“Well, Squirt… can't say I have any grub at the moment.”
Scootaloo's ears shot up towards the cloudy ceiling around the same instant she suddenly blinked rapidly. Had she zoned out again? She must have zoned out again--how long ago was a mystery to her. Scootaloo hated doing that at random.
She mentally backtracked over what her cyan host might have said when she wasn't paying attention. Ah yes; that dinner issue...something about her cupboards and fridge being cleared out thanks to this morning and it's funny little instances. Last night's sleepover was many things, and informative was one of them. That is to say, the night informed them that they were horrible cooks no matter what ingredients they had involved. A trickle of amusement entered her as she fondly remembered the look on Dash's face when she finally agreed to ordering breakfast from Sky-Bucks.
Scootaloo would have traveled back even more in her mind to pick out even more amusing thoughts, but she knew that an answer was expected of her and she took to handling that first. “Really? There's nothing at all? We couldn't have burned everything up with our tofu bacon, could we?”
“We did not burn the tofu bacon. We just...overcooked it.”
“That's the definition of burning, Dash!” Scootaloo fought the urge to giggle at the silly antics of the older pegasi.
“Well anyway, I can't really find anything dinner related in here. Just Reign-in noodle packets, crackers, barbeque chips and stuff like that.” As she continued, the filly turned her attention back to the window. “Oh, hang on. There’s wheat bread here...lemme just check the…”
And just like that, her thoughts slowly drowned Rainbow Dash’s voice.
The small pegasus filly focused on the scene set through the window, blurry and foggy as it was. It had been a long, mildly blustery day with rain to accent it. Thankfully the weather ponies didn’t schedule any massive thunderstorms, but they did cluster together smoky looking clouds into one big wall that blocked the sun from view. She missed the opportunity to see sunsets, but she could be patient enough to watch one another day. The rain was just as beautiful to behold, anyway.
As the clouds had a smoky darkness to them, so the world beneath took a lighter shade of it. Cloudsdale was a painting of pure silver and charcoal thanks to the combination of Nimbostratus and Cumulonimbus. Buildings, carts, and even ponies alike were made to be barely recognizable silhouettes through the blurry water pellets assaulting everything from above. Everything moved sluggishly; at a relaxed and leisurely pace that conveyed no sense of urgency--no rush. The sound of the rain's never-ending assault was better than any orchestra in all of Equestria, like a symphony from the angels themselves. Each striking raindrop had a voice to be heard in the choir--a single beat against glass windows that begged to be felt and heard.
Scootaloo found the sight as melancholic as she found it vibrant. She smiled softly as she appreciated the view even more and sighed in relaxation. Wind pushed the raindrops at a different angle across the window she gazed out of, and her view was briefly blurred. She observed the sight of a few pegasi traveling by hoof to different places in collective peace--never once picking up the pace despite the rain crashing down on their heads. She even saw a few of them take off against the hordes of water attacking them, arching this way and that through the dark sky. She smiled even wider at such a peculiar, yet positive action.
To fly in the rain, to join the rain clouds as they drift from one place to another...would be a privilege. She knew that to others, such an experience would be a normal occurrence and nothing to be so poetic about. But the very thought of enjoying this atmosphere was a prospect that the filly couldn't help but shiver at. What she wouldn't give to dance amongst the raindrops, to feel the rush of icy wind sift through her feathers like a natural brush or to know what it was like to push yourself into the sky with each majestic wingbeat. She'd give almost anything to fly in such a pleasant, soothing setting such as this. She would never be able to fly at all.
But she was okay with that seemingly troublesome truth. She'd come to terms with the fact that she would be forever stuck on the ground by now, even if her wings had grown more in recent months. She would not be able to ascend into the beautiful sky herself, but she would never pass up the chance for someone else to help give her a taste. Rainbow Dash was never busy to carry her for a flight, and it was enough for her. She could not--would not-- complain about her permanent disability.
Scootaloo was content to be grounded for life.
She sighed as she leaned closer to the glass, her cheeks feeling the cold aura from the outside world. Her fur stood on end with goosebumps, but she smiled even wider than before. Yes. She was happy with this. Just this.
