upwards and couldn’t help but think.

“One day… I will finally be able to fly.”

As she entered Sweet Apple Acres, passing under the wooden arch and into the barn, Scootaloo noticed something strange. Normally, while visiting Sweet Apple Acres, a pony could hear Applejack outside working or inside talking to friends. Today, she was nowhere to be found. Normally, a pony could hear Big Mac working the fields or Granny Smith baking her pies.

Today, it was silent.

“Hey Scootaloo! Over here!”

Scootaloo turned around. For some reason, her eyesight wasn’t as keen as it usually was, but she still saw the rough outline of her friends, who waved at her and quickly rushed inside the barn. Scootaloo followed. Upon entering the barn, her eyes finally focused, and she could not believe the sight in front of her. There were only three ponies in the barn: Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom. The three ponies looked fine except for one thing.
All of them had fully developed wings.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle turned their attention towards Scootaloo. “Isn’t this neat Scootaloo? We woke up one day and we became Pegasi!” the two fillies chimed. Rainbow Dash, occupied with some unknown object in the corner, turned around, and greeted Scootaloo with a, “Oh hey, Pipsqueak.” Scootaloo was speechless. She couldn’t believe it.

“Since we got Pegasus wings, Rainbow Dash said she’d give us lessons on flying so that we could race and all!” Applebloom cheered.

“Okay, Okay, enough talking,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s time for your lesson. Do you see that hole in the barn up there? Try to fly precisely up to that hole and out as a warm-up. Once we’re all out we’ll start the real lesson.” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked up, paused to think about the task, and then attempted to fly. Applebloom was first. She easily graced upwards towards the hole, and exited. She poked her head into the hole down towards Sweetie Belle and was watching her in anticipation. Sweetie Belle looked up, prepared her wings, and then flew easily through the hole. Both of them, heads poking into the barn, then focused their attention on Scootaloo.

“Cmon, let’s do it,” Rainbow Dash commanded.
Scootaloo had never flown before.

“What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?”

She tried. Her wings could only carry her two inches off the ground.

“Cmon! Try harder pipsqueak! We’re wasting time!” Rainbow Dash started to become frustrated. “Cmon!”

Scootaloo was trying, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never escape the darkness of the barn. She was earthbound.

“I’m sorry for wasting your time guys.” Scootaloo hung her head.

“Just go home. I’ll teach Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. If your flying improves, pipsqueak, then we’ll talk,” Rainbow Dash said. She flashed upwards and out of the barn. Scootaloo walked outside on the cold, unforgiving earth, and watched the three ponies fly away together. A single tear developed in Scootaloo’s eye, and she began to cry. She wanted to fly so badly.

So, so badly.

Yet she couldn’t. Even by her best friends left her behind . Twilight never said anything about that. Friends would never leave each other behind. Scootaloo cried.

* * *

“Applebloom and Sweetie Belle couldn’t have grown wings. It's impossible!”

Scootaloo’s shouting woke her up. She looked around. It was dark. Her clock read 12:30 AM. It was only a dream. Scootaloo pushed her covers aside and went into the kitchen to drink some water. She now realized that her body was wet; she was in a cold sweat. Scootaloo poured herself a glass of water and drank vigorously. She lazily placed the glass on a table and then walked back to her bed, throwing herself onto the covers and crying profusely for a few minutes. That dream seemed almost real.

It was only after a few minutes could Scootaloo compose herself and sleep, wrapped within tear-soaked sheets, with the moonlight dancing on her body.

* * *

The young filly awoke to the sound of chirping birds. Scootaloo opened her weary eyes. She stared at a pair of black dots, feathery and friendly, looking back at her. She blinked. The young bird, startled, instinctively flew onto her window frame and out the door. Scootaloo watched the bird fly away into the fresh morning air. The sun was just beginning to rise, and small rays of light shone weakly across the lawn of the house.

“Soon, those rays would become big and strong, and they’ll be able to warm the earth, traveling at the speed of light. Might I be like such a ray, one day?“ Scootaloo pondered. Although last night was painful, her mind was lucid today. Indeed, it was a very lazy saturday. Jumbled thoughts floated in her mind.

“It’s time to stop lazing around and DO SOMETHING,” Scootaloo reminded herself. She forced herself off the bed and gazed the clock. The clock read 9:46 AM.

