I Always Wanted to be Like You

by Cheezy805

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Romance
Length: 38641

Scootaloo has always been a huge fan of Rainbow Dash, but how will she react where her hero is lost?

This was my first fan-fic. I've now moved on to my second one, as this one is finished, but I won't upload the second story until I have permission from an artist to use his picture.
Any feedback, especially constructive criticism, is appreciated, so go ahead and tell me what you think!
Also, please give me any opinion of the sad ending. I'm expecting bad reviews, because I actually didn't want to write it. I wrote a happy ending, and the only reason I wrote the sad ending was to keep everypony happy.
Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Published 2011-12-06 02:55:23 UTC
Last updated 2012-01-04 14:53:00 UTC

Chapter 1

I Always Wanted to be Like You.

Authors note:

This is my first fan-fic and any constructive questions or comments are appreciated.

Also, I’m Australian, so I use the British spelling of words. Ignore the extra ‘U’s and the ‘S’s in place of ‘Z’s.

‘Rainbow Dash, are you sure this is safe?’ said Fluttershy

‘No, but I know it’s gonna be awesome!’

‘Well, um, o-okay… if you say so, Rainbow; I trust you’

‘It’s alright Fluttershy, this is what a month of practise was about!

You know the plan. We have the lightning cloud, and I’m ready when you are to strike it to kick-start the storm. When the storm begins, I’ll fly around the cloud, picking up speed and spinning it, then fly up and come crashing down in a sonic rainboom with, hopefully, rainbow lightning flying out of the cloud!’

‘Well, okay, then.’ Concluded Fluttershy.

Little did either of them know that there was another Pegasus, a mere filly, watching from the ground. She was leaning on the handles of a scooter and holding an unbuckled helmet.

Scootaloo had always come and watched Rainbow Dash whenever she went out of Ponyville to perform stunts. She thought of Rainbow as a substitute mother, or maybe even sister, and was willing to support her in anything. Besides, her tricks were pretty awesome.

She was standing at the base of a tree so as not to be seen by either Pegasus-pony in the sky. She had better hurry up with this trick, Scootaloo thought to herself, I’m meant to be meeting the other Crusaders in half an hour!

Right then, she saw Rainbow kick the cloud. Oh no, this could be dangerous… more dangerous than normal... thought Scootaloo.

Rainbow began to circle the cloud, easily 50 times the size of both ponies together, and it, slowly, very slowly, began to rotate. After she had it going a little faster, she flew up far above the clouds, and without stopping she turned direction and put on much more speed.

What is she doing?

The white cone of light was beginning to pull tight around Rainbow.

This will be legendary!

The white cone pulled impossibly tight, then as it began to bend around Rainbow and reform at the back, the front broke and Rainbow went flying forward, propelled by the multi-coloured explosion behind her.

No! It went off too early! Thought Rainbow Dash. I need to pull up!!

rainbow began to turn up and away from the hulking black cloud in front of her, but before she could avert the course a mere foot, she hit the cloud.

And didn’t come out the other side.

Where is she? No, it can’t have- nothing has gone wrong before!!

‘RAINBOW DASH!!’ she screamed up at the cloud

The cloud began to glow white and then quickly changed to glow like a rainbow, before beginning to expand outwards, slowly.

Fluttershy flew over to the cloud, scared to get too close. ‘Rainbow? Can you hear me? Rainbow!’ she said, barely audible over the now roaring wind and crashing of thunder that couldn’t be seen.

‘I have to be strong…’ she said to herself before plunging straight towards the cloud, but hitting an invisible wall a metre from it.

‘What? No! Rainbow, you need to get out of there!’ she shouted, at what was a normal talking level of sound.

Inside the cloud, Rainbow dash was barely clinging to consciousness. She could faintly hear a voice, or is it two voices? outside the cloud she was in. whatever was going on out there didn’t matter, it was getting hot in there!

The reason Pegasus-ponies could stand on clouds was because their bodies were light enough, and fragile enough, to rest on them. This meant that where a normal pony could simply walk through a cloud, a Pegasus would have to fight their way through it, as though it was as thick as cotton-candy, but as strong as stone.

Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice was yelling to get out, to leave the cloud while she could.

The cloud was swelling at a faster rate now. Lightning was cracking through here and there and the whole cloud was humming with unseen power. If Rainbow didn’t get out of there soon, anything could happen.

Fluttershy was just about to try flying at it again, more out of desperation than anything, when it exploded. Another sonic rainboom went off, but this time more powerful. Scootaloo ducked behind her tree and Fluttershy flew as fast as her wings would carry her away from the explosion.

Rainbow Dash suddenly realised that a huge pressure was lifted. She was in the middle of a blinding light, and she was falling. The cloud had seemed to explode around her, But that shouldn’t have happened, and she was falling slowly to the earth.

Just as she regained control of her senses and began to slow her fall with her wings, one final thunder strike boomed behind her and struck right between the wings.

Rainbow froze. Every muscle tensed and contracted, and she was paralysed. But she was still falling.

So this is it, she thought to herself. Her thoughts shifted to Twilight Sparkle and her other friends. What would they say if they found out she was performing such dangerous stunts?

>>Rainbow, you really shouldn’t. The voice of Twilight rang out in her mind. I’ve read so many books on weather accidents caused by exactly this that I’m surprised you haven’t even been scratched. Something has to happen soon enough.

>>Are yeh kiddin’ me? Ah ain’t a smart pony, but Ah know the difference between a stunt and a deathwish.

>>Well, Rainbow, I am rather a fan of your stunts, because they always create such beautiful colours, but, honestly, why ever somepony would try anything that dangerous is beyond me!

>>Well, um, I don’t think you should do something so dangerous, but, um, you know, whatever you want to do is fine…

>>Are you kidding me? Yes that would be awesome! We could have a rainboom party! You’re like our own set of fireworks, and it makes you happy to do it! Anything that makes anypony happy is worth doing, at least once!

And what of the fillies? They look up to me… Scootaloo, especially…

Everypony… I’m sorry. I’m not ready, yet! I never became one of the Wonderbolts! I nearly had my chance, but now I won’t ever make it…

Suddenly a set of hooves grabbed her from behind. What is that? Rainbow thought to herself.

Fluttershy had flown back as fast as she could. She was trying her hardest to hold Rainbow, and she was slowing. Not fast enough.

The ground was only 300 feet away.

Fluttershy began to slip. No, I have to hold on! I have to save her! I can’t let go.

200 feet.

Fluttershy’s wings began to burn. She wasn’t used to carrying anything more than woodland creatures, and trying to carry a falling Pegasus was too much.

100 feet.

They were still going too fast. Maybe if she could find a soft place to land, she could save her friend.

There! A lake was visible 40 yards or so to the North, and the Everfree Forest was just off to the South. In between them, nearly below, there was a patch of soft mud. She wasn’t sure if she could make it, but she had to try.

Abandoning her attempts to slow, she began to try to move Rainbow and herself more toward the puddle. Just a little farther…

Crack. They had hit the puddle, but it wasn’t deep enough. Rainbow was barely breathing, and Fluttershy couldn’t move her wings enough to lift herself, let alone another pony. But what was that crack? Oh no… oh no oh no… Rainbow’s leg was bent at an odd angle. She had hit the ground wrong and Celestia only knew if her leg was broken or merely dislocated. She seemed to be breathing, but barely.

Suddenly, an orange Pegasus came speeding out of the Forest on a scooter.

‘Scootaloo! Quick, you need to help! I can’t fly Rainbow back to town, we need to get her help!’

‘On it, ‘Shy,’ said Scootaloo. ‘I’ll have her back to town before you can say “help”’. The small Pegasus was actually scared out of her wits, but she was putting on a brave face for Fluttershy’s sakes. Or maybe she was trying to convince herself everything was better than it seemed…

‘No, you mustn’t! She has to be taken slowly. I don’t know how hurt Rainbow Dash is, and we can’t risk you hitting a bump and hurting her more’

‘Oh. Right. Well, what do I do?’

‘Help me lift her onto the scooter and then you can steer her on it. I’ll stand next to her, holding her on, while you push it.’

‘Okay, Fluttershy’ Scootaloo said, her voice slightly breaking. ‘I hope she’ll be okay…’

‘Has anypony seen Rainbow Dash around? There are more clouds out today than usual.’ Said a purple pony.

‘I haven’t seen her. Knowing her, she’s probably off training to become one of the Wonderbolts’ said Rarity, putting particular emphasis on the word “Wonderbolts” as though it was a joke.

‘Yeah, I suppose…’

Twilight had organised a picnic for all her friends. She had found a nice spot in Ponyville Park, right near the Everfree Forest so they could hear the birds. Only Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie had showed up so far. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were missing, but Applejack had said she would be a bit late because of all the extra apples she and Big Macintosh had to buck that season.

She heard a disturbance in the forest, followed by a yelp, and cantered over to the forest to see what the sound was.

In her peripheral vision she saw Sweetie Belle and Applebloom over a ways with a picnic basket of their own. I wonder why Scootaloo isn’t with them…

When she reached the forest, she saw Fluttershy and Scootaloo trying to lift an unconscious, and bleeding Rainbow Dash onto a scooter.

‘What are you doing? What happened?’ Asked Twilight, an obvious note of panic in her voice.

‘Rainbow was practising a trick and I didn’t tell her to stop and something went wrong and then she fell and I tried to save her, but I couldn’t help much and then she hit the ground and it’s all my fault!’ Fluttershy said all of this very quickly, in an increasingly high voice, before finally breaking down and sobbing.

‘You need – to help her – Twilight. We need to – get her – to the hospital.’ She said through huge shudders and sobs.

‘Fluttershy, it’s alright. I’ll take it from here.’ Said Twilight. She levitated Rainbow from the ground as gently as she could and then began to trot as fast as she could back into town.

‘Twilight? Whatever happened?’ said Rarity. ‘*Gasp* is that Rainbow Dash? Oh my goodness, what happened to her! Twilight?’

Twilight completely ignored her. She had to get to the hospital. She didn’t know what happened, but she knew it was serious.

Pinkie Pie had disappeared the instant she saw Rainbow Dash’s body.

What felt like hours later, although it was mere minutes, Twilight arrived at the clinic. She used magic to open the front door and carefully lifted Rainbow Dash inside.

‘Somepony, help! Rainbow is hurt! Somepony, anypony!’ she shouted before a white mare with a needle cutie mark came out from a back room to see what the noise was.

‘excuse me, but this is a hospit- ahh! Oh, my Celestia! Doctor Hoovington, come quickly!’

Another white pony, this one a colt with a stethoscope on his flank, came from the back room. He trotted over to Twilight and looked to Rainbow. He asked Twilight to lift her to a medical table, then to sit in the waiting room until he called her, then he pushed the bed away through a corridor to the operating theatre.

The rest of the group arrived, bar Pinkie, to see what had happened. Applejack had seen Twilight rushing through town with something big and blue, then the rest of her friends running a bit behind.

She had followed the rest and gotten the basic story from Fluttershy, who was impossible to understand through her tears and sobbing.

After a while, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had come in, too, and Scootaloo had told them what she had seen. Fluttershy was able to add in a few points through the story, but she wouldn’t have been able to tell the whole tale herself.

‘Well, Ah have t’ git back to th’ farm. It’s nearly Applebuck Season and Big Mac can’t do all the work himself. Someone come ‘n’ git me when we can see her.’

‘Oh… alright, Applejack…’ said Twilight. ‘I’ll be sure to come and get you myself when she comes out of the theatre.’

Applejack left, and the CMC’s had fallen asleep. Pinkie was still nowhere to be found.

After what felt like an eternity (four hours), Doctor Hoovington came out of the theatre.

‘Vell, she is alive, but I do not know vhat vill happen. She is in vhat ve call a “coma”. Do you know what that means?’

Naturally, Twilight answered. ‘It means that she is in a state of semi-permanent sleep that she might not wake up from. Her body is so damaged that her mind had to nearly shut off to save energy. But… she could still wake up, right?’

‘Only time vill tell.’ Said the doctor. ‘you may go and see her, but I do not know vhat good it vill do to such young fillies. She is in a bad state.’ he said, glancing at the Crusaders.

He told them to go to the last room on the left when they wanted to see her, then went to fill out a form at the front desk.

‘Just a moment…’ said Twilight, then teleported out with a flash of violet light.

‘Huh? What was that?’ said Sweetie Belle, waking up with the other two Crusaders.

Twilight reappeared a minute later with a shaken-looking Applejack.

‘Okay, sugarcube. Please never do that again. Ah would like to walk next time.’ Applejack looked around the room at the others and the doctor walking quietly back to his office. ‘But Ah guess this is important enough to excuse’.

The eight walked together down the hallway and into the room indicated by the doctor. They were greeted by a closed curtain and a slow beeping.

‘Are you all ready?’ asked Twilight to the rest of the group, but especially the Crusaders. ‘I would prefer otherwise, but Rainbow is important to you, too, so I’ll let you come with us if you want’.

They all nodded their assent, Scootaloo a little bit slower than the rest, and Twilight pulled back the curtain.

There was Rainbow. She was lying on her side, unconscious, with an oxygen mask to her muzzle and several needles sticking out of her foreleg. Her lower right foreleg was in a cast.

So it was broken, not dislocated. Oh, Rainbow… thought Fluttershy.

Scootaloo almost immediately gasped and ran from the room sobbing. She couldn’t bear to see her hero in such a state.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, then followed.

Rainbow Dash’s left wing was folded against her back, but her right wind was still extended, parts wrapped in gauze and bandages. Fluttershy began to cry softly, and Rarity put a reassuring arm around her, offering a tissue. Their friend was comatose, and they didn’t know if she would ever wake up.

Chapter 2

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 2

Scootaloo ran like she had never ran before. Twilight warned her that she wouldn’t like what she saw, but she didn’t listen. Rainbow Dash was tough; she could keep her head in any situation. Scootaloo didn’t know what she would do without her hero.

Where do I go? I don’t want to be found… I need to think… I can’t live without her!
She was thinking of how she would live the rest of her life. Her parents had died years before. She was told that they had simply gotten lost in the wilderness, but she knew they were gone forever.

Rainbow Dash and the Crusaders were the closest to family she had left. Without Rainbow, she simply couldn’t live.

She found herself carried by some unknown force straight to the CMC Headquarters, tears streaming down her face the whole time. Perhaps she had simply gone there subconsciously while thinking so hard.

When she neared the door, she heard a soft sniffling. She cautiously pushed it open, tears that had been fresh but a moment ago already drying from the wind on her face. She saw a pink pony huddled in the corner.

I think I recognise her… is that… ‘Pinkie?’ she said.

The pink pony was definitely Ponyville’s resident party-goer, but her mane had completely lost its natural frizz. It was now lying unnaturally flat against her neck. Her tail was in a similar way.

‘Don’t call me that! Call me Pinkamina. Only my friends call me Pinkie, and I don’t deserve any friends.’ She retorted.

‘Sorry Pink- a… mina…. What are you doing in my clubhouse?’

‘Hiding. After I saw Rainbow so hurt, I just wanted to be alone. Please, please tell me she’s okay!’ Pinkamina pleaded.

‘She… she’s alive.’

‘Oh… Well… How bad is it?’

‘Maybe you should…‘ she had been about to say “see for yourself”, but after seeing it first-hand she couldn’t bring herself to say it. A mere minute ago she had never wanted to see anypony ever again, but now she didn’t want to be left alone. She knew, somewhere in the back of her subconscious, that if she was left alone, she would do something stupid and end up worse off than Rainbow. ‘Maybe you should just stay with me and hope for the best’ she finished.

‘O-okay’ said Pinkamina, holding back more tears. She trotted over to Scootaloo and sat close to her.

She’s nothing but a kid in an adult’s body, thought Scootaloo. She is going to take this far worse than anypony else. They sat together for what felt like an eternity, before finally drifting into sleep next to each other.

‘She left her scooter.’ said Applebloom

‘Well, duh. Way to go, Captain Obvious!’ retorted Sweetie Belle.

Neither were very happy about anything at the moment. While Applebloom seemed to just be depressed, barely showing any emotion, Sweetie Belle had gotten angry. She seemed angry that her friend had abandoned them. If only she knew how highly Scootaloo thought of Rainbow Dash, she might understand.

‘Well, maybe we should find her. She’ll want to be left alone, but the best thing for her right now is someone to talk to.’

‘Fine. If she thinks I’ll forgive her so easily, though, she has another thing coming! How can she just leave us? We all think highly of Rain-… Of her’ said Sweetie Belle, now fighting back tears. ‘Let’s try to find Pinkie. With any luck, they’ll be together. I don’t know how I know it, I just do.’

‘Well, where would she go? Ah think she wouldn’t go back to Sugarcube Corner. That place is too happy. Maybe she’s gone to the Everfree Forest?’

‘Possible, but not likely. That’s where the accident happened. Let’s just go and leave Scootaloo’s scooter at the clubhouse, then we’ll start looking.’

The two friends set off towards the outskirts of town, not knowing what to expect.

‘Oh, Rainbow…’ said Applejack. She leant in close to the other pony and nuzzled her, as though simply trying to awaken her. A sole tear ran down her muzzle and fell onto the other pony’s.

After a moment, she seemed to realise she was being closely watched by the others and pulled back a bit.

I had a feeling they were closer than just friends. That would explain a lot. But, Rainbow Dash… why… why did it have to be her? thought Twilight.

Fluttershy suddenly let out a great shuddering sob. ‘Oh, it’s all my fault! I should have told her not to, I could have told her it was too dangerous, but no! I can’t be assertive at all, I simply let all this happen! While she was getting ready, I realised how dangerous it was and I still just watched from the sidelines. Why? Why did I have to do that?’

Everypony in the room turned to look at her. Rarity was the first to speak up. ‘Fluttershy, it’s not your fault… She wouldn’t have listened. Just be glad that you were there to help when she needed it. If you hadn’t been there, Celestia knows what could have happened.’

‘But… But…’ She broke down into more quiet tears, burying her face in Rarity’s mane. It goes to mark just how serious the occasion was that Rarity didn’t immediately pull away from Fluttershy, ruining and wetting her mane.

‘Hold on, y’all… Twilight, couldn’t you write to Celestia and ask f’r help? Ah’m sure she’d be happy to do everything she could, and do not try to tell me this ain’t an emergency!’ Said Applejack, putting on a brave face.

‘Well… Okay… But I’ll need to go and talk to Doctor Hoovington to see what exactly happened. I’ll be back tomorrow with help. Visiting time is over in an hour.’

‘Okay darling. We’ll be sure to come and get you if anything happens’ said Rarity, only now leaning slightly away from Fluttershy and trying to flick her mane to the other side of her neck.

Wh… Where am I? This isn’t anywhere I know… It’s so dark… Oh wait, my eyes are closed.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She immediately recognised that everything was white and fluffy. She must be in Cloudsdale. Well, where to?

She began to trot down the main street. Wait, why am I trotting? She unfurled her wings and tried to fly, only to realise that she couldn’t lift off the cloud. What’s going on? Oh well, I guess I’m grounded. She looked down through the cloud to the earth a mile below. Sort of.

Hang on… why is there nopony around? She looked up to the sky. ‘Hello? Is anypony out there? Hellooo… Alright, this is weird.’

‘Maybe I’ll just head home.’ She said while beginning to trot towards her cloud house on the edge of Cloudsdale. After a few steps, she became aware of an extreme pain in her right foreleg. What is going on? She thought. She looked down and noticed that it was bent at an odd angle, then right before her eyes, a cast appeared on it.

Wait, does that mean…? She glanced back at her wing as, right before her eyes, it extended and bits of bandage and gauze appeared on it. She felt sick watching her perfect wing suddenly become so mangled and broken.

Something weird is going on here…

She continued limping slowly toward her house. If she needed to go anywhere, surely Tank would be happy to help her. He had done so in the past, after all.

Right as she thought this, the tortoise flew over to her, attached to his shell was the special fan Rainbow had designed to help him fly and walk on clouds.

‘Hey, Tank. Do you think you could help me get home?’ she asked.

Tank flew towards her.

He’s not stopping. ‘Tank, stop. Any time now!’

She tried to move out the way, but suddenly realised she couldn’t move at all. She noticed medical apparatus appearing all over her body and she was suddenly bound to several machined. Tank flew right through her.

‘Aahh! But… No… That’s impossible. Tank? Tank! Don’t leave me here!! TANK!!!’

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had arrived at the clubhouse. They didn’t hear anything inside, so they assumed that Scootaloo wasn’t there. Neither would Pinkie be.

They trotted to the door and leaned the scooter against the door frame, then entered. Applebloom merely stopped moving mid-step, but Sweetie Belle let out a shriek when she saw the two ponies lying in the corner together.

‘Scootaloo, you scared us half to death!’ yelled Sweetie belle, before realising they were asleep.

‘BATS! Leave me alone! Go away, baaattsss!!! Oh, it’s you, Sweetie Belle. You scared me, hahah!’ said Pinkie Pie, her hair returned to normal. ‘What happened? Why am I here… And… Oh.’ Her hair suddenly deflated with the sound of a balloon being let go. She had remembered exactly why she was there and what had happened.

‘Oh… Well… I think I might go and see R-R-… Her… Now.’ Pinkie couldn’t bring herself to say the name of her friend.

‘…Okay… I guess I should go back too. She… She’s my hero… And I just ran out like that… I can’t leave her. I’ll go, too.’ Said Scootaloo.

If anypony else were there, they would have been proud of the braveness Scootaloo was showing right then. Even Rainbow Dash herself would have been impressed.

As it were, Pinkie and Applebloom being depressed, and Sweetie Belle being angry, nopony seemed to notice how much courage it took Scootaloo to say what she just had, and they would not notice how much more difficult it would be to return to Dash’s side.

‘Well, we can’t do it now. Visiting hours are over. We have to wait until tomorrow.’ Said Sweetie Belle, shooting a murderous glance at Scootaloo for running away and forcing them to leave, too.

‘Okay.’ Said Applebloom, ‘Maybe Applejack is still in town and can take me home.’

They left as a group to head back to town.

‘Ah’d better be gittin’ home soon.’ Said Applejack, breaking the silence that had again settled over the group.

‘Yes. We all should. A pony needs her beauty sleep, after all.’ Said Rarity.

Fluttryshy let out a small sniffle, then began to shuffle out of the room, followed closely by all but Applejack.

‘Applejack, are you coming?’ asked Rarity

‘Yeah… Ah’ll just be a minute…’

She bent low over Rainbow Dash, filled with memories of their rime spent together. The running of the ponies last Autumn. The Iron-Pony Challenge. All of these had brought them closer and closer until, finally, something had just changed. They had become… intertwined. Wherever one went, the other was with them, spiritually or physically.

As another tear rolled down her muzzle, she gently pressed it to Rainbow Dash’s cheek. ‘Darn mask’ she muttered at the oxygen mask. ‘Ah love you Rainbow. Please don’t leave me’. She turned and left.

It began to rain. It never rains in Cloudsdale! What is going on?

She began to get wet. Tasting the rain, she noticed it was salty. She felt her face and realised that the rain was mixing with her own tears.