“Scootaloo? Hellooo? Did you hear me?”
“Huh?” The filly responded with a numb tone and looked back.
“I was saying that I think the pizza is ready,” Rainbow Dash walked over to her with a soft smile. “You wanna head out and pick it up?”
Scootaloo nodded slowly, her conscious mind slowly returning to her. “Um, yeah. Sure.”
“You good, Squirt?” Rainbow gently tapped her forehead with a hoof. “You looked like you were thinking really hard for a sec.”
Not wanting to tell her about her thoughts, the small pegasus shrugged idly and came up with a half-truth. “Um...it's--it's nothing. Nothing important, I mean. I was just...thinking about you and me. I really like hanging out with you more often. It's just...its really nice.”
Rainbow bit back a wider smile and used her bangs to hide her darkening cheeks. “Well, shucks. If I had known you were gonna say something that cheesy, I'd have stopped ordering the pizza.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “The truth can be cheesy.”
“Yes, and I hope our food is too. Here's the money,” Scootaloo held eight bits against her chest and looked up expectantly as the words continued. “It's not too far from here, you remember? Four buildings east from here, with one left turn.”
“I remember.” The small pegasus confirmed boldly. “I'll be back before you can say ‘What's cookin’, good lookin’?”
After a brief laugh, the older pony walked her small friend to the door and watched as she began her journey to retrieve their food. Rainbow grimaced a little as she noticed the rain had started to fall harder from above. The weather ponies certainly outdid themselves tonight. “Sure you don't want an umbrella, Scoots? I think I got one in the closet next to Tank's bed.”
Scootaloo shook her head with a convincing smile. Her purple mane was already half soaked with rainwater. “Nah, I won't be outside for too long. Besides, I like the rain!”
Rainbow chuckled lightly, but nervously watched her go. “Well, don't like it too much. Last thing I want is sick company.”
Scootaloo giggled in dismissal and soon left, heading down the path specified for her. The clouds beneath her hooves kept up their soft but solid integrity, even with the combined weight of who knows how many pegasi and who knows how many raindrops. The cloudy ground beneath was like dark slate, probably because cloudsdale was sitting on a mammoth cumulonimbus formation. Cloudsdale had it easy; Ponyville was more than likely experiencing some very heavy downpour. Occasionally, the filly could even spot a few bright flashes here and there, followed by vibrating booms.
The orange filly once again found herself idly looking to the skies: again entranced by the beauty of rain. Against the ceiling of dark, ashy clouds she could make out smaller shapes. At first glance, she dismissed them as nothing more than a few birds that were crazy enough to be flying this high up in all the rain. She'd somehow forgotten the other possibility--of something a tad larger traveling the dark heavens. She was reminded when a trio of laughing mares squealed their way just a few feet over her head and into the distance. Scootaloo continued to walk, but kept her eyes on the sky.
Two more pegasi, a blushing couple wrapped in dull colored coats, drifted their way through the watery painting that was their world. Scootaloo admired how their synchronized wings despite how lost in each other they were. She adored the thought of flying at such a leisurely wing-pace, to flap as slowly as a calm heartbeat. The filly followed the flight path of a father and his son, the former holding an umbrella above the latter. Water rolled off their wings like it would on a roof with tiles or down a sloping hill-- so calm and slow, never hindering their ability to stay in the air. Scootaloo could never know what if felt like for her wings to push up against air and be rinsed by nature’s shower at the same time, but it didn’t stop her from imagining it as she walked.
Her peaceful mind was a slow mind and it took a long amount of time for her to take in what happened next.
It was a very sudden set of things, she supposed. She was about to study a lone mail pony heading home to rest through the storm, when her left forehoof suddenly met...nothing. No cloud met that hoof to give her support, and she found herself leaning forward at a speed that slowly increased as the milliseconds passed her by. She heard, from a distance so very far behind her and almost completely muffled by rain, a familiar voice saying her name in alarm and fear. More than halfway into her stumble, Scootaloo finally turned her head to see who had called for her and finally caught the brief glimpse of a cyan blur zipping towards her. Then that sight was blocked by a very tall slab of black clouds, flying upwards past her to reach the heavens she could not touch. Confused, the filly watched the cumulonimbus climb higher and higher before the realization struck her like a cold, icy slap to the face.
