Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the—
BORING!
Once upon a time, in the super cool and awesome land of Equestria, there lived one amazingly talented little filly and her even more amazingly talented big sister! They spread awe and amazement all throughout the land.
The big sister was sky blue with a mane of all the colours of the rainbow. Her eyes were a deep rosy red and her smile bore a confidence that nopony else could match. She was known for her superb flying skills; she flew like nopony else could.
And the little sister? She was a little orange filly with a dark pink mane, almost as awesome as her big sister. Her purple eyes were filled with determination, for she wanted to be just like the blue mare she often followed around. And she was sure she could be like her someday, only there was one problem.
“My wings are so small.”
The filly sighed and ruffled out her little wings as she sat on the wooden floor of the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse (the CMCC as the trio called it). For once, she had been the one to arrive early to the club meeting, and she couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to be early to these things.
There was nothing to do! She glanced around the little clubhouse and looked over the organized chaos, scanning all the papers and plans and perfectly placed pictures. They’d done everything! Parasailing, hoofgliding, zip-lining, skateboarding, figure skating, photo editing… all of it! And no luck. No luck just yet.
Maybe… maybe Scootaloo’s destiny was something that her friends couldn’t do with her. Blasphemy! She knew that, but it was a possibility. After all, she was a pegasus. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren’t pegasi, but Scootaloo was. So maybe…
“Maybe my talent will be flying!” the filly exclaimed to herself, hopping up in the air so that her head hit the lantern hanging above her. It lit up as she dropped down with a smile. “This thinking spot really does help.
“But how am I supposed to fly?” she added to herself. Setting herself back down on her haunches, Scootaloo tapped her hoof against her chin. “Maybe I could ask Rainbow Dash! She could figure out a way to help, I’m sure of it.”
The surrogate sister. Yes, that seemed like a prime option.
“Two, three, five, seven, eleven…” Scootaloo counted on the tips of her feathers. “Eleven… Rainbow Dash has eleven letters! It’s perfect! She really is the prime option!”
Now, the little filly was as smart as she was awesome, despite what some ponies may think. And truth be told, she was very awesome! Which would mean she was very smart, and somepony who was as smart as Scootaloo would definitely be able to fly if she were to join forces with somepony as amazing as her surrogate sister Rainbow Dash.
A loud boom and a crash practically scared Scootaloo out of her coat. The frightened filly flew into the air and back down despite her fluttering feathers, then set her sights to the door of the clubhouse.
“What the—”
Peeking out the door, Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and searched for the source of the noise. Maybe it was her friends finally arriving at the meeting. The sun shone directly overhead of the clubhouse, which made it hard to see, though. From what was visible though, Scootaloo made out a shape that was definitely not her friends.
Was it the big blue sister? With wings perfectly primed and cared for? Her mane as colourful as a basket of fruits? The little filly hoped so, but as soon as the figure got up and glanced around with a calm, diplomatic smile, Scootaloo knew this was not Rainbow Dash.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land.
Right in front of Scootaloo stood the eldest regal sister.
“P–Princess Celestia?” Scootaloo squawked as she clumsily bowed at the sudden appearance of royalty. Sheepishly, Scootaloo slowly slid her sights up to the Sun Sister. “What are you doing here?”
Elegantly, the alicorn’s mane blew in the ethereal wind that seemed to follow her around. She was tall, pure white, and sported golden royal regalia. Truly, she was the pure embodiment of the light that shone upon Equestria and the lands around it. The Sun Princess burned brighter than anything Scootaloo had ever seen.
The tiny pegasus put on the pair of sunglasses she always carried around after she’d seen Rainbow Dash do the same and blinked.
A pair of beautiful violet eyes met Scootaloo’s as Celestia looked down upon her. The composed, elegant smile did not waver as Scootaloo made herself smaller under the almost godly gaze. “I hear you have a problem,” the Solar Sister spoke slowly.
Scootaloo nodded eagerly. Maybe she wasn’t Rainbow Dash, but Princess Celestia seemed like a good option, too! In fact, the Princess had the biggest pair of wings that Scootaloo had ever seen on anypony! “Yes, Princess, I do have a problem.”
“And what is your problem, my little pony?” Celestia urged on, extending her large, well-preened wings.
Scootaloo couldn’t help but gawk at her wingspan. It was as big as the canopies of the trees! Maybe even bigger! “I want to fly, but my wings are too small to lift me off the ground,” Scootaloo explained, riding once more to her full height, though the Princess still towered above her.
“My dear subject,” Celestia continued, prancing around the clearing in front of the Crusader Clubhouse, “I think I may have the perfect solution.”