Why am I crying? I have got no idea what’s going on here. Suddenly a soft, caring voice could be heard. It was faint, but it was there.

‘Ah love you Rainbow. Please don’t leave me’.

Wait… was that? ‘Applejack! Applejack help me! No, why am I being left here all alone?’

She began to cry harder as the rain stopped and she suddenly felt more alone than ever before.

The night came and went. Scootaloo had stayed with Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. Both were equally sad. Both were unwilling to talk. Applebloom had found Applejack in a right state waiting outside the clinic. She didn’t seem to be watching where she was going, but rather staring off into the distance where Cloudsdale was barely visible.

Sweetie Belle had walked straight back to Rarity’s Boutique. She hadn’t even been told off for returning home so late.

Twilight had, indeed, talked with the Doctor and found out the exact damage. It was worse than she thought. Her foreleg was more than just fractured, it was cleanly broken. She would permanently be lame, if ever she woke up. Her fragile wing bones had fractured here and there, too, and he said that she would never be speed flying again. She would be lucky to fly at all, once again, if she ever woke up.

The instant Twilight returned home, Spike berated her for being so late and missing dinner. Immediately after he wished he hadn’t, as he now knew something was wrong. He had never seen Twilight this sad; not even when there was a fire in Canterlot and her favourite books had been burned. She had him write a letter to Celestia explaining what had happened and what the damage was. Spike was in a sad mood, too, by the time he sent the letter off and went to bed.

First thing in the morning, they all cancelled their day’s appointments, except for Applejack who had stayed up half the night doing her chores, and had headed together to the clinic to see if there was any change. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went with them and Applejack met them at the door.

Scootaloo was deep in thought the whole way to Dash’s room. This will be the first time I’ve seen her since I ran away. Oh, I hope she looks better. I need to keep calm this time. I can’t run away again, I owe that much to her. Maybe I should have brought a gift? No, what good would a gift do. She would never use it. Don’t think that! She will get better! I’m sure of it. But even so…

Her conflicting thoughts didn’t leave her mind until the door opened and the curtain was already open. Dash had been moved since last time. Her bandages had been changed and she looked a bit better. Even so, all thoughts left Scootaloo’s mind and a strange calm came over her. She trotted over to Rainbow’s bed and climbed up onto a chair to see her better, then broke down.

It is impossible to explain in words the magnitude of her sadness. She simply couldn’t cry. She went limp in shock at seeing her hero in such a state and began to shake violently, then went limp again. She had fainted.

‘Uhh… Maybe we should, uh, y’know… Help her?’ said Applejack, unhelpfully.

‘No’ said Twilight. ‘We should leave her be for now.’

They began to swap stories of times spent together with Rainbow. Any laughter was dry and empty. It was still too early for anything real.

Scootaloo began to dream. She appeared in Cloudsdale, just as she remembered it. She had been born there, of course, but had moved to Ponyville when she was just a filly. She barely remembered anything of Cloudsdale, as nopony would take her there, lest she fall and no one see her.

She was at the racing track. This was one of her favourite places in Cloudsdale before she moved. She noticed a short way away was Rainbow Dash. She had her cutie mark on her flank, but she still looked very young. She was at the start line of the track, against two mean-looking ponies. A gunshot rang out and they all flew around the track, blurry from the intense speeds. This was a happier time. Nothing could or would ever go wrong.

As soon as it had begun, the race was already over. Scootaloo realised she had been so caught up in it that she hadn’t noticed how fast they were going. Rainbow Dash came over to her. She began to speak, but the words seemed hollow and echoed, as though spoken through a long hallway.

‘Scootaloo. I know you look up to me. Those ponies over there, you see them? They’re the Junior Speedsters. I was one of them when I was your age. In fact, I basically led them. I was the fastest on the team. The coach said I was the fastest he’d ever seen. Now it’s time for you to take over. My time is past. I’m too old for the junior teams, so you need to take over. Train and train and maybe one day you’ll surpass even me.’

‘But Rainbow Dash, nopony can do better than you!’

Her voice was suddenly much sharper, though still not perfectly clear. ‘Yes, they can Scootaloo. Not anypony, though. Only you. The only one who can surpass me, is you…’

Rainbow dash suddenly dispersed, much as a cloud blowing away. The rest of the dream faded and disappeared in a similar fashion.

She found herself back in the room with Rainbow Dash and the others. The Crusaders were sitting on either side of her and the others were either watching her or, in Applejack’s case, staring unblinkingly at Rainbow Dash.

‘Did anything happen while I was out?’ she asked blankly.

‘No. I’m glad you’re okay. You had us worried there,’ Said Twilight.

‘Girls… I need to go. There’s something I need to take care of, right away.’ Said Scootaloo, excusing herself.

‘What is it? Can we help?’ asked Applebloom

‘No, I don’t think you can. This is really personal to me. I need to go.’

She left without a backwards glance and immediately headed out to retrieve her scooter from the waiting room. She had to begin training as soon as possible. She would drive her scooter really fast to practise holding her wings straight, then she would begin training in beating them fast enough to take off. This was going to be a difficult path for her to follow.

Chapter 3

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 3

As Scootaloo walked out of the clinic, she had no thoughts on her mind except what may be in store for her. She was already making plans on when and where she would train, and she would see if she could find a trainer. She didn’t need one. She was self-motivated.

This was for Dash.

Six Months Later

She had been training solidly for 6 months. She had barely spoken to anypony at all, except when taking breaks, however short, and travelling home. She had long since abandoned her scooter. She had missed it, out of nostalgia more than anything, for a time, but eventually was rid of it. She had locked it in her garage to serve as a memory of a better time.

She still lived in Ponyville, but rather than fly around the small town, she would spend her mornings and afternoons doing the two mile flight to Cloudsdale and back in as little time as possible. If she didn’t make it in 10 minutes, she would do it over and over until she succeeded.

Her friends were worried. This was almost like depression, but instead of sadness and no sense of self-worth, she seemed to have nothing but determination for her training, even if it killed her.

After 5 months, she had joined the Junior Flight Academy. She had to work her way up to the Junior Speedsters. In the month she had been at the Junior Flight Academy she had risen to nearly being top of the class. The teacher called it natural skill, but he had no idea of how much training she was doing, and why.

She had almost immediately gotten a cutie mark when she left for her training. It was a cloud with thunder identical to Rainbow Dash’s own, except that the thunder was purple, like her mane. The mark had gone to show not that she had wanted to race, like Dash’s had, but rather that she wanted Rainbow Dash’s legacy to live on through her.

There were only two better fliers than her. One of them was stuck up and went around bragging about how he was the best, and the other, who was actually better than him, had grown to become Scootaloo’s friend. Her name was Jecht and she was the niece of Spitfire of the Wonderbolts. Her dream was to grow up to become like her auntie, who was only a few years older, and through this friendship would Scootaloo’s first trainer come in.

Jecht was a Pegasus who was rather small for her age. She had a smooth, sky blue coat and bright blue eyes, but had inherited the family mark of an orange mane and tail with streaks of red in them.

Jecht’s father had been the original trainer of the Wonderbolts before his arthritis had set in. he could still fly, but not well. Her father had trained Jecht whenever she wanted help, but had not forced her to train as so many others might have.

They were drawn together by a common interest of striving to do their best in school and later life. Jecht, with her connections, could have secured a place in any flight-related academy or club, but had chosen not to do so until she deemed herself good enough. It was this that kept her down in the Academy with Scootaloo until they were both ready to move on.

Applejack still visited Rainbow Dash almost daily, but the rest of the friends had settled down to a visit roughly once a week whenever they could make it. Twilight optimised this best, making for a two hour visit every Saturday morning from 10 until midday.

Pinkie had nearly been banned from the hospital when she tried to get Dash to wake up by throwing a party, right in the middle of her room. She had been banned from the hospital for two weeks and scolded by her friends, but they knew she was only trying to help.

Rarity was sure to bring in a new vase of flowers every week. Not just new flowers, she actually bought a new vase every week.

Applejack began to donate as many apples as the farm could spare in the hopes that if they bought less food, they could focus more attention on Rainbow Dash. Big Macintosh had tried to explain that that wasn’t the way hospitals worked, and tried to explain how a monthly budget works, only to be berated for using ‘them fancy mathematics’ on her.

Twilight researched all she could, even calling in books from Canterlot, but nothing could help. They all said the same thing; that ‘if a pony is to wake up, they will do it in their own time’. The doctor that Princess Celestia had sent in had said the exact same thing, except he had at least been able to use some magic to speed the healing of her broken leg and fractured wing.

Scootaloo had visited a mere twice since she had left that day six months ago. When she came in, she merely sat and watched Rainbow Dash, every so often muttering to herself. ‘I will do it. For you’ and ‘I’m making progress. Please get better soon’ were among the most common things heard from her.

After her broken bones were fixed, the doctors saw no improvements in her condition. More than once, they had offered to pull the plug on Dash, but her friends had denied the request.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had broken up. Scootaloo had left them, and not long after found her cutie mark. Applebloom had gained an image of an apple seed on her flank to represent that she is the spark of new life, but Sweetie Belle still hadn’t received her mark.

In Dash’s dream world, she was now able to use her wings and legs all properly, but not as well as normal. There was nopony around to show off to, so this didn’t bother her much. She had begun to drift off more and more. She had seen several other important ponies from her life, but could talk to none. They were all as transparent as Tank had been.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, her heart rate had begun to slow. Over the first two months, it halved its normal speed, and in the four months following that it had gone to a quarter normal speed. The doctors were beginning to worry.

One Year Later

Scootaloo had been training with Jecht, as usual, when the colt had arrived. He said he was the coach of the Junior Speedsters and that the teacher at the Academy had mentioned just how advanced these two young mares were. He offered them a chance to be a part of the Junior Speedsters and, without a second thought, they both accepted.

Scootaloo had moved in with Jecht. She was like a sister to the young mare. Jecht’s father was delighted for her to move in, as she was just like a daughter to him. Scootaloo was overjoyed to finally have a family. She had been alone for almost as long as she could remember, and having a family again made a huge difference.

She was still absolutely devoted to her training, now more than ever, and was almost never seen away from the training track if she was outside. She had easily surpassed Jecht by this point, and was ready to join the Weather Team. She decided to go and pay another visit to Rainbow Dash before then.

Jecht had wanted to go with her, and Scootaloo was more than happy to invite her along. Dash had been her whole reason for any of this happening, after all, and Jecht had wanted to see who it was she was striving so hard for.

They both set off early in the morning for Ponyville to see Rainbow Dash in the clinic.

When they arrived in Ponyville, they were immediately greeted by both of the old Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applebloom said she had finished the plantation single-handedly and had been let off of any other chores for the whole week, while Sweetie Belle said she was simply taking the day off from the Boutique.

She had eventually figured out that she was really good at drawing and when she wasn’t making her own works of art, she was designing dresses for her older sister, Rarity, to make. Her cutie mark had come in the form of a paintbrush next to an easel.

‘Ooh, this your marefriend?’ chided Applebloom

‘Actually, no. This is my… she’s pretty much a sister to me. We’re so alike, and I live as a part of her family now. Her name’s Jecht. Y’know, like a fighter jet?’

‘Hiya!’ put in Jecht

‘If you say so’ said Sweetie Belle, a sly smirk coming across her face.

‘Nothing like that is going on, Sweetie Belle,’ said Scootaloo

‘I’m only teasing. Don’t you remember when we used to make jokes? You haven’t forgotten what a joke is have you?’ said Sweetie Belle

‘No, I do, I just don’t remember those kinds of jokes going on. Anyway, we were heading to the clinic?’

‘Actually,’ said Applebloom, ‘They moved Rainbow to the long stay ward a bit over a year ago. They wanted to move her to Manehattan, but we said “no way is we losin’ a friend like Rainbow! We want her to stay here.” And that was it. They moved her over that-a-way’ she pointed her head south.

‘Well, let’s go then. You two can lead the way.’

They set off at a slow trot across Ponyville, bumping into familiar faces here and there and exchanging pleasantries.

When they arrived at the long-stay ward and were directed to the right room, they entered together. This room seemed to be a bit more homely than the clinic had been. There were paintings by famous mares and colts on the walls and there was a small TV in the corner, not on for obvious reasons.

She still had the oxygen mask, but unlike the old one which covered her whole muzzle, this one sat in her nostrils. She also had a heart monitor, but it was just a cabled patch attached to her left foreleg. There was an IV attached to her right foreleg.

‘Hey girls. Scootaloo, long time no see. Is this yer marefriend yeh brought with yeh?’ said a familiar voice emanating from the corner of the room.

‘Applejack! Uhh, hi. I didn’t see you there. Err, no, this isn’t my marefriend. I see that assumption runs in the family,’ she said with a backwards glance at Applebloom who shrugged. ‘This is Jecht. She’s a friend of mine, and the closest to a sister I’ve ever had.’

‘Well it’s good t’ see yer alive and well. It’s been too long. More’n a year since I last saw yeh.’

She seemed tired, sitting there. She had rushed her chores every single day to try to make it into town and be with Rainbow Dash. Applebloom secretly admired how loyal she was to Rainbow Dash, but only ever said how bad for Applejack’s health it was to do that.

‘Well, ah should be getting’ back t’ th’ farm. Big Macintosh will be wantin’ some help since you’re takin’ the day off, Applebloom. I see you couldn’t have picked a better day, too.’

She stood and cantered out of the room, only pausing to give Scootaloo a quick, friendly hug.

Scootaloo walked to the bedside, Jecht standing back in the doorway.

‘Uh, hi, Rainbow Dash. I haven’t seen you in more than a year. Sorry, I guess. Well… I’ve been training like you said. I joined the Junior Flight Academy. I graduated top of the year, second-fastest of any pony, ever, right after you. Oh, and I’m in the Junior Speedsters now, just like you were.’

A tear began to roll, down her face. Her voice, however, remained level and unbroken.

‘I wish you could see how far I’ve come. It was all for you. Rainbow Dash, you’re my hero. I-I…’ she broke off and stood in silence while more tears rolled down her muzzle.

Jecht came and stepped up to the bed to better look at Rainbow Dash.

‘Hi, Rainbow Dash. I’m Jecht, Scootaloo’s new sister. I’m very happy to meet you’ she said. She knew there was no point in talking to a pony this far under, but she did it more for Scootaloo’s sake then anything. ‘I now see why she strives so hard to do her best. I’ll make sure to keep her in check for you!’ She then leant against Scootaloo’s neck to give the orange mare some comfort.

‘Thank you’ whispered Scootaloo.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other.

‘Are y’ sure they ain’t…’

‘Well, I’m not sure myself… But I suppose there was a point when we both did that with our sisters. Just don’t say anyth- uh-oh.’

Scootaloo had heard faint muttering and turned around to see two guilty looking faces. She suddenly realised how bas the whole scene was. She had been talking to a comatose pony and now she was nuzzling somepony she had claimed to be nothing more than a family member.

She turned to Dash and said ‘It’s all been for you’, then turned back and walked out again.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle glanced one final time back to Dash and left with their old and new friends.

They spent the rest of the day meeting and greeting all of her old friends and acquaintances from Ponyville. Pinkie was literally bouncing off the walls with excitement when Scootaloo got there, and she wasn’t able to leave until an hour had passed and they were carrying a tray of free cupcakes each that Pinkie Pie had insisted they take.

At about 4PM they had reacquainted everypony from her old life, and decided to take a break together down at her favourite childhood spot. She had once found a small river a few hundred yards into the Everfree Forest and had since then visited it at least once a week until she had left Ponyville.

When the day was nearly over, Scootaloo and Jecht headed home to Cloudsdale, still with a few cupcakes wrapped up in their saddlebags.

More and more competitors came to Cloudsdale specifically to go against the duo of Scootaloo and Jecht. Jecht had now caught up in flight skill with Scootaloo and was neck-in-neck with her almost every race. Not a single competitor stood a chance against either of them.

Finally, Scootaloo began to enter competitions. She lost nearly every one of them until Jecht joined in, too. With the added family competition, she began to win half of them, with the other half being won by Jecht. Nopony could beat them.

They entered more and more advanced competitions, including some aerobatics ones, just to see how they could go. They both failed abysmally in the single aerobatics competitions, but in duo-comps, they blew the rest out of the water. They were in perfect sync and together looked like different coloured reflections of each other.

Finally the Wonderbolts themselves came to Cloudsdale. They normally never left Canterlot, but they had heard stories of the incredible duo and wanted to investigate.

This was what two years of training and competitions had boiled down to. In order to achieve her life goal, she had to surpass Rainbow Dash. She had to become a Wonderbolt.

Chapter 4

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 4

They had been told the Wonderbolts had come to Cloudsdale. What had actually happened was that they had said they were going to come soon, and posters had been put up all over the cloud city.

Rumours have a strange way of only containing half the truth.

‘Well, at least we have time to prepare for this, hey Jecht?’

‘You bet’cha! I can’t wait to see what we have to do! I wonder if it will be a race or a talent competition’

‘Maybe both. Wouldn’t that be something’ said Scootaloo, thoughts returning to her once great hero, now lost to a coma.

‘Scoots…’ Jecht barely ever called Scootaloo this. ‘You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you.

Don’t worry. I swear, we will win. It’s what she wanted and it’s what we’ll do.’

‘It’s just… I don’t know if this is what she actually would have wanted. Have I ever told you why I wanted to surpass her? Why I had to become a Wonderbolt?’

‘Yeah. She told you herself. She… wait… I never realised. How did she tell you if she was unconscious?’

‘That’s just the thing. She didn’t. Just after the accident happened, and I went to see her, I ran away. It didn’t last long. I was found and brought back. Well, when I went in to see her again, I fainted. While I was unconscious, I had a dream; a vision. She told me that for her memory to love on, I had to surpass her. Her speed lives on in me, and to complete her life goal, I had to become a Wonderbolt.’

‘So, you’ve been living off a dream?’

‘Basically… Yeah…’ she said, looking dejected.

‘Well have I ever told you why I like racing?’ Jecht asked.

‘…No, I don’t think so.’

‘Well, you’d think it’s because of family. Everypony with potential for the last 6 generations has been a great racer in my family. I’m not doing it because of that, though. I just like to be noticed.

‘Having a family member like Spitfire has kept me shunned. Nopony ever noticed me for me; they only ever saw a relative of the great Spitfire. I race so that maybe, some day, people will see Jecht, not the niece of Spitfire. Living in a shadow… it’s not fun.’

‘I… Never knew-‘ said Scootaloo, cut off by Jecht

‘That was, until I met you! You were a great flier. You quickly rose to being one of the best fliers at the academy, and you quickly became my friend. I knew that you were my friend because we were alike, not because I was related to Spitfire. You definitely saw it, yes, I mean, how can you not; I have the flaming hair to show it’ she said with a laugh. ‘but at the same time, you saw more. You saw a pony going through something similar to what you were, and…’ she suddenly looked up into Scootaloo’s eyes ‘…Thank you’ she finished, a tear forming in her eye, a smile on her lips.

Wow… I never thought about it like that thought Scootaloo. She’s more than a friend. She’s a sister in all but blood.

She knew this wasn’t the time for any further comments, and instead just sat closer to Jecht, leaning her head against the other’s neck, just as Jecht had done for her, earlier.

The day of the Wonderbolts’ arrival grew closer and closer. For a group such as them to leave Canterlot and head to Cloudsdale, it took preparation. They were set to leave Canterlot in a week, and they would be in Cloudsdale in eight days.

Scootaloo and Jecht were both becoming nervous, and both could guess at the other’s reason. Friends as close as these could usually tell what the other was thinking, sometimes before the other even thought it.

Scootaloo was worried about what was to happen. If she lost, if she didn’t become a Wonderbolt, she will have failed Dash. This was almost definitely the only chance she would ever get. She tried not to think about it, but the thoughts invaded her mind anyway. The more she tried not to think about it, the more she thought about not thinking about it, and the more she thought about it.

Jecht was worried about the same thing, but for a different reason. Her auntie Spitfire was coming to Cloudsdale. If she lost the race, she would slip back down to where she began. She had become somewhat infamous in Cloudsdale, and if she lost the competition, she would never be seen below Spitfire.

They had both prepared their lunches and saddlebags for a day of training with the Junior Speedsters. After donning their matching black jackets, they sat down for breakfast.

‘Are you ready for what’s coming?’ Jecht asked Scootaloo out of the blue

‘I-… no…’ she said

‘Neither am I. Don’t worry about it! As long as we have each other, we’ll be fine!’

Sometimes I think she thinks we’re more than friends… Are we? I don’t even know anymore. I can’t say I’ve never thought about her in that way before, but at the same time, she’s my sister… sort of… thought Scootaloo.

‘Equestria to Scootaloo; come in Scootaloo.’ Said Jecht, mockingly.

‘Yeah, sorry, I have a lot on my mind.’

‘Don’t we all? I mean, we have our minds, then some blood, then a skull, and then our manes!’

‘You know what I mean’ she said forcing an angry tone to her voice, but the tone was betrayed by a grin spreading across her muzzle.

‘That’s more like it. So what’s up?’ she said.

‘It’s… I dunno… You’ll think I’m weird.’

‘Are you kidding me? I know you’re weird, so am I! There’s no such thing as normal. Just tell me what you’re thinking’ she said. She already had an idea of what she was thinking, and would gladly embrace it if Scootaloo was, indeed, thinking it.

‘You think about things too literally, Jecht. It’s just… We’re more than friends, aren’t we. I don’t know what we are any more. I-‘

‘Do you like where we are together?’

‘Well, yeah. In fact I wouldn’t mind if-‘ she suddenly cut herself off, blushing.

‘Scootaloo. I’ve known you for a year and a half, now. You know you can tell me anything.’

Anything… Can I tell her this?

Scootaloo looked into her eyes and saw something she had never seen before. She saw a tone in her eyes that said she wanted to be accepted. It said she wanted to be loved. There was no doubt that they had the same thoughts.

I can’t get sidetracked, though. I need to become a Wonderbolt. I need to… I need to have friends… When I lost the Crusaders, life was terrible. But… Oh, what do I do?

‘I… Jecht, I…’ she was still looking into Jecht’s eyes. She stared into her very soul, through the black portal encircled by a ring of pure, sky blue.

Suddenly Jecht’s father walked in.

‘Good morning, everypony! Glad to… Oh, err, sorry. Is this a bad time?’

Scootaloo became aware that she was mere inches from the others face and suddenly pulled herself back to her half eaten breakfast.

‘Uh, no. Not a bad time. Err, I’ll see you later, I guess.’ Stammered Scootaloo, rushing out the door, blushing furiously.

She left without Jecht and flew to a nearby cloud to sit and think, still blushing.

‘I’m very sorry, Jecht. I didn’t mean to-‘

‘No, dad, it’s alright. Nothing was happening, I swear. She was just, err, telling me about a new move she was practising?’

