Falling Skies

by smileyfacer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo
Length: 5407

Scootaloo is finally happy! She has found her home together with Rainbow Dash, and for almost a year, the two have been living together. But if it weren't enough that Scootaloo's life has just turned a massive corner, it is about to turn on

Scootaloo got a home, a wonderful older sister and the best friends she could ask for. Happily, Rainbow Dash and her have lived together for quite some time, and have learned plenty of new things during their newfound life as a family.

If things could stay like this forever, Scootaloo wouldn't mind. Well, if she could get her cutie mark before too long, that'd be great too.

But no matter how much a little pegasus wants things to stay like they were, life has a funny way of changing for the worse.

Sequel to 'Home is Where the Heart is'.

Published 2013-01-20 18:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-23 07:32:10 UTC

Prologue

Happiness is defined as many things. Some say that happiness is not something you could achieve with money or fame, and that it is way beyond materialistic things. Ponies that rise at the crack of dawn and return to their homes at the beginning of night, with their muzzles buried in advanced books, with hooves full of tending to critters of all kinds, magically sowing the latest trend, happily hosting a party every day, or spending countless hours trying to fly to perfection, are happy. This is their happiness; this is how they intend to live their lives until it ends. Even if it means having achy muscles, fried brains or bleeding hooves because of a misplaced needle, happiness follows suit.

Furthermore, happiness seem to be a state of mind, rather a state of existence. If one wanted happiness, it seemed only a thought away, by reaching peace with your inner demons and finishing achievements of your liking. But inner demons are not something anypony can see, only surely feel, like doubt, self-loathing and others. Through the love of friends and family, the demons would go away, forever under the strict control of your mind. Many wise ponies of Equestria have claimed that friends, achieving happiness through doing your passions and family are essential to a pony’s happiness. But, what if one didn’t have these friends, cannot complete the passion you so wish; therefore being under the wicked control of demons?

Those demons control ponies with glee. Determined to make them as miserable as can be, ponies crack under the pressure by themselves, but the demons force them to wear a mask. It cleverly hides the true turmoil that reigns within, ensuring that the pony feels as alone as possible. This mask can only the best of friends destroy, through the light they bring into the life of the controlled. The mask begins to crack, and the demons flee in fear for their revelation. Once a crack in the mask is made, it takes patience and unconditional love from friends to fully destroy the mask, but happiness shall follow.

For a pony that had been through a lot of misery, and definitely inner demons, Scootaloo had at first found the feeling of happiness a strange one. She had rarely ever had this constant urge to smile, butterflies in her stomach and the feeling of her heart soaring every time she went to her home in the sky. It was strange indeed, but once she understood through patient learning from friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle and adoration from her newly found sister, Rainbow Dash, happiness was nothing less than what Scootaloo deserved.

Scootaloo had finally found happiness. Her demons were gone and the mask had long since been destroyed, thrown into the dark patches of her past. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the home and family she had found in Rainbow Dash, her great friends in the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or the fact that every single school day, she could fly. There was a time at the orphanage, where Scootaloo was certain that she would be cursed with eternal inability to fly. She was certain, that there would never be a ‘Scootaloo the Wonderbolt’,’Scootaloo, leader of the Wonderbolts’, only ‘Scootaloo the chicken’.

But she had proved them wrong. Scootaloo, the filly that couldn’t fly, had proved every single pony in Ponyville wrong. She could fly, and she would fly till the day her wings broke. She had worked countless hours after school, albeit happily so, to learn how to fly. Ofcourse, Scootaloo knew Rainbow Dash had no problem with flying her to and fro the home in the sky, and the dull ground, but to the filly, it was embarassing. Rainbow was a tough trainer, and at times, Scootaloo had wanted to quit.

Be 'Scootaloo the chicken' forever.

