Stranded Wings

Scootaloo woke up. She expected to be in bed, waking up to the smell of breakfast cooking. She could almost smell the delicious scent of pancakes wafting up through her bedroom window.

“Ugh, my head” she moaned. She slowly opened her eyes. It’s dark, wet, and something heavy was on top of her. The first thing that crossed her mind is ‘Rainbow Dash.’ Scootaloo starts to remember all the events from before she woke up; the talking, the flying, the turbulence, and falling. Where was she?

Scootaloo struggled to crawl out from whatever it was on top of her, slowly pushing her way under the weight until she finally managed to crawl out and pull herself free. She stood up and looked around. She was in a tiny clearing, surrounded by an immense forest of pine trees. In the distance she could see a small mountain. There was a little stream flowing down over a hill a few feet away from her. She looked up; the sky was pitch black. ‘How long was I unconscious for?’ Scootaloo thought to herself. She turned to see Rainbow Dash laying awkwardly on the ground. That’s what was pinning her down; she was stuck underneath Rainbow Dash.  One of her wings had been severely twisted. Her eyes were closed, her snout was bloody. She didn't move.

Scootaloo’s heart shattered into pieces. She just stood there, refusing to believe the sight before her eyes. No, no, no, this can’t have happened. Not Rainbow Dash. Please…not Rainbow Dash. She couldn't be... Tears welled in the little filly’s eyes as she gazed upon the unmoving pegasus. No… oh Celestia please no... “Rainbow Dash?” she cried. She carefully placed her hooves on Rainbow’s chest and shook her gently. “Rainbow Dash?” she cried again, tears streaming down her face. She shook Rainbow’s body and nuzzled her cheek with her snout. “Rainbow please wake up” she cried. This couldn't be true. She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s neck and buried her face in her mane. “Please don’t leave me” she sobbed.

Scootaloo woke up to the sound of small birds chirping loudly in the distance, the stream flowing steadily down into the valley and the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. She wanted to wake up back in Ponyville, with all this being just a bad dream. She wanted to see Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom again, and go on their crazy adventures and have fun together as they always did. She ever so slowly opened her eyes. Rainbow Dash hadn’t moved. She tried to fight back the tears, but it was no use.

She looked away, trying not to think about it. But could she not think? Her idol, her best friend… the pony that inspired her…..

She couldn't take it.

“What am I supposed to do without you Rainbow Dash?” she cried. She held on tight to Rainbow Dash, refusing to let her go. “I can’t go on without you…” she sobbed.

Rainbow Dash stirred.

Scootaloo loosened her grip. “Rainbow Dash?” she sniffed.

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes to find a tear-stricken Scootaloo wrapped around her neck, staring at her in disbelief. Before Scootaloo could even make a sound, Rainbow Dash pulled her into the biggest hug in all of Equestria.

Scootaloo couldn't believe it. “Rainbow Dash!” she said with glee. She started to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy. “I thought I’d lost you…”

Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, she was crying too.

“I thought I was a goner then Scoot” she said through her tears. “But what matters is that you’re okay” she said, smiling.

They held themselves together in each other’s hooves for a moment, and finally broke off the embrace.

Rainbow Dash tried to stand up, but cried out in pain and fell back to the ground. “Aah! M-my leg!” she yelled.

Scootaloo’s face fell.

“What are we going to do?” she asked worriedly.

Rainbow Dash looked back at her hind legs. “I-I’m sure it’s nothing” she said, and attempted to stand up again. “One step at a time, ow…Rainbow…ah…Dash” she said to herself. She winced as she tried to take a step forward, but she remained standing. “Heh, you know what they say, no pain no gain! Owch…” There was a pause as she tried to keep her balance on her injured leg. “Okay, I’m up” she said uneasily. Now that she was up, she examined herself. Hooves, flanks, ears, were all in order. But her wings… what had happened to her wings!?

Rainbow Dash’s eyes swelled with tears.

“M-my wings! What happened to my wings?!” she cried.

She couldn't move either of them, or feel them for that matter. Her right wing was horribly twisted, her left wing battered and bruised. She sat down on the ground and sobbed.

“H-how are we supposed to get home now?!” she cried. “Oh Scoot, this is all my fault! If I hadn't offered-

“It’s not your fault, Rainbow Dash” interrupted Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash raised her head and looked at Scootaloo. “What?” she said, surprised.

Scootaloo repeated. “It’s not your fault.”

It was unlike Rainbow Dash to break down like this, but Scootaloo knew her better than a lot of ponies, and she wasn’t going to let her feel bad about what happened. Scootaloo may be just a filly, but she wasn't going to act like she was two years old.

“You saved my life. When that huge gust of wind blew out of the air, you still held on to me.” She said. “You protected me from the fall. You could have died, and it would all have been to save me. You say it’s your fault, but it’s the complete opposite.” She raised her hoof and gently touched Rainbow’s face. “And for that, I cannot repay you.” Rainbow Dash blushed and looked up at Scootaloo, smiling.