She was falling.
She was falling fast.
As gravity yanked her down faster and faster, Scootaloo fearfully cursed herself for her stupidity. She should have been looking where she was going, not caught up staring at other ponies more fortunate than her. Even now, her wings uselessly clawed at the wind rushing upward and mocked her for being unable to save herself from a grisly fate below. The filly’s flailing caused her to fall in an uncontrollable spin, one that got more and more dizzying with each passing second. The icy wind amplified the heart stopping chill in her veins, strangling a scream that had stopped halfway up her throat. She couldn't make sense of what was up and what was down anymore-- couldn't even get her wings to make sense of staying folded or opening. And then it got even worse for her.
At least Rainbow Dash had a chance of seeing her while she was still falling outside of the cumulonimbus. Her unhelpful flailing caused her to shoot right into it from the side, and now she was certain that Rainbow wouldn't be able to see through the smoky water vapors. Even Scootaloo couldn't quite see anymore, even if she had managed to slow down her awkward tumbling. The black clouds had become a single column of shadows thanks to her increased speed, effectively blinding her. She rolled her legs to the side simultaneously and somehow managed to get herself into a nosedive. Not exactly a good thing, but better than her original problem. Yes, problem. How was she going to get out of this? Her brain managed to ignore the bile rising up from her stomach, to think of her possible options.
Falling out of the sky didn't leave that many options, unfortunately. She remembered reading a book in class about how you had a very slight chance of surviving a fall from the sky if you hit water, and even then you'd shatter your legs bones to dust. Another stray thought brought up another story she'd read, called The Wax Wings. Apparently it was about some guy named Icarus who's dad gave him wax wings to fly with when he asked. That would have been a cool story, if only it didn't end with him melting his wings in the sun and then dying in a horrible fall. Applebloom always wondered why he didn't make wings out of wood or metal, and Scootaloo would agree.
Oh, no. She might never see Applebloom or Sweetie Belle again. Would they be sad--angry and confused that their friend was taken so soon? What would Rainbow Dash do if she died from this? Scootaloo felt sick at the thought of Dash being sad. She raised her tear blurred eyes to what she considered to be up. “Rainbow Dash?!”
The darkness was silent.
“Rainbow Dash?! I'm down here!”
Nothing. Scootaloo frantically scanned the darkness. “Rainbow D--”
She shrieked as a lightning bolt roared just a few yards away from her. Her body had finally broken through the bottom layer of the cumulonimbus and she winced at the sudden onslaught of color, however dull the light may have been. Rain ten times as heavy as it had been on Cloudsdale attacked her as she fell, adding weight to her fur and speed all the same. Her eyes spotted a blurry, grey Ponyville sitting very far below her. It was rushing up to her faster than she wanted. Too fast.
There was one option left, but given what it was she knew her legs were going to break regardless. She didn't necessarily have to fly to save herself--she just had to glide her way to the ground with her wings. They'd grown more in the past couple months despite still being small, so they should at least be able to glide. She pleaded with whoever could hear her to get her wings to be useful for once in her life. Just once, at least to save herself.
So, she opened her wings simultaneously.
Almost instantly, they caught a circular draft from beneath. Scootaloo gasped at the clashing of warm and cold air sandwiching her sensitive feathers, rinsing over the fur on her body. Her fall didn't stop, but it did slow down dramatically as her wings acted like a half decent parachute. She blinked through the powerful rain at herself as she began to fall in a wide circle, like a descending vulture after it found a carcass to finish off. Around and around she went, and lower and lower as well. She started to relax just a little bit; to breathe calmly and nod to herself. She may still have a very rough landing, but now the chances of instant death were almost certainly off the table.