‘Jecht, I’m your father and you know you can’t lie to me.’ He said

‘Well… We aren’t together, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

This he wasn’t sure about. He could nearly always tell when his daughter told lies, which was rare, but right now he couldn’t find a trace of a lie in her voice. Well that doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t have been that close together if it was just moves she was talking about. Unless she was talking about “other” moves he thought. But this is my daughter. I suppose I should have a talk with her.

‘Jecht, I-‘

‘Dad, I have to go to training. I don’t want to be late for the Junior Speedsters.’

‘Well. We will talk when you return home. Scootaloo too, if she will permit it. Just know this: You are my daughter and I will support you in any choice you make, no matter what.’

Jecht smiled and walked out, pausing to give him a kiss on the cheek and mutter ‘Thanks, daddy’ before leaving.

My daughter is growing up. I must have missed the part where she became so mature.

Scootaloo noticed Jecht standing in the doorway. Her mind still reeling at what had happened, she didn’t move. Jecht saw her sitting on the cloud, just above the house and about 50 yards away, and lazily flew up to join her.

‘Scootaloo, it’s alright. He’s fine with it… Whatever “it” is.’

‘Y-yeah… but… uhh… let’s just go to training, okay?’

They went together to the outskirts of Cloudsdale where the rest of the team was already flying around. The Junior Speedsters had a permanent booking on the Cloudsdale Aerodrome for one day a week.

‘Sorry we’re late, coach. Family issues.’

The coach was a large grey Pegasus colt with completely black eyes, except for the whites. His mane was cut to stubble, to “reduce air-resistance”, but the team believed it had once been white, like clouds.

‘Alright’ he said; his voice hoarse and ragged from years of shouting instructions to his students, ‘get in there and do some laps to warm up those wings.’

Training went faster than usual for Jecht. She was dreading returning home for the “talk” with her father, and wanted to spend as much time at training as possible. She was so distracted, she flew into other ponies twice, much to the vocalised displeasure of the coach, and couldn’t get up to her normal speed until Scootaloo spoke to her.

‘Are you alright, Jecht? You seem distracted.’

‘Yeah. It’s just… this morning after you left dad said he wanted to have a talk with me. With both of us, if he could. I don’t know what to expect. He said he would support me through anything, but I don’t know if he agrees with choices I’m making or-‘

‘Jecht. It’s alright.’ She said, ignoring the echo in her mind of just what “choices” she was making. ‘I’ll be there for you. You don’t have to go through this alone. You don’t have to go through anything alone. I’ll be there for you, I promise.’

‘Does that mean-‘ Jecht began, before noticing that Scootaloo had already taken off.

‘Come on! I’ll answer one question for every two laps you beat me around the aerodrome!’ Scootaloo called out from above.

‘Hey, no fair! You had a headstart!’ she shouted ahead, taking off, too. She began to laugh as she caught up with Scootaloo, but the second she became level with her friend, Scootaloo put on a burst of speed.

She could match anything her friend could. She flew faster and faster, racing Scootaloo around the aerodrome, but only beating her once by the end of training.

‘That was some good flying, once you pulled yourself together, Jecht. ‘Best I’ve seen you do, I’d say.’ Said the coach, his voice even more hoarse now that the eight hour training session was over.

‘Thanks, coach. See you next week.’

He continued down the line of students, offering advice or praise to each in turn, then they all departed to their individual homes.

‘So you said you’d answer a question for every second lap I won against you?’

‘Well, yeah, but you only beat me once’ said Scootaloo, remembering the taunts thrown at her after she had sneezed mid-flight.

‘So? I want a question answered!’

‘Well, I’ll half answer it.’

Jecht considered this. ‘Alright, but you have to half answer it. No laughing, and no awkward silence.’

‘Uh… Okay? Deal.’ Said Scootaloo, knowing what the question was before it was even asked.

‘Scootaloo… Do you…’ Jecht said, blushing more and more red the longer she took to ask.

‘Do you… L… Love me?’ she asked, immediately looking away, her normally blue face now completely red.

She looked at Scootaloo, and saw that she, too, was blushing. She was too embarrassed and closed her eyes, facing down a bit.

Then she felt something. Another set of lips against her own. It lasted a few seconds, but felt like an eternity to the Pegasus. If this was half-answering, she really wanted to know what completely answering was.

After they broke apart, Jecht opened her eyes to see Scootaloo a couple of feet away.

‘Come on, Jecht. We’re expected home, remember?’

‘Uhh, Right. Yeah… home’ stammered Jecht.

Scootaloo winked, then took to the air; angling to their house, Jecht right beside her.

Along the way to their house, night was rapidly approaching, and the sun was setting before they arrived. I never noticed how incredible the sunset could look. It’s beautiful, and orange, and… Her thoughts trailed off as she looked to the pony next to her, her mane the exact same colour as the sunset; her mane the same colour as the opposite end of the sky.

They arrived home right as Luna’s moon appeared on the horizon, and Celestia’s sun fell below the other side of Equestria.

Jecht’s father was waiting at the table for her, along with her mother. A mixture of vegetables and roots was boiling on the stove in fresh cloudwater for dinner. Jecht sat down opposite them, Scootaloo next to her. They all sat in silence for a few seconds before her father spoke up.

‘Jecht,’ he said ‘I have never been more proud of you than right now in your life. You have excelled at the academy, and even in the Junior Speedsters, and you have found-‘ he glanced at Scootaloo, ‘a… friend. You’re both respectable young mares, and I can foresee you both going far in this world of ours.

‘I want to have a serious talk with you. I said this morning that I would support you with any choices you make, Jecht. I did truly mean that. If you decided you wanted to go and do something else besides flying, I wouldn’t mind. It’s your choice to make. I only truly realised that this morning.

‘I’ve raised you as best I could. I could have given you anything you wanted. I could have put you into any school you wished. I could have had you in the Junior Speedsters before you could even fly, but you only ever asked for what you thought you deserved. You have worked for everything you have, even without needing to, and you have earned not just my love, but my respect.’

‘Dad, I… Thank you.’ She said, a solitary tear on her cheek.

‘Scootaloo. I have known you for more than a year now. I do not know what it is that fuels your passion for flight, but it must be strong. You came from nothing and made a name for yourself. I am equally proud of you, as I am of my own daughter, and I consider yourself as my own daughter, too. You have lived in this household for a bit over a year, now, and have always tried to prove your worth. You were self-supporting, and you supported Jecht in a time that I feared would corrupt her, and for this; I thank you.’

Scootaloo nodded to him, overcome with pride. So this is what a father is… I am not related to him, but I love him as though he’s my own father.

‘Dad…’ said Jecht, breaking the silence that had come over them. ‘Scootaloo and I… I… We…’

Her father interrupted. ‘I know, Jecht. I know. You have found yourself a pony to have a relationship with, strong enough to transcend any other, and to survive any adversity you both may face. I support your choice in this. Love was never meant to be limited. It was never meant to be only shared between a colt and a mare. It can appear anywhere, no matter the circumstances.

‘I believe that you two were, indeed, meant for each other, and I will allow you two to be with each other. Well, as though I had a choice! Hahah!’ he said, breaking the serious mood.

Everypony at the table laughed. Jecht’s mother reached over and placed a hoof to her daughters’, a loving smile on her face.

Dinner was served and they all began a conversation of their best memories together, as husband and wife, and for Scootaloo and Jecht, as friends who were meant to be more. Not a thought was spared for the mere week they had left until the competition to change their lives.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This is where the story spilts. I have some people saying they want a happy ending, and others saying they want a sad ending. I will make two endings. The next to come out will be happy, then sad. Read which ever one you would prefer. I will also be making happy and sad epilogues.

Chapter 5

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 5

Three days had passed since the conversation, and Jecht’s family had never been closer.

Scootaloo and herself were still not officially together, but they were closer than they’d ever been before and, somehow, word had gotten around about it. Elderly ponies would frown at them whenever they went passed, while adults and teenagers would either pass them by without a word or congratulate them. This wasn’t helping, seeing as they were now almost constantly training.

Jecht had worked out a diet plan to give them maximum energy by the end of the week while Scootaloo had worked out a training schedule. They were given nine hours a night for sleep, and three hours a day for everything else from eating to relaxing. They would wake up, have breakfast, train for six hours, have lunch, train for a further six hours, then have dinner and talk with family until bed.

After six days of this somewhat antisocial schedule, they rested an entire day with no training to work up enough energy for the competition.

Rainbow Dash had been living in this world for what felt like a month now. On the first day in her strange world, she had met Scootaloo. The words of their conversation, even after this slow month, had burned into her memory. She had told Scootaloo to go above and beyond. She had told her to exceed her in everything she had ever strived to do, and she believed Scootaloo could do it. Then again, she was just a figment. This world couldn’t be real… but then why did it seem so? This was the only world she ever knew…

After a few days, everything seemed to go a bit slower, and she was joined by Applejack. The other world had become forgotten, and only Applejack remained. They had sat and talked for hours and hours on end, or rather, Applejack had talked to her. Rainbow Dash didn’t really know what was happening anymore, but she couldn’t speak. She had trouble walking, could barely fly, and now she was mute. Only Applejack kept her sane.

Every once in a while, one or more of her other friends would come into her dream, too, but would always leave after an hour or two. Whenever Rarity visited, the colour of the sky would change and the clouds would resemble a different type of flower. This seemed somehow strange to Rainbow Dash but, as before, this was the only world she knew, and no matter how strange anything was, it must have been real; for what else could it be?

She had once gotten extremely tired. So tired she felt she wouldn’t wake up if she slept. Oh, how she wanted to sleep, but Pinkie had kept her awake with one of her parties. She didn’t object, she liked Pinkie’s parties, but she just wished Pinkie had picked a better time. She had heard yelling from somewhere and Pinkie disappeared, along with all the colour she had brought to this white and grey cloud world. Just after Pinkie left, she heard words faintly in the distance… or was it one word repeated? She heard ‘clear… clear…’ and something she assumed was an unseen thunder cloud struck her a few times and she was awake again.

Whenever any of her other friends visited, they only ever sat quietly. She tried to interact with them, but while their gaze would follow her around, she couldn’t start a conversation with them.

After a fortnight in this world, Scootaloo had brought somepony else with her. She couldn’t remember who, she couldn’t even remember what this pony looked like; only that they had come with Scootaloo. She had a feeling it was a mare, but it might have been a colt… was it a Pegasus or not? She wasn’t sure.

When Scootaloo spoke, her heart had soared. She had felt better than she had in the fortnight since her mind had started recording memories. Scootaloo had learned to fly. She flew so well, she had joined the Junior Speedsters. This was what Dash had wanted. After this visit, Dash was able to fly again. Not much, but she was able to. Somehow, Scootaloo having come one step closer to their shared goal had made her somewhat better… she didn’t know what this meant, but she knew Scootaloo had to complete the goal for… something… what would happen if she completed the goal had slipped her mind, but she knew it was important.

Her friend had spoken, too. They had wished for her to get better. Why would she need to get better? She couldn’t fly too well, but she felt fine. But then again, since the visit she had been getting steadily more tired again.

Applejack was almost always there. If she disappeared, she would come back after what felt like half an hour. Having Applejack there made her feel better… why, she didn’t know, but it helped having a friend as close as Applejack. Wait, why does it help? What do I need help with?

That was a fortnight ago. She hadn’t seen Scootaloo since, but Applejack was still there, and her other friends were still visiting. She was content, but still uneasy with the world she was in; she just didn’t seem to be able to pick what was wrong with it.

AUTHORS NOTE

From here on in, you need to choose what ending you want to read. I’m going to write a happy ending, and a sad ending, to keep everyone happy. I know a lot of you will read both, but whatever.

There will also be a happy and sad epilogue. I don’t think I’ll continue this story after that. I’ll move on to something else, but I promise to continue to write! I can’t leave you like that. I never realised just how many people would like my style of writing, hahah! I actually thought I was bad at it… Well, I’ll write more in the post-epilogue authors note.

Chapter 6 - Happy Ending

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 6 – Happy Ending

Authors note: Keep in mind that ponies don’t live as long as humans. A year of training to them, is about five years of training to us.

The day of the competition had finally come. One way or another, this was the day to determine how the rest of her life would play out. Her nervousness had hit a peak. She climbed out of bed and promptly ran to the bathroom and threw up. When she eventually exited the bathroom, Jecht was standing near the door, looking faint.

‘Feel better?’ she asked gently

‘A bit…’ she said, finding her voice weak.

Jecht walked into the bathroom and closed the door, then met Scootaloo at the breakfast table five minutes later.

‘Do you think you could eat anything?’ asked Scootaloo

‘Probably not… Better try anyway. What about you?’

‘Yeah, I suppose’ conceded Scootaloo. She headed over to the cupboard and grabbed a couple of carrots.

‘Do we have anything lighter?’ asked Jecht

‘Nothing but cloudwater and hay’ Said Scootaloo

‘Well, alright, then.’ Said Jecht, taking one of the carrots. She only ended up eating half of it before her father came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

‘Good morning, girls. Wow, the tension in here is thick enough to cut with a knife!’ he said, emphasising with a cutting motion of his hoof.

‘Oh, come now, it’s just a joke’ he said after noticing the looks on their faces.

‘What’s up? Can I help? You know I’m here if you need me. Either of you.’

‘No, dad. Just… I’m worried. We both are. This is a huge point in our lives. We… We’re worried.’ Said Jecht

‘Well, I’d say don’t, but… I dunno. Do your best and I’m sure everything will work out fine. Would it help if I said I was cheering for you? I’d cheer for you over my own sister. Both of you. My daughters are the most important thing in my life.’

‘Thank you… Dad…’ said Scootaloo.

Jecht’s father was taken aback. He treated her like a daughter of his own, and even sometimes called her his daughter, but she had never called him dad… not even ‘father’. He suddenly trotted over and pulled them both to himself in a hug.

His wife came in just as they all broke apart. She had been standing just beyond the doorway, listening. She trotted over to her husband and leant against him. She had never been more proud of him, or of her daughter. She also considered Scootaloo to be family, even if not blood.

The two girls didn’t eat anything else, and so they left while their parents were eating breakfast.

When they arrived at the aerodrome, their coach was waiting for them.

‘This is it. You’re probably the youngest fillies… no, the youngest mares to have ever been given a chance to compete against the Wonderbolts. Remember your training and you’ll do fine. Heck, I think you might be able to win.’ He said in his rough voice. This in and of itself wasn’t too praising, but coming from such a stern coach, it meant more to them than anything said to them all day.

‘Thanks, coach. We’ll try our best.’ Said Jecht

‘No, not your best. Do harder! Remember your training! 110%!’ he said, his voice louder than necessary. ‘Err, give it all you’ve got’ he said, lowering his voice again.

‘We will. I promise.’ For Rainbow Dash. Thought Scootaloo

‘The Wonderbolts are already here. They arrived sometime last night in an attempt to avoid the crowds. It would have worked, but Spitfires hair can be seen from a mile away. Don’t get sidetracked, Jecht.’ He said.

‘I was given a chance against them, once. I blew it. I was neck in neck with your father, but he sprinted to the finish before me. From that day forth, I’ve cut my mane twice a day. Without it, I would have won.’ He said, eyes glazing over as he recalled the memories.

‘Well, here’s the run-down. The first competition is going to be aerobatics. You have fifteen minutes to show your stuff before they mark you. That barely counts for anything. The real points come from the races. There’s one race, circuit, with thirty laps, then there’s another, where you just have to fly your hardest for the finish line and the fastest pony wins. No special moves, no agility, no flexibility, just pure, unbridled speed. Remember, that’s where you leave your mark. The Wonderbolts are fancy fliers, but they are nowhere near the fastest. Watch out for foal play and fly your best. Make me proud, girls.’ He said, then turned and flew off to the grandstand.

Training. Warm up. ‘C’mon, Jecht. We need to warm up our wings.’ Said Scootaloo.

They spent the next 20 minutes doing mid-speed laps of the aerodrome, so as to not lose much energy, followed by 15 minutes of fancy-flying. Their moves weren’t perfect, but they were acceptable. By the time they finished the warm-up, other ponies began to fill the seats of the aerodrome. Every so often they would hear a cheer for the two Pegasus-ponies who had just finished their warm-up.

After going and sitting on a bench off to the side of the stadium, they noticed a strange pink balloon. The saw it through one of the high windows, and it was coming closer and closer to the stadium. Just as they were sure it would hit the window, a purple glow came across the balloon and a glowing rope tied itself to the cloud wall, then several earth-ponies and unicorns climbed out.

That shouldn’t be possible… only Pegasus-ponies can walk on cloud… thought Jecht.

‘That would be Twilight. She has a spell to let earth-ponies and unicorns walk on clouds, but I’ve never seen her use it before’ said Scootaloo, almost reading Jecht’s mind.

‘Oh. Right. She must be talented to do a spell like that. I’ve never heard of it before!’

‘Yeah. She’s the student of Celestia herself, but she lives in a library in Ponyville, last I heard. She’s a friend of Rainbow Dash.’ Said Scootaloo, looking downcast.

‘Well, maybe we should go and talk to them’ said Jecht, wanting to cheer up her friend. ‘come on, Scoot’.

They flew over and noticed that Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had come with them. Twilight was double, and probably triple checking her knot to make sure the balloon didn’t blow away, while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike all took seats in the cloud grandstand.

‘Well, these seats are simply marvellously soft, if a little crude to the eye. I say, Applejack will be sorry she missed out on th- *gasp* Scootaloo! Just the mare we’re here to see! And I see you brought your friend, too. Uhh… Terribly sorry, dear, but your name has slipped my mind’ said rarity all at once with a regal tone.

‘It’s Jecht. I think we met once… You run a boutique in Ponyville?’

‘And she remembers me! Oh, you are a charmer,’ said Rarity, obviously flattering her. ‘I think you made the right choice in friends, Scootaloo’

‘Yeah. So do I’ she said, looking over at Jecht.

After a moment, Twilight came over. ‘Well, I see the spell worked okay, and my knot looks fine. Scootaloo! Hi, how are you? Are you ready for the race?’ she asked, offering a hoof.

‘I think so, but I still have butterflies in my stomach’ she said, shaking her hoof. She glanced at the grandstand which was nearly full, despite the last-minute seats being added to it and her stomach gave a lurch.

‘I might have a spell to calm your nerves,’ said Twilight, ‘but the judges might count that as cheating… sorry, Scootaloo’.

‘Thanks anyway, Twilight. I wouldn’t want the spell even if you could do it… This is for Rainbow. I need to do it on my own energy.’

‘For Rainbow’ piped up Spike

‘For Rainbow!’ cheered the rest of the ponies there.

‘We’ll be watching.’ Said Sweetie Belle, sitting next to her sister.

‘Yer gonna win, Scootaloo! The Crusaders are right behind you. We’ll be cheerin’ for ya!’ said Applebloom.

‘I guess, um, just do your best and, uh, have fun?’ said Fluttershy quietly. ‘That is, if you want to…’

‘Who wouldn’t want to have fun?? Fun is the most fun a pony can have! It can be even more fun if there’s a party and *gasp* when you win we’ll throw you a party! And everypony here can come and all of Ponyville will surely turn up to congratulate you! They would be here, but it would have been too much work for Twilight to do and-‘

‘Pinkie, I think she gets it.’ Interrupted Twilight

‘Oh, yeah, I guess. Just go out and have FUN!’ she pretty much yelled, with a few heads turning in nearby seats.

‘We will, Pinkie’ said Scootaloo.

‘You can count on it! I’ll have enough fun for the both of us, at any rate!’ said Jecht.

Pinkie’s face lit up and she grinned ear to ear. ‘That’s what I like to hear! Give it all you’ve got!’

As they flew back to their bench on the side of the stadium, Jecht spoke to her. ‘Is she always like that?’

‘From what I remember, yeah. She actually seems to have calmed down a bit, but she hasn’t matured since I left’ said Scootaloo.

‘Hey, look. It’s dad’ said Jecht, pointing with a hoof to a seat fairly close to the bottom row. ‘Mom’s with him.’

‘Should we go and say hi? Actually, no. There are too many people around… Maybe just wave’ said Scootaloo, raising a hoof to wave to them.

Jecht waved too, and they saw her mother excitedly say something to her husband.

‘Probably just stating that we waved.’ Said Jecht. ‘Hey, look over there!’

The Wonderbolts suddenly flew in from the roof. Scootaloo didn’t see them come in, but there were four of them flying in circles around the aerodrome. The crowd quickly turned their heads skyward and collectively cheered a deafening bellow to announce the arrival of the Wonderbolts.

Scootaloo immediately took off. Jecht didn’t know what she was doing, but she quickly followed. Her auntie was there. Spitfire ignored Jecht as she flew close behind another Wonderbolt. Scootaloo grabbed Jecht’s hoof, and turned straight up. Without a word passing between them, Jecht knew this was the Skyward Barrel Roll. They held each other’s front hooves as they spun rapidly toward the ceiling, then mere inches from hitting it, broke apart and spun together back down toward the floor, leaving interwoven blue and purple streams behind.

The crowd cheered even louder.

They broke apart again and immediately flew to opposing sides of the stadium, then, without stopping, flew straight at each other. Half the distance to centre-stage, they began to roll in the air, then Scootaloo went down and Jecht went up. They finished their move by flying in a fast circle around each other, then toward each other one final time, and slamming their hooves together, floating in mid-air for a second, then gliding to the floor.

The cheering from the crowd reached its peak as the two descended. They noticed that the Wonderbolts had landed and were watching with interest. When they touched down, panting slightly, the voice of their coach came over a loud-speaker.

‘Well, wasn’t that something? Who’s looking forward to the show we have on today?’ he asked.

The crowd cheered their approval.

‘I thought as much. Today, we have a competition between the world-famous Wonderbolts-‘ he paused for a cheer- ‘and Cloudsdale’s very own Scootaloo and Jecht’ he finished, with another cheer going up.

‘These two have been training together for more than a year now, but will a mere year’s training be enough for them to take on the Wonderbolts?’ he asked. The crowd responded with a mix of cheering and booing. This made Scootaloo feel far worse, after they had been cheering for her and Jecht but a moment ago.

‘The first competition will be in skilful flying. The Wonderbolts will send out two competitors, followed by Scootaloo and Jecht. There is a group of judges for this, but it points will also be awarded for the biggest cheer, so get those lungs ready!’ he said as the crowd roared.

A colt with a dark blue mane and a mare with an electric yellow one flew to the centre of the stadium.

‘And it looks like they’ve sent out Soarin and Shockwave; an unusual combination for any competition. It looks like we may see some new moves, everypony!’ said the voice over the loudspeaker, and the crowd shouted their approval.

‘Their fifteen minutes begins as soon as they take off’ he said. Suddenly, numbers appeared on either side of the stadium. 15:00, they read.

They muttered a few words to each other, then trotted to opposing sides of the stadium. Suddenly they began to gallop toward each other, and a mere two yards from each other, jumped into the air and gave each other a high-hoof while taking off.

‘And there they go! They’re picking up speed and getting ready for their first trick!’ shouted the coach, barely audible over the din of the crowd.

