Her orange wings outstretched, the pegasus filly rolled over and began a steep dive towards Ponyville below. From this altitude, the town could be made out as a dark brown area on the outskirts of a dark green expanse that she knew was the Everfree; that was not a place to come down, being as it was the untamed refuge of vicious animals, some of which ate meat. She didn’t shiver at the thought; why should she? She was an experienced flyer and knew she was in complete command of her element; nothing was going to go wrong.
She built up speed with her forelegs outstretched and pushed harder and harder, feeling the shock wave begin to build in front of her and gritted her teeth. Her lips began to be pulled back by the force of the air’s resistance while her focus was being drawn into a smaller and smaller area in front of her as her peripheral vision could no longer process what was within its shrinking field of view.
A mist built around her and she started to feel buffeting. She knew this was normal and kept on pushing against the increasing resistance. She pushed on, ever harder, waiting for the moment of release when she would feel herself freed from the grip of the elements that conspired to hold her back and punch through into the clear air beyond.
“Wake up Scootaloo” came a voice accompanied by the gentle rocking motion of a hoof on her shoulder.
“Awwww!” she whined “Why is it always at the best bit?”
She had been dreaming that she could perform a sonic rainboom just like her idol, Rainbow Dash; but she still couldn’t even fly. If it wasn’t bad enough waiting for your cutie mark, then waiting to fly was even worse.
Aside from the teasing by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, everypony knew you grew into your cutie mark, but not being able to fly? You might as well be a unicorn or an earth pony. Not that there was anything wrong with that; her two best friends didn’t have wings, but they knew they would always be earth-bound and didn’t have to fly to be complete within themselves.
She grumbled at the unfairness of being young and stomped out of bed to prepare for the day ahead. She thought of the words that still motivated her to this day “Nice moves, kid!” One day she would make the rainbow maned Wonderbolt and honorary big sister so proud of her.
School seemed slower than usual. Sweetie Belle was naturally gifted at everything and nopony ever put in more effort than Apple Bloom, but here she was, a frustrated pegasus who couldn’t even fly. She spent more time than she should staring out the window at the clouds in the sky, imagining the clear air rippling across her feathers as she performed loops, banks and dives, just for the fun of it.
Her friends kept trying to drag her attention back into the classroom, but it was only a matter of time before she was caught. Miss Cheerilee had noticed her student’s daydreaming, but had been trying to cut her some slack; however, when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had started making snide comments to each other and giggling about the orange filly’s inattention, she had been forced to act to maintain discipline within the class.
Scootaloo was kept back after school as punishment while her teacher marked classwork and the remaining two Crusaders had to conduct their business at the clubhouse as a rather subdued duo rather than with the joy they felt being together as a trio of best friends.
While Scootaloo sat gloomily in the classroom, Miss Cheerilee had asked what was wrong, but she just shrugged a dismissive one word response “Nothing” reasoning that because she was an earth pony she wouldn’t have the first idea about the frustration of being a pegasus that still couldn’t fly. If her teacher had been a pegasus, then she would have understood and perhaps they could have spoken – maybe.
Miss Cheerilee could see there was nothing to be gained by keeping her sullen student behind any longer than was necessary and so let her out early, not that she got any thanks from the grumpy filly.
Scootaloo slouched her way to the clubhouse, kicking the occasional stone from her path, brooding deeply in her self-pity. Nopony knew how hard it was for her. Nopony understood.
The evening passed through a blur of feeling sorry for herself, even though her friends tried hard to reach her, it just wasn’t going to happen.
She dropped into bed, still raging internally at the world and drifted into a fitful sleep.
She was flying through the night sky under a full moon, darting between and through the soft white clouds, feeling the wind on her face, along her body and through her wings. It was all so real, so vivid, so beautiful. She looked around to give herself the spatial awareness to appreciate that she was really flying and was surprised to see a dark blue alicorn off to her side.
