Together We Fly

It was another great summer day in Ponyville. Everypony was out and about running errands. The weather team called for a bit of a rainstorm later in the week, and everypony wanted to be ready for anything that had even the slimmest possible chance of happening. Me? I was enjoying the sun's rays down by the swimming hole with a couple of my friends.

"Hey, Scoots! What are ya waitin' for? Come on in! The water's great!" That was Apple Bloom with her distinctive Southern drawl. She has this knack for interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm coming, AB. Calm your horseshoes." I replied nonchalantly. I rose slowly from the sprawled-out position I had been lying in. I climbed up onto the rope swing, using my wings to push the swing back and forth. After judging that I had gained enough momentum, I waited until I had gone backwards again before giving a final shove with my wings and leaping off the swing.

I did a graceful somersault before angling towards the water. With my forehooves in front of me, I sliced into the water like a hot knife through butter. My eyes stung from the contact with the water, and the water went up my nose, making me want to cough. I swam up towards the surface of the water, using my wings like feathered fins to propel me along. When I finally broke the surface, I gulped in huge amounts of air. Sadly, Apple Bloom was nearby and couldn't refrain from commenting.

"Gee, Scoots! Ya gotta stop breathin' so hard. You're usin' up all the air!" I could have replied with a snarky comment, but I was too busy staying alive. I still managed to talk between deep breaths, though.

"AB... can't... breathe!" I couldn't seem to get enough air to my lungs. I saw darkness closing in on my vision. 'No! This isn't happening!' I thought to myself as the darkness closed in all the way. The last thing I saw was Apple Bloom's face go from joking to serious in an instant. The last thing I heard was Sweetie Belle's cry for help before I blacked out completely, falling into the warm darkness of unconsciousness.

•                   •                    •

When I woke up, I saw ponies with white coats leaning over me. I looked to my right and saw Apple Bloom sitting next to my bed. My vision was a little hazy, but at least I could see at all. When my vision was back to normal, I tried to sit up. All of the doctors, as well as Apple Bloom jumped up and looked at me intently.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked. Or, tried to ask. My words came out as more of a jumble of nonsense. The ponies gathered in the small room all shared a look and sigh of relief.

"Miss Scootaloo. We have divined the reason for your sudden black out at the lake after extensive tests and lots of research." The doctor who was speaking paused briefly, collecting his thoughts. "As it turns out, you experienced a spontaneous growth in your wings and the sudden growth in your muscles drew a lot of the air from your lungs. So much, in fact, that it stopped any oxygenated blood from getting to your brain. Although your wings have grown remarkably, the wing to body mass ratio is not balanced. We have also discovered that your wings will no longer grow with the rest of your boy. Miss Scootaloo, I regret to inform you of this, but..." The doctor trailed off, collecting himself before relaying his bad news. "You will not be able to fly. Ever."

As the words sank in, I could feel my tears welling up. I made no effort to restrain them as all my dreams were crushed in one fell blow. Apple Bloom got up to comfort me, but I really didn't want comfort right now. I wanted to be able to fly. That's what makes a pegasus special. Pegasi are the only species of pony capable of flight. They cannot use magic at all, and they're not as strong as the Earth Ponies without practice. It was just too much for me to face. I couldn't face being grounded for the rest of my life. It made it worse that the doctor tried to stem the flow of tears with his words, although I could tell he was genuinely guilty about making a filly cry.

"Miss Scootaloo, it's not all bad. You can still use your wings to propel yourself, you are just incapable of flight." Then, under his breath, he mumbled, "As far as we know." Those five words gave me a little ray of hope. It still wasn't enough to stop my tears from falling on the hospital's bedsheets. I looked around at the other ponies in the room. Two of the five were pegasi. I couldn't control the anger, hatred, and jealousy toiling in my heart. I started to fall into the bitter dark of resentment towards all other pegasi that could fly. Apple Bloom's hoof on my back was the only thing that stopped me from leaping at the throats of the two pegasi doctors in the room.

"Now, Ah know that Ah have absolutely no clue how it feels to have somethin' this horrible happen to me. But Ah just want you to know that Ah'm always here for ya, Scoots." Apple Bloom spoke reassuringly, making me push aside my resentment towards my own kind and begin to embrace what I did have. Meaning Apple Bloom.

"Thanks, AB." I put more emotion into those two words than necessary and my voice cracked as I placed my head on Apple Bloom's shoulder, proceeding to cry myself back to sleep.