They flew hard and fast around the stadium, to the top, then angled toward each other, letting out a stream of thundercloud. As they spiralled toward each other, the cloud shape behind them remained, and then they cut off the stream when they reached each other. Shockwave flew down and Soarin flew up above the shape, and they both began madly flapping to spin the shape. As it spun faster and faster, it began to strike lightning more and more until it was a glowing, swirling spiral.

12:47

Soarin flew around it and toward the centre. Shockwave attached a stream-cloud to the point in the spiral where the two other streams connected, and flew half way to the floor. Soarin reached her and started a stream from this one, going a short way out and around, to meet back up where he began in a three-yard wide circle. Shockwave made two more of these, all connecting at the top and bottom, so there was a circular cage. Soarin flew into the rotating cage and began to fan it to spin the other way. It stopped moving while the spiral continued to spin, and the distance between spiral and cage began to shorten as the stream connecting them tightened and spun.

When the two were half the distance from each other as they had been, he quickly flew out and away as the cage began to spin rapidly. It rotated so fast, nopony could see through it, but it lit up in a small rainbow as thunder crackled inside it.

It’s too small… the rainbow cage always looks better than this! Thought Shockwave to herself. Well, she thought, if there’s one thing I know; it’s how to play with thunder.

9:42

She quickly waved Soarin away, who looked confused as to why it wasn’t working as it should, and she flew toward it. She positioned herself directly below the cage and bucked at the point that the three tings all came together at the bottom.

There was a deafening boom that even drowned out the noise of the crowd for a moment, and the entire structure flashed. Electricity raced out from the point that Shockwave had kicked it, and shot out along the spiral.

Not what I had in mind, but it worked nonetheless. Thought Shockwave

When did she learn that? Thought Soarin

Something went wrong. The thunder doubled back. It was racing back along the spiral with more intensity than the first shock. Before it reached the cage again, Shockwave bucked a chunk out of the tether between the cage and the spiral. The cage began to fall, still spinning, and the lightning travelled closer to the missing bit of tether.

8:01

I have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe we should have started with something easier! Oh no! thought Shockwave.

She flew away from the structure as fast as she could, just as thunder boomed and struck out from the missing piece of tether. It flew in all directions, barely missing the Wonderbolts in the air, but hitting the other end of the tether, connected to the now falling cage.

The light pulsated along the cage faster and faster as it lit up and flashed out a rainbow.

Oh, now you work, you useless bucking light ball thought Shockwave.

Then the cage hit the ground and exploded. Lightning flared everywhere. The ball had charged as it was falling, and the thunder spraying from it was four times the energy that had been put in with the buck, despite the amount lost when travelling between tethers.

The thunder shocks didn’t make it to the crowd; however they did hit Soarin, who had been hovering nearby. He fell to the stage floor, smoking, and unconscious. The crowd collectively gasped as Shockwave flew to help her fallen comrade.

‘Well, I think we might have to call this show early and get Soarin to a medic.’ Said the coach.

The timer stopped on 6:52 and three white Pegasus ponies flew from a corridor leading away from the stage toward the fallen pony. They checked his pulse, and one checked for breathing with a stethoscope, then the four gathered him up and flew back down the corridor with Soarin between them.

‘We will be taking a short, twenty minute break while the Weather Patrol gets cleans up the stage. Feel free to make use of the canteen in the lobby.’

The coach flew out of the main box and down to the stage. He trotted over to Scootaloo and Jecht who were still frozen in shock.

‘Well… You’re sure to win now, eh?’ he said

‘Soarin… Shockwave… He…’ stammered Jecht

‘He’ll be fine. He’s probably just in shock, that’s all. Err, excuse the pun.’ He said

Scootaloo snapped out of it, but Jecht still stared at the spot he had fallen, mouth agape. ‘If you say so, but… that looked serious…’

‘Don’t worry. I know for a fact that he’s had worse. I was there when he slammed into a pole once. He tried to fly through a column of cloud as a stunt, but some prankster had simply covered a pole with clouds and said it was a column. He broke his nose, had a concussion, and was unconscious for a day and a half. The lightning shock will have him twitchy for a few hours, but he’ll be fine’ he said with a malicious laugh. ‘I probably should have told him not to fly at the column of cloud so fast, but it must have slipped my mind. You should probably use this break to perfect your routine, eh?’

‘Yeah… we’ll just do that…’ said Jecht, somewhat coming out of her trance.

As he flew away down the corridor the medics had flown through a few minutes ago, Scootaloo turned to Jecht.

‘We’re ready. This will be easy. We don’t have any cloud-streams, but we do have our skill and our speed. This is what a year of training boils down to. We can do this.’ She said.

‘Yes. We have to. For us, for Cloudsdale, and for Rainbow Dash.’ Said Jecht. Scootaloo was somewhat surprised that her friend had remembered Rainbow Dash as a main source of inspiration, but shook it off as they moved out to the stage to go through their routine. They went through the moves in their minds, verbalising what order to do them, and slowly flying around to practise the more difficult parts. They landed as the stands began to fill again.

‘The good thing is that nothing like that can go wrong, haha!’ said Jecht, returning to her normal vigour. ‘Our act relies on skill, not tricks of light and clouds.’

‘Right. We will win this. They will accept us. By the end of the day, we will be Wonderbolts!’

Rainbow Dash stirred. She had nearly fallen asleep again, but Applejack kept telling her not to. Whenever she laid her head down to sleep, Applejack would tell her not to go. She would say to come back to her.

‘But, Applejack, I’m tired!’ whined Rainbow Dash. Applejack didn’t respond. She looked at Rainbow Dash with longing and care in her eyes.

‘Fine.’ She said. She felt like something was going on, anyway.

In much the same way Pinkie could tell if there was a party nearby, or Twilight could tell if there was a new book to read, Rainbow could sense when a race was going down. She could feel her mane tingle.

Her mane was tingling right now. She had the occasional twitch on the nape of her neck every couple of days, followed by an image of Scootaloo looking happy with a strange blue pony, but not like this. Her whole mane was brimming with energy, as though she could shock someone just by looking at them.

She had quickly learned her way around this Cloudsdale. It seemed small, though she didn’t know why, as it was all she had ever known. A new building had appeared. It didn’t just spring up in front of her, but she had turned around and it had just been there. The building was made of fluffy white cloud, and was about 20 yards across, and 15 yards high. She walked through an open archway, which sealed behind her. Applejack hadn’t come in with her. She was alone.

Just as she began to worry and look for an exit, the opposite wall lit up. She saw Scootaloo and another strange, blue mare on it. The picture was big. If only I could move back to see better. The picture’s way too big to see from here she thought. Just then, the screen shrank until it was about a yard across. Dash sat down in front of it and watched.

She saw Scootaloo talking to her friend. She couldn’t hear what they were saying over a crowd cheering. Off behind the two mares, she could see a crowd. Right then, a voice cut across everything.

‘We apologise for the delay, and assure you that Soarin will be fine! He is already conscious again, we have simply had to restrain him. He seemed to want to cause as much damage to Shockwave as he could in the smallest amount of time possible’ he joked. A few members of the crowd laughed, but others whispered to each other about whether he was really okay, and just how much ‘damage’ he had caused Shockwave before being restrained.

‘Same rules as before. Your 15 minutes’ he said as 15:00 appeared on the timer ‘starts as soon as you leave the ground.’

They glanced to each other and nodded before returning to their saddlebags. If the Wonderbolts could use tricks of the eye, so could they. They each grabbed a small bag full of grey powder and tied it to their necks. This was the same gunpowder Pinkie used in her party cannon. They each powdered their inside hooves and sparked a high-hoof while taking off. They flew to opposing ends of the arena and spun together. After powdering their hooves lightly again, they clicked their hooves together in a near-collision and a blue-and-purple flash came out from between them; the crowd ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed all the while.

Ouch, I don’t think we can do too many of them... thought Scootaloo, looking at her already blackened hooves.

She did a single barrel roll to signal the next move to Jecht and they both flew to the top of the arena, and began to spin in a loose spiral to the centre. As soon as they came together, they sparked their iron horseshoes together and lit the gunpowder. Both darted away from the burning gunpowder as a rainbow flame began to shoot along the airborn structure. Some of the gunpowder was missed while falling, but ignited as soon as it hit the stadium floor.

12:13

Enough flashes. We need to get to some skill-moves thought Scootaloo

She began barrel rolling in a loop to the centre, Jecht a mirror image of her. When they came together, each pushed off the other’s hooves, Jecht flying down and Scootaloo flying up. The crowd cheered. Scootaloo closed her wings and Jecht flew up above, then just as Scootaloo was about to hit the floor, Jecht caught her and threw her up, adding a gust of wind from below to lift her. They flew up together, all four hooves toughing each others, and the crowd cheered more. Flying vertically was difficult at the best of times, but one slip-up here and they could well kick the other out of the sky.

When they both neared the top of the stadium, they spun out to face opposite directions, each holding the other’s left hoof. They held their wings straight and spiral-glided down together, before beginning to do more barrel rolls. The crowd was beginning to lower their racket, but were still cheering heartily.

‘We’re losing them, Scoot!’ shouted Jecht over the wind in her ears

‘Let’s get up some speed!’ shouted Scootaloo

Jecht nodded and flew out, doing fast circles of the track. Scootaloo did the same. After a mere lap, they both began to let out slipstreams of blue and purple. They flew straight at each other and pulled up to slam their hooves together, then kick off and do more jetstream loops around each other. The mix of purple and blue was creating brown wherever it crossed over, the effect being a multi-coloured cage similar to that made of cloud that the Wonderbolts had.

7:23

Dash continued to watch the screen as Scootaloo and that strange, yet familiar pony did their aerial tricks. Every time the crowd cheered, she felt more energised; but when they slowed their cheering, she felt tired again…

Strange… it’s almost as though… I need her to win.

They began to circle each-other, multi-coloured streams coming together, making rainbow flashes again. When Dash leaned closer to the screen, she noticed their hooves were smoking and Scootaloo was beginning to wince in pain.

The timer was quickly ticking down as the two continued to make rounded shapes with their streams. First they made yet another spiral, then a flower with a purple stem, and then a 3D ball.

The two seemed to be putting on more speed again, and a white cone began to encircle either of them. They began to make more complex shapes, and their slipstreams took far longer to disperse, now. They made a 3D ball within another ball, purple within blue, then cut through them and made a cube by making sharp, 90 degree turns at the corners. Dash couldn’t be more proud of Scootaloo right then. Dash herself had spent the better part of a year trying to perfect that move alone. She couldn’t have chosen a better protégé.

The coach’s voice rang out over the din of the crowd, ‘That is a difficult move to do! Only the best fliers in Equestria can make such sharp turns while flying so fast! One slip and it’s all over’.

3:22

Their time was nearly up, but their moves were running out faster. Each had half a bag of gunpowder left, but that was needed for the final move. The last move they had left before the finale was the Helicyclone. They flew together and linked tails, then turned slightly to opposite sides and spun. They didn’t rise, or lower, they just spun. After a few moments, the wind began to pick up and the crowd went nearly silent with anticipation for what was coming.

They held the cyclone for a moment, then broke away from each other and flew up and down it in circled. The spinning wind began to turn orange and blue, with streaks of purple and yellow. Scootaloo up top and Jecht down the bottom, they began to lead the cyclone into a circle. After 20 seconds or so of pushing, they had it spinning around in a circle shape. They had to keep constant pressure to it, else the whole structure would crumble and spin out of control.

‘Wow! I have never seen anything like this before, folks, and I’ve been doing this for a long time!’

The crowd cheered their support for such a strange move.

2:09

The roaring of the crowd mixed with the wind was too loud. Scootaloo had no chance of communicating to Jecht with words. She waved her arms for attention then pointed to the bag around her neck. Jecht understood. They both poured the remaining powder out of the bags and into the round cyclone. When the cyclone was completely visible with grey dust, they braced themselves and Jecht clicked her front hooves together.

Everything seemed to slow down. Scootaloo saw the spark in front of Jecht, followed by the ignition of nearby dust. There was too much, she wouldn’t escape the blast. Jecht turned and flew as fast as she could, but the fire was gaining on her. The crows collectively gasped as the rainbow fire chased Jecht away from the point of origin.

Scootaloo took off. The world was moving in slow motion, but she was going normal speed. She didn’t seem to be able to go any faster than a light run. She pushed and pushed, but there was some sort of barrier blocking her way to get to her friend.

Fire nipped at Jecht’s tail, and Jecht turned to get one last look at her friend, her love, before she was engulfed.

That look in her eyes. That look of absolute desperation, followed by acceptance of death was what did it. Scootaloo gave an almighty flap of her wings, and the barrier disappeared. She was rocketing towards Jecht faster than she had ever moved before. The fire seemed to stop completely as she wrapped her forelegs around Jecht and continued to fly away. When they reached the other side of the stadium, Scootaloo looked back. The rainbow fire was gone, and in its place was a wave of rainbow light, followed by an almighty boom. She had broken the sound barrier, and she had produced a sonic rainboom.

Rainbow watched in awe. She had been the only one to ever produce a sonic rainboom. She actually didn’t think it was possibly for anypony else to. She was the fastest. She had all the rainbow power to do it, nopony else!

But there, on this screen, Scootaloo had done it. She had produced what Rainbow Dash only ever had by accident. She suddenly felt more alive than ever before. She absolutely leapt in the air, cheering as loud as she could for her student and protégé, before finally settling back down on her haunches.

Applejack watched in awe. The heart monitor was beeping faster and faster while Rainbow Dash moved. It was only a twitch, but it was something. Her front hoof had twitched, f only by half an inch, and she had exhaled. The heart monitor continued to rise more and more, as she galloped out to get a nurse.

Scootaloo was losing speed. She didn’t dare to let go of Jecht, nor to land, until she was going slower. Her jetstream caught up with her and disappeared, then she landed away from the crowd just as the timer reached 0:00.

She put Jecht down and fell back onto her haunches, exhausted, just as Jecht dived on top of her. Before she knew it, Jecht had her muzzle placed firmly to Scootaloo’s own, and was holding her as though she never wanted to let go. Scootaloo stopped struggling and they broke apart as th crowd continued to cheer.

‘Scoot…’ was all Jecht managed to say, before being hug-tackled by Scootaloo. Tears in both their eyes, they both said the same thing. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’

They didn’t break apart until they heard a nose being blown loudly. ‘It’s just, *sniff*, such a happy moment!’ Pinkie continued to sob and blew her nose again before offering the hankie to Rarity.

‘Err, no. I think it best if you keep it, dearie.’ Said Rarity

‘That was some of the best flying I’ve ever seen, squirt.’ Said a husky voice from behind. ‘might even be good enough for you to join us.’

Scootaloo and Jecht turned as one to face a mare in a blue suit, only recognisable by her flaming orange hair.

‘Spitfire! I- we- I mean- it’s stammered Scootaloo

‘It’s alright, calm down. Don’t get your tail in a twist. That was actually incredible. Your name’s Scootaloo, right?’

‘Y-yeah’

‘I think I speak for the rest of the team when I say that we’d be happy to have you with us.’ Said Spitfire.

‘But… what about Jecht? She’s just as good as I am… better in fact…’ she mumbled

‘I’d have to actually ask Soarin about that, but maybe. I didn’t see anything too spectacular from her’ she said, refusing to make eye contact with her niece.

‘Well I think maybe you should. I never would have made it this far without her, and I won’t go any further unless she can come with me.’

If Spitfire was surprised at how she had turned down the offer for her friend, she didn’t show it. She simply turned to go confer with Soarin, who was still jittery, and said ‘Make up your mind right now. We’re heading back to Canterlot by sundown.’

Jecht turned to Scootaloo. ‘Scoot… I know how much this means to you. You need to do this. Do it for yourself and do it for Dash… She… I… I can try again some other time. Heck, with you already one of them I might have a better chance of getting voted in!’

‘No way. We do this together. After today, I never want to be parted from you ever again. I can’t go and become one of them without you by my side… It wouldn’t be right. You have worked just as hard as me to get here, and you would have done the same thing back there for me. Don’t think my better than you. I’m not.’

Twilight and her friends were still watching them talk, when suddenly Spike spat out a letter from the princess. After a moment of reading it, Twilight said they all had to go immediately. She said Scootaloo should come, too.

‘Just one minute, Twilight… we need to take care of something’

She quickly trotted over to the Wonderbolts, Jecht in tow, and asked Soarin directly. ‘What’s your answer?’

He looked at her for a few moments before answering. ‘We have d-decided. Jecht can join, so long as you b-both sign a t-t-two-year contract.’ He said with a twitch. He was obviously still shaken up from the shock earlier.

Scootaloo had never been happier. Not only had she become a Wonderbolt, but Jecht had, too, and she had also made a sonic rainboom all in one day. She was completely speechless. Instead, Jecht answered.

‘Thank you, Soarin. You haven’t any idea what this means to us… to me…. There is a matter we need to take care of, though. Celestia has called for Scootaloo and I’m going with her. We will be in Canterlot the moment you call us, but we can’t stay for now, nor can we go with you. Send a message as soon as you can.’

She turned and nudged Scootaloo to get her started off toward Twilight, then followed. When they reached her, she immediately teleported them all into the air-balloon basket and used magic to untie the knot holding it in place.

‘Scootaloo, Jecht, and Fluttershy, we need speed. Could you all push the balloon toward Ponyville?’

‘Um, okay’ said Fluttershy.

They all took off and began to push, as Twilight used her magic to pull the basket along.

Applejack was leading the nurse back to Rainbow Dash’s room. It had taken her too long to find the nurse. Why ever she had decided to make a coffee at such a life-changing moment wa beyond Applejack in her frantic state.

She pushed the door open and ran in, to find Dash sitting upright, rubbing her eyes.

‘Great Celestia of Equestria!’ shouted Applejack

‘Yes, my faithful subject?’ called Celestia herself from just outside the doorway. Somehow Applejack must have missed her in one of the many hallways and corridors of the ward.

‘Oh mah, oh… err’ she stammered, before dropping to her front knees.

‘Rise, Applejack. This is, indeed, an important moment. Twilight and company should be here momentarily.’

Just as she said this, a small pink and purple blotch became visible from the distant cloud city of Cloudsdale.

‘Rainbow! I- I can’t believe yer… Yer awake…’ said Applejack, a tear in her eye.

‘Not quite. She has been asleep for more than two years. I know not what she experienced in this sleep, if anything at all, and we must wait for Twilight to get here before we attempt anything to revive her completely.’ Said the princess.

After what felt like an eon, but what was really 10 minutes, the balloon landed just outside the hospital and all of the ponies climbed out and ran in. Suddenly a purple flash in the hallway marked them all arriving via teleportation and they ran in.

‘Sorry it took so long, Princess. I needed directions to teleport up here, and most of us can’t fly.’ She said, immediately dropping to her front knees after, the rest following suit.

‘Rise, my faithful subjects. Twilight, do you remember the memory spell you used while fighting Discord?’

‘Yes, princess… but why would we- *gasp* Rainbow!’ she shouted, noticing the blue pony sitting upright on the bed.

‘Yes, Twilight. I fear she may have been corrupted by that world. Only you know her mind well enough to restore her memories, so I need you to attempt it.’

‘Yes, Princess. At once’ she said, her horn already glowing.

The screen on the wall had disappeared. When Soarin said Scootaloo could be a Wonderbolt, the screen had immediately faded. The wall had opened up and she looked out to find not just Applejack, but all of her other friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Princess Celestia, herself waiting. Twilight was walking toward her, horn glowing.

‘Twilight? What are you doing?’ she asked her friend

Twilight stopped. She turned to the princess. ‘Can… is she awake? Can she see what I’m doing?’

‘Well, of course I can, silly! You’re standing right in front of me! Oh, watch out for that gap in the clouds. You nearly fell through it. Hey, there’s another one.’

Rainbow Dash looked around and noticed the clouds around her beginning to crumble. Bits of cloud everywhere were beginning to simply fall, and when she turned to look behind her, the building she was just in had fallen.

Celestia spoke up. ‘Hurry, Twilight. Her mind is attempting to shut down again, you need to cast the spell!’

‘What spell? I’m fine! You’re all in danger, the clouds are crumbling! No don’t step there!!’ she said, too late. Twilight had put her foot down one of the holes, but she didn’t fall… strange.

She continued to advance upon Rainbow. Rainbow tried to run, but found Applejack and Scootaloo holding her. ‘What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go!!’ she yelled.

Twilight’s horn touched her head. The clouds around her reformed to perfection then began to reshape themselves. She was sitting on a cloud bed, and surrounded by cloud walls. Even as she watched, they changed colour and flattened perfectly to walls, floor, and ceiling. The bed solidified and she became aware of how sore she was. She felt like she had been asleep for a really long time and all of her joints were stiff.

Then she noticed she could remember past a month ago. Fighting Discord, producing her second rainboom, fighting Nightmare Moon, meeting Twilight, it all came back. She fell unconscious again.

When she came to, all medical apparatus was gone except the heart monitor. It was going normal speed.

‘Well, you’re awake again. It’s been two days. Princess Celestia had to go back to Canterlot.’ Said Twilight, from her left.

‘Ugh, my head hurts… what happened?’ she asked, sitting up again. ‘Where am I? I think… I was trying a new trick with Fluttershy and… something went wrong… I… I was hit by lightning, right? That’s the last thing I remember.’

‘Yeah, that’s right. Fluttershy saved you. You took a mighty fall and nearly died. You might want to lie down again, yer not gonna want to hear this…’ she waited for Dash to lie down again. ‘Rainbow… You’ve been in a coma...’

‘That’s like a big sleep, right? How long for? A week? Two?’

‘Two years’ said Applejack slowly.

Rainbow Dash laughed. Surely it was a joke. Nopony can sleep for two years! She thought to herself. When no one else joined in on her laughter, she stopped. She noticed that while nopony else looked much older, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had, indeed, grown. Scootaloo looked much stronger in the shoulders, and they all had their cutie marks, along with having grown to their full size.

‘No…’ she whispered.

They all sat in silence until Dash eventually spoke again. ‘What have I missed?’ she asked.

Everyone glanced to Scootaloo, and she began to speak of her vision the day after the accident had happened, and of how she had trained all the way up to the current day. She spoke of what happened in the competition, until Dash interrupted saying she had seen Scootaloo and Jecht flying.

They continued to tell her about all of the things that had happened in and around Ponyville. Sugarcube Corner had opened a bigger shop in Canterlot, Granny Smith was still alive and well, and the Apple family had released a new apple sauce that everypony loved.

Visiting hours ended, and Dash wasn’t allowed to leave. The nurse wanted 24 hours of observation before she could go. Around midday the next day, Dash was free once again. She had gone through exercises to stretch disused muscles, and even had a spell cast on her to return her normal strength, but she hadn’t been able to fly indoors. She had noticed that no matter what the doctors tried, she had a limp in one of her forelegs. They said she had seriously broken it in the accident and even though she could still use it, it would never be as strong as it used to be.

When she walked out of the front doors and took a breath of fresh air, she met all of her friends there, waiting. Applebloom had remained at the farm, and Sweetie Belle was watching the Botique, while Scootaloo and Jecht had been called to Canterlot to finalise their joining of the Wonderbolts. The six friends were together once again, and the six Elements were still whole and untarnished.