Yet whenever Scootaloo asked Rainbow Dash to let her go to bed, when the hours of the day had long sinced passed, and they had worked into the ones of the night, she had gotten a strict no. That was the first time that Scootaloo had felt the slightest of anger towards Rainbow Dash. Why did it matter to her if she was Scootaloo the chicken?

But after they had had their first midnight flight together, on a school night, of course, the anger Scootaloo had felt, was gone. As they both soared through the sky, at a comfortable pace for Scootaloo, the purple filly realized something that made her smile to this day; Rainbow Dash loved her.

Despite how much the filly and mare could annoy and shout at each other, due to the stubbornness they both shared, all of the things Rainbow Dash did, was out of love. And Scootaloo couldn't quite thank her enough.

When Scootaloo woke up in the mornings, they never seemed quite as hard, because she had the ability to soar and rule the sky as her own. When Scootaloo first flew to school, her wings strong and muscular, all of the other schoolponies had cheered and given her applause. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had not been near as thrilled, of course, but a simple proud stare given to either fillies, were sufficient enough for the three friends. Flying to school always caused Scootaloo’s heart to swell with joy and pride, and every time she either gracefully or recklessly landed before the school, the feeling merely grew, nor ended.

The pegasus wished it never would. The feeling of pride when she conquered the skies every day, and the happiness that made her heart burst when she saw her friends, was one that she hoped would last forever.

But happiness is often short, and it rarely takes much for demons to place a mask upon your face. Happiness is fickle and fragile, and before you know it, the ponies who deserve it the most, have it brutally torn away from them.

Nonetheless, it is said, that when happiness is gone, darkness reigns within ponies, that the heart comes out stronger than before, and a hero in their own sense, is born. It is always darkest before the dawn.

Author's Note

So it begins...

Hope you all had a good new year, and are ready for some (hopefully) good and satisfying chapters from me.

I.

“Scooootaloooooooo! You’re late, get up, squirt!”

Rainbow’s hoofsteps were muffled as a Wonderbolt adorned quilt covered Scootaloo’s ears, but the sunlight shone brightly through the thin cover. A strange noise was emitted from the young pegasus, as she desperately tried to grab hold of the cover to block the light. But before she knew it, the older pegasus had pulled the cover away, mercilessly leaving the filly out to the chilly temperatures of the morning.

“I don’t want tooooo, Rainboooow, pleeeeease...” Scootaloo moaned, and tossed herself from side to side on the spacious bed.

“You have to! C’mon, breakfast time,” Rainbow Dash gently commanded, and nudged the filly with a hoof. Scootaloo refused to budge, and no matter how much the older mare nudged her, she didn’t move. With a smug grin plastered on her face, Rainbow found another tactic.
Soon, giggles echoed throughout the home of clouds, and Scootaloo was up before she knew it, to escape Rainbow’s cruel hooves.

Compared to her age, Rainbow Dash was sure she hadn’t seen a filly with such an appetite. She hadn’t known Applejack when she was little and had only heard rumours of the farmpony’s desire to eat food, but she was sure that Scootaloo could take her on in a eating contest. Rarity would definitely proclaim Scootaloo had horrendous, disastrous and terrible table manners. Rainbow figured Rarity was right, but as long as Celestia wasn’t coming over for an evening meal, the cyan mare figured that it didn’t matter much. She was just happy to have someone to have horrible table manners with.

With a wide smile on her face, Scootaloo finished her breakfast.

“Thanks for breakfast, RD!” she cheered, and carefully placed it on the counter.

“You know I enjoy making it for you, squirt. Now, Scootaloo, you best scoot to school!” Rainbow said, and tried very hard to hold her burst of laughter in. Scootaloo giggled, before putting on her saddlebags, and turning towards the older mare.

“I will, if you dash to work!”

None of them could hold back their laughter, and they both held up a hoof to bump, before holding each other tightly as they did every morning.

“Stay safe, Scoots, don’t fly too fast, alright?” Rainbow said, and ruffled up the purple mane.