Scootaloo went into the kitchen and decided to pour herself some cereal. Upon gazing at the empty, dry cup she had left last night, she began to think. “I really should consider flying lessons. I’ve been trying so hard for the past weeks but I can’t do anything except a little hovering here and there...”

Her parents were outside performing their usual saturday errands. “Mom has to negotiate a business deal with Mr. Breezy, and Dad has to go to Cloudsdale on the business trip...” Scootaloo wondered. “That leaves the entire day to me! I’ll go see Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Maybe we can go hang-gliding or something... But wait.”

Just the idea of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle reminded Scootaloo of her vivid dream last night. “What if it was real? No, it can’t be. There's no note! If I was Rainbow Dash, I wouldn’t be put down by a bad dream! I’d... I’d step up again and focus! Yeah! That’s what I need to do.”

Scootaloo opened her front door and peered outside. Some of the residents of ponyville were already walking about, some of them whistling winter wrap up under their breath. Scootaloo, as she did in her dream, went to her garage and picked out her scooter, similarly tucked away in a dark corner and covered with cobwebs. After a bit of cleaning, Scootaloo was ready to go. She pushed off and headed to Sweetie Belle, who was staying with Rarity at her Carousel Boutique.

“Just a minute Scootaloo. Stand still.” Rarity asked. Scootaloo was already used to this torture; she had experienced it tens of times whenever she visited Sweetie Belle.

“Big Sis, can you please let her go? We have a lot of stuff planned today,” a little filly with the purple and pink cotton candy hair asked.

“Alright then,” Rarity submitted. “You girls have fun now. Unfortunately for me, I still have deadlines to meet. Good luck on finding your talents, girls!”

* * *

“Scootaloo... you seem... Tense.” Sweetie Belle sat on a shiny red wagon trailing Scootaloo, who was scooting faster than usual. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, it’s... just a dream I had. Nothing.”

“No! Tell me!”

“No Sweetie Belle, it’s private.”

“Holding it to yourself won’t make it any better Scootaloo. Honestly.”

“Alright Alright! Okay?” Scootaloo began to feel frustrated again. “I had a dream where you and Applebloom had wings and left me behind like I was some sort of trash or something.” She stopped her scooter and shifted her gaze to the trees around her. “I want to learn how to fly. I want to stop riding on this scooter and instead ride those updrafts in the sky.”

“That dream sounds horrible.” Sweetie Belle comforted Scootaloo. “As friends, we would never leave you. Also, if you want help flying, why don’t you ask Rainbow Dash? We’ll visit her after we get Applebloom. Friends always help each other.”

“Alright, Alright. Let’s do it then” Scootaloo felt a bit better, but her anxiety was ever present, only tucked away in the recesses of her mind.

* * *

“And so ya just kick at the tree trunk with all your might, but make sure you hit it smack center. Your aim will develop in time Applebloom,” Applejack explained.

Applebloom, kicked at the tree with her short, chubby feet. A few apples fell into the ground, and ever fewer apples landed in the basket. “Ah’m so excited sis. Might I finally get mah cutie mark?”

“Well Applebloom, I can’t guarantee that, but by helpin’ us work on the farm, you might find your special talent somewhere. I mean, apple-related cutie marks have been the family tradition! You’re bound to get your cutie mark faster by working with these apples here!”

“Well sis, I just gotta keep practicin’ then. Maybe tomorrow you could teach me how to make apple pies?”

“Sure,” Applejack replied. She was beginning to feel sorry for Applebloom, who was trying so hard to earn her mark. However, the symbol had yet to appear on her flank. Applejack sighed. The sun was high in the sky, and it was beginning to get hot. The morning air was drying up.

“Applebloom, I think we should go inside.”

“No big sis, I wanna keep tryin’ to get some of these apples in the wagon. You go. I’ll keep practicing”

Applejack refused to leave her little sister under the harsh sun, and instead just sat there, silently watching Applebloom strike the trunk blow by blow, causing a few apples to fall here and there. A few birds were chirping in the background. Little peeps and warbles mixed with the sounds of Applebloom grunting and apple thudding as they landed. Eventually, Applebloom stopped to catch her breath.