Chapter 6 - Sad Ending

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 6 – Sad Ending

Authors note: Keep in mind that ponies don’t live as long as humans. A year of training to them is about five years of training to us.

Also, be forewarned. This is a copy/paste of the happy ending. About half way through, nearly everything is different, but I suggest you skim-read the first half, as it's nearly all the same. Only a few things were changed.

The day of the competition had finally come. One way or another, this was the day to determine how the rest of her life would play out. Her nervousness had hit a peak. She climbed out of bed and promptly ran to the bathroom and threw up. When she eventually exited the bathroom, Jecht was standing near the door, looking faint.

‘Feel better?’ she asked gently

‘A bit…’ she said, finding her voice weak.

Jecht walked into the bathroom and closed the door, then met Scootaloo at the breakfast table five minutes later.

‘Do you think you could eat anything?’ asked Scootaloo

‘Probably not… Better try anyway. What about you?’

‘Yeah, I suppose’ conceded Scootaloo. She headed over to the cupboard and grabbed a couple of carrots.

‘Do we have anything lighter?’ asked Jecht

‘Nothing but cloudwater and hay’ Said Scootaloo

‘Well, alright, then.’ Said Jecht, taking one of the carrots. She only ended up eating half of it before her father came down the stairs and into the kitchen.

‘Good morning, girls. Wow, the tension in here is thick enough to cut with a knife!’ he said, emphasising with a cutting motion of his hoof.

‘Oh, come now, it’s just a joke’ he said after noticing the looks on their faces.

‘What’s up? Can I help? You know I’m here if you need me. Either of you.’

‘No, dad. Just… I’m worried. We both are. This is a huge point in our lives. We… We’re worried.’ Said Jecht

‘Well, I’d say don’t, but… I dunno. Do your best and I’m sure everything will work out fine. Would it help if I said I was cheering for you? I’d cheer for you over my own sister. Both of you. My daughters are the most important thing in my life.’

‘Thank you… Dad…’ said Scootaloo.

Jecht’s father was taken aback. He treated her like a daughter of his own, and even sometimes called her his daughter, but she had never called him dad… not even ‘father’. He suddenly trotted over and pulled them both to himself in a hug.

His wife came in just as they all broke apart. She had been standing just beyond the doorway, listening. She trotted over to her husband and leant against him. She had never been more proud of him, or of her daughter. She also considered Scootaloo to be family, even if not blood.

The two girls didn’t eat anything else, and so they left while their parents were eating breakfast.

When they arrived at the aerodrome, their coach was waiting for them.

‘This is it. You’re probably the youngest fillies… no, the youngest mares to have ever been given a chance to compete against the Wonderbolts. Remember your training and you’ll do fine. Heck, I think you might be able to win.’ He said in his rough voice. This in and of itself wasn’t too praising, but coming from such a stern coach, it meant more to them than anything said to them all day.

‘Thanks, coach. We’ll try our best.’ Said Jecht

‘No, not your best. Do harder! Remember your training! 110%!’ he said, his voice louder than necessary. ‘Err, give it all you’ve got’ he said, lowering his voice again.

‘We will. I promise.’ For Rainbow Dash. Thought Scootaloo

‘The Wonderbolts are already here. They arrived sometime last night in an attempt to avoid the crowds. It would have worked, but Spitfires hair can be seen from a mile away. Don’t get sidetracked, Jecht.’ He said.

‘I was given a chance against them, once. I blew it. I was neck in neck with your father, but he sprinted to the finish before me. From that day forth, I’ve cut my mane twice a day. Without it, I would have won.’ He said, eyes glazing over as he recalled the memories.

‘Well, here’s the run-down. The first competition is going to be aerobatics. You have fifteen minutes to show your stuff before they mark you. That barely counts for anything. The real points come from the races. There’s one race, circuit, with thirty laps, then there’s another, where you just have to fly your hardest for the finish line and the fastest pony wins. No special moves, no agility, no flexibility, just pure, unbridled speed. Remember, that’s where you leave your mark. The Wonderbolts are fancy fliers, but they are nowhere near the fastest. Watch out for foal play and fly your best. Make me proud, girls.’ He said, then turned and flew off to the grandstand.

Training. Warm up. ‘C’mon, Jecht. We need to warm up our wings.’ Said Scootaloo.

They spent the next 20 minutes doing mid-speed laps of the aerodrome, so as to not lose much energy, followed by 15 minutes of fancy-flying. After a day of wing disuse, their wings were fairly stiff. Scootaloo was doing fine, but Jecht was having a bit of trouble.

‘Scootaloo… I think I ought to land. My wing joint is feeling sore and- AHH!’ she shrieked as it cramped and locked up. She fell solidly to the stadium floor. Had she been any higher up, the fall may have done more damage, but it was only 15 yards to cloud.

‘Jecht!’ Scootaloo yelled, dashing down to help her. ‘Are you okay? You didn’t break anything, did you?’

‘No-‘ she panted, ‘I’m – Just – Winded!’ she said, gasping for breath.

‘Come on over to the benches. Have a rest and we’ll be ready to start soon.’

After going and sitting on a bench off to the side of the stadium, they noticed a strange pink balloon. The saw it through one of the high windows, and it was coming closer and closer to the stadium. Just as they were sure it would hit the window, a purple glow came across the balloon and a glowing rope tied itself to the cloud wall, then several earth-ponies and unicorns climbed out.

That shouldn’t be possible… only- ouch- only Pegasus-ponies can walk on cloud… thought Jecht, interrupted by a twinge of pain from one of her lower ribs.

‘That would be Twilight. She has a spell to let earth-ponies and unicorns walk on clouds, but I’ve never seen her use it before’ said Scootaloo, almost reading Jecht’s mind. ‘Are you sure you’re okay? You’re still breathing heavily…’

‘Yeah, I’m fine. Maybe we should – go for a walk. I won’t trust my wing joint just yet.’

They cantered over and noticed that Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had come with the group. Twilight was double, and probably triple checking her knot to make sure the balloon didn’t blow away, while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike all took seats in the cloud grandstand.

‘Well, these seats are simply marvellously soft, if a little crude to the eye. I say, Applejack will be sorry she missed out on th- *gasp* Scootaloo! Just the mare we’re here to see! And I see you brought your friend, too. Uhh… Terribly sorry, dear, but your name has slipped my mind’ said rarity all at once with a regal tone.

‘It’s Jecht. I think we met once… You run a boutique in Ponyville?’

‘And she remembers me! Oh, you are a charmer,’ said Rarity, obviously flattering her. ‘I think you made the right choice in friends, Scootaloo’

‘Yeah. So do I’ she said, looking over at Jecht.

After a moment, Twilight came over. ‘Well, I see the spell worked okay, and my knot looks fine. Scootaloo! Hi, how are you? Are you ready for the race?’ she asked, offering a hoof.

‘I think so, but I still have butterflies in my stomach’ she said, shaking her hoof. She glanced at the grandstand which was nearly full, despite the last-minute seats being added to it and her stomach gave a lurch.

‘I might have a spell to calm your nerves,’ said Twilight, ‘but the judges might count that as cheating… sorry, Scootaloo’.

‘Thanks anyway, Twilight. I wouldn’t want the spell even if you could do it… This is for Rainbow. I need to do it on my own energy.’

‘For Rainbow’ piped up Spike

‘For Rainbow!’ cheered the rest of the ponies there.

‘We’ll be watching.’ Said Scootaloo, sitting next to her sister.

‘Yer gonna win, Scootaloo! The Crusaders are right behind you. We’ll be cheerin’ for ya!’ said Applebloom.

‘I guess, um, just do your best and, uh, have fun?’ said Fluttershy quietly. ‘That is, if you want to…’

‘Who wouldn’t want to have fun?? Fun is the most fun a pony can have! It can be even more fun if there’s a party and *gasp* when you win we’ll throw you a party! And everypony here can come and all of Ponyville will surely turn up to congratulate you! They would be here, but it would have been too much work for Twilight to do and-‘

‘Pinkie, I think she gets it.’ Interrupted Twilight

‘Oh, yeah, I guess. Just go out and have FUN!’ she pretty much yelled, with a few heads turning in nearby seats.

‘We will, Pinkie’ said Scootaloo.

‘You can count on it! I’ll have enough fun for the both of us, at any rate!’ said Jecht.

Pinkie’s face lit up and she grinned ear to ear. ‘That’s what I like to hear! Give it all you’ve got!’

As they walked back to their bench on the side of the stadium, Jecht spoke to her. ‘Is she always like that?’

‘From what I remember, yeah. She actually seems to have calmed down a bit, but she hasn’t matured since I left’ said Scootaloo.

‘Hey, look. It’s dad’ said Jecht, pointing with a hoof to a seat fairly close to the bottom row. ‘Mom’s with him.’

‘Should we go and say hi? Actually, no. There are too many people around… Maybe just wave’ said Scootaloo, raising a hoof to wave to them.

Jecht waved too, and they saw her mother excitedly say something to her husband.

‘Probably just stating that we waved.’ Said Jecht. ‘Hey, look over there!’

The Wonderbolts suddenly flew in from the roof. Scootaloo didn’t see them come in, but there were four of them flying in circles around the aerodrome. The crowd quickly turned their heads skyward and collectively cheered a deafening bellow to announce the arrival of the Wonderbolts.

On the way down, the Wonderbolts let out a stream of dark, lightning-laced clouds. When they reached the bottom, the words seemed to move on their own to spell the word WONDERBOLTS.

‘Well, what does the crowd think of that?’ asked the coach over the loudspeaker.

The crowd roared their approval.

‘Show offs…’ muttered Jecht. Scootaloo stared at her. But… she wants to be one, doesn’t she?

‘Today, we have a competition between the world-famous Wonderbolts-‘ he paused for a cheer- ‘and Cloudsdale’s very own Scootaloo and Jecht’ he finished, with another cheer going up.

‘These two have been training together for more than a year now, but will a mere year’s training be enough for them to take on the Wonderbolts?’ he asked. The crowd responded with a mix of cheering and booing. This made Scootaloo feel far worse, after they had been cheering for her and Jecht but a moment ago.

‘The first competition will be in skilful flying. The Wonderbolts will send out two competitors, followed by Scootaloo and Jecht. There is a group of judges for this, but points will also be awarded for the biggest cheer, so get those lungs ready!’ he said as the crowd roared.

A colt with a dark blue mane and a mare with an electric yellow one flew to the centre of the stadium.

‘And it looks like they’ve sent out Soarin and Shockwave; an unusual combination for any competition. It looks like we may see some new moves, everypony!’ said the voice over the loudspeaker, and the crowd shouted their approval.

‘Their fifteen minutes begins as soon as they take off’ he said. Suddenly, numbers appeared on either side of the stadium. 15:00, they read.

They muttered a few words to each other, then trotted to opposing sides of the stadium. Suddenly they began to gallop toward each other, and a mere two yards from each other, jumped into the air and gave each other a high-hoof while taking off.

‘And there they go! They’re picking up speed and getting ready for their first trick!’ shouted the coach, barely audible over the din of the crowd.

They flew hard and fast around the stadium, to the top, then angled toward each other, letting out a stream of thundercloud. As they spiralled toward each other, the cloud shape behind them remained, and then they cut off the stream when they reached each other. Shockwave flew down and Soarin flew up above the shape, and they both began madly flapping to spin the shape. As it spun faster and faster, it began to strike lightning more and more until it was a glowing, swirling spiral.

12:47

Soarin flew around it and toward the centre. Shockwave attached a stream-cloud to the point in the spiral where the two other streams connected, and flew half way to the floor. Soarin reached her and started a stream from this one, going a short way out and around, to meet back up where he began in a three-yard wide circle. Shockwave made two more of these, all connecting at the top and bottom, so there was a circular cage. Soarin flew into the rotating cage and began to fan it to spin the other way. It stopped moving while the spiral continued to spin, and the distance between spiral and cage began to shorten as the stream connecting them tightened and spun.

When the two were half the distance from each other as they had been, he quickly flew out and away as the cage began to spin rapidly. It rotated so fast, nopony could see through it, but it lit up in a small rainbow as thunder crackled inside it.

It’s too small… the rainbow cage always looks better than this! Thought Shockwave to herself. Well, she thought, if there’s one thing I know; it’s how to play with thunder.
9:42

She quickly waved Soarin away, who looked confused as to why it wasn’t working as it should, and she flew toward it. She positioned herself directly below the cage and bucked at the point that the three tings all came together at the bottom.

There was a deafening boom that even drowned out the noise of the crowd for a moment, and the entire structure flashed. Electricity raced out from the point that Shockwave had kicked it, and shot out along the spiral.

Not what I had in mind, but it worked nonetheless. Thought Shockwave

When did she learn that? Thought Soarin

Something went wrong. The thunder doubled back. It was racing back along the spiral with more intensity than the first shock. Before it reached the cage again, Shockwave bucked a chunk out of the tether between the cage and the spiral. The cage began to fall, still spinning, and the lightning travelled closer to the missing bit of tether.

8:01

I have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe we should have started with something easier! Oh no! thought Shockwave.

She flew away from the structure as fast as she could, just as thunder boomed and struck out from the missing piece of tether. It flew in all directions, barely missing the Wonderbolts in the air, but hitting the other end of the tether, connected to the now falling cage.

The light pulsated along the cage faster and faster as it lit up and flashed out a rainbow.

Oh, now you work, you useless bucking light ball thought Shockwave.

Then the cage hit the ground and exploded. Lightning flared everywhere. The ball had charged as it was falling, and the thunder spraying from it was four times the energy that had been put in with the buck, despite the amount lost when travelling between tethers.

The thunder shocks didn’t make it to the crowd; however they did hit Soarin, who had been hovering nearby. He fell to the stage floor, smoking, and unconscious. The crowd collectively gasped as Shockwave flew to help her fallen comrade.

‘Well, I think we might have to call this show early and get Soarin to a medic.’ Said the coach.

The timer stopped on 6:52 and three white Pegasus ponies flew from a corridor leading away from the stage toward the fallen pony. They checked his pulse, and one checked for breathing with a stethoscope, then the four gathered him up and flew back down the corridor with Soarin between them.

‘We will be taking a short, twenty minute break while the Weather Patrol gets cleans up the stage. Feel free to make use of the canteen in the lobby.’

The coach flew out of the main box and down to the stage. He trotted over to Scootaloo and Jecht who were still frozen in shock.

‘Well… You’re sure to win now, eh?’ he said

‘Soarin… Shockwave… He…’ stammered Jecht

‘He’ll be fine. He’s probably just in shock, that’s all. Err, excuse the pun.’ He said

Scootaloo snapped out of it, but Jecht still stared at the spot he had fallen, mouth agape. ‘If you say so, but… that looked serious…’

‘Don’t worry. I know for a fact that he’s had worse. I was there when he slammed into a pole once. He tried to fly through a column of cloud as a stunt, but some prankster had simply covered a pole with clouds and said it was a column. He broke his nose, had a concussion, and was unconscious for a day and a half. The lightning shock will have him twitchy for a few hours, but he’ll be fine’ he said with a malicious laugh. ‘I probably should have told him not to fly at the column of cloud so fast, but it must have slipped my mind. You should probably use this break to perfect your routine, eh?’

‘Yeah… we’ll just do that…’ said Jecht, somewhat coming out of her trance.

As he flew away down the corridor the medics had flown through a few minutes ago, Scootaloo turned to Jecht.

‘We’re ready. This will be easy. We don’t have any cloud-streams, but we do have our skill and our speed. This is what a year of training boils down to. We can do this.’ She said.

‘Yes. We have to. For us, for Cloudsdale, and for Rainbow Dash.’ Said Jecht. Scootaloo was somewhat surprised that her friend had remembered Rainbow Dash as a main source of inspiration, but shook it off as they moved out to the stage to go through their routine. They went through the moves in their minds, verbalising what order to do them, and slowly flying around to practise the more difficult parts. They landed as the stands began to fill again.

‘The good thing is that nothing like that can go wrong, haha!’ said Jecht, returning to her normal vigour. ‘Our act relies on skill, not tricks of light and clouds.’

‘Right. We will win this. They will accept us. By the end of the day, we will be Wonderbolts!’

Rainbow Dash stirred. She had nearly fallen asleep again, but Applejack kept telling her not to. Whenever she laid her head down to sleep, Applejack would tell her not to go. She would say to come back to her.

‘But, Applejack, I’m tired!’ whined Rainbow Dash. Applejack didn’t respond. She looked at Rainbow Dash with longing and care in her eyes.

‘Fine.’ She said. She felt like something was going on, anyway.

In much the same way Pinkie could tell if there was a party nearby, or Twilight could tell if there was a new book to read, Rainbow could sense when a race was going down. She could feel her mane tingle.

Her mane was tingling right now. She had the occasional twitch on the nape of her neck every couple of days, followed by an image of Scootaloo looking happy with a strange blue pony, but not like this. Her whole mane was brimming with energy, as though she could shock someone just by looking at them.

She had quickly learned her way around this Cloudsdale. It seemed small, though she didn’t know why, as it was all she had ever known. A new building had appeared. It didn’t just spring up in front of her, but she had turned around and it had just been there. The building was made of fluffy white cloud, and was about 20 yards across, and 15 yards high. She walked through an open archway, which sealed behind her. Applejack hadn’t come in with her. She was alone.

Just as she began to worry and look for an exit, the opposite wall lit up. She saw Scootaloo and another strange, blue mare on it. The picture was big. If only I could move back to see better[/i]. The picture’s way too big to see from here she thought. Just then, the screen shrank until it was about a yard across. Dash sat down in front of it and watched.

She saw Scootaloo talking to her friend. She couldn’t hear what they were saying over a crowd cheering. Off behind the two mares, she could see a crowd. Right then, a voice cut across everything.

‘We apologise for the delay, and assure you that Soarin will be fine! He is already conscious again, we have simply had to restrain him. He seemed to want to cause as much damage to Shockwave as he could in the smallest amount of time possible’ he joked. A few members of the crowd laughed, but others whispered to each other about whether he was really okay, and just how much ‘damage’ he had caused Shockwave before being restrained.

‘Same rules as before. Your 15 minutes’ he said as 15:00 appeared on the timer ‘starts as soon as you leave the ground.’

They glanced to each other and nodded before returning to their saddlebags. If the Wonderbolts could use tricks of the eye, so could they. They each grabbed a small bag full of grey powder and tied it to their necks. This was the same gunpowder Pinkie used in her party cannon. They each powdered their inside hooves and sparked a high-hoof while taking off. They flew to opposing ends of the arena and spun together. After powdering their hooves lightly again, they clicked their hooves together in a near-collision and a blue-and-purple flash came out from between them; the crowd ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed all the while.

Ouch, I don’t think we can do too many of them... thought Scootaloo, looking at her already blackened hooves.

She did a single barrel roll to signal the next move to Jecht and they both flew to the top of the arena, and began to spin in a loose spiral to the centre. Scootaloo subconsciously noticed that Jecht’s line wasn’t perfectly curved, it seemed scribbled, as though she wasn’t flying straight. As soon as they came together, they sparked their iron horseshoes together and lit the gunpowder. Both darted away from the burning gunpowder as a rainbow flame began to shoot along the airborn structure. Some of the gunpowder was missed while falling, but ignited as soon as it hit the stadium floor.

12:13

Enough flashes. We need to get to some skill-moves thought Scootaloo

She began barrel rolling in a loop to the centre, Jecht a mirror image of her. When they came together, each pushed off the other’s hooves, Jecht flying down and Scootaloo flying up. The crowd cheered. Scootaloo closed her wings and Jecht flew up above, then just as Scootaloo was about to hit the floor, Jecht caught her and threw her up, adding a gust of wind from below to lift her. They flew up together, all four hooves toughing each others, and the crowd cheered more. Flying vertically was difficult at the best of times, but one slip-up here and they could well kick the other out of the sky.

When they both neared the top of the stadium, they spun out to face opposite directions, each holding the other’s left hoof. They held their wings straight and spiral-glided down together for roughly 5 yards, before Jecht slipped. Her wing cramped again and slammed in against her side. Scootaloo grabbed at her and acted as though this move included one carrying the other.

‘We’re losing them, Scoot!’ shouted Jecht over the wind in her ears

‘Let’s try something…’ Scootaloo said.

She flew up to the ceiling and dropped Jecht. Playing along with it, Jecht pulled a Supercolt pose, one foreleg pointed out, and the other folded back. Scootaloo shot down below her and grabbed her again just before she hit the floor. The crowd went wild.

‘Aerobatics without wings? I’ve never seen anything like it!’ called out the coach

‘My wing feels a bit better… I think I can fly again, but I don’t want to try any tight turns’ said Jecht

‘Okay, just be careful… if anything happens to you, I’d never forgive myself’ said Scootaloo, letting go. Jecht took off again and continued their routine as best she could.

7:23

Dash continued to watch the screen as Scootaloo and that strange, yet familiar pony did their aerial tricks. Every time the crowd cheered, she felt more energised; but when they slowed their cheering, she felt tired again…

Strange… it’s almost as though… I need her to win.

They began to circle each-other, multi-coloured streams coming together, making rainbow flashes again. When Dash leaned closer to the screen, she noticed their hooves were smoking and Scootaloo was beginning to wince in pain.

The timer was quickly ticking down as the two continued to make rounded shapes with their streams. First they made yet another spiral, then a flower with a purple stem, and then a 3D ball.

The two seemed to be putting on more speed again, and a white cone began to encircle either of them. They began to make more complex shapes, and their slipstreams took far longer to disperse, now. They made a 3D ball within another ball, purple within blue, then cut through them and made a cube by making sharp, 90 degree turns at the corners. Dash couldn’t be more proud of Scootaloo right then. Dash herself had spent the better part of a year trying to perfect that move alone. She couldn’t have chosen a better protégé.

The coach’s voice rang out over the din of the crowd, ‘That is a difficult move to do! Only the best fliers in Equestria can make such sharp turns while flying so fast! One slip and it’s all over’.

3:22

Their time was nearly up, but their moves were running out faster. Each had half a bag of gunpowder left, but that was needed for the final move. The last move they had left before the finale was the Helicyclone. They flew together and linked tails, then turned slightly to opposite sides and spun. They didn’t rise, or lower, they just spun. After a few moments, the wind began to pick up and the crowd went nearly silent with anticipation for what was coming.

They held the cyclone for a moment, then broke away from each other and flew up and down it in circled. The spinning wind began to turn orange and blue, with streaks of purple and yellow. Scootaloo up top and Jecht down the bottom, they began to lead the cyclone into a circle. After 20 seconds or so of pushing, they had it spinning around in a circle shape. They had to keep constant pressure to it; else the whole structure would crumble and spin out of control.

‘Wow! I have never seen anything like this before, folks, and I’ve been doing this for a long time!’

The crowd cheered their support for such a strange move.

