Beyond Expectations

Chapter 2: What We Really Want

It took Scootaloo a moment to comprehend the words that had just come out of Rainbow Dash’s mouth. A smile then reappeared on her face. “Hehe…good one Rainbow Dash. You really had me believing that you wanted me to throw my scooter over the cliff!”

Rainbow Dash simply smiled again. “Oh I'm serious…you want to learn how to fly? Well the first step is getting rid of that scooter.”

The smile disappeared from Scootaloo’s face again, “But…but…why?”

The older pegasus opened her wings and started to hover over the ground. “Simple, once your scooter is gone you won’t have anything to go back to and that will allow you to focus only on learning how to fly. But if you want you can still keep your helmet. You might actually need it now that I think about it.”

Scootaloo was refusing to believe that her hero wanted her to destroy the one thing that brought joy to her life on a daily basis but she could not think of any other pony  more qualified to teach her how to fly. “So if I throw my scooter off the cliff you’ll teach me how to fly, right?”

Rainbow Dash landed right in front of the little Pegasus. “ Actually there are a few more rules that you need to agree to if you want me to teach you.”

The filly pegasus became bit more wary. “What kind of rules?”

“Well the first rule is that we will train every morning when you don’t have school and after school each day until i’ve decided that you can fly.” Scootaloo nodded her head.

“The second rule is that you cannot question my teaching methods , you can quit the lessons whenever you want but if you leave then don’t come back.” Worry began to seep into Scootaloo's mind.

“The third and final rule is that you must devote all your priorities to these lessons, which means that you can no longer be part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Scootaloo just couldn’t believe what was expected of her. “ But…my friends...” Rainbow was now nudging Scootaloo to the edge of the gorge.

The little pegasus began to resist a little which annoyed was beginning to annoy Rainbow. “Oh don’t worry about your friends. I’m sure they want you to learn how to fly and will understand why you can be in the CMC anymore. Don’t worry, you can see them every day after training. Just don’t expect to do much, you’ll be pretty tired after what i’ve got planned for you.”

Scootaloo took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She was still being nudged towards the gorge but didn’t look at Rainbow Dash. She thought for a moment about all the rules that she had just been told and figured that they seemed reasonable enough. Doubt still clouded her mind though despite her attempts to calm herself.

“Can you guarantee that i’ll learn how to fly if I agree to all this?” Rainbow Dash nodded. “Then fine, let’s get this first part over with.” Scootaloo hopped on her scooter and made her way to the cliffs edge.

The edge was less than twenty feet away but Scootaloo couldn't help but notice that it seemed like it was the longest ride of her entire life. Her heart pounded faster and harder as she got close to the cliff edge. Finally she stood there on top of her scooter looking down into the gorge. She got off her scooter, took off her helmet, and just stood there looking down for a few moments. She put her hooves on  her scooter and prepared to push it off, struggling to gather the strength to go through with it.

“Any day now squirt. We’ve got a full day ahead of us.”

Anger and sorrow filled Scootaloo as she closed her eyes and pushed her scooter over the edge. Regret immediately filled her mind but it was to late. Time seemed to slow down as she watched her beloved scooter fall into the gorge. It smashed against the cliff a few times bouncing off a few rocks before finally laying in the middle of a cloud of dust. Tears streamed down her face but she quickly wiped them away so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't see her crying.

“Good, now follow me. We got a lot to do.” Rainbow Dash lead the way down a small path into the gorge and Scootaloo followed. She glanced back at the site where her scooter had gone off but quickly looked away again when she felt tears in her eyes again.

The sun was beginning to set as Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash made their way out of canyon. The little Pegasus was covered in dirt and mud from head to hoof. Her hooves seemed swollen and her wings throbbed in pain. Scootaloo barely had enough energy left in her little body to make her way out of the gorge. “So Rainbow Dash, how did I do for my first day?”

Rainbow Dash answered but did not look back. “Eh i’ve seen better. But don’t worry you’ll get better if you want to learn how fly.”

Not really what Scootaloo wanted to hear after all the hard work that she had done that day. She thought back to the day’s activities.

As soon as they had made it into the gorge Rainbow Dash had ordered Scootaloo to run laps around the gorge until she told her to stop. Scootaloo had run for four hours straight until Rainbow Dash finally allowed her to rest. A small lunch of a few apples had done little to replenish her energy. After that Scootaloo was told to run another two laps around the gorge. Then she was told to do two hundred wing push ups before finally flapping her wings for two hours straight. It was at that point that Rainbow Dash decided to call it a day since the sun was setting.