“Says the speed devil herself!” Scootaloo retorted, and waved as she left the house.

Scootaloo was certain she never could get enough of the soft feeling that tingled her hooves as she walked on clouds. But she wasn’t sure if it was because she now knew how to get off them the way she was supposed to, or simply because it was quite special to walk on clouds. She leaned more towards the first option, and took a deep breath, as she stood upon the edge of the cloud, gazing down towards the earth. To ensure her saddlebags wouldn’t fall off during the flight, she turned around, and tightened the strap around her belly. Scootaloo felt a bit silly, as she imagined herself doing an entry for the Wonderbolts, which she did every morning, but she didn’t care.

She had a glorious sun that warmed her coat and perfect conditions to fly with a slight breeze ruffling her feathers, even if it was a little chilly. With a semi-majestic unfolding of her wings, Scootaloo closed her eyes, and jumped, folding her wings back in.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as the feeling of weightlessness hit her, and all of the impressions she got through her senses; strong winds of descent blowing in her mane, the howling sound of gusts in her ears and the force of her fall making her eyes tear up. She let her rapid descent continue, and opened her eyes. The first time she had done this fear had clutched her heart, but after several attempts, both with and without Rainbow Dash, she knew the distance between her home and the earth so well, she could almost do it with closed eyes. With some strain, she unfolded her wings again, gritting her teeth as she had to resist the great force of winds brutally hitting against them. That was the hardest part; to ensure that her wings were strong enough to keep her soaring. But they hadn’t failed her before, and today was not going to change that.

Through a few tense seconds, the wind ceased its howling in her ears, and the vicious battle with her wings. In beautiful and graceful unison, she was able to gently soar on the winds. Scootaloo gently rocked back and forth through the air, adding twists and turns as she did. Her wings were relaxed, yet strong and her heart was pounding, yet calm.

This was happiness, for a filly that had long since sought it out.

Scootaloo felt silly when she flew; mostly because she couldn’t stop smiling like a filly, but also because in her mind, she wasn’t adorned with a saddlebag. No, instead, a tight blue bodysuit fitted her body snugly, only revealing the strong muscles that she had worked hard to achieve. She had no problem seeing out of the protective goggles that she wore when flying at neck breaking speeds alongside Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, Soarin’ and all the others.

In her mind, Scootaloo was the youngest member of the Wonderbolts to date.

With a content sigh and an excited squeal, Scootaloo flew a bit faster just by imagining a Wonderbolt suit of her very own.

“Hey, Scootaloo! C’m’here!”

As if a bubble had burst, Scootaloo opened her eyes with surprise, and looked to where the sound had come from, causing her to smile widely.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stood on the ground, excitedly waving their hooves in the direction of their flying friend. Scootaloo didn’t hesitate to fly down towards the ground, effortlessly adding some awesome spins into her descent. But as she was about to land, a series of ‘oh’, ‘ah’ and other sounds of amazement started to gather where her two earthbound friends stood, as other schoolponies started to look.

Let’s give them something to look at, she thought, and instead of landing, ascended. The wind tugged lightly at her feathers as she rapidly circled around the tower that proudly stood atop the school building. The metallic rooster adorned on the tower’s top violently spun around in reaction to Scootaloo’s pattern of flight. It creaked loudly, and almost tipped over, before Scootaloo flew even higher.

She did several corkscrews as she ascended into the sky with high velocity, going higher and higher, until Scootaloo placed herself so that the only thing the ponies on the ground could see, was a small filly in front of the sun. Rainbow Dash had often told Scootaloo the story of how Rarity had done the same with her frail butterfly wings, only to have them be incinerated by the sun. Rainbow had barely managed to save Rarity, so naturally the little, and daring filly had tried it herself several times. She had only just perfected the stunt, but now, she did it every time she had the chance, and when several ponies were watching, it was no different.

Scootaloo could barely hear the excited cheers and claps that had begun emitting from the ground, but she knew they were cheering, and they were cheering for her. For the first time in her life, she had ponies cheering for her.