2:09

The roaring of the crowd mixed with the wind was too loud. Scootaloo had no chance of communicating to Jecht with words. She waved her arms for attention then pointed to the bag around her neck. Jecht understood. They both poured the remaining powder out of the bags and into the round cyclone. When the cyclone was completely visible with grey dust, they braced themselves and Jecht clicked her front hooves together.

Everything seemed to slow down. Scootaloo saw the spark in front of Jecht, followed by the ignition of nearby dust. There was too much, she wouldn’t escape the blast. Jecht turned and flew as fast as she could, but the fire was gaining on her. The crows collectively gasped as the rainbow fire chased Jecht away from the point of origin.

Scootaloo took off. The world was moving in slow motion, but she was going normal speed. She didn’t seem to be able to go any faster than a light run. She pushed and pushed, but there was some sort of barrier blocking her way to get to her friend.

Fire nipped at Jecht’s tail, and Jecht turned to get one last look at her friend, her love, before she was engulfed.

That look in her eyes. That look of absolute desperation, followed by acceptance of death was too much for Scootaloo. She pushed with all her might against the barrier, only to stop dead in the air. Before she could even fathom what had done it, the white cone surrounding her fired back and ejected her. She was moving back from Jecht, heartbroken. She was never to see those eyes again. She landed heavily on the floor and heard the deafening boom. She couldn’t tell if the crowd was silent or if she had gone deaf until she looked up. Not a single person was moving. They all sat in stunned silence. It was over. She had lost the competition. She had lost her life goal. She had lost her love.

Dash looked into the lens, even as it began to fade. She saw Scootaloo fail. The competition was over, and in the clearing of the smoke, only a charred, smouldering shape was visible on the floor. She was suddenly overwhelmed with tiredness… she had to sleep… she could no longer stay awake. It was time to rest.

Applejack looked up in horror. She had drifted off into sleep next to Rainbow Dash. The heart monitor was going down rapidly. An alarm had begun to go off as it slipped below 15BPM. Applejack feared for Dash. She ran to the door, knowing she needed to get the nurse, but unwilling to leave. Before she even got halfway out the door, she saw the nurse running.

‘So… Tired…’ said Dash, to no one in particular. The walls lowered around her and she looked up to see Applejack standing next to a nurse… That’s weird… what’s the nurse doing in Cloudsdale?

The thunder cloud returned. She felt a light shock on her flank, this time more dulled than last time.

She faintly heard Applejack saying ‘No, Rainbow! Don’t leave me! Go… go away from the light!’

‘No light… I’m not going anywhere… I just... need… sleep……’ she said slowly, closing her eyes.

Jecht’s father sat in stunned shock. His daughter… she… no, she isn’t dead. She can’t be. He got to his feet, slightly larger than any other pony there, and flew as fast as he could to the stage. A Wonderbolt tried to restrain him, but he shook her off and continued. He landed three yards from the charred body and walked slowly the rest of the way.

Half a foot from the body he stopped. He looked down upon the broken, burned body of his daughter and wept. His one and only daughter was dead; burned not only before his own eyes, but those of thousands of other onlookers. He turned and looked behind, just to confirm that the crowd was still watching and sobbed harder.

He was faintly aware of his wife and sister touching down on either side of him. She can’t… it’s… why? Why did she have to go now? Why! ‘WHY?!’ he bellowed, and his wife flinched.

‘It’s-‘ his wife began,

‘Do NOT say it’s alright! Out daughter is dead! She’s gone forever, how is that alright?! She would still be alive if it weren’t for HER!’ he bellowed, suddenly turning to Scootaloo, who was still sitting in shock over the other side of the stadium.

He prepared to take off, but Spitfire grabbed him. ‘Get off! Get off me!’ he yelled at his sister

‘No, I can’t! It wasn’t her fault! Don’t do anything you’ll regret!!’ Spitfire shouted, lying on his back and crossing her front legs on his neck.

He suddenly dived on his back, knocking the wind from Spitfire’s lungs, and flew across the stadium to Scootaloo. ‘Why did you do this? Why didn’t you stop her! You knew it was dangerous! You knew something could happen!! Why did you kill my daughter!’ he bellowed.

‘I didn’t-’

‘YES YOU DID, AND YOU KNOW IT!’ he screamed, hitting her across the jaw.

Everypony around was too scared to approach. Spitfire was too winded, and no one else had the strength to take him on.

Tears streamed down Scootaloo’s face. The love of her life had died because she was too stupid to call off a stunt, and now a pony she considered to be her father was blaming her.

‘Answer me!’ he screamed, hitting her again. He pulled back his hoof ready to continue the beating, when his hoof suddenly glowed purple and stopped. He spun around, looking for whatever it was holding his arm back. He was suddenly bound in ropes of purple magic and rested a safe distance from Scootaloo.

Twilight came running. ‘Scootaloo! Are you okay?’

‘No. I’m not okay. Nothing is. Jecht…’ she broke off, unable to say anything else and began to cry in great shuddering sobs.

Off in the distance, Spike burped up a letter, and dashed to present it to Twilight. After quickly reading it she muttered ‘Oh, no…’ and magically lifted Scootaloo up. Scootaloo didn’t object. She was catatonic, and couldn’t object if she wanted to. The love of her life was gone, and she had been rejected by the only family she knew. She had failed the competition and failed Rainbow Dash.

Twilight teleported all of them up into the balloon and used her magic to untie it and begin to pull it toward Ponyville.

Princess Celestia had arrived. When she entered the room, she found the nurse checking her watch and writing a note on a clipboard. When she looked to the bed, Applejack was leaning on top of the limp body of Rainbow Dash and weeping. She didn’t even need to ask what had happened. She went and sat in the corner, the nurse bowing as she entered, but Applejack not even noticing.

After close to 15 minutes, a flash of purple light came from the hallway and Twilig.ht entered, lifting Scootaloo with magic. After them came Spike, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Pinkie’s hair had gone flat for the first time in two years. When she entered the room and saw the scene, it somehow seemed to become even flatter.

Rarity pulled out a hankie, but before she could use it, Pinkie Pie took it from her hand and blew her nose loudly. When she tried to hand it back to Rarity, she declined it.

Fluttershy was sobbing quietly after settling down next to the princess, and Celestia had gently rested a wing across the cream-coloured Pegasus. They all knew what was going on now, Scootaloo having completely fallen unconscious, and Princess Celestia spoke gently.

‘This is, indeed, a sad day. We have all lost a dear friend, and a fellow Element of Harmony. We must all stay strong and loyal to each other, in the hopes that the spirit of Rainbow Dash lives on in our hearts. A burial will be held in three days time. I would have it in Canterlot, assuming nopony else can think of a better place?’

‘Ah think… She wouldn’t mind where she was buried. She would want her closest friends there. Ah never met her family. She never talked about them, and Ah never asked. Maybe… she would want the Wonderbolts there, if she could have them.’

‘I will organise it. In three days, we will take her to Canterlot, and she will be given a proper burial. She will be buried alongside those of the highest lords and ladies.’

The ponies gathered all murmured their agreement, too stricken with grief to say anything different.

Ponyville would never be the same without the lively attitude of the weather pony, always training to join the Wonderbolts. The last two years had been the quietest Ponyville had seen in years, but as soon as word spread about how Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty, had died; the town would grieve. She had been close to everyone in the town. Everyone knew her name, and they would all miss the familiar sheer she always exerted while doing anything.

Scootaloo slept a nightmare-filled sleep, unable to think of anything but how her love and her hero were both gone.

Chapter 7 - Happy Epilogue

ATTENTION: Please disregard this and read the extended version. The extended version is exactly the same, word for word, but has twice as much story on the end of it. Believe me, you're not going to gain anything extra from reading both this and that one.

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 7 – Happy Epilogue

Authors note: Out of boredom, I’m going to put in several references to groups. See if you can find them all. The first one is 2PM, that will let you know how hard they’ll be to find.

Post-story note: I only ended up putting in two. The references in the arcade don't count.

And, yes, the arcade “Flynt’s” is a reference to a movie.

‘This is so boring’ whispered Jecht

‘I know, but it’ll be worth it’ said Scootaloo

They had been signing forms for the past half hour. The Wonderbolts seemed to have an endless supply of paper for them to write signatures and initials on. A few were wavers saying that if they were injured, the team couldn’t be sued; while others were forms for free medicals from certain doctors. They had to give right to attorney to the captain of the team, along with signing their contracts. They would be given an exceptional amount of money. For every race they won, they would each receive a thousand bits, and for every event they went to in costume, they would receive 200.

The pile of sheets for them to sign was slowly dwindling, until at roughly 2PM they were finally done, and were allowed to leave for the day. They were told to be back at the Canterlot aerodrome by dawn the next day for drills.

‘Where to, then? Have you ever been to Canterlot?’ asked Jecht

‘No. I’ve only ever been to Ponyville and Cloudsdale.’

‘Well, I came along here once to see Spitfire. Dad made me. I know of some good spots to take you, so let’s go!’

Scootaloo followed Jecht along Canterlot, past the castle and out of the rich district. They were heading along the mane street with surprisingly few other Pegasus ponies flying. Then again, they had lived in Cloudsdale for so long, that Scootaaloo had nearly forgotten what it was like not having ponies flying everywhere, and Jecht couldn’t even remember what it was like.

There were shops for almost everything. There were several café’s, along with a few boutiques, and they wondered how a shop called Globus stayed in business that only seemed to sell maps and globes.

They touched down just in front of a café on Mane Street, then looked around. Just before walking Scootaloo called Jecht back.

‘Look over there. It’s the new Sugarcube Corner!’ she said excitedly.

‘Oh, yeah, I forgot. Your friend opened that didn’t she? Pink… what was her name?’

‘Pinkie Pie. I’m not sure if she’ll be here, since Rainbow woke up.’ She said, and then flinched. She wanted to be spending time with Rainbow now more than ever, but she wasn’t able to leave Canterlot. If she left, she ran the risk of being over tired at the next day’s training, or even not turning up at all from being a city away.

The new Sugarcube Corner looked just like the old one. It was a fair difference from the buildings surrounding it, which were mostly single story and grey. Sugarcube Corner had a constant stream of ponies walking in and out, yet none of them seemed to be ‘fancy’. Several small-time DJs were inside, along with every pony and their dog who didn’t live in the rich district.

There was a tremendous amount of talking going on inside, semi-drowned in electronic music. There were light flashing over to the left of the shop and a white mare with lightning blue mane was standing behind a turntable.

‘Oh my Celestia, that’s DJ PON-3!!’ shouted Scootaloo over the crowd and music. ‘What’s she doing here?!’

Mrs. Cake suddenly appeared next to them. ‘She agreed to do shows every week for a few months to promote business. Oh, I can’t thank Pinkie Pie enough for trying to boost business, but she could have chosen someone a little quieter!’ she shouted over the noise in the room. ‘I haven’t seen you in years, Scootaloo! Come with me’ she said, leading them into a back room and shutting the door. The noise of the other room subsided somewhat and she offered them both seats.

She left the room again, the noise coming back momentarily as the door opened, and they looked at each other.

‘Well, I was right. Pinkie isn’t here.’ Said Scootaloo

‘Well, duh, but who’s the mare?’

‘Oh, yeah. She’s Mrs. Cake. She and her husband started Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville and basically adopted Pinkie when she arrived. She’s always been nice to me, and tolerant to the Crusaders. Then again, I don’t think there’s a pony alive she hasn’t been nice to.’

After a minute, Mrs. Cake re-entered the room with a tray on her back. The tray had a brightly coloured two-story cake on it, surrounded by cupcakes with pink, swirly frosting on them.

She placed the tray on the table and told them to help themselves.

‘No, Mrs. Cake, we couldn’t do that!’ Scootaloo objected

‘Yeah we could, I’m starving…’ muttered Jecht

‘Oh, please, dearies. It’s no trouble at all. After hearing about you becoming a Wonderbolt, and also about Rainbow Dash waking up, you must want to celebrate somehow! Well, I’m no Pinkie Pie, but I can give you some sweets. Go on, have some.’ Said Mrs. Cake, and Jecht immediately grabbed a cupcake

‘Thif if bood!’ said Jecht, then swallowed. ‘This has to be the best cupcake I’ve ever had’ she repeated, Scootaloo nearly choking on her cupcake with laughter.

‘Well, thank you. Now, I don’t think I got your name- oh! Where are my manners? I’m Vanilla Cake, but you can call me “Mrs. Cake” if you wish’

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Jecht. All I’m wondering is why Scootaloo never told me how amazing your baking was! Heh-heh, amazing baking’ she muttered to herself, pleased with how it rhymed.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I suppose it slipped my mind. I was probably too distracted by a friend who is entertained by bad half-rhymes’ she said.

‘Well, it’s nice to meet you too. Now Scootaloo,’ she said, turning to her. ‘You must tell me all that’s happened since you left! The Cutie Mark Crusaders were devastated, the poor little dears. Well, they’re not so little, now, but they were quite downtrodden!’

Scootaloo, with the help of Jecht, began to tell of all she had done after leaving Ponyville, how she had met Jecht, trained with her, and won countless competitions by her side. Mr. Cake came in from time to time looking for something or other in the boxes off to the side of the room. After she had finished telling her story, Mrs. Cake had a tear in her eye.

‘That’s just so sweet.’ She said with a sniffle. ‘So you two are… together?’

Scootaloo and Jecht looked at each other, smiled, and nodded.

‘Oh, it’s so nice to know that two ponies can love, despite what the populous may think. Back when I was a filly, they would have sent anypony off to a camp if they’d even hinted at such a thing. It’s nice to see how people are becoming more loving and tolerant’ she completed.

‘Well, I’m sorry to cut this short, but the night rush is about to start. That loud Vinyl puts on her new tracks and everypony for three miles comes to listen. We’ve made more money since the shop opened than we have in the last 15 years in Ponyville, but all the same I miss the little shop. We still send letters to our old friends, and Pinkie assures the shop is running well, but, oh, what I wouldn’t give to be back in Ponyville’

On that note, she trotted out of the room and went to stand behind the front counter and serve customers.

‘Maybe we should go check out those other places you mentioned?’ said Scootaloo

‘Oh, yeah. Sure, let’s go… after one more cupcake… or two!’ Said Jecht, grabbing two cupcakes and taking a huge bite out of one.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes at her marefriend, but grabbed a cupcake herself, and walked out after her. They waded back through the crowd and noticed the sun had lowered. Jecht guessed they had two hours before sunset.

She finished her first cupcake, then took to the air, Scootaloo following, and angling toward the North end of the rich district, almost as far from the castle as they could go before hitting the middle-class district. Right on the corner to the middle-class district, there was a massive arcade with the word “Flynt’s” displayed in full-caps on the front. They walked in, and were greeted with 80’s music by the Eurithmares. Looking around, they saw a whole load of retro-style arcade machines.

Jecht looked like she was one step away from salivating. Scootaloo suddenly burst out with laughter, but Jecht payed no heed.

‘Is this not the coolest thing you’ve seen all day?’ Jecht asked

‘It is pretty cool… I haven’t ever been to an old arcade. I’ve wanted to, but I’ve never even seen one before. I didn’t know there was one in Canterlot.’ She said

‘Oh yeah, there’s one here, and another in Manehattan. I think they have about four spread all about Fillydelphia. Fillydelphia is the place that I always wanted to live in. Great place to have a family. Everypony’s friendly, there’s almost no crime, and there are loads of family places like the arcades.’

They walked in between the aisles of machines, watching ponies playing different games. Scootaloo didn’t recognise any of the games, but they looked interesting. They ranged right down from a pixelated unicorn eating red lines, presumably carrots, and running from four different coloured ghosts all the way to a game where there were two Pegasus ponies flying around releasing jet-streams behind them. The goal of that game was to go as long as possible while trying not to hit the jetstreams, but also trying to trap the other person’s character in it.

Scootaloo turned around and Jecht was already deeply entranced and gaming away nearby. She went over to join her at a game called “Sky invaders” where an insane unicorn was trying to shoot down a flock of Pegasi that were all flying across the screen and slowly down.

After roughly an hour in the arcade, their saddlebags were a bit lighter. Well, 30 bits, to be precise. The sun was about half an hour from setting and Scootaloo asked where they were going next. Jecht seemed to come out of a daze and looked out the glass front door.

‘Oh! Wow, you should have said something earlier. I sort of drift off when I play games, hahah’ she said, idly rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

‘Well, I know one more spot we can go before we head back to the hotel.’ She said

The two Pegasi exited the arcade and took to the skies. They seemed to be heading away from Canterlot, and just as Scootaloo was about to ask again where they were headed, Jecht began to bank down. They landed on a hill with a solitary tree standing on it.

They sat in silence under the tree, and Scootaloo spoke.

‘So, what is there to do here?... Jecht?’ she asked and turned to face her.

When she turned, she was met with a completely clear, orange sky. The sun was barely above the horizon and seemed to slowly be melting into the ground. They watched in silence for several minutes, and Jecht scooted up close and rested her head against Scootaloo’s neck. Scootaloo tilted her head over Jecht’s and they continued to sit in loving silence for several more minutes, before Scootaloo figured they if they didn’t head back soon, they would lose all light.

Scootaloo lifted her head and noticed that Jecht had a tear on her cheek.

‘What’s up?’ asked Scootaloo

Jecht stirred. ‘What?’ felt her cheek to be wet. ‘Oh. I guess… it’s just… we’ve come so far together. I’m glad Rainbow Dash is awake, but if she hadn’t been hurt so badly, we never would have met. Neither of us would have gotten to where we are and… well, I’ve never told anypony this before, but… before I met you, I didn’t want to live. I was always out shadowed by Spitfire and no one wanted to talk to me. They were scared that I was stuck up, or that I was so rich that I’d reject them… life was horrible. I… If I hadn’t met you, I never would have met anyone else ever again…’ she said.

Scootaloo was taken aback. She had never known Jecht to be this way. Jecht always thinks things through before making any decision… could she really have considered suicide? If it wasn’t for me… she… her thoughts trailed off.

She lightly pressed her muzzle to Jecht’s cheek.

‘I’ll always be here for you, Jecht. I never want to leave your side. The whole deal with the Wonderbolts proved that.’

‘I know. I love you, Scootaloo.’ She said

‘And I love you, too, Jecht.’ Scootaloo responded, softly.

Two weeks later

Scootaloo and Jecht had finally been allowed to take a few days off. The first bits of training were to make sure the two new recruits were up to the standard of the rest of the team. They were up to it, and above it, so they were given a week to themselves. They both wanted to go back to each other’s hometowns. Jecht wanted to get to know Rainbow Dash a bit better, and they both wanted to go and see their parents.

They had decided that since Cloudsdale was further away, they would go there first so they would have a shorter trip back to Canterlot when they were tired out from their week.

‘Welcome home, Jecht! You too, Scootaloo. How has your week been?’ asked their father.

‘Pretty good’ said Scootaloo

‘Yeah,’ said Jecht, ‘except for how boring it was! All we did was sign papers and fly in circles. Sure, a couple of them are talkative, but mostly they’re devoted to flying around the aerodrome. We’re being put in the speed division, so all we do all day is practise flying.’

‘Well, it still sounds good! I mean, how many ponies become Wonderbolts?’ he countered

‘Yeah, I guess. We’re getting a fair few bits for it, too, but it just doesn’t seem like it’ll be fun… maybe I’ll see if we can get into the fancy-flier division.’ Said Jecht

‘Come along, your mother just served lunch. You should have called ahead, we would have made more; maybe even something better’ said their father, and they walked to the kitchen.

‘Welcome home; Scootaloo, Jecht.’ Said their mother, nodding to each in turn.

‘Hey mum. I missed you’ said Jecht, hugging her mother. ‘So… about this lunch…?’

‘Always the hungry one.’ She said, then served out some boiled vegetables and bread. ‘Now, eat all of that and I have some sugar canes in the cupboard.’

‘Mum, I’m not 7…’ said Jecht

‘Yeah,’ said Scootaloo, ‘but that’s no reason to turn down some sugar cane!’

‘It’s just the way she said it’

‘Oh, please. Aren’t mothers always meant to be like that?’

Jecht suddenly felt bad. She remembered that Scootaloo had never known her own parents.

‘Sorry, it’s just…’

‘What’s there to be sorry about? Come on and eat, I want some sugar cane.’ Said Scootaloo, sensing the turn in conversation before it happened.

They stayed in Cloudsdale for three days. Their parents were happy to hear of what had happened in the week since their departure, especially about what they had seen on stage, and in turn, referenced several stories they had of their years as husband and wife.

They left for Ponyville, after a teary goodbye from their mother, and arrived within 20 minutes. The wind was with them, so they only had to glide most of the way.

The town of Ponyville seemed to be throwing some sort of parade or ceremony. When they touched down, they found it to be for them and Rainbow Dash.

They were immediately greeted by a pink pony who began to speak very quickly.

‘Oh no, you’re not supposed to be here yet! Oh, it ruined the surprise!! We were going to throw you a whole-town celebration for becoming Wonderbolts, and also to celebrate Dash waking up, but you’re here to early and the surprise was ruined and-‘

‘Pinkie, I think they get it.’ Said Twilight from somewhere to their right. ‘We were told you would be leaving at midday, so we planned this for 12:30.’

‘Yeah, the wind was with us.’ Said Scootaloo.

‘Well, I guess we’re pretty much ready to start.’ Said Twilight. ‘Everypony was going to jump out and yell surprise, but I guess there wasn’t enough time to organise it. That would have been deafening, so I guess it wasn’t too much of a loss’ she joked.

A group of ponies began to play over at Mane Street as they trotted in. the mayor of Ponyville was waiting at the podium as they arrived.

‘Welcome, fillies and gentle colts, to a celebration for three special ponies. One has become a friend to many with her loyalty and determination to become a Wonderbolt. Rainbow Dash was injured in a flying accident and in a coma, and she had recently woken up. I’m sure I speak for us all when I give my warm welcomes back to her!’ she said, and the gathered crowd cheered.

Rainbow Dash trotted up onto the stage, a slight limp in her foreleg, and blushed. ‘Thanks, everyone.’ She said, then stood back.

The mayor continued. ‘The other ponies this is in celebration for are the two ponies Scootaloo, and Jecht. Scootaloo was raised in Ponyville, and quickly became friends with anypony she met. When she moved away, I’ll admit that the town became quieter, which was a bit better, but it was also emptier. She was one of a group called the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”, if I remember correctly, and they were the worst effected by Scootaloo leaving.

‘Now, we know that she had gone to Cloudsdale. She had trained, day and night, for months on end, until finally joining the Young Fliers Academy. She met Jecht, and together, they overcame every challenge they faced. We are celebrating their most recent victory, in becoming Wonderbolts!’ she said, and the crowd roared.

‘Scootaloo, Jecht, perhaps you’d like to say something?’ she asked.

They looked to each other and flew over to the stage. The crowd cheered again when they flew over.

‘Thank you, mayor.’ Said Scootaloo. She quickly explained all the training she had done, then listed the competitions she had won, but made special effort to make the point that she couldn’t have done it without Jecht. After she had finished her recount of the match, Rainbow Dash looked, for the first time in public, close to tears of happiness.