Thick arcs of electricity blinked their way into existence a couple yards off from the corner of her eyes and before she could even register seeing the lightning, the deafening boom nearly ruptured her eardrums and stopped her heart for good. Her wings closed up against her sides in instinctual fear and sent her into another stomach lurching drop. Scootaloo squeaked in alarm as she looked toward Ponyville again--she had possibly a minute or half one before she became an ugly stain on the dirt streets. Her life, short yet beautiful, flashed before her eyes as her heart rate rose again. More thunder rolled in the background, but suddenly it was drowned out by her indescribable senses screaming at her to do something. Whimpering, the filly’s feathery appendages raised sharply and slapped downwards as if to push the ground away from herself.
Her body lurched upwards.
It was so brief, so very quick that she very nearly missed it or nearly dismissed it, at the very least. Scootaloo whipped her wings down again out of curiosity and yelped when her body did another upwards lurch. Numb to this strange turn of events but willing to try anything to keep herself up, she decided to keep sharply slapping her wings in a steady pattern. Occasionally, one wing pushed down ahead of the other and took her off balance, but eventually she would get it right again. Scootaloo down and saw that she was staying afloat with these flaps. Good, this was good.
She breathed a sigh of relief, letting the rain calm her down. She was fine. She wasn't going to die.
“Scootaloo?! Scootaloo!”
The filly gasped at hearing her name, nearly losing her concentration on flapping. She saw a tiny dot of cyan break from the ceiling of black clouds, frantically zipping this way and that as if searching for something precious and dear to her. Scootaloo managed to angle her wings to propel her forward towards the zipping dot, waving her hooves to get it's attention. “Rainbow Dash! I'm here!”
In seconds, the cyan dot became a blur that wasted no time rushing towards Scootaloo. But when she started to get closer, Rainbow Dash suddenly slowed to a halt and stared at her. It was a wide eyed, slack jawed stare that conveyed a sense of complete and utter shock. Scootaloo stared at her with something that was probably more confused than shocked, finally starting to get used to the constant flapping motions. She wasn't flying, but at least it kept her from plummeting to a painful end. Maybe Dash noticed something behind her?
When she looked and found nothing, the filly turned back to the completely surprised pegasus. Finally, Scootaloo tilted her head and wrinkled her snout. “What?”
Rainbow didn't say anything for a long time, but she did continue to stare. With patience and time, she finally blinked and possibly breathed for the first time since the small pegasus fell.
“...Y-you're flying.”
Scootaloo blinked owlishly. What? Was Rainbow delirious? “Um, no I’m not.”
“You're flying.” She repeated, breathlessly.
“No, I'm not. This is just something I made up to keep from--”
“You are flying.” Rainbow circled her briefly, settling her gaze on her wings for the longest and watching as they flapped in complete synchronization. A small, shaky smile appeared on her face and her eyes practically glowed with happiness. “Look at you.”
“No, I'm not. Rainbow, you know I can't--” Scootaloo looked down.
Her eyes widened.
Rainbow quickly grasped her by the hooves when she lost control, holding her in the air with a wider smile. “It's okay. I got you. Y-you did good.”
“I flew.” She whispered, her eyes as wide as her jaws. “I-I flew.”
“Um, yeah. You did.”
“I flew. I really did.”
Rainbow smiled wider and nodded at her wings. “Do it again. I wanna see you do it again.”
Scootaloo looked back at her appendages hesitantly, grimacing as she did so. What if it wasn't flying? What if she had just been lucky? “...B-but what if--”
“You did it once.” The older pegasus reassured her firmly. “I know you can do it again. I'll be here to keep you up.”
The young filly trembled ever so slightly. She clearly felt the most uncertain she's ever felt, but her eyes remained on Rainbow Dash no matter what. Anxiety rimmed the edges of her eyes, but the center was filled with nothing but trust in the older pegasus. She gave a shaky nod as she looked back at her wings, unfurling then once again. They flapped just once, then twice and then a third time after that. The filly’s body slowly rose into the air with each nervous flap, trying to find a rhythm that matched the wing beat of the cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash smiled wider at the progress she showed, holding her small hooves tighter. “There ya go!