Although Scootaloo had done the trick before, several times, if she tried to count, but every time she did it, she got a little better, and the cheers were getting louder. She smiled inwardly, and gazed at the ground, to see her own shadow; strong wings flapping and a wild breeze in her mane. Scootaloo thought she had kept the crowd going for a long enough, and with a deep breath, she plummeted towards the earth; like she had done on her own. Scootaloo held her wings close to her body, with her hooves outstretched as she soared down at a speed that would make most ponies dizzy. The orange filly approached the earth faster and faster, and soon, began twisting and turning involuntarily in the air. A desperate fight between Scootaloo and her own body; for the first time since she learned to fly, she wasn’t able to withstand the forces of the weather conditions. She started to scream when the hard earth got closer, as control seemed more fickle and fragile, but she violently spun around couldn’t tell what was earth and what was sky.

Horrified ponies stood at the ground, pointing with their hooves towards the orange ball that so quickly was heading for her doom. Cries of desperation and fear began to emit from all the ponies, especially from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. All they could do was watch their best friend plummet towards the ground; a fall that nopony could survive.

Scootaloo struggled to regain control of her wings, but the strong winds, that she usually fought off so easily, combined with the force of her violent twists and turns, rendered them weak and useless. Her screams never stopped, but what frightened her the most, was that the wind was so loud, she couldn’t hear it.

“Scootaloo!”

She heard a voice from above, speaking louder than the winds, and struggled to see a dash of rainbow following her.

“Scootaloo!” the voice cried again, and Scootaloo recognized the face of Rainbow Dash, desperately trying to get to her.

“I can’t get to you in time, you gotta fly, Scoots, fly!”

Scootaloo let out an agonizing groan, as she once more tried to extend her wings, but she couldn’t.

Rainbow Dash let out a cry as she pulled up, realizing she couldn’t save the orange filly.

“Rainbow Dash! Catch me!” Scootaloo pleaded, still mute to her own voice.

The last thing Scootaloo saw was Rainbow Dash’s cyan body disappear above her as she was about to collide with the hard earth.

II.

[i[Umph!

Scootaloo hit the floor head first, all four legs somehow intertwined with either another leg, or her cover.

“Let me go!” Scootaloo squealed, as she struggled to leave the darkness that engulfed her. Several seconds passed before she successfully managed to wrap the cover so tightly around herself, that she couldn’t move. Despite being turned upside down, Scootaloo nonetheless had her head poking out of the cover, and let out a content sigh as she escaped the darkness.

“Twirp? What are you doing?”

Scootaloo arched her back and managed to see four cyan legs stand in front of her, before finally making eye contact with Rainbow Dash herself. Her mane was as unruly as ever, sticking out in every possible direction, but the usual smile was always there; the same smile that had greeted Scootaloo ever since she woke up the first morning in Rainbow’s house.

“I had a nightmare, and I fell out of bed just now,” Scootaloo mumbled sourly, before hiding inside of her covers.

“Same one?”

The bundle of cover made a motion that reminded Rainbow Dash of a nod.

Rainbow let out a sigh, before walking closer, and unwrapping Scootaloo from her prison of cover. Scootaloo looked confused at first, but when Rainbow grabbed hold of it, threw it into the air, and huddled up in front of the little filly, both of them smiled at each other.

Scootaloo wasn’t afraid of the darkness when Rainbow Dash was with her. Only in her dream, because then she knew that Rainbow hadn’t caught her. Her trail of thought was evident in her face, and Rainbow quietly poked the little filly’s shoulder.

“The one where you’re falling?”

A strand of Scootaloo’s forelock tickled Rainbow’s forehead, indicating her nod.

Rainbow Dash sighed again.

“This has been happening too much, Scoot. You know I’ll always catch you, if you fall, right?”