“I-I don’t know what to say Scoot…” Rainbow Dash said, wiping her eyes.

“That’s the most thoughtful thing anypony has ever said to me…”

Rainbow Dash put her hooves around Scootaloo and pulled her into a hug.

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash’s bleeding wing and frowned.

“Rainbow Dash…about your wings…” she said nervously.

Rainbow Dash’s face fell. “Its fine Scoot…” she said sadly. “They just…need some time to heal…” She slowly stood up and looked around for the first time. “Where are we?” she asked, examining their surroundings.

“I don’t know, in a big forest somewhere” Scootaloo replied.

Rainbow Dash scratched her ear. “Well, our first priority is to get to the cabin. We can stay there as long as it takes until we find out how in Equestria we’re going to get back home” she said, and turned to Scootaloo.

“What time is it, Scoots?” she asked.

Scootaloo thought for a second. “I dunno, in the morning sometime?” she said.

“Well, if it’s in the morning and the sun rises to the east…then to get to my cabin we must go….uh….” she paused for thought. “That way!” she shouted, pointing towards the mountain in the distance.

“Come on Scoot, we have a long walk ahead of us.” Rainbow Dash said, and together they began to slowly walk off towards the mountain, towards the source of the stream.

Scootaloo’s stomach rumbled. It had been at least a day or so since she last ate, and Rainbow Dash was hungry too. They had been walking for some time now, somewhere around two hours, and it was now midday and they were both exhausted.

“Rainbow Dash, can we stop for a minute? I’m so tired…” Scootaloo groaned.

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.” Rainbow said at she sat down on the grass beside the stream, which had turned into a small, fast flowing river. She lay down, put her hooves behind her head and looked up at the clouds. The sun shone down on her, warming her coat.

Scootaloo walked up to the edge of the crystal-clear water and dipped her snout in. She lapped up the water quickly, making loud slurping noises as she did so.

Rainbow Dash laughed and closed her eyes. She imagined being back in Ponyville, being with her friends, and generally not being in the middle of nowhere. It was so peaceful and quiet that she started to doze off. But it was not to last, as she was brought out of her snooze by something tapping her on the shoulder. It was Scootaloo, and in one of her hooves was some sort of bag made out of leaves and reeds, complete with a strap.

“What’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked, sitting up to examine the item.

“It’s a water carrier!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “You fill it with water, and you can take it with you!” she demonstrated by submerging it into the river, bringing it back up full of water and slinging it round her shoulders. “See?”

“Wow! Where did you learn to do that?” said Rainbow Dash.

“We learned how to make bags in crafts at school with straw, so I thought: why not make one which was more useful?” explained Scootaloo. “So I came up with this!” she grinned.

“That’ll be really useful when we need water and we’re not near a stream” said Rainbow Dash, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane. “Good job!”

Rainbow Dash sat up and examined her hind legs. The pain had almost gone, and there were no bruises or anything of the sort on them at all. She smiled as she stood up and walked down to the waterside. She drank slowly, taking huge gulps at a time. She finally pulled her snout out of the water and took a deep breath.

“Whew, I needed that” Rainbow said, panting.

She suddenly heard a fast clopping of hooves behind her, and she turned to see Scootaloo running towards her with a devious grin on her face. Before Rainbow Dash could react, Scootaloo crashed into her and sent them both flying off the riverbank and into the water with a big splash. Rainbow Dash emerged from the water first, closely followed by Scootaloo. They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Whaddaya do that for you silly filly?” Rainbow Dash giggled, and used her hooves to send a wall of water speeding towards Scootaloo. Scootaloo could only watch as the wave hit her in the face, spraying water everywhere. Rainbow Dash went into a fit of laughter, which was promptly interrupted by another wave being sent straight back at her. It hit Rainbow in the side of the face and some of the water flew into her mouth, causing her to splutter as Scootaloo continued to splash her mercilessly.

“You’re...gonna….get it…Scoot!” Rainbow Dash said between gurgles. She ducked under the water to avoid Scootaloo’s assault, and she came crashing back up to send a tsunami flying towards the orange filly. Scootaloo held her breath as the wave engulfed her, throwing water everywhere and soaking absolutely everything.

Both the soaked ponies climbed out of the water, dripping and laughing hysterically. They walked back up the riverbank and sat back down on the grass together. They sat there in peace, sopping wet, just listening to the quiet tweeting of the birds in the trees and the steady flow of the river heading off away from them.

Rainbow Dash put her hoof around Scootaloo.

“You know Scoots, I reckon we can still have fun while we’re here, we just have to look after each other and keep our heads up” she said happily.

“Yeah! This could turn out to be a really fun trip!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

They sat there together for a little longer, just savoring the peace and each other’s company.

Rainbow Dash broke the silence.

“Well, we better get going Scoots; we've only got a bit to go before we reach the mountain” said Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, but I’m really hungry…” Scootaloo replied.

“Yeah, I’m hungry too, Scoot. But I’m sure we’ll find something along the way” Rainbow assured.

Both pegasi stood up, and together and started walking towards the mountain once again.