“Hey squirt!”

The sound of Rainbow’s voice snapped Scootaloo out of her reminiscing. “Um…yeah Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo could barely even speak at this point.

“So what did you think of the first day?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Scootaloo quickly held her tongue to avoid offending Rainbow Dash and instead thought of something else to say. “Well uh…it was…interesting…and painful I guess?”

Rainbow Dash appeared content with herself after hearing that response.

“Um Rainbow Dash, is it always going to be this hard when we train?”

The uncertainty in the little filly's voice caused Rainbow Dash to laugh for a few moments. “No, it won’t always be this hard.” Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief. “Every day will be harder than the last, every week will be even more grueling, and every month will push you farther over the edge.”

Scootaloo frowned but did not have the energy to respond. Finally the two pegasus were back at where they had begun their day at the cliff edge. “Well I got to get going squirt, see you tomorrow morning.” Rainbow Dash jumped off the ground and flew a few feet in the air before she heard Scootaloo call for her.

. “Wait! Rainbow Dash! Any chance you could give me a lift back into town?”

Rainbow Dash smirked at the thought. “You got wings don’t you? Just fly back.” She didn't even wait for Scootaloo to respond before flying off into the distance. Scootaloo couldn’t believe that her hero had left her like that. She looked over at the gorge for a moment and then looked in the direction of the town. She flapped her wings for a moment before beginning the walk back.

A month had passed since Scootaloo began her training with Rainbow Dash and she had still had not learned to fly as her hero had promised her. Doubt grew in her mind as the weeks had passed and it seemed to get harder to stay on task. At the end of each week Rainbow Dash had made Scootaloo jump off a small boulder in the gorge in an attempt to fly. Each time Scootaloo had attempted to jump she could barely hover for more than a few seconds before she fell to the ground face first. Each time Rainbow Dash looked more frustrated and annoyed at the little filly.

They were in their second month of training and the Fall season was just starting. She was doing wing pushups which she had gotten used to doing but now the cold wind was blowing over her body and chilling her wings as she did her work out.

“Faster squirt, you got another two hours of carrying rocks after this.” Out of all the training exercises that Rainbow Dash made her do it was the rock carrying that she hated the most. Her mentor would put rocks on her back and then make the small pegasus march for a few hours. If she were lucky the rocks would be dry instead of being covered in mud and tree sap.

A few hours passed and Scootaloo was running through the gorge again with Rainbow Dash following her in the air.  The wind had begun to pick up and Scootaloo felt a drop of rain land on her back followed by another drop on her nose until finally it began to fall in a steady stream. “Hey Rainbow Dash,  don’t you think we should stop? It’s starting to rain.”

Rainbow Dash looked down on  her. “A little rain never hurt any pony. Besides we can't afford to waste a day as good as this one!”

Scootaloo kept running but did not stop talking to Rainbow Dash. “But isn’t it dangerous to do this in the rain?”

Annoyed with Scootaloo’s attempts to stop the training, Rainbow flew down and landed in front of her forcing her to stop. “Let me ask you a question squirt. What do you want most in life?”

Scootaloo took a moment to catch her breath, sucked in a gust of cold air, and then looked at Rainbow Dash. “All I want is to learn how to fly and to be just like you Rainbow Dash since you're my hero.”

Without warning Rainbow Dash shoved Scootaloo aside with enough force to make the small pegasus lose her balance and fall on the cold wet ground. “Let’s get one thing straight squirt, you will never, and I mean never be like me no matter how hard you try.”

Scootaloo struggled to get up off the ground but it took a few minutes to do so both from the lack of energy and the fact that she was in complete shock after what had just happened.  Tears were forming in her eyes but she held them back, "But..that's always been my goal in life Rainbow Dash, to be just like you. You are the best flyer in all of Equestria and i’ve always tried to be like you."

Rainbow Dash became agitated after hearing her student's response. “If I had known that then I probably wouldn’t of wanted to teach you how to fly in the first place!” Scootaloo was fighting back the tears with what little strength she had left in her body.

“But you're my hero! How could you treat me like this? I’m your number one fan!” Rainbow Dash pushed Scootaloo to the ground again.