“Of course! I know that, I just...”, the filly sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t know why I keep having that nightmare. It’s not very fun.”

A hidden smile shaped on Rainbow’s lips.

“You know, I’ve had a bunch of nightmares too?”

“Applejack’s told me all ponies gets nightmares once in awhile, so I guess so.”

“Nightmares schnightmares! Nothing wrong with getting nightmares, Scoot. As long as you don’t let them take over your life, alright?”

Scootaloo nodded, and felt Rainbow Dash pulling her into a tight hug. The little filly inhaled as she was held close; strange as she thought it was, Rainbow had a certain smell to her, and it comforted her like nothing else. Her heart had been racing ever since she stumbled out of bed, but as soon as she could breathe in the smell of her mentor, it steadied.

They sat like that for what seemed to be quite a while, just listening to each other’s heartbeats and the chirping birds that announced a new day.

Rainbow Dash ruffled Scootaloo’s mane, and broke the silence as she spoke.

“I’ll always catch you, Scoot,” she whispered.

Scootaloo smiled before she winced as the cover that engulfed her in controlled darkness, was brutally lifted over her head, and the merciless rays of a new day hit her.

“But you still gotta go to school, so c’mon. Your breakfast is probably cold now, you silly filly.” Rainbow said as she left the room, casually throwing the cover over the bed, clearly unmade.

Scootaloo bounced after the cyan mare, and hopped down the stairs. She let out a squeal as semi-warm portion of oatmeal standing before her.

“Oatmeal!” she exclaimed, and didn’t hesitate to dig in. Before Rainbow Dash even got the chance to sit down and eat her own oatmeal, Scootaloo was ready for seconds.

“More oatmeal?” she asked, with big eyes, before Rainbow Dash playfully turned her away.

“Sorry twirp, outta oatmeal. Wanna go to the market with me when you’re outta school?”

“Urgh, do I have to!” Scootaloo groaned, before putting on her saddle bag, and packing her lunch.

“Yup, so quit your whining.” Rainbow Dash commanded, throwing an apple and carrot Scootaloo’s way.

“Fine...” the filly mumbled, sourly catching the apple with her left wing but the carrot smashed against the wall, breaking. Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she saw that she had missed completely, a blush spreading on her cheeks. But a hoof around her neck removed her doubts.

“Getting better at your wing mobility, twirp. Try to get the carrot next time, alright?” Rainbow comforted, and easily managed to grab a carrot off the counter, letting it slide from the tip of her left wing to the tip of her right, into Scootaloo’s saddlebag.

Scootaloo nodded happily, and made her way towards the door. The second she had stepped out of it, she could faintly hear the school bells. She glanced towards Rainbow Dash, who had an arched eyebrow.

“You better hurry, you know our deal.” she said menacingly, but Scootaloo knew the mare meant no evil with it.

The deal was, that if Scootaloo couldn’t make it to school before the 5th ring of the bell, almost certainly making her tardy for class, she’d have to do extra training after school. If she did get to school in time, the extra training was still happening, but lighter.

Or so Rainbow Dash had claimed. Scootaloo was sure that there was little difference in their afternoon workouts, whether or not she had become tardy earlier the same day. But either way, Scootaloo liked their workouts. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle always groaned at the mere mention of sweating and having a pounding heart, but they respected it nonetheless. Scootaloo thought that Applebloom could understand it slightly better than Sweetie Belle; Applejack and her younger sister did many chores around the farm, the majority of them were physical. The worst physical thing that Rarity could put Sweetie Belle through, was the filly pulling her older sister’s overloaded carriage when they went camping.

Then again, Scootaloo could understand that if that was the only exercise Sweetie Belle had endured, it sucked.

So Scootaloo didn’t hesitate to burst into the open skies, in order to get to school in time.

“Remember to meet me at the market when school is out!” Rainbow Dash shouted, earning a barely visible salute from Scootaloo as she flew towards the school.