‘But… why did you do it? How did you do it? You surely didn’t just decide to become a Wonderbolt. Your cutie mark says that much. It’s just like mine.’ Said Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo went and showed the crowd her mark, to a collective gasp, and spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear.

‘Well, Rainbow…’ she said, ‘I knew I could do it because… I always wanted to be like you…’

This concludes the happy story! Stay tuned for the sad epilogue and the post-story author’s note!

Chapter 7 - Sad Epilogue

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 7 – Sad Epilogue

Rainbow Dash was about to perform the best stunt she had ever done. She and Fluttershy were pulling clouds together into a grey mass on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo looked up, grinning in anticipation. She would always watch Rainbow Dash practising her stunts, and her favourites were the ones where she used the weather to make her rainbows.

The cloud-ball was suddenly finished. Rainbow Dash was blazing toward it at lightning speed. She produced a rainboom about 20 yards from the clouds and slammed into them full-speed. She didn’t exit again.

Scootaloo rode out of the forest. Fluttershy was yelling at her. ‘Why didn’t you stop her?! Why! You could have done something! She would have listened to you!’

‘Fluttershy, I-‘

‘No, Scootaloo! This is all your fault.’ Said Twilight, to her left.

‘You killed my friend.’ Said Pinkie, to her right; her hair flat.

‘No, I didn’t! I tried to help! I-‘

‘Don’t deny it, Scootaloo! We know yeh did it. Yeh killed Jecht and lost the competition, and Rainbow Dash died, all because of you.’ Said Applejack. Scootaloo looked around and noticed that the cloud-ball had become a fireball. It quickly dissipated and a blackened mass fell out.

‘There she is, Scootaloo. It’s your fault. You could have stopped this all from happening. You could have saved them both’ said Rarity. Looking around, she saw that the field had turned to the stadium… but was there ever a field to begin with?

Up in the crowd, everypony was booing her. They were yelling taunts and insults down upon the small orange Pegasus. Jecht’s father, her dad, was at the head of the crowd. He was angrily shaking his hoof and yelling about the death of his only daughter.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom came up to either side of her. Someone is going to help Scootaloo thought to herself, slightly relieved.

‘I can’t believe you’d do this, Scootaloo. When did you turn so bad? The Crusaders were better off without you’ said Sweetie Belle.

‘You shouldn’t be here, Scootaloo. You should run. Everypony hates you. When Rainbow Dash was injured, you didn’t try to help. You tried to make everypony forget about her by outdoing her. You tried to erase her from the world. You should leave.’ Said Applebloom

‘Forever’ rasped Pinkie, in an evil tone.

Scootaloo began crying. She hadn’t cried like this since she was a filly. ‘I didn’t mean to! If I’d known this would have happened, I-‘ her voice broke off and she continued to weep. Suddenly, a glowing figure appeared over her. It was white, but the outline was sky blue and flame red.

‘Back off! You can’t have her. She did all she could. This is as much my fault as it was hers.’ Said Jecht, in her spirit form.

Celestia herself appeared. She cantered to the circle of ponies jeering at Scootaloo, and pointed her horn down. ‘You have been charged with multiple accounts of murder. You are hereby banished to the moon for all eternity’ she said. The crowd cheered, a bloodthirsty sound, for this sentence. Celestia’s horn began to glow brightly, and the world faded.

She was being shaken awake. The carriage had nearly arrived at Canterlot, and Applebloom was shaking her lightly. ‘Come on, wake up sleepyhead. We’re nearly there.’

She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. Sweetie Belle was on her other side, and both were staring at her like she was insane.

‘What? Why are you staring at me?’

‘You were having a bad dream, weren’t you…’ said Sweetie Belle.

‘No, I was… I… *Sigh*, yeah, I was… how could you tell?’

‘Well…’ she began, reaching into her saddlebag, which was on the floor, and pulling out a handkerchief. ‘You were mumbling and shaking… and…’ she handed Scootaloo the handkerchief and beckoned to her eyes.

Scootaloo felt her cheeks and blushed. She had been crying. She used the handkerchief to wipe away the tears, and attempted to smile.

‘I’m fine. Really,’ she said, handing back the handkerchief. ‘I was just… remembering.’

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom understood. She had been dreaming of the accident. They had no idea she had seen both, only that she had seen Jecht’s death. They thought she had simply been in the right spot at the wrong time with Rainbow Dash, and had come across Fluttershy with her.

Celestia was standing at the podium in a cathedral. There were roughly 100 ponies gathered. Rainbow Dash’s closest friends, along with the CMC’s and Spike were in the front row. Tank was sitting off to the side. Even for a tortoise, he looked sad. The Wonderbolts, out of costume, were in the second row, and the rest of the rows were filled with anypony who knew Rainbow Dash well enough to have taken a day off to go to Canterlot for her burial.

Celestia stepped up to the podium.

‘Fillies, and gentlecolts. We gather here to pay our final respects to a pony very dear to all of us.

‘Rainbow Dash was a great friend to all who knew her, and there were nearly none who didn’t like her. She was always there for anypony else when she was needed, and her loyalty was unwavering.

‘More than a friend, we have, indeed, lost an Element. Rainbow Dash represented the Element of Loyalty, and as such was always there for any of her friends when they needed her. If we all stay loyal to each other, then even in death, Rainbow Dash will live on.’

She stepped back and took a seat in the front row just as Luna stepped up.

‘I’m sure you all know by now the story of the Mare in the Moon, and of Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash was one of the six ponies that stopped her before she got out of control. I never got a proper chance to thank her for saving me from myself. Without her, as we saw during the Discord incident, the power of the Elements wouldn’t have worked, and I would have been lost to my own darkness.’

She stepped away from the podium and walked to the open coffin at the front of the room.

‘Rainbow Dash…’ she paused, recalling terrible memories. She could remember exactly what had happened. After 30 years on the moon, she had begun to go insane. After 100 years, she was completely mad. When her exile was half over, she began planning what she would do when the barrier broke. She would banish Celestia to the sun. She was to take over the world, and all would enjoy the night, or enjoy nothing.

When she arrived in Equestria, she did, indeed, send Celestia to the sun. her sister had returned as soon as Luna’s power was broken. She began to realise that it wasn’t her making those decisions. Her mind wanted her to think it was, but there was another consciousness. Nightmare Moon was not Luna. The six Elements broke her evil spirit and returned her to being Luna.

Rainbow Dash was there. She was one of the ones who had saved her. After almost two minutes of standing in silence above the casket, she became aware of Twilight standing nearby.

‘Thank you’ she whispered to Rainbow Dash, a tear rolling down her muzzle and dripping to the floor.

Luna went and sat next to her sister. Celestia put a reassuring wing over her sobbing sister and Luna buried her face in Celestia’s mane. Celestia, too, was crying.

Twilight took the stand.

‘Rainbow Dash meant a lot to many of us. I do not claim to have been most important to her, nor do I think I was. She was compassionate for any close to her, and will be missed by all.’ She turned and looked into the coffin. ‘Goodbye, Rainbow.’ She said, then turned and went back to her seat. She nearly made it all the way back, but tears began to overflow when she was three steps from her seat.

Rainbow Dash’s other close friends took their turns saying a few words, or sharing stories of time spent with Rainbow Dash. Applejack was barely coherent because she was so stricken with grief.

After the two princesses and 5 friends had gone to say what they had to, Soarin’ of the Wonderbolts took to the podium.

‘I must admit that I didn’t know Rainbow Dash as well as I wish I had. After hearing all I have today, I realise that she would not just have made a valuable team member, but she would have made a great friend. After the Junior Flight competition, when we saw the sonic rainboom, I was sure that she could make it to be the captain of the team. I was ready to accept her there and then, but since it wasn’t an official challenge from the Wonderbolts, I couldn’t. I take this final chance to give her what she dreamt of her entire life.’

He turned and walked to the casket. Looking down upon the still Pegasus, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelming sadness. He lifted a medal for all in the room to see, and proclaimed it as an official membership to the Wonderbolts. He gently placed it down on her chest, then moved on and sat back down with the rest of the team.

The last pony to take to the podium was Scootaloo. She stood and looked out to the crowd, mentally refusing to turn to the casket.

‘Rainbow Dash was my hero. She was the closest to a mother I ever remember, but at the same time, she was like a sister. I spent my entire life looking up to her, and for the last two years I trained to try and live up to her legacy. Everything I’ve done since… since the accident, has been for her. Now…’ her voice broke and tears threatened to spill over, ‘Now she’s gone, and I can’t help but feel glad that at the very least she had achieved her life goal of becoming a Wonderbolt. Without Rainbow, and without Jecht… I… I don’t know what I’ll do…’ she said.

She turned and moved to the casket. After a moment of hesitation, she looked down, and nearly bawled.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t smiling, as she had been known to do in life. Her lips seemed a darker blue than normal, and were curved into a frown. Her eyes were closed, and her forelegs were crossed over her chest, a small gold medal sitting above them. Her blue fur was faded, and she was showing blue-gray over most of her body.

Scootaloo whispered ‘goodbye’, then turned and moved back to her old friends, the Crusaders, and sat.

Celestia rose again to the podium.

‘If everypony is content with what they have said, and nopony else wishes to say any final words-‘ she paused, and looked around, ‘then we will now bury her.’. She used magic to seal the casket for the final time, and then several ponies came forward to lift it. Rainbow’s friends, along with Scootaloo and Soarin’, all lifted the casket on their backs, and walked down the aisle and out the front door.

People in the street stopped and bowed their heads, as a tribute to the deceased or as a bow to Celestia nopony knew, and the rest of the ponies from the cathedral followed behind. After walking about 500 yards, they reached the graveyard. They followed Celestia to an open grave, and the coffin-bearers placed Rainbow down on elastic straps stretching across the grave.

The headstone was at least two feet wide and five feet tall. There was an image engraved on it of Rainbow’s cutie mark, with different coloured gemstone-plates making the different colours of the lightning. Below the picture were the words

--RAINBOW DASH--
Saviour. Hero. Friend.
24/3/1987 – 30/8/2011
R.I.P.

A slow, solemn tune began to play, and the coffin slowly lowered to the ground. Sad weeping was heard from the crowd, and Rarity came forward with a basket of petals. She threw a hoof-full into the grave, then moved on; tears visible under her black veil.

More and more ponies came forward to throw petals to the coffin, some muttering unheard words, then, too, moving off back to the cathedral. The last to leave was Scootaloo. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were waiting at the gate just as the gravedigger moved in to bury the coffin.

‘Ready to head back?’ asked Sweetie Belle softly

‘…No… I’m not going back.’ Said Scootaloo

‘Well where’re you goin’? Back to Cloudsdale?’ asked Applebloom.

‘No’ she said, fresh tears spilling over. Jecht would have already been buried, and she was obviously not wanted back there. ‘I’m… just going. I… I don’t think I could handle seeing everypony back in the cathedral. Goodbye’ she said, then immediately took to the sky before either of her friends could object.

She flew back to the scene of Rainbow Dash’s crash. The grass had never regrown where she and Fluttershy had hit the ground. Clouds were brewing in the sky. The Everfree Forest seemed to produce its own weather, so this was helpful to Scootaloo. She began to collect clouds and push them together into a ball. She had never practised moving clouds, as she had never been a part of the weather team, and so by the time she had a ball of clouds much like the one that had been present two years before; she had collected a series of blackened spots on her hooves and forelegs where the clouds had struck her.

Well. This is it. She thought while flying back for speed. She took off toward the ball, picking up speed as she went. Just as Rainbow Dash had, she produced a sonic rainboom too early. She hit the cloud and didn’t move through it. She stopped in the centre of the cloud ball.

In the blackness of the clouds, a spirit came to her. It was white with glowing blue and red edges. ‘Jecht…’ Scootaloo whispered, attempting to muster a smile. She was being shocked repeatedly by the clouds and nearly all her muscles had locked up.

‘Scoots… why… I never wanted this. My death was an accident. Rainbow Dash’s death was an accident. Why did you do this?’

‘You didn’t need to, Scoots!’ said another spirit from her other side. A glowing white Rainbow Dash came into view and stood next to Scootaloo. ‘Please, you need to do something! You don’t need to die.’ She said.

‘I’m sorry… I just can’t handle it… I’ll see you soon’ she said, blocking them from her mind. They disappeared and the clouds began to heat up.

Scootaloo used all of her willpower to move the clouds from around her. She was still buzzing with electricity and she was still inside a cloud ball, but she could move. She began to flap her wings, expanding the ball of empty space inside the clouds.

The clouds stopped moving. They began to collapse back in on Scootaloo. Right as she was sure they would crush her, they blew back out in another sonic rainboom. Before she could make another movement, a great thunder clap boomed behind her, and she was struck. All of her muscles locked again and she began to fall. She was higher than she thought she had been.

Her mind raced at what Jecht and Rainbow Dash had said to her. She suddenly didn’t want to die. She had to live! Rainbow Dash wanted her to live!

All of her life memories flashed back. She remembered meeting Rainbow, taking lessons on flight, useless as they had been. She remembered meeting Jecht, and all of the time they had spent together. She closed her eyes as her final tears were shed.

The last thought that went through her mind was what her life goal had amounted to.

Rainbow Dash, she thought, I always wanted to be like you…

Thud.

Chapter 7 - Happy Epilogue (Extended)

I Always Wanted to be Like You – Part 7 – Happy Epilogue

Authors note: Out of boredom, I’m going to put in several references to groups. See if you can find them all. The first one is 2PM, that will let you know how hard they’ll be to find.

Post-story note: I only ended up putting in two. The references in the arcade don't count.

And, yes, the arcade “Flynt’s” is a reference to a movie.

‘This is so boring’ whispered Jecht

‘I know, but it’ll be worth it’ said Scootaloo

They had been signing forms for the past half hour. The Wonderbolts seemed to have an endless supply of paper for them to write signatures and initials on. A few were wavers saying that if they were injured, the team couldn’t be sued; while others were forms for free medicals from certain doctors. They had to give right to attorney to the captain of the team, along with signing their contracts. They would be given an exceptional amount of money. For every race they won, they would each receive a thousand bits, and for every event they went to in costume, they would receive 200.

The pile of sheets for them to sign was slowly dwindling, until at roughly 2PM they were finally done, and were allowed to leave for the day. They were told to be back at the Canterlot aerodrome by dawn the next day for drills.

‘Where to, then? Have you ever been to Canterlot?’ asked Jecht

‘No. I’ve only ever been to Ponyville and Cloudsdale.’

‘Well, I came along here once to see Spitfire. Dad made me. I know of some good spots to take you, so let’s go!’

Scootaloo followed Jecht along Canterlot, past the castle and out of the rich district. They were heading along the mane street with surprisingly few other Pegasus ponies flying. Then again, they had lived in Cloudsdale for so long, that Scootaaloo had nearly forgotten what it was like not having ponies flying everywhere, and Jecht couldn’t even remember what it was like.

There were shops for almost everything. There were several café’s, along with a few boutiques, and they wondered how a shop called Globus stayed in business that only seemed to sell maps and globes.

They touched down just in front of a café on Mane Street, then looked around. Just before walking Scootaloo called Jecht back.

‘Look over there. It’s the new Sugarcube Corner!’ she said excitedly.

‘Oh, yeah, I forgot. Your friend opened that didn’t she? Pink… what was her name?’

‘Pinkie Pie. I’m not sure if she’ll be here, since Rainbow woke up.’ She said, and then flinched. She wanted to be spending time with Rainbow now more than ever, but she wasn’t able to leave Canterlot. If she left, she ran the risk of being over tired at the next day’s training, or even not turning up at all from being a city away.

The new Sugarcube Corner looked just like the old one. It was a fair difference from the buildings surrounding it, which were mostly single story and grey. Sugarcube Corner had a constant stream of ponies walking in and out, yet none of them seemed to be ‘fancy’. Several small-time DJs were inside, along with every pony and their dog who didn’t live in the rich district.

There was a tremendous amount of talking going on inside, semi-drowned in electronic music. There were light flashing over to the left of the shop and a white mare with lightning blue mane was standing behind a turntable.

‘Oh my Celestia, that’s DJ PON-3!!’ shouted Scootaloo over the crowd and music. ‘What’s she doing here?!’

Mrs. Cake suddenly appeared next to them. ‘She agreed to do shows every week for a few months to promote business. Oh, I can’t thank Pinkie Pie enough for trying to boost business, but she could have chosen someone a little quieter!’ she shouted over the noise in the room. ‘I haven’t seen you in years, Scootaloo! Come with me’ she said, leading them into a back room and shutting the door. The noise of the other room subsided somewhat and she offered them both seats.

She left the room again, the noise coming back momentarily as the door opened, and they looked at each other.

‘Well, I was right. Pinkie isn’t here.’ Said Scootaloo

‘Well, duh, but who’s the mare?’

‘Oh, yeah. She’s Mrs. Cake. She and her husband started Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville and basically adopted Pinkie when she arrived. She’s always been nice to me, and tolerant to the Crusaders. Then again, I don’t think there’s a pony alive she hasn’t been nice to.’

After a minute, Mrs. Cake re-entered the room with a tray on her back. The tray had a brightly coloured two-story cake on it, surrounded by cupcakes with pink, swirly frosting on them.

She placed the tray on the table and told them to help themselves.

‘No, Mrs. Cake, we couldn’t do that!’ Scootaloo objected

‘Yeah we could, I’m starving…’ muttered Jecht

‘Oh, please, dearies. It’s no trouble at all. After hearing about you becoming a Wonderbolt, and also about Rainbow Dash waking up, you must want to celebrate somehow! Well, I’m no Pinkie Pie, but I can give you some sweets. Go on, have some.’ Said Mrs. Cake, and Jecht immediately grabbed a cupcake

‘Thif if bood!’ said Jecht, then swallowed. ‘This has to be the best cupcake I’ve ever had’ she repeated, Scootaloo nearly choking on her cupcake with laughter.

‘Well, thank you. Now, I don’t think I got your name- oh! Where are my manners? I’m Vanilla Cake, but you can call me “Mrs. Cake” if you wish’

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Jecht. All I’m wondering is why Scootaloo never told me how amazing your baking was! Heh-heh, amazing baking’ she muttered to herself, pleased with how it rhymed.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I suppose it slipped my mind. I was probably too distracted by a friend who is entertained by bad half-rhymes’ she said.

‘Well, it’s nice to meet you too. Now Scootaloo,’ she said, turning to her. ‘You must tell me all that’s happened since you left! The Cutie Mark Crusaders were devastated, the poor little dears. Well, they’re not so little, now, but they were quite downtrodden!’

Scootaloo, with the help of Jecht, began to tell of all she had done after leaving Ponyville, how she had met Jecht, trained with her, and won countless competitions by her side. Mr. Cake came in from time to time looking for something or other in the boxes off to the side of the room. After she had finished telling her story, Mrs. Cake had a tear in her eye.

‘That’s just so sweet.’ She said with a sniffle. ‘So you two are… together?’

Scootaloo and Jecht looked at each other, smiled, and nodded.

‘Oh, it’s so nice to know that two ponies can love, despite what the populous may think. Back when I was a filly, they would have sent anypony off to a camp if they’d even hinted at such a thing. It’s nice to see how people are becoming more loving and tolerant’ she completed.

‘Well, I’m sorry to cut this short, but the night rush is about to start. That loud Vinyl puts on her new tracks and everypony for three miles comes to listen. We’ve made more money since the shop opened than we have in the last 15 years in Ponyville, but all the same I miss the little shop. We still send letters to our old friends, and Pinkie assures the shop is running well, but, oh, what I wouldn’t give to be back in Ponyville’

On that note, she trotted out of the room and went to stand behind the front counter and serve customers.

‘Maybe we should go check out those other places you mentioned?’ said Scootaloo

‘Oh, yeah. Sure, let’s go… after one more cupcake… or two!’ Said Jecht, grabbing two cupcakes and taking a huge bite out of one.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes at her marefriend, but grabbed a cupcake herself, and walked out after her. They waded back through the crowd and noticed the sun had lowered. Jecht guessed they had two hours before sunset.

She finished her first cupcake, then took to the air, Scootaloo following, and angling toward the North end of the rich district, almost as far from the castle as they could go before hitting the middle-class district. Right on the corner to the middle-class district, there was a massive arcade with the word “Flynt’s” displayed in full-caps on the front. They walked in, and were greeted with 80’s music by the Eurithmares. Looking around, they saw a whole load of retro-style arcade machines.

Jecht looked like she was one step away from salivating. Scootaloo suddenly burst out with laughter, but Jecht payed no heed.

‘Is this not the coolest thing you’ve seen all day?’ Jecht asked

‘It is pretty cool… I haven’t ever been to an old arcade. I’ve wanted to, but I’ve never even seen one before. I didn’t know there was one in Canterlot.’ She said

‘Oh yeah, there’s one here, and another in Manehattan. I think they have about four spread all about Fillydelphia. Fillydelphia is the place that I always wanted to live in. Great place to have a family. Everypony’s friendly, there’s almost no crime, and there are loads of family places like the arcades.’

They walked in between the aisles of machines, watching ponies playing different games. Scootaloo didn’t recognise any of the games, but they looked interesting. They ranged right down from a pixelated unicorn eating red lines, presumably carrots, and running from four different coloured ghosts all the way to a game where there were two Pegasus ponies flying around releasing jet-streams behind them. The goal of that game was to go as long as possible while trying not to hit the jetstreams, but also trying to trap the other person’s character in it.

Scootaloo turned around and Jecht was already deeply entranced and gaming away nearby. She went over to join her at a game called “Sky invaders” where an insane unicorn was trying to shoot down a flock of Pegasi that were all flying across the screen and slowly down.

After roughly an hour in the arcade, their saddlebags were a bit lighter. Well, 30 bits, to be precise. The sun was about half an hour from setting and Scootaloo asked where they were going next. Jecht seemed to come out of a daze and looked out the glass front door.

‘Oh! Wow, you should have said something earlier. I sort of drift off when I play games, hahah’ she said, idly rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

‘Well, I know one more spot we can go before we head back to the hotel.’ She said

The two Pegasi exited the arcade and took to the skies. They seemed to be heading away from Canterlot, and just as Scootaloo was about to ask again where they were headed, Jecht began to bank down. They landed on a hill with a solitary tree standing on it.

They sat in silence under the tree, and Scootaloo spoke.

‘So, what is there to do here?... Jecht?’ she asked and turned to face her.

When she turned, she was met with a completely clear, orange sky. The sun was barely above the horizon and seemed to slowly be melting into the ground. They watched in silence for several minutes, and Jecht scooted up close and rested her head against Scootaloo’s neck. Scootaloo tilted her head over Jecht’s and they continued to sit in loving silence for several more minutes, before Scootaloo figured they if they didn’t head back soon, they would lose all light.

Scootaloo lifted her head and noticed that Jecht had a tear on her cheek.