“Do you think I care that you're my number one fan? All you are to me right now is a student who is making her teacher angry every time she opens her mouth. Now I think you’ve had enough rest, start running again and don’t stop until I tell you to.”

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air to allow Scootaloo to run but the little Pegasus just stood there looking at the ground. “Didn’t you hear me? I said run!”

Scootaloo still didn’t move but finally mustered up the energy to speak. “No.”

The fuming pegasus flew down , her face only a few inches away from Scootaloo’s face. “What did you just say to me? What did you just say to your hero?”

Scootaloo finally let her tears and anger flow out of her. “I said no, I’m not running anymore and I’m not listening to your stupid orders any more. I was wrong about you Rainbow Dash, you’re not a hero, you’re a selfish jerk!”Once that was said the filly pegasus began running off in the opposite direction.

“Hey squirt! You’re running the wrong way!”

“My names not squirt! Its Scootaloo and I quit!” Rainbow Dash didn’t need to hear anymore as she shook her head angrily and took off into the sky.

Scootaloo with tears flowing down her face made her way to where she thought her scooter had landed one month ago. It took some time to find it since she had to continuously rub the water from her eyes. Finally she found it in one piece buried under a few rocks. Her whole body shook vigorously from the cold rain and the anger that swelled up in her.

She finally managed to free her scooter, it was cracked in a few places and rusty but she didn’t care. She hopped on it and began to make her way through the gorge which was being completely soaked in the rain. It had been a month since she last rode her scooter and her wings were a bit tired from the training but she sped away through the gorge.

Hate, anger, and regret filled her mind as she rode through the gorge. “Stupid Rainbow Dash. Some hero she turned out to be! I should of never agreed to this stupid training in the first place!” As Scootaloo thought of how much she loathed Rainbow Dash the front wheel of her scooter broke off causing her to go flying through the air.

She landed in a mud puddle and her scooter came down next to her but two of the three wheels had broken off and the steering apparatus had completely come off. Scootaloo looked at her broken scooter in disbelief. The last object that tied her to her previous life was gone.

“No…no.NO! Please no…not my scooter.” She slammed her hoof against the ground and wept as the rain and wind poured over her.

She lay on the ground next to her broken scooter, crying, unsure of what to do next.  She heard the sound of something large splash the ground in front of her. She looked up, rubbed her eyes, and saw Rainbow Dash standing in front of her. “What do you want?”

Rainbow Dash looked over Scootaloo and the scooter before speaking. “ Well I guess you really don’t have anything to go back to now huh?”

“SHUT UP! Why don’t you just leave me alone you jerk!”

What Rainbow Dash did next surprised Scootaloo. She walked over and lay down next to the little filly and covered her from the rain with her wing. “Listen Scootaloo, you have to realize that no matter what you do you will never be like me. I don’t want you to be like me.”

Scootaloo stopped crying and looked up at Rainbow Dash. “But why don’t you want me to be like you? You're my hee…” She stopped herself from saying that word.

“I don’t want you to be like me because I want you to be you.  If you try to be like any pony else then you will always fail in the end when your not satisfied with who you've become.” Scootaloo leaned in closer under Rainbow Dash’s wing trying to cover more of her body from the rain. “The reason why I wanted to train you is because I saw a lot of potential in you.”

“What type of potential did you see in me?” Scootaloo asked.

“I don’t know but whatever it is I know it is going to be beyond every pony's expectations.” The rain and wind started to die down as the sun started to peek through the clouds.

“I’m sorry for all the mean things that I said to you Rainbow Dash. I didn’t mean it, I was just angry.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed Scootaloo’s mane. “That’s okay Scootaloo. I know you didn’t mean what you said.”

Both pegasus looked at the sky for a few minutes. “How about we call it a day and continue training tomorrow after school? That is, if you still want me to teach you how to fly.”

Scootaloo jumped out from under Rainbow Dash’s wing. “Are you kidding me? Of course I want to continue training with you! But I don’t want to wait till tomorrow, let's continue right now! I mean how often do ponies get to train with their hero’s?”

Rainbow Dash flew into the air with a giant smile on her face. “That’s the spirit! How about you go run two laps around the gorge?” Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically and ran off. Both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both happy with what had just happened and both had the feeling that something new had developed between them, something that hadn't there before.