Scootaloo started to smile as well, never ceasing to take the occasional glance back at her wings as they flapped more and more. Eventually, they released each other's hooves just to appreciate the new development, both smiling as wide as their faces would allow and examining every inch of Scootaloo’s wings. Scootaloo gave a happy laugh as she kept flapping. “This is awesome! Like, so Awe--”
A bolt of lightning struck a little too close for comfort, bursting in a massive sound wave that nearly knocked them over. Rainbow was the first to recover and remembered the pounding rain that was still falling against them, as well as the constant danger they were in...being underneath a cumulonimbus cloud and all. She chuckled nervously and pointed up. “Maybe we should talk a little higher? I don't fancy being cooked by lightning...or going deaf.”
Scootaloo agreed with a short nod and watched as Rainbow Dash led the way by flying straight up into the dark canopy, following behind with hefty flaps from her wings. The filly couldn't stop herself from smiling any harder as she looked at her flapping wings again. She couldn't compare the feeling of pushing herself to the sky with anything else--the perfect rustle of wind through her fur and feathers was a dream made real now. She finally knew what it felt like to fly against a storm and how to truly ascend from the imprisonment that was the Equus ground. Even surrounded by water vapors of black that clouded her vision, she felt the warm presence of Rainbow Dash and her own heart the more she climbed. She was touching the heavens, at long last.
...well, not quite.
Scootaloo realised that she had perhaps a hundred or more hooves to go before she truly touched the heavens themselves. For now she was still stuck in the grip of the rain clouds, unable to truly feel what it was like to be at the very top of the world. No--if she truly desired that feeling, she would have to fly even higher than Cloudsdale to achieve it. The filly narrowed her eyes up through the clouds, at a pulsating sense of light that seemed to defy all of the darkness surrounding her. It was bright enough to hurt her eyes, but she kept looking at the bright aura above and wishing she could touch it. Scootaloo glanced at Rainbow Dash with her look of intense yearning, and was surprised to find the cyan pony gazing right back at her. There was a brief, reassuring nod before Dash suddenly rocketed higher.
Scootaloo followed her as fast as she could manage, her freshly used wings flapping harder than ever just to take her higher. She could only guess how high up she was by now, for the clouds were getter thinner and thinner. Her lungs began to ache from the amount of work she was putting into scrambling for that precious aura--her heart, on the other hand, was pushing her on with a supportive drum beat in her ribcage. As she picked up more speed, her eyes blurred with the thinning clouds and the intensity of the light she witnessed. It was a prize so great that no one could look upon it, at least in her mind. Finally the strain of her retinas made her look away just as she broke from the top of the cumulonimbus. Her eyes eventually adjusted.
She saw it and gasped.
Her eyes drank in the sight of the sunset, widening to surprising lengths just to remember the moment. The clouds were towering even when they were finally beneath her, like mammoth mountains of white clouds. They created an entirely new landscape by just existing; a terrain untouched by ponykind just for her to discover. Where the cumulonimbus clouds were enormous mountains, the lower formations of water vapor were untamed fields of calm grass in the wind. The contrast of dark space above with what was below gave everything the perfect, otherworldly feeling. It was a white dream made more real by the sun itself.
The light spray of rainy mist around them amplified the glow of the beauty Scootaloo witnessed. It was a small ball of white hot intensity in the sky, surrounded by an endless array of blending colors. She saw where the approaching black sky melted away into shadowed purple, then how that receded into a lively shade of blue, which sizzled into the seductive grasp of an electric pink hue. Finally the myriad of sleepy hues, brought together to represent the end of another day, resulted in the color yellow. It was the color that glowed the brightest of them all--as if it were a reminder that a new day would come again.
Scootaloo found her mind briefly numbed by a sight few would watch for long, and she slowly followed Rainbow Dash to sit on the top of a cloud mountain. They watched it all for a long time in appreciative silence, sitting closely on the patch of white. The filly finally managed to say something. “...I can't believe it.”
From the corner of her vision, the older pegasus glanced at her. “To think that I've missed this my whole life…”
“...Well, you have it now.” Was the confident reply. “In my book, that's all that matters.”