With a pounding heart and heaving chest, Scootaloo stepped into the classroom. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shot her dirty glances, but remained voiceless.

“Yes, I made it!” Scootaloo cheered, as a damp strand of her mane glued to her face, and she sat down in between Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Both of them wrinkled their snouts at Scootaloo in fake disgust, waving their hooves in front of their faces.

“Somepony stinks! Phew!” Sweetie Belle dramatically said, and faked passing out on her chair.

“I don’t stink! Only because you’ve never smelled bad in a day of your life!” Scootaloo retorted.

Sweetie Belle regained her posture, before sticking her tongue out at Scootaloo. The pegasus was about to rise from her seat, to disgust the squeaky clean unicorn even more by hugging her, but miss Cheerilee entered the room, and the moment was gone.

“I will get you later, miss Belle.” Scootaloo menacingly said, with a hint of jest obvious by the sparkle in her eyes.

“Morning class!”

“Morning miss Cheerilee!” the class echoed obediently.

“I hope you are prepared for a very interesting class today, my little ponies. By request of our very own scholar, miss Sparkle, we have been chosen to take part in an educational experiment.”

“Bet Twilight just wanna add something crazy smart into our brains...” Scootaloo mumbled, causing the two fillies next to her to giggle.

“Got anything to add, Scootaloo?” Cheerilee quickly asked, with an arched eyebrow.

“No miss.”

“As I said, we will be a part of a new experiment. For many years, specific knowledge about each pony kind have been restricted to themselves. Twilight have suggested that we expand the amount of information we have about our fellow ponies. Please note that I said expand, ponies. The secrets of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns alike will remain among themselves. However, basic knowledge about unicorns and pegasi will be shared in earth-pony dominated schools, and vice versa. Considering we have been generally have been educating you all in earth pony knowledge, for the next two days, we will have a great unicorn and a great pegasus speaking to you about their own kind.”

Several whispers broke out in the classroom, every student eagerly gossiping about the possible ponies that would attend their class.

“Does anypony have any idea of who could show up today?”

Many voices echoed throughout the room, each one suggesting a possible pegasus that would show up. None of them were correct though, and to her own frustration, Scootaloo mumbled something under her breath.

“It couldn’t be Spitfire...”

“Settle down, little ponies. I’m sorry to say that none of you were right, but this makes the surprise so much better! Please, allow me to introduce the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire!”

As if on queue, the door flew open, and the yellow mare followed suit. She wasn’t wearing her usual blue uniform, nor her goggles, but her coat and mane shone nonetheless.

“Hey ponies! Are you ready to listen to the cool behind pegasi like myself?”

“Yeeeeeah!” the entire class cheered, and all of them rested their heads quietly, totally focused on the pegasus in front of them.

“So let me tell you a thing or two about pegasus ponies...” Spitfire began.

Whereas other ponies had lost their attention after a certain amount of time, Scootaloo had not. Her eyes seemed to grow with every passing minute as Spitfire had her lecture.

Before she knew it, it was over, and some of her fellow students clapped as enthusiastically as she, where others, Diamond Tiara specifically, did not. Miss Cheerilee placed a hoof on Spitfire’s shoulder with a bright smile.

“Thank you so much, Spitfire. I am sure we were all...”, she gave a unimpressed stare at Diamond Tiara, who immediately straightened herself up with a fake smile, “entertained. Are there any questions for Spitfire?”

Scootaloo was the first filly to raise her hoof for a question.

“Yes, Scootaloo?”

“I’m such a big fan, Spitfire! Your tricks are awesome, and the Wonderbolts too! I hope to be like you one day, but you should let Rainbow Dash be a Wonderbolt too! She’s awesome, and your squad would be even more awesome with her in it! I-”

“Scootaloo, Spitfire is on a very tight schedule, so if you could make it quick, please.” Cheerilee gently commanded, with a wide smile on her face.

“Oh, right. Sorry Spitfire, gosh, you’re just so cool! Anyway, what’s your speed record?”

