Beyond Expectations

Beyond Expectations

By FromTheMoon

Chapter 1: An Awesome Opportunity

It was a normal day in PonyVille it seemed with the bright sun shining its warmth down onto the town and every pony going about their day’s business. There was one Pegasus filly however that seemed rather concerned and was rushing through the crowded streets determined to get to her destination. Scootaloo was speeding down the street as fast as she could trying to get to Sweet Apple Acres on time to meet Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell for that days cutie mark crusading.

“Out of all the days to sleep in, why did it have to be the day when we try rock climbing to get our cutie marks? It was already hard enough to get those two to agree to it in the first place after my bungee jumping idea. How was I supposed to know that bee’s had made their nest in that rock face?”  Scootaloo remembering the hours it took last week to get all the stingers out of their bodies did not notice that Carrot Top had begun to pull a wagon full of supplies directly in her scooters path.

By the time that Scoots noticed it was too late to stop completely at the speed that she was going. She opened her wings to slow down but the scooter hit a rock and both it and Scootaloo went flying across the street. Scootaloo face planted and skid across the dirt a good few feet. She quickly picked herself up and looked around for her scooter which was still flying through the air and on a collision course with Mr. Breezy’s shop window. “Noooooooooooooooo! Not again!”  Scootaloo shouted.

Scootaloo was confused for a few seconds after what she had just seen.  Her scooter had come mere inches away from the window but had not gone through it. Instead it seemed like it just vanished in a blue blur followed by a short rainbow.

“Wait!? What just!? Huh?” Scootaloo took off her helmet and started rubbing her head when from behind her came an all too familiar voice.

“I give you a nine for the speed but a two for the follow up and landing squirt.”

Scootaloo quickly turned around and her eyes lit up with joy and excitement when she saw Rainbow Dash leaning on her scooter. She quickly rushed over to the prismatic pegasus. “Rainbow Dash! Where did you come from?

Rainbow quickly put the little filly in a hug. “Oh, you know…just happened to drop out of the sky at the right place and the right time. Nothing special really.” Rainbow quickly looked over Scootaloo’s body. “Hey squirt, you got a little dirt…well…everywhere I guess.”

The small pegasus's eyes quickly filled up with terror as she noticed that she was covered in dirt and worse still she was getting it on Rainbow Dash. She quickly broke from the hug and started brushing herself off looking embarrassed while doing so.

“Sorry for getting dirt on you Rainbow.” Scootaloo looked at the ground blushing.

“Sorry? For what? A little dirt never hurt any pony. Who do you think you’re talking to? Rarity? As a dare devil I expect to be covered in dirt by the end of the day.”

Scootaloo looked up from the ground and rushed over to Rainbow’s side again with a look of relief on her face. “Thanks for saving me from having to explain to Mr. Breezy why my scooter was in the middle of a pile of broken glass again.”

Rainbow Dash stopped leaning on the scooter and passed it over to Scootaloo, “No problem squirt but hey, where were you going in such a hurry anyway?”

Once her helmet was firmly on her head again Scootaloo hoped back on the scooter. “I was on my way to Sweet Apple Acres to meet the girls. We’re trying to get our cutie marks in rock climbing today!”

“Hey it’s a good thing you got these huh?" Rainbow pointed to the young pegasus's wings. " I’m sure they’ll come in handy.”

“Actually…I can’t fly yet. I can’t even stay off the ground for more than a few seconds” Scootaloo quickly turned away from her idol.

Rainbow realized that she had messed up but before she could do anything to fix it Scootaloo was already moving away from her. “I got to get going, thanks again for helping me out Rainbow Dash!” She didn't get farther than ten feet before Rainbow Dash jumped in front of her. “Uh…is there a problem Rainbow Dash?”

The older pegasus gave no answer. Instead she just stood there for a few moments looking over the confused filly. Scootaloo was about to say something but before she could Rainbow was next to her lifting the little filly’s wings. “Wait!? What are you doing Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow quickly let go of her wings. “Do me a favor squirt and spread your wings for a second.”

Scootaloo wasn’t sure what to do. “Umm do I have to?”  Rainbow Dash gave her an annoyed look and that answered her question.  It took a few moments for Scootaloo to gather up the courage to open her tiny wings in front of her hero.

“Just as I thought…there’s nothing wrong with your wings. They seem perfectly fine to me.”

Scootaloo quickly closed her wings again and looked at Rainbow Dash still a bit confused. “Okay but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well it would be pretty hard for me to teach you how to fly if your wings were broken!”

The small filly's mouth was wide open as she tried to comprehend what had just been said. ”Yoooo..o.ou teach me how to fly?” Scootaloo’s whole body was shaking at the very thought. “But I can’t ask you to do that I mean I’m probably too young to learn how to fly still.”

Rainbow Dash giggled for a moment and then laughed. “ Not old enough to fly? Squirt I’m  pretty sure that I was younger then you are right now when I taught myself to fly. If I could teach myself then i’m pretty sure I can teach you.”

Scootaloo at this point was hopping up and down in circles around Rainbow Dash with the biggest smile on her face. “When do we start?  When do when start?”

“How about tomorrow morning?” Rainbow suggested.

"Tomorrow? Really?”

Rainbow nodded her head. “Yup just meet at Ghastly Gorge and we’ll go from there. Now I think you better get going. Don’t want to keep your friends or the rocks waiting!” Once realizing that she was going to be late for the daily crusading said goodbye to Rainbow Dash and rushed off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Scootaloo hardly slept the night before but had managed to catch a few minutes of sleep here and there, enough to keep her eyes lids from closing by themselves. The fact that her body was bit sore from yesterday’s rock climbing had also kept her up. Now that she thought of it she realized that maybe it hadn't been the best idea to climb over those wet rocks. It didn’t matter though since today was the day that she would finally learn to fly from none other than her hero.

She sped on the path towards Ghastly Gorge on her scooter as fast as she could.  When she arrived it took a few minutes to find Rainbow Dash but Scootaloo finally found her napping under a nearby tree. “Rainbow Dash I’m here and ready to learn from the best!”

Rainbow quickly got up at looked at Scootaloo with a smile on her face. “Well that’s good, but before we can get started there’s something you need to do first.”

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with big open eyes, “Yeah, yeah, what it is?”

Rainbow Dash looked over at the gorge before turning back to face Scootaloo. “Simple…just throw your scooter into the gorge so that hopefully it breaks into like a million little pieces.” The energetic eager smile on Scootaloo's face quickly faded and instead a look of confusion and despair appeared.