“This isn’t working. Can we try something else? Please please please?” She jumped on her sister, begging for a lesson in something else besides apple-bucking.

“Applebloom, what the hay are you doing?” Applejack stood up, and Applebloom slid to the ground. “Take some time with this Applebloom. You sure are rushin’ this. You can’t just force yourself to find your special talent or place in this world. It just comes naturally! Remember my cutie mark story? I never worried like you ‘bout my cutie mark. It just came when it needed to!”

“Alright, alright,” Applebloom sighed. “Can I go and see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?”

“Sure,” Applejack said.

Suddenly, Applejack felt a light breeze rustling, light pushing the apples on the ground and the leaves on the tree. She looked at the horizon towards the source, and saw a small little red-headed filly running off to meet her friends.

* * *

Scootaloo began worrying again after 10 minutes of riding through the dirt roads of ponyville.

“Well Scootaloo, you shouldn’t worry so much about flying. I mean, my magic hasn’t developed, and I’m not worrying!” Sweetie Belle said. “Plus, we’ll all work together to help our skills develop and find our cutie marks. Don’t worry.”

Scootaloo was not convinced. She wanted to fly now. She didn’t want to learn fancy tricks or a sonic rainboom... yet. She just wanted to fly. Scootaloo stared off into the distance, ignoring a little yellow filly who, like a deer in headlights, stopped to wave at her friends, and panicked as her friends continued to get larger.

When the dust cleared, all three fillies were on the ground. Miraculously, nopony was hurt; right before the crash, Scootaloo snapped out of her daydream, heard Sweetie Belle’s urgent screaming, and swerved right. The three fillies were now caked with dust.

Scootaloo stood up first, coughing. “Hi Applebloom! Sorry about that.”

“Scootaloo, you should’ve been more careful. What were you thinking about?” said Sweetie Belle.

“It’s fine Sweetie Belle. Ah’m alright. Just a bit sore, but everything is still functioning all and well.” Applebloom stood up and swept the dust off of her back. “So Scootaloo, what’s up?”

“Well, we just just going to visit you so that we can begin working to get our cutie marks,” Scootaloo began.

The filly with the cotton candy hair suddenly interjected.

“Scootaloo isn’t feeling too well today. She had a dream where we had wings and we left her. But we’ll support her all the way, right?”

“That just sounds terrible. You bet we’ll support ya, Scootaloo!” Applebloom looked around. “So, where to?” she asked.

“I was thinking Rainbow Dash’s house” Scootaloo suggested. “I wanna go ask her if she can at least teach me how to fly. Nothing big or anything.”

* * *

“What is it, pipsqueak?”

Rainbow Dash was leaning of the edge of her door frame, looked at the three fillies floating in a balloon in front of her. “I mean honestly... pipsqueak... I don't know if I have the time..“ Rainbow began.

“I told you! It’s scootaloo!” the impatient orange filly interjected.

“... yeah, Scootaloo, whatever. Thing is, if your wings are not developed enough, you have zero chance of flying. I’d be useless for me to help.”

“But Rainbow, at least let me try.” Scootaloo begged Rainbow Dash. She jumped onto the clouds and approached Rainbow Dash. “Pleeeeeease? I want to fly so badly,” she asked.

Rainbow Dash, who was rapidly losing her patience, decided that resistance was genuinely futile. She stared into the filly’s young, pitiful eyes. “Yeah, yeah let’s see what you’ve got,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

Scootaloo hugged Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, with her eyes slanting upward, gave a sigh.

Scootaloo was back on the ground. The air smelled thick with the afternoon sun beating, pulsing its rays onto Equestria.

“Alright, try flapping. I know you can’t fly, but let’s just see how far you can get yourself off the ground and hover”

Scootaloo was suddenly reminded of her dream, when she failed to fly and was left behind. Her mind suddenly emptied, but she flapped anyways. The force was barely enough, and Scootaloo rose two inches. Scootaloo, panicking and desperate to impress Rainbow Dash, flapped harder and harder and rose to a measly height of 5 inches. Scootaloo couldn’t maintain her height anymore. She sank to the ground.

“A filly half her age could produce that sort of flight. Does she have some sort of birth defect or something?” Rainbow wondered.