•                 •                    •

I woke up the next morning to find a surprise next to my bed. "Rainbow Dash? Why are you here?" I asked, completely caught off guard, first of all, by the fact that I was in my house instead of the hospital, and second of all, by the fact that Rainbow Dash waited for me to wake up so she could see me.

"Hey, Squirt. I heard about your problem. I wanted to stop by before weather duty to give my favorite follower something." As she finished her sentence, she reached behind her and picked something up off of a table. "Here. They were mine when I was your age. You might not need them, given your current state, but there's always that brief chance that it'll all work out. Besides, even if it doesn't all work out the way we want it to, you can just keep them as a keepsake to remember me by.

The object in question was an old pair of flight goggles with worn leather straps. Rainbow Dash's name was scratched onto the leather in the back. Rainbow got up to leave. "Sorry, Scoots. I'd stay with you if I could, but I got weather duty today. Just remember that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." And with that, she was gone.

I got out of bed and took a quick shower, hoping the warm cascade of water would wash away all the drama in my life. It didn't work. I turned the shower off and stepped out, drying myself off before walking down my stairs. I had a quick breakfast of oats and honey before walking out the front door. 'Time to go paw miserably at the dirt.' I thought as I headed towards a hill just outside Ponyville.

-----SWITCHING POINT OF VIEW-----

I was flying around the sky, darting from cloud to cloud. Ever so often, I'd peer at the ground to see if Pipsqueak had seen me. We were playing hide and seek, and I definitely had the advantage. I could fly, he couldn't. I leaped to another cloud, glancing down to see if Pipsqueak had seen me, when something caught my eye. An orange pegasus with a magenta mane and tail sat on the top of a nearby hill, looking upset over something. I recognized her as Scootaloo almost immediately. Of course, me, being the kind pony I am, had to go see what I could do to help her feel better. But first, I needed to get rid of Pipsqueak. And I had just the way to do so.

I flew down and landed in front of Pipsqueak. As I drew breath to speak, he interrupted me. "Ha! Gotcha that time, Rumble!" He shouted joyfully.

"Yeah, you did. Sorry, Pip. I gotta get going. I saw Featherweight off in that direction, though. Maybe you could get him to play." I replied, gesturing with my hoof in the opposite direction of the pegasus I had spotted. It was just my luck that Featherweight was actually in that direction.

"Alright! Good idea, Rumble! See ya!" Pip called over his shoulder as he sprinted off towards Ponyville.

I took off and flew in the opposite direction, all the while trying to come up with an appropriate way to ask Scootaloo why she was sad. I didn't have much time, and I'm not a renowned thinker, so I decided to just be as blunt and honest as possible.

About half a minute later, I reached her. I could tell it was definitely her because when she looked up at me, I recognized her piercing purple eyes. I decided it would be better to start the conversation myself.

"Scootaloo?" I began, unsure whether to continue or not. She shifted her gaze back down to the ground.

"Yeah?" She replied with almost no emotion whatsoever. I took that as a sign to continue.

"I saw you over here looking all sad and wondered what was up." I finished. She was silent for a few minutes before responding slowly.

"I... I can't fly. I am permanently grounded, thanks to that stupid dive yesterday." She paused and looked up at me before continuing. "I don't know what to do. I'll never be able to soar through the sky like Rainbow Dash." Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed her hoof, pulling her up onto her hooves. "Uhh, Rumble? What're you doing?" She asked as I slowly lifted her off the ground.

"Helping." I replied. Then, without another word, I flew up into the sky. I could see a smile starting to form at the corners of her mouth as we picked up speed and dodged clouds while we zipped through the air. After what seemed like a twenty minute flight, I finally brought Scootaloo down to the ground. Before we landed, she caught my attention.

"Rumble?" She began, a little awkwardly. About halfway through our flight she had developed a large grin. Now, all traces of her smile were gone, and I could tell that whatever she wanted to say was dead serious. I nodded for her to continue. We were about a foot off the ground so I stopped my descent and gave her all of my attention. "Y-you know I... what I mean is..." She paused, collecting her thoughts and planning what she wanted to say. "Thank you." She said finally.

Before I had a chance to respond, she leaned forward and kissed me full on. After we broke the kiss I could only stare at her, surprised at her actions. She noticed my reaction and started tearing up. I would have comforted her if she hadn't dropped out of my forehooves and took off running towards her house. I shook myself out of my surprise and called out after her, knowing in my heart that it was a hopeless reparation.

"Scootaloo, wait!" I'm still not sure if she heard me.