The excitement was too much for Scootaloo. There was no way the orange pegasus could keep her composure after that offer. Goodbye, formalities! “Really! Oh, awesome!” she exclaimed as she hopped around, her wings fluttering with anticipation. “I’ll do anything to impress Rainbow Dash!”
And so, Scootaloo had said it, and Celestia was quite happy to hear it. The alicorn’s smile widened as she raised a hoof to the sky and lit her horn with yellow magic. “I’m glad to hear you say that, young Scootaloo! What I must ask of you is not for the faint of heart.”
“Anything,” Scootaloo repeated as the ground shook beneath her hooves.
With a low rumble and a deep crack, the ground split beneath the filly. She looked down, surprised, and darted her eyes all over as the ground separated so quickly she didn’t even have time to move out of the way. Panicked purple eyes glanced up to meet the Princess’s own set. “What’s happening?” Scootaloo squeaked as she seemed to float for a second before falling into a metal tube buried beneath the ground. “How is there even a door in the ground here?”
Celestia watched as the contrapment holding the pegasus rose out of the floor. “You, dear Scootaloo, are going to the moon!”
“What?!” the filly shrieked in return, trying to clamber out of the slippery inside. Finally, she caught her hoof on the edge and pulled herself up just enough to be able to look at just what exactly she was trapped in. The long barrel of the dark, shiny tube all of a sudden made sense.
It was a cannon.
“Is this a j-joke?” the frightened filly fumbled. “What’s going on, Princess? You can’t actually be shooting me out of a cannon into the moon!”
“It is not a joke,” Celestia responded, pressing her nose right up against Scootaloo’s, who went cross-eyed trying to look the Princess in the eyes. “The moon has low gravity, which means you will be practically weightless. On the moon, you can fly!”
After Celestia jumped back and hummed a tuneless tune, Scootaloo shook her head and cocked her head, kicking her hind hooves against the inside of the cannon to keep her up over the rim. “O-okay, but that’s crazy! I mean, it sounds kind of cool, but that’s not the same as flying here,” she pointed out, hoping to get Celestia to reconsider.
The Princess laughed mirthlessly, sending a chill up the filly’s spine. “Don’t be silly, Scootaloo.” Her head snapped back and her eyes locked coldly on Scootaloo’s for a second before the world seemed to brighten again with the Princess’s expression. “Your wings will grow stronger and you’ll be thanking me in no time!”
The pegasus glanced around as if trying to find an answer for the brief moment of fear she just felt at the mercy of the Princess. She failed to gather an explanation. “But then how do I get back once I learn to fly?”
Celestia grinned evilly as she pushed a big red button that Scootaloo was oblivious to. The barrel of the cannon shook, sending the filly to the bottom, before tilting to face the opposite way of the sun. As the cannon angled itself, the filly was able to shimmy back up and stick her head out once more.
The alicorn leaned in behind Scootaloo and whispered in her ear, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” She slapped a helmet that came out of nowhere in Scootaloo’s head before adding, “Maybe.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened as the too-big helmet flopped on her head and covered her eyes. She pushed it up with a hoof and stared slack-jawed at the Princess. “Huh?!”
The Princess lit a match and disappeared behind the cannon. “Good luck!”
“Waaa-aaaaiiiitttttt!” the filly called out as the cannon exploded loudly, sending her through the air like a, well, cannonball. The helmet cleanly flew off her head and all the filly could do was scream as her hooves flailed in front of her in an attempt to gain her hoofing on non-existent ground.
Celestia looked up contently and sighed as she watched (and heard) the little filly and her voice disappear into a clear blue sky. Scootaloo was just a tiny dot in the sky as Celestia picked up the humorously large sunglasses that must have fallen off of the pegasus’s face at some point. She put them on, smirking smugly at herself as she thought about her good deed.
Unlike her sister’s magical banishment to the moon, Scootaloo had no time limit. She could practice as much as she wanted to! In fact, she was probably already on the surface happily flying around.
Satisfied with herself, Celestia sighed and closed the hidden cannon trapdoor once she had reset it (there were many of these around Equestria), then turned around to leave, though her departure was cut short by two unexpected newcomers, one of which slurped through a straw loudly.
Standing side by side, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked up at the eldest regal sister. Apple Bloom dropped her box of apple juice, while Sweetie Belle simply fainted.
Celestia laughed and flew away, though not before whispering to them, “Nopony will ever believe you.”
Author's Note
Thanks to The wandering commenter for commissioning me :) I wasn’t even planning to ever do writing commissions but this one was fun to do.