Rainbow Dash ignored her thoughts and spat out a few positive words. “That was.. um... fine.”

“Rainbow Dash, you don’t have to say that. I know it’s bad.” Scootaloo sat down on the soft grass and looked at the blue sky. She wondered if she would ever have the chance to fly. “Am I going to be confined to the earth and chained forever?” Scootaloo wondered.

“The earth ponies have such a connection with the earth, and the Pegasi fly to join with a beautiful sky. I have neither of the two skills.” Scootaloo thought.

She wanted to give flying up forever. She had been disappointed too much in both her dream and her reality. She had hoped that perhaps, the dream was not true and that with a bit of encouragement from her idol Rainbow Dash, she might be able to fly.

Today, that thought broke up and flew into the wind that she craved so much. “Perhaps tomorrow,” it seemed to say.

“Aw, don’t get so discouraged, pipsqueak. I was at least two years older than you when I was able to fly.”

Rainbow Dash was lying. She learned how to fly, performed her Sonic Rainboom, and had her cutie mark two years before she was Scootaloo’s age.

Suddenly, Scootaloo stood up. Scootaloo quietly ran off to her scooter, whistled by her friends, and galloped towards Ponyville.

“No, Scootaloo! Come Back!” they all shouted. Scootaloo couldn’t hear. She was just a dot in the horizon now, heading towards Ponyville and out of sight.

“Can you still help her?” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom asked, simultanteously.

“I don’t know. Maybe her wings aren’t developed enough. You should all go back now, fillies.” Rainbow Dash said. “Go and see Scootaloo. She obviously needs some support.”

The two small fillies galloped off into the distance, chasing the path their best friend had made with sweat and tears.

“Well I better clean up. I brought all this exercise material for nothing.” Rainbow Dash turned towards her equipment but suddenly stopped. The ground her hooves were on wasn't like the surrounding grasses, which had a soft and velvety feel. This ground was hard.

Rainbow Dash looked downwards, and instead of green grass, she saw a circle of hard brown soil. Around the patch of exposed soil was a small ring of grasses, displaced by a force Rainbow Dash could not explain. “Weird,” she said.

What was the most striking aspect of this anomaly was a small groove in the ground, still slighty warm to the touch.

“That looks just like...” Rainbow Dash began. “No, there’s no chance that that filly could do that.”

“That race at Manehattan. I lost that race to her. I think she moved on to nationals and subsequently won. Nopony’s seen her since. We all just assumed she died, and that her secret died with her. She would never teach anyone how to supercruise.”

To be continued...

Part 2 - Backstory

Scootaloo rolled her hay fries around on a plate. The skies were dark; Clouds were starting to roll in. Nopony was outside; all the Pegasi were in their cloud homes, admiring their handiwork and imagining the thanks from all the pony farmhands who had ordered the rain tonight. Scootaloo was sitting at the dinner table, quietly thinking about the day’s events. It was all a blur after the incident.
A few hours ago, she had locked herself in her room and told Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, who frantically came knocking 5 minutes later, to go home.
She remembered them shouting a resounding, “Are you sure Scootaloo? You know that quitters never win.” In her sadness, all she could respond was an adamant, “Leave me alone.”

Am I grounded forever?

The question echoed in her mind.
Her parents, who had already finished their dinner, were upstairs talking, leaving Scootaloo downstairs to think in silence.

There was a sudden, light tapping on the door. “Go get the door, Scootaloo!” her parents yelled. Scootaloo slowly eased herself off the chair and sulked to the door. She opened the door, and to her surprise, saw Rainbow Dash there, sporting a smug grin and awkwardly pounding her hooves on the welcome mat below.

“Uh, hi Scootaloo. Can I come in?“ Rainbow asked.

* * *

Shock Diamond was Rainbow Dash’s classmate and rival. Even from the point the two ponies met, she was always the better flier. Although aged a bit older, she had the perfect mix of speed and strength. Her body and wings were thin and curved, perfect for complex aerial stunts. In both wing and leg strength, she excelled. Rainbow still remembered the first time she met her, in an introductory course in getting airborne at the Filly Flight School.