‘What’s up?’ asked Scootaloo

Jecht stirred. ‘What?’ felt her cheek to be wet. ‘Oh. I guess… it’s just… we’ve come so far together. I’m glad Rainbow Dash is awake, but if she hadn’t been hurt so badly, we never would have met. Neither of us would have gotten to where we are and… well, I’ve never told anypony this before, but… before I met you, I didn’t want to live. I was always out shadowed by Spitfire and no one wanted to talk to me. They were scared that I was stuck up, or that I was so rich that I’d reject them… life was horrible. I… If I hadn’t met you, I never would have met anyone else ever again…’ she said.

Scootaloo was taken aback. She had never known Jecht to be this way. Jecht always thinks things through before making any decision… could she really have considered suicide? If it wasn’t for me… she… her thoughts trailed off.

She lightly pressed her muzzle to Jecht’s cheek.

‘I’ll always be here for you, Jecht. I never want to leave your side. The whole deal with the Wonderbolts proved that.’

‘I know. I love you, Scootaloo.’ She said

‘And I love you, too, Jecht.’ Scootaloo responded, softly.

Two weeks later

Scootaloo and Jecht had finally been allowed to take a few days off. The first bits of training were to make sure the two new recruits were up to the standard of the rest of the team. They were up to it, and above it, so they were given a week to themselves. They both wanted to go back to each other’s hometowns. Jecht wanted to get to know Rainbow Dash a bit better, and they both wanted to go and see their parents.

They had decided that since Cloudsdale was further away, they would go there first so they would have a shorter trip back to Canterlot when they were tired out from their week.

‘Welcome home, Jecht! You too, Scootaloo. How has your week been?’ asked their father.

‘Pretty good’ said Scootaloo

‘Yeah,’ said Jecht, ‘except for how boring it was! All we did was sign papers and fly in circles. Sure, a couple of them are talkative, but mostly they’re devoted to flying around the aerodrome. We’re being put in the speed division, so all we do all day is practise flying.’

‘Well, it still sounds good! I mean, how many ponies become Wonderbolts?’ he countered

‘Yeah, I guess. We’re getting a fair few bits for it, too, but it just doesn’t seem like it’ll be fun… maybe I’ll see if we can get into the fancy-flier division.’ Said Jecht

‘Come along, your mother just served lunch. You should have called ahead, we would have made more; maybe even something better’ said their father, and they walked to the kitchen.

‘Welcome home; Scootaloo, Jecht.’ Said their mother, nodding to each in turn.

‘Hey mum. I missed you’ said Jecht, hugging her mother. ‘So… about this lunch…?’

‘Always the hungry one.’ She said, then served out some boiled vegetables and bread. ‘Now, eat all of that and I have some sugar canes in the cupboard.’

‘Mum, I’m not 7…’ said Jecht

‘Yeah,’ said Scootaloo, ‘but that’s no reason to turn down some sugar cane!’

‘It’s just the way she said it’

‘Oh, please. Aren’t mothers always meant to be like that?’

Jecht suddenly felt bad. She remembered that Scootaloo had never known her own parents.

‘Sorry, it’s just…’

‘What’s there to be sorry about? Come on and eat, I want some sugar cane.’ Said Scootaloo, sensing the turn in conversation before it happened.

They stayed in Cloudsdale for three days. Their parents were happy to hear of what had happened in the week since their departure, especially about what they had seen on stage, and in turn, referenced several stories they had of their years as husband and wife.

They left for Ponyville, after a teary goodbye from their mother, and arrived within 20 minutes. The wind was with them, so they only had to glide most of the way.

The town of Ponyville seemed to be throwing some sort of parade or ceremony. When they touched down, they found it to be for them and Rainbow Dash.

They were immediately greeted by a pink pony who began to speak very quickly.

‘Oh no, you’re not supposed to be here yet! Oh, it ruined the surprise!! We were going to throw you a whole-town celebration for becoming Wonderbolts, and also to celebrate Dash waking up, but you’re here to early and the surprise was ruined and-‘

‘Pinkie, I think they get it.’ Said Twilight from somewhere to their right. ‘We were told you would be leaving at midday, so we planned this for 12:30.’

‘Yeah, the wind was with us.’ Said Scootaloo.

‘Well, I guess we’re pretty much ready to start.’ Said Twilight. ‘Everypony was going to jump out and yell surprise, but I guess there wasn’t enough time to organise it. That would have been deafening, so I guess it wasn’t too much of a loss’ she joked.

A group of ponies began to play over at Mane Street as they trotted in. the mayor of Ponyville was waiting at the podium as they arrived.

‘Welcome, fillies and gentle colts, to a celebration for three special ponies. One has become a friend to many with her loyalty and determination to become a Wonderbolt. Rainbow Dash was injured in a flying accident and in a coma, and she had recently woken up. I’m sure I speak for us all when I give my warm welcomes back to her!’ she said, and the gathered crowd cheered.

Rainbow Dash trotted up onto the stage, a slight limp in her foreleg, and blushed. ‘Thanks, everyone.’ She said, then stood back.

The mayor continued. ‘The other ponies this is in celebration for are the two ponies Scootaloo, and Jecht. Scootaloo was raised in Ponyville, and quickly became friends with anypony she met. When she moved away, I’ll admit that the town became quieter, which was a bit better, but it was also emptier. She was one of a group called the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”, if I remember correctly, and they were the worst effected by Scootaloo leaving.

‘Now, we know that she had gone to Cloudsdale. She had trained, day and night, for months on end, until finally joining the Young Fliers Academy. She met Jecht, and together, they overcame every challenge they faced. We are celebrating their most recent victory, in becoming Wonderbolts!’ she said, and the crowd roared.

‘Scootaloo, Jecht, perhaps you’d like to say something?’ she asked.

They looked to each other and flew over to the stage. The crowd cheered again when they flew over.

‘Thank you, mayor.’ Said Scootaloo. She quickly explained all the training she had done, then listed the competitions she had won, but made special effort to make the point that she couldn’t have done it without Jecht. After she had finished her recount of the match, Rainbow Dash looked, for the first time in public, close to tears of happiness.

‘But… why did you do it? How did you do it? You surely didn’t just decide to become a Wonderbolt. Your cutie mark says that much. It’s just like mine.’ Said Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo went and showed the crowd her mark, to a collective gasp, and spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear.

‘Well, Rainbow…’ she said, ‘I knew I could do it because… I always wanted to be like you…’

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned an important lesson about the Magic of Friendship, and about life in general.

When Rainbow Dash was injured, I felt like my life would be over if I didn't complete her final wishes. I devoted all of my time to my training and I lost all of my friends. Life became terrible for me. As soon as I met Jecht, she helped me through this part of my life. We were able to train together, and what before seemed to only be done for Rainbow Dash now seemed to become my life goal, too.

With Jecht by my side, I overcame obstacles that I would never have been able to on my own. With a friend... I was whole.

Now that I've returned to Ponyville, that is becoming obvious more than ever before. Now, more than just Jecht, I also have Sweetie Belle and Applebloom there for me again. I was so glad when they accepted my apology... I guess true friendship never dies. I am eternally grateful to them.

Sometimes, even though we may want to believe otherwise, we do need to rely on friends for help. Even personal goals can be achieved with friends.

Sincerely, Scootaloo.

'C'mon, slowpoke! What's taking you so long?' called Dash from outside somewhere.

'She's writing a letter' came the voice of Jecht.

Scootaloo looked up through the window to see Jecht hovering and staring at her.

'Hi!'

Scootaloo squealed and jumped back in surprise.

'Don't scare me like that!'

'Well, I wouldn't need to if you weren't such a slowpoke' said Jecht, poking out her tongue.

'Come here and say that!'

'What's taking so long? It's just a letter!' called Rainbow Dash.

'Right. Going.'

She turned and walked downstairs. She and Jecht had been given a spare room at Sweet Apple Acres for the few days they were going to be in Ponyville.

'Mornin' Sugarcube,' said Applejack as Scootaloo walked down the staircase. 'D'you want somethin' for breakfast? It's a little late, but Ah could always use the leftover mix for some waffles and there's apple sauce in the fridge'

'Sorry Applejack, but as good as that sounds I really have to go. Jecht and Rainbow are waiting for me and I have to get this letter to Twilight so she can send it to-'

'Waiting for you? If there's waffles involved, we'll come to you! Fire up the stove, Applejack' said Rainbow, appearing in the doorway. In her short time since leaving the hospital she had learned to compensate for the limp in her foreleg, but her wing had never been completely healed. When she tried to fly she would get massive cramps after a short while, so flying had become a rare treat. The only upside to being grounded was being with her best friend, Applejack.

'Sure thing, Rainbow. Hoo-wee, with this many ponies all wanting some Ah might need to make more batter! Let's see... Macintosh is already out in the field and Applebloom is off in town today mindin' the stall. There's still four of us, though. Ah think Ah'll have enough...'

She retrieved a bowl from the refrigerator and began to pour some mix into a waffle iron, which she lowered into a wood-fire oven with her teeth.

'T'aint the fastest way t' cook, but it sure is the tastiest' she explained.

As Applejack began to serve out waffles one by one, conversation began to pick up. Rainbow was asking what the Wonderbolts were like, and Scootaloo couldn't help but notice that behind her smile, her eyes still held a deep sadness at having lost her chance to be one.

'Rainbow Dash, I've been meaning to ask for a while, now... Even if you can't... fly' Scootaloo began, awkwardly, 'maybe you could still teach us some of your tricks? I mean, we were taught by the same Academy you were, but maybe in your experience you have some good moves you could teach us!'

Jecht nodded her agreement, turning to face Dash with a grin.

Rainbow Dash looked like a hundred Pinkie Pie Parties had all just happened at the exact same time, and she immediately shouted 'YES!', followed by 'Oh, sorry Applejack... here, let me help with that...'

She had startled Applejack while she had been pouring the last of the mix, and the result was a puddle of goo on the floor. Appejack let her grab a cloth and begin to wipe. Applejack never knew what it was like to be a Pegasus, but she understood how sad Dash would be without flight. Applejack would do anything to make her feel useful again.

When she had finished, she was eager to be outside again. At her urging, the group migrated outside and started off toward the city. Applejack was going in to check on Applebloom anyway, so she stayed with the group until they reached the city.

Rainbow Dash rushed off to spread the word that she had been elected the new Coach of Scootaloo and Jecht to anyone who would listen, and the two Pegasi continued on to the Library to meet Twilight.

'Thanks for doing this, Twilight. I remember you used to send letters to the princess all the time about your studies on the magic of friendship, and so I thought that I'd write to her. I hope she won't mind...'

'No, not at all! The princess is probably looking forward to another letter. It's been over a month since my last one... I never thought I'd learn everything about friendship- and I still don't think I have!- but I'm only rarely learning anything new. Spike? There's a letter for the princess here, if you could send it for us.'

'Sure thing, Twilight!' called an excited voice from within the next room. The ponies heard a thump and a scurrying of feet and Spike was in the room.

'You didn't drop something, did you, Spike?' asked Twilight, worried he had knocked over a globe or worse.

'No, I was just on top of a ladder and... well... I didn't stick the landing. I'm okay, though! I'm really excited for a letter to the princess, the last one was sent thirty-six days ago!' he said in a rush, finishing by lifting up a small notebook to reveal a calendar with a star in the previous month.

'Well, it's good to know you stay on top of everything Spike!' Twilight praised, 'Except maybe the ladder...' she muttered to herself.

Jecht suddenly giggled a bit, and when Twilight realised she had heard, she laughed, too. Spike looked between the two, then glanced to Scootaloo.

'No idea,' she said, answering his thoughts. 'Here's the letter for the princess. I wrote it myself.'

He took the letter and upon Twilight's urging, and slight giggling, blew a flare of green smoke upon the letter, which flew off in the direction of Canterlot.

'Well, Rainbow Dash said she was going to hang out with us today. Oh, and she's also now our unofficial coach. Expect a lot of bragging. Well, we'll be seeing you, Miss Sparkle!' said Jecht

Twilight was somewhat startled by Jecht speaking so easily. She normally didn't speak to anyone she didn't consider close to her. Her heart was warmed by the thought that Jecht considered her to be a friend, and she nodded with a smile.

'Come along, Spike. I've almost caught up on last week's study.'

'Yes, ma'am!' he said loudly with a salute. Twilight rolled her eyes at this show of military respect and turned back inside, lightly closing the door with her magic.

'Bye!' said Spike quickly before the door closed.

Applejack had told them that Rainbow Dash would be waiting in the open field near the Everfree Forest and the local lake... That's where it happened... that's where Rainbow Dash... nearly died..., thought Scootaloo.

'What's up? Is that place important to you? Come on, you can tell me!' said Jecht.

Scootaloo immediately realised that her emotion must have been showing more than she thought and she immediately put on a grin, turning it real with a mental image of Opalescence having a bucket of water dumped on her, then receiving a patented Rainblow-dry from Rainbow Dash. 'Nothing's wrong, everything's fine!' she said.

'But I asked if it was important to you, not if anything was wrong. You just shot yourself in the foot there, Scoots.'

'Alight... well... it's the spot that Rainbow hit the ground... and... I don't really want to go back there...'

'Hey, come on. If Rainbow's okay with going back there, then you must be! Lighten up, Scoots. I'm here if you need support.'

That was what she wanted to hear. She knew that Jecht was always there when she needed her, but to hear her say it was still reassuring. She looked up into Jecht's sky-blue eyes and nodded. She quickly took to the air and began to fly to the indicated spot.

The first thing Scootaloo noticed while gliding over the field was a blue blob in a patch of dead grass. When she looked closer, she also noticed a rainbow mane and tail. Rainbow Dash jumped to her feet and flew up to meet them in the air.

'Hey, girls! I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here. Come on; let's land so we can begin.'

Of course the lessons couldn't be held up in the air. Rainbow was obviously having enough trouble staying airborne for long enough to talk to them, let alone staying up for a whole lesson.

When they landed, she immediately began to tell them about her best moves and tactics, followed by precise instructions on how to execute them. The sun sank lower in the sky and when Rainbow Dash estimated they had half an hour left before night, she called them back in to land.

'That was awesome! Those moves took me weeks to perfect, but you've almost got some of them in a single day! Oh man, I really put my money on the right ponies here' she said beaming at the two. They blushed a bit at the compliment, but didn't know whether to deny it or not. Instead, Jecht changed the subject.

'What's with the dead patch you were lying in? It didn't look very comfortable... not compared to the green grass all around it, anyway'

'That's... that's where my life... ended.' she said. The magnitude of emotions weighing down on her right now was incredible. She was glad to be alive, and angry at herself for having been so stupid. She was sad at how she was not, literally, lame. That was the one thing Rainbow Dash wasn't! But she was. Finally, she was happy that from her accident, her prodigy was able to have discovered her life meaning, and made a life long friend. That alone made up for all the bad that had come of the incident.

Jecht immediately regretted bringing it up. Scootaloo didn't want to see her so put out. If one was going to look like a foal, the other was, too. 'Why hasn't it grown back?' she asked. Jecht immediately realised the ruse and smiled at her friend sticking with her, too.

'You know what? I really don't know.' Rainbow replied.

'I believe I might be able to answer that' came a regal voice that seemed to carry great authority.

Upon seeing the princess the three Pegasi dropped to their knees and muttered 'princess'.

'Rise, my little ponies. I don't know how many times I need to tell you that you don't need to bow to me. I am a princess, yes, but I'm here as a friend. Please treat me as such.' she said, much to the confusion of the Pegasi. Rainbow noticed that the others were all a short way behind Celestia. The rest of the Element Bearers, and Spike, walked over and stopped in front of Celestia, beside Rainbow, Jecht, and Scootaloo.

'There are many types of magic in this world. There's the magic of unicorns and alicorns, there's the magic of the Elements, and there's the magic of Friendship and Harmony. There is also, however, the magic of emotion. This spot here is a site of great sorrow. I believe it hasn't grown back because of how sad the accident made everyone involved. Without happiness, this patch of grass has lost the will to grow and has wilted. I noticed this when I came to see the site of the accident personally nearly two years ago. I believed that when Rainbow Dash woke up it would have restored the plant. Surely the sadness of the incident dispersing and happiness of the ponies returning would have brought it back. But, alas, it is not so. I do not completely understand emotion, nor do I think I ever will, and as such I have no idea what has happened here.

'On a lighter note; Scootaloo, that letter was gratefully received. I'm always happy to hear what Twilight has learned about friendship, but to receive a letter from someone else was something of a surprise. Come along back to town and we'll discuss this further.'

The night came quickly, and time flowed even faster. It was only an hour into their meeting at the Library when a gold-clad Pegasus guard came in and whispered something in the princess' ear.

'My apologies, my little ponies, but running Equestria comes with a lot of paperwork. If I delay return to Canterlot for much longer, I fear the castle might burst with all of the documents and ponies waiting for my approval on something or other. I hope to speak to you, all of you, again soon. I look forward to the next letter about friendship, whoever it may come from. Good night, Spike' she called up to Twilight's room. A faint snore and mutter was heard in response, to which Celectia laughed softly; then took off.

The final day came for the two Pegasi, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself. She almost knew the answer would be no, but it wasn't as though she could do it for herself any more.... She wanted to ask Scootaloo and Jecht to speak to the Wonderbolts on her behalf. She had moves that some of them couldn't even imagine, and she was willing to do anything to be near the Wonderbolts, if not one of them.

'So if you could just speak to Soarin' for me, I... I don't know how to express how thankful I'd be.'

'Well, we actually wanted to ask if you wanted to come back with us to see them again.' said Jecht. 'When I was talking to Spitfire last I mentioned how much of an influence one my Scootaloo was, and you were on Scootaloo. She said that she knew you a bit and sort of wanted to talk... I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you came back with us.'

Rainbow Dash's jaw nearly hit the ground. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she toppled over backwards muttering to herself. 'The Wonderbolts... want to meet me... '

'I'll take that as a yes, then?'

When Rainbow recovered, their carriage was ready to take them. Scootaloo and Jecht had already packed their saddlebags at Sweet Apple Acres and were ready to leave. Twilight turned up right on time, followed by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Twilight had been told of their plan beforehand and she had packed twin saddlebags in preparation. Rainbow took them and promised to return as soon as she could.

Pinkie was bouncing around Rainbow in circles letting out a constant stream of semi-incoherent words until Dash finally caught her and held her in place. 'Pinkie! I promise to return as soon as possible. Go and load your party cannon, and you can throw me a welcome-back party when I get home, okay?'

Pinkie Pie suddenly turned grey and stopped moving completely. 'Uhh, Pinkie... that's kinda creepy!' she said just as the grey Pinkie blew away in the wind and a pink blur could be seen heading toward Sugarcube Corner.

The entire group laughed at the randomness of Pinkie and bid their final goodbyes to Dash for her trip to Canterlot, however long it would last. Rainbow Dash boarded the carriage, followed by Scootaloo and Jecht, and one of the Pegasi that pull the carriage closed the door, then turned back to the reins. Dash gave a final wave out of the window of the carriage as it began to pick up speed and take off towards the capital of Equestria.

Applejack already missed Rainbow. She had only just gotten her best friend back, and now she was already leaving her again. Yes, it was only temporary, but Applejack was still sad about the sudden turn of events. She found herself walking aimlessly through ponyville on the third day since her departure and eventually made her way to the site of the crash and the patch of dead grass.

As she lay down , she stopped feeling sad and forced her thoughts to become happier ones. She was happy that Dash was still alive, and happy that she was still chasing her dreams, despite recent physical setbacks. She smiled as she looked up at the bright, blue sky. There were a few clouds here and there. The new Pegasus wasn't very good at clearing clouds. She could be seen haphazardly flying in all directions, occasionally hitting a cloud- whether intentionally or accidentally was anyone's guess- and crashing every so often. She was the mailmare until she had lost her job. Something about dropping stuff out of a moving-truck and injuring a unicorn.

Applejack smiled as she recalled memories of cool Autumn days when Dash would fly by overhead bucking clouds just as she bucked her apples. She was at peace.

'Miss Rainbow Dash, I think that will work nicely. You are hired as trainer of the Wonderbolts' said Soarin'.

Rainbow felt something change inside her. In the deep recesses of her mind, where she hadn't even noticed anything, she felt... lighter. Her life goal had at last been achieved. She was one of the Wonderbolts! Well, the trainer, but that's close enough!

She gave out a cheer and leapt up into the air, doing fast spirals and flying around the entire stadium at break-neck speeds. She hadn't felt this free in forever!

Scootaloo and Jecht both gasped when they saw this, and it took Rainbow Dash a while to realise why everypony was staring at her. She was flying. She was flying, and she didn't realise it! Ever since getting out of hospital, she had felt depressed, and that was only made worse by not being able to fly; but she was flying now as freely as she ever had. There was not a trace of sadness, anger, or any other bad emotion in her mind as she soared around the stadium again, Scootaloo racing to catch up with her hero and Jecht racing to catch up with her friend. They were all laughing loudly as pure, unbridled joy showed on their faces.

The grass suddenly stopped prickling her underside. Applejack had been putting up with the discomfort because it was outweighed by being somewhere so important to Rainbow Dash.

She looked down at the grass around her, then leapt up and gasped. It was no longer dead; instead, the circle of dead grass took on a spiral pattern with a rainbow swirling into the centre. Even as she watched, the grass grew to being half a foot long, then suddenly stopped. She smiled broadly and immediately knew.

'Yeh did it, Rainbow. Yeh did it.'

She blinked away a tear of happiness and turned to run back to town and get her friends. They all needed to see it.

Two weeks later

'Get your pace up, Squirt! You think you'll ever be better than me when even Tank could beat you?'

Scootaloo kicked herself into overdrive. Rainbow was a mere two feet ahead, but was doing a Super-speed Strut just to taunt her. The finish line was coming up closer. Scootaloo was inching closer to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow suddenly stopped strutting and showed massive strain in flying forward as fast as she could. It wasn't enough. Scootaloo was closing the distance fast, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

I. Will. Not. LOSE! Rainbow shouted in her mind, straining her wings harder to keep her in the lead. This worked just fine for Scootaloo, who had taken refuge in the slipstream immediately behind Rainbow Dash.

10 yards to the finish line, Scootaloo pulled out below and fired off in front of Rainbow Dash. She won by a whole two feet, and Dash was completely shocked. She had been beaten... by her own student!

'I'm-so-proud-of-you' said Rainbow between massive breaths. She may be one of the fastest ponies in Equestria, but she had also fallen out of practise in the two years since the accident.

Scootaloo looked up at Dash with gratitude in her eyes. Her hero was proud of her. She ran up and tackled Dash in a bone-crushing hug, tears spilling over as she could find nothing more to say than 'thank you'.

Author's Nore: SPOT THE GAME REFERENCE!
Hint: It's from Kingdom Hearts.
I only went through to change this because Dragon Smash on Facebook asked me if he could turn this into a video. Well, I was over the moon! (sorry, Luna) He asked if he could change the ending to RD and Scootaloo flying off into the sunset, which reminded me... Dash was lame, but I forgot to mention it! Why else would she have walked up onto the stage instead of flown, eh? But I digress. I hope you guys liked this epilogue better than the last one.
Oh, also, feel free to make use of that Magic of Emotion thing. I can see some really good stories coming from that, but I already have two fanfics on my plate right now.