“Princess Luna!” she gasped, forgetting momentarily that she was supposed to be flying and felt herself start to tumble from the sky as she screamed in fear. This was so much more real than any other dream she had ever experienced!
The gentle caress of a magical blue aura held her firmly and lovingly, arresting her fall and straightening her out so she was in control once more.
“Princess Luna?” she asked once the alicorn drew alongside her “Is this real?”
“Do not worry, Scootaloo” she heard the voice as smooth as the purest spun silk “You are completely safe.”
“Hey squirt!” came a rasping voice to her other side “Want to show me some moves?”
She turned to see Rainbow Dash and her eyes grew wide as saucers; she was flying through the night sky flanked by her favourite pegasus and her favourite Princess! It didn’t matter whether this was real or whether it was a dream, she was going to enjoy the experience.
The pegasus filly led her two greatest heroes through a series of weaves and gentle turns, then progressing to increasingly complex aerobatic manoeuvres, showing off her new-found talents while her confidence grew with every wingbeat. She sensed the aching in her wings and it felt so good to be finally able to use them as they were intended!
They kept flying together until Scootaloo’s wings became too sore to continue and then they all slowed the pace to set course back to her house, landing gently on the ground outside her window. Rainbow Dash gave her protégé a loving hug and a playful noogie while Princess Luna directed her magical aura to the window catch and opened it carefully.
“Nice moves, kid” said Rainbow, passing one her cyan feathers as a keepsake. The orange filly gave her idol a big hug, tears of gratitude welling up in her eyes.
“Scootaloo,” whispered the familiar voice of purest silk “It is time to go now.”
The filly detached herself from the cyan pegasus and launched herself at her favourite Princess, now unable to hold back any longer, softly sobbing tears of the most unbridled happiness and clutching the cyan feather tightly.
“I love you Princess Luna” she just managed to whisper, “Thank you!”
She felt the gentle caress of Luna’s aura levitate her up and through the bedroom window and tuck her carefully into her bed. She watched the window close and latch itself under a faint blue glow and then looked as a pegasus and an alicorn flew off towards the full moon. Suddenly she started to feel very tired and quickly tucked the feather under her pillow before settling back into a sleep that seemed to owe more to magic than tiredness.
“Wake up Scootaloo” came a voice accompanied by the gentle rocking motion of a hoof on her shoulder.
She didn’t whine this morning, but recalled the events of the night before, daring herself to check under her pillow. Could it have been real? She gently moved the pillow away and to her surprise found a pristine cyan blue feather waiting for her!
She bounded downstairs with an excitement and optimism coursing through her very existence. It was like she had just been given her cutie mark – only better!
Today was going to be different. She arrived at school and hugged her two best friends, who just looked at each other in surprise. This wasn’t like the Scootaloo they knew.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon caught sight of the orange filly they had set up for detention the day before and shared a snide comment that was just out of earshot.
“Did you enjoy staying behind last night?” asked the pink earth pony.
“Pity you haven’t got a cutie mark for staring out of windows” quipped her grey friend “It is your special talent after all.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started forward with determined looks, ready to knock some manners into their two classmates but Scootaloo held them back.
“I’m sorry for you two” she said with uncharacteristic quiet resolve “You will never have any special talents.”
“Oh really” retorted Silver Spoon “Says the pegasus that can’t even fly.”
The tormenting bullies giggled at their collective wit while Scootaloo put down her school bag and began to flutter her wings, calling inwardly upon Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna as she rose into the sky. She performed a circuit of the two open-mouthed bullies and landed back by her shocked friends.
“Let’s see you do that then” she said simply.
From behind them, Miss Cheerilee clapped her hooves together with joy. A rainbow maned pegasus who was stood by the teacher’s side just looked her little buddy in the eye and winked.
All the classmates rallied round Scootaloo and lifted her high in celebration of their friend’s first flight, leaving a speechless grey filly and a fuming pink earth pony isolated once again.