“Remember to flap your wings vigorously, but maintain control,” the instructor intoned. Shock was able to get it on her first try. Rainbow, slightly shy at the time, didn’t mind. Ignoring her initial difficulty in hovering, and practicing for a full week, Rainbow was soon able to maintain the same altitude as Shock initially did.
After a month, Shock was able to glide, swoop, spin, dive, and loop. Rainbow could dive, but even her dexterity in that was incomparable to that of Shock, who set a new record in the school by turning 90 degrees from a straight vertical to horizontal a mere 15 feet off from the ground. In every event, from weight lifting to speed tests, she always outperformed Rainbow. The competition was starting to tear Rainbow apart. Rainbow trained, asked her parents for extra lessons, and practiced in her free time, but in every single grade throughout her time in Filly Flight School, she could never beat Shock Diamond. It was only during one fateful summer flight camp did Rainbow Dash finally clear some territory for her own, by being the first in her class to perform a Sonic Rainboom in front of her peers.

As if on cue, Shock Diamond performed one in a Filly Cup race a week later, emanating bigger and brighter rainbow that cleared the skies around Cloudsdale for weeks. Pegasi had to go miles in each direction to bring back the scattered clouds. The ground below suffered a brief drought. Rainbow never got over the event.

This “cold war” of sorts between these two titans of aviation came to a peak at a race in Manehattan seven years later. That’s when the accident occurred.

By that time, Shock, merely a 19 year old mare, enjoyed a large media following, and she was hailed as a new aviation luminary by the latest magazines and tabloids. Some praised her ability and control. Others were more curious in which colt she was having a relationship with. She began sponsoring aerodynamic socks and body suits for the large clothing companies headquartered in Canterlot. Carrot juice companies began seeking her out for advertisements, and soon Shock’s face was plastered all over the billboards, holding a bottle of good ol’ Carrot Infusion.
A certain nervous anxiety grew in Rainbow, who had never been bested so thoroughly by another. Before the Filly Flight School, little Rainbow was always used to destroying the competition in the ground races or wing-lifting challenges that she and her neighborhood friends held weekly.
Shock’s break into stardom culminated in one event, that Manehattan Stakes, which involved both an exhibition event and a race. Although steeped in popularity, and admired by colts across Equestria, the trick she was attempting was completely new. Succeed, and she would earn her place among a select few in the Aviation Hall of Fame. Fail and the media would tear her apart. Fully consumed by her fierce audacity which was bordering on condescension, she had yelled loudly for everyone’s attention. With all eyes on in the press conference, when the photographers and media specialists had all settled down, she announced that she had a new trick that would revolutionize aviation forever. It was a state of supercruise, or sustained supersonic flight.

“The trick is unperformed and extremely experimental. This is the first time I will be attempting such a feat, and history WILL be made today,” Rainbow remembered her saying.
The trick, according to Shock’s explanation, was extremely hard to pull off. Not only did they pony need to achieve the necessary speed to break the sound barrier and produce a Sonic Rainboom, she or he had to have the discipline to maintain that speed and fight the air resistance. The trick had been written in the books for years as a possible new frontier, but nopony had ever attempted it, until now. All of the media, in bated breath, considered the possibilities. Pegasi could travel faster than before, speeding mail delivery and communication. The cloud-clearing industry would benefit greatly as clouds could be cleared for weeks. Natural Disasters such as tornados or hurricanes could become mere gusts, if there were ponies that knew how to endure both high temperatures and fierce winds, and could deflect or counteract the spinning motions of such disasters.

Shock had invited multiple other ponies, including Rainbow, to attend. By this time, Rainbow was happily living in the skies above Ponyville, minding her own business. Shock had moved on, and Rainbow was enjoying her own regimen of training to join the Wonderbolts. However, the old competitive racer in Rainbow itched for glory, and was insatiably curious about Shock’s new trick. At the time, seats in the stadium were sold out; Rainbow accepted not for the competition, but for a front-seat view of this new trick.
Shock had invited 7 other robust mares, with many awards and honors stacked on their heads, to participate. Ultimately, this competition was not a race at all. It was just an exhibition of Shock’s repertoire of tricks. Even Rainbow, a top competitor by most standards, was just another pawn that Shock was going to beat for the media to gobble up and spit out on the newspapers.

