Scootaloo's head hung downwards as she walked. The sun was setting, a glow of orange red jumped across the sky, painting the trail she followed up the hill. She once had so many unanswered questions, but only one had still stuck with her.
"Why am I so different?" she used to hush to herself. All the other Pegasus ponies could fly so easily by themselves. Maybe because they learned it with the help of their parents, a comfort Scootaloo couldn't enjoy for herself. The only thing left after the last option fails; doing the unthinkable, the impossible. It was her only chance.
The grass gently pressed up against her hooves as she left the trail, ducked under the wooden fence leading off into the horizon, and she trekked on into a grassy field. Her purple mane giving off a halo of dazzling colors as she trotted silently. She turned around to examine her flank, as blank as a white piece of paper, unwritten on.
Scootaloo never really minded not having a cutie mark, or at least not as much as her friends did. She always wanted Dash to be proud of her and flying like all the other ponies was the closest way to get to her hero. She was not only a role model for her, but even an invisible parent she could look up to.
Even with the small time she gets to spend with Dash when she needs help, she cherished every second they lasted. The most famous one Scootaloo could remember was the most recent one, but she would usually say that for every meeting before the last one.
She saw a glimpse of it in the orange dusk sky.
*
She walked along the trail she was on now, only much farther back, back in Ponyville. She trotted along the dirt path, only to notice her hero napping quietly in a tree. Scootaloo had a lot on her mind and needed somepony to talk too. Her friends were not around, and she didn't know who else to talk to.
"Rain... Rainbow Dash?" she peeped out softly, much unlike her normal out going tone.
"Ya, Squirt? I'm trying to catch some Z's here, if you know what I mean."
Scootaloo frowned.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I didn't mean to bother you, I'll just go," she turned her head, a soft rush of tears glassed the lower rims of her eyes as she turned away, tears Dash could not simply ignore. She positioned herself and hopped off the tree.
"Hey, wait Squirt, where you headed, I'm in no rush?"
Scootaloo quickly wiped her tears, noticeably, and rotated her head in Dash's direction. She was going to tell her everything she had to say.
"Dash, I have been thinking for a while... And I mean a while. I just don't understand why I can't do it. Everypony else can except me, and they laugh at me for not being able to. All I ever wanted in life were pretty simple things. My first was a pair of friends anypony could ask for and to fulfill my destiny as a Pegasus.
"But every time I try, I can't do it. I know I'm strong enough, I'm fast enough, and I'm defiantly agile enough, but I can't do it!" Scootaloo finished, tears starting to appear in her eyes again.
Scootaloo was struck deep with a sense of sadness, as tears filled her eyes as she trotted through the grassy plane, thinking of the words Dash had told her.
"You can't fly?"
Scootaloo nodded, "I was hoping you could have some advice for me, something to keep me going."
"Squirt... I don't want you to cry, and I can't stand to see anypony sad. If you want some real advise, you should listen closely," Dash said, leaning closer to Scootaloo, almost whispering. It was just them, temporarily master and apprentice, sharing a story.
"You will?"
She nodded back.
"When I was about our age, a few years back," she started her story, "there was one stage in my life when I felt like you are, or close to it. Hopeless, lost, denied, and angry. They were not on/off, they were very frequent. I felt as if I was being held down, but I was much more younger than I was when I could do Sonic Rainbooms in the sky. I had truly lost all hope, and was going to give up."
"You weren't a good flier when you were my age?" Scootaloo asked, amazed, but still teary.
"The only other ponies who know this besides my parents are the camp counselors at Junior Speedsters, that mans you are one of the many few ponies who know one of my big secrets."
"Please continue, Rainbow Dash."
"I was in need of a pick-me-up, a good talking to that would boost my self esteem, which probably made me the pony today. I asked my grandad, who was very old, even when I was young. I went up to him and told him my problems... He said 'Dashie, you can't be scared of these things. Sometimes, you just have to keep working at it. List your options, and when all else fails, try the only thing you haven't done, the one thing you thought would be crazy to do, then, and only then, will it work.' Then he rustled my hair and patted me on the back."
Scootaloo sat their in amazement. Her hero was spilling her past in front of her, something not to many ponies would ever hear about in their lives.
The secret to Rainbow Dash's success.
"What does that even mean, Rainbow Dash? I don't get it," Scootaloo felt bad that she wasn't understanding, even thought she could tell Dash was having a hard time telling this herself.
"I think what he meant was; you have to take a leap of faith. I tried again and again, over and over, struggling to fly, then, when I thought all of his advise was just a superstition, I did it." Scootaloo could hear a small change in Dash's voice, a hint of happiness in a depressing sea.
"What did you do?"
Rainbow cleared her throat, then wiped her eyes after noticing that she too was starting to cry on the outside. Dash had never done in front of anypony, and has never spoken a word of it since, nor Scootaloo.
"Well, one day, after another afternoon of failed attempts, I found this little cloud cliff. High enough for some diving techniques, but only skilled fliers would attempt it. I guess I didn't really know what I was thinking as I galloped up it. I was so distressed, so sad, I was so... Determined to make it."
Tears visibly swelled up in Dash's eyes, but her tone didn't change.
"I got up to the top and looked down. It was high enough for me to have lots of room, but if I hit the cloud ground, I would fall through it, which would certainly..."
Scootaloo looked at Dash, crying as well.
She put her hoof on Dash's and smiled.
"I thought about it for a second. I thought of my family, my friends, and my grandad's words; 'when all else fails, try the only thing you haven't done, the one thing you thought would be crazy to do, then, and only then, will it work.'. I couldn't remember if I was crying. All I know is that I jumped and closed my eyes."
Dash sighed and took a deep breath. She looked at the ground, tears slowly dripping down to the dusty trail.
"What happened after that?"
*
Scootaloo reached her destination. The water of the sea washed across the the wall of rock as Scootaloo looked down, swallowing hard.
This was it, what she had been moving towards her whole life, the second she was born, she was being led to this moment, it was her destiny to fulfill.
This cliff was her destiny.
*
"It was like... Pulling off a band aid. I opened my eyes and there I was... Soaring through the sky," She wiped her face completely.
"I'm sorry, Scootaloo, you came here for advice, and I'm crying all over you..."
"Rainbow Dash, I think I just got the best advice I will ever hear."
Then, Scootaloo grabbed Dash and embraced her, their warmth exchanging. She nuzzled her snout in Dash's stomach. The normal Dash, who would push her away, was gone, and in replacement was a new Dash, like something awoke in her. She hugged Scootaloo back.
"Ya know, Squirt, you can stop calling me Rainbow Dash, just 'Dash' will do."
"I love you so much, Dash."
Dash accepted the reply, and held onto Scootaloo for a few more moments, tears dropping onto her purple mane.
*
Scootaloo contemplated on what she was doing.
"When all else fails, just take a leap of faith, Scootaloo," she thought. She stretched her wings out, her little feathers showing, and let the warmth of the sun embrace her, like she did with Dash.
She felt like the most special pony in the entire world at that moment. She closed her eyes and time stopped.
A vision overtook her. She couldn't make it out perfectly, but she could feel it. It was... Happiness.
She took one last look at the sun, and galloped off. The wind blew through her hair and she got ready to jump.
"Sometimes,"
A smile grew.
"You just need to..."
Her wings tipped.
"Take a..."
She felt weightless.
"Leap of faith."
Reality came back...
And she never hit the water.