Scootaloo was glad Rainbow could be so content with that...but it nagged her. The filly’s mind went back to all the times in her life that involved flying-- the times she tried to do it, the times she watched others do it for her, the times she'd try only to quit and the many days before now where she truly and honestly accepted that she would never touch the heavens herself. To think that she was given the ability to fly after so much change in her mindset…
She tore her gaze away from the beauty of the sky while her eyes began to sting. “...I don't deserve this.”
“What?”
“I-I don't deserve this.” Scootaloo sniffled to herself, and stared at her hooves in shame. What else could she feel for flying, when she had been so hopeless in herself? “I don't deserve to fly.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her sharply, a look of surprise and sadness on her face. “What?! Why would you say that?”
Scootaloo felt like curling up in a ball somewhere. “I-I gave up trying to fly.... I completely g-gave up. Not only that, but I-I was actually becoming content with the idea of being flightless my whole life. I'm...a quitter. And I don't deserve the luxury of flying.”
There was an uncomfortable stretch of silence after that. Scootaloo wasn't sure what Dash would say to that, but logically...she supposed the older pegasus would agree with her. She waited for that confirmation.
“...Look, c-can you do me a favor, and n-never say that again? Please?”
Surprised by the shaky voice of her mentor, the young pegasus blinked up at her. Rainbow was wearing deep frown, a saddened hunch and wet eyes--surprising her enough to make her blink again. Rainbow Dash would never look this way around anypony--she was too cool for tears or any attitude that wasn’t tough stuff. Scootaloo frowned. “I...I don't underst--”
“Just please don't say that again. Because...Because you're wrong! You deserve this more than anypony I know--including myself. And before you try to argue with me about that, ” Rainbow gave a shaky sigh before continuing. She never broke eye contact-- if anything she strengthened it. “Flying was always in your blood--not just in your dreams. Everyday, Pegasi take all this for granted-- its just a simple thing like walking. Nothing to make a big deal about--but it is. Especially to you, ”
“But I...I gave up on myself, ” Scootaloo weakly protested and sniffled. “I quit the game, so I don't deserve the prize.”
“If anyone deserves to fly, it's you. After all the months you tried, no matter what you thought after, you still deserved it. Those wings are there for a reason Squirt. You earned this the day you were born….I just...I...” The Cyan mare rubbed her neck while her cheeks turned a darker shade, clearly a bit more than uncomfortable. “A-As sappy as it might sound...You have no idea how proud I am of you right now.”
Scootaloo's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “R-really?”
She didn't say anything, but she did sheepishly nod and cough it off. Scootaloo smiled a little at the kind gesture regardless, but faltered as she stared at her wings. “...I...guess I could not say that. Like, ever again.”
“Thank you.” Rainbow sighed in relief. They went back to staring at the sunset, which had receded a bit more since their talk. She figured that there was only an hour of so left of light, before Luna's graceful moon glowed in the dark. Scootaloo want sure if she understood what Dash was saying about all this, and she feared the idea of never understanding. But she could at least accept the words of her mentor for now. After sticking around with a kid like her this long, of course Scootaloo will accept it.
When a stray thought formed, the filly tapped her hooves together nervously. “...so...um…” When her mentor glanced down at her again, she became a bit more nervous. “...this is the part where we...hug, isn't it?”
Rainbow blinked. Hard. “Oh. Uh. Um...do you want a hug?”
“I mean, it's not like I need a hug. Just saying that...I could.”
“...maybe just a...quick hug? Nothing too sappy?”
“Um, yeah. That works.”
So they hesitantly hugged, slowly but surely locking arms. Despite the intention to depart soon after, neither of them could bring themselves to tear away. Smiling a little wider at this, they both tightened the hug and basked in the mutual joy of this glorious sunset. Even the sun itself seemed to smile down on them, delighted with the two sisters in their happy embrace. Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash but never broke the hug.
“Rainbow?” She asked.
“Yeah?”
“Is now a bad time to tell you I dropped all the bits?”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “I think this hug will make up for it.
Scootaloo grinned.