All of the other ponies tried valiantly to pull off of their tricks. Rainbow Dash likewise gave her best effort.
Shock Diamond performed her tricks flawlessly, shattering the standards Rainbow Dash had stringently imposed on herself and setting a new bar. The crowd cheered her on. The round was over, and the winner was apparent.

Round Two was the race. It began like any other. It was a simple stretch of airspace above Manehatten that would involve flying off from a skyscraper below the Cloud Stadium, going through a stretch of clouds, turning a U-turn at the bay, flying through a stretch of the Everfree forest, returning to the skyscraper, and crossing the finish line at the tip of the structure.

Rainbow stood at the ready with all of the other ponies. Once the shot began, the others, now unmotivated and apathetic, flew at a comfortable pace while Rainbow Dash and Shock Diamond shot out of the skyscraper in a seemingly 1 on 1 match. The beginning was interesting, with the ponies neck and neck, but Shock Diamond stretched ahead to take the lead with a tired Rainbow Dash trailing. Rainbow wouldn’t give up and picked up a bit of speed, attempting another Sonic Rainboom. She formed a small shock cone around her, but she was much too tired. The sweat was blinding her and she slowed, letting the shock cone ricochet her backwards a few meters. She watched as Shock Diamond picked up speed ahead, pulling off a Sonic Rainboom flawlessly, and then maintaining her speed to supercruise. She turned into an orange-yellow streak moving across the sky, dazzling her fans above.

The original calculations made by her advisors and coaches showed that Shock Diamond would have enough space to perform her trick without colliding into any other skyscrapers had she tried to pull it off at a certain area away from the starting line, after the third turn. In her haste to impress the media, she attempted the trick much too early, only after the first turn.

Shock Diamond was now faced with the problem of multiple tall, metal objects obstructing her flight path. She swerved the best she could, but a small mistake on her part resulted in her wing clipping a metal window-washing platform hanging from a skyscraper.

She lost control. Her speed and altitude dropped steadily, but it took her to the outskirts of the city. The crowd watched in horror as she spiraled slowly down towards the horizon. Her body became a small orange dot, a speck, and then nothing. The other ponies returned to the finish line. Without all of the ponies returning to the starting line, the 2nd round was never truly finished, and the final placements were then based on the scores of round one. Not surprisingly, Shock was announced to be the winner, right as the police and paramedics quickly began searching for her in the outskirts of town. She was never found.

Rainbow Dash saw the trick. She wanted to know how it was done. After Shock’s supposed death, it was assumed that the secret died with her. The event inspired Rainbow to fly harder and train harder. Rainbow wanted to learn the art; it was the ultimate form of speed and a surefire way to get herself inducted into the Wonderbolts.

* * *

Rainbow Dash sat down with Scootaloo by the table. “Listen… uh… there’s something important I want to tell you.”

Rainbow knew that within this filly was the secret in its entirety. Not only would the secret give Scootaloo something unique to herself that separated her from her pegasi peers, but Rainbow, after learning it, might actually impress the Wonderbolts enough at the Grand Aviation Expo next year to earn herself a place.

Scootaloo just needs the right training.

“Scootaloo, today got you down, but whatever. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is this. There’s a flying event above Ponyville in seven months and I think I can train you to fly fast enough to get you a spot in there to compete.”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Scootaloo replied.

“No. I know you like to fly. I saw you try. Reminded me about myself when I was younger. C’mon, let’s do it.”

“I’ll get back at you tomorrow.”

“Alright, alright. Just take what I said and think about it. Then tell me tomorrow. I’ll probably be out, but… uh… ask Pinkie Pie. She always knows where I am for some reason.”

“Alright.”

Rainbow Dash backed out of the room and hastily left the house, quietly closing the door behind her. Scootaloo remained sitting at the table, tumbling her vegetables and hay around...

Either take this opportunity, or remain grounded forever
What would Sweetie Belle and Applebloom say?

Her inner mind responded.

They would say, “do it”. They would say, “You’re the bravest, roughest, toughest filly around! You’d never let this thing keep you down.”
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom look up to you, Scootaloo, for support during hard times. You’re Scootaloo! The greatest scooter rider in Equestria!
You want to fly, but that doesn’t mean quitting upon initial failure. If you want something really badly, then will you do anything, even take the greatest risk, to achieve it?

Scootaloo understood.