Spitfire’s chest puffed up.

“Well, it’s been awhile since I was in a good ol’ race, but I still remember my record from then! 28 meters per second, or, 100.8 kilometers an hour.”

Gasps echoed through the room, but a hoof was quickly in the air too.

“Yes, Twist?”

The stuttering pony nervously started to speak, as well as she could.

“Is it right that your... um, record is 67.1081 miles per hour, miss Spitfire?”

“That is right, kid. Well done on that math! I couldn’t have done that with a calculator by my side!” Spitfire praised, and winked at the clever filly. Twist immediately blushed, but smiled nonetheless.

“Spitfire, Spitfire!” Scootaloo demanded, with a waving hoof in the air.

“Yes, Scootaloo, was it?” Spitfire replied with a nod of her head.

“She knows my name!” the filly squealed as she leaned towards either of her friends, who, less enthusiastically squealed back.

“Yeah, I’m Scootaloo! Better remember it! Anyway, are you and Soarin’ a couple?”

Spitfire was obviously surprised at the question, but tried to hide it.

“Nah, I like to keep my relationships outside of my work. He is quite the stallion, isn’t he though?” the flied replied, causing several fillies, even miss Cheerilee to giggle, and nod in agreement.

Wonderbolt fan or not, few mares and fillies were unaware of the leadstallion of the flying squad. Rainbow Dash had told Scootaloo of a time she watched a Wonderbolt show with Rarity, whom only had agreed to come along because of Soarin’s appearance. The rest of the unicorn’s time was spent considering how she could improve their uniforms, while Rainbow Dash remained flabbergasted by their tricks.

“This gotta be my last question ponies. I gotta hurry up so I can get back to Cloudsdale. A flier’s job is never over!”

Much to anypony’s surprise, Scootaloo’s hoof was the first, and only one, to be lifted.

“Make it good, Scootaloo!” Spitfire laughed.

“Why did you become a Wonderbolt?”

Spitfire rubbed her chin with a hoof for what seemed to be an eternity for Scootaloo, before she finally answered, a smile spreading on her face.

“Heh, well, it may sound silly, but it is because I love to fly. I’m sure you’ve heard it from all of the pegasus ponies you’ve met. ‘I love to fly’... yeah, all ponies with wings do, I can tell you that much! Just as much as unicorns love to use magic, or earth ponies love to tend to the soil they walk upon.”

Spitfire had been standing behind Cheerilee’s desk during the talk, but now stood in front of it and began to pace around the room.

“Flying is so much more than a pair of wings. Not all pegasi do what I do, but each and every role a pair of wings can play, makes a difference. The lives of many pegasi rely on their wings, but not all, and just because you are born with wings, does not mean that you can achieve a cutie mark with it.”

Scootaloo’s ears drooped, which Spitfire immediately noticed.

“And that is quite alright too, okay? If all were stunt fliers like myself, who would control the weather? If all unicorns were scholars, who would assist us in various matters that could only be done with magic? If all earth ponies were farmers, who would be doing tasks as nurses or doctors? Point is, kids, is that whatever kind of pony you are, that does not limit you to doing various things.”

Spitfire waved her hoof.

“Sorry, I’m getting off track here. I became a Wonderbolt, because I realized that if I died while flying, I died happily. I am willing to put my life at stake for performing wild stunts, that’ll blow ponies’ minds. It takes dedication, and it hasn’t always been easy. But I promise you little ponies, your future is a bright one, if you do what you love, despite the obstacles on the road.”

The applause was overwhelming, and it seemed neverending. Scootaloo acknowledged her hooves clapping, but all she saw, was the glory that Spitfire seemed to bathe in. As if there was nothing in the world but Scootaloo and the leader of the Wonderbolts. She didn’t even notice the smirk that she got from Spitfire, as she was the only pony still clapping when the others had stopped.

Scootaloo laughed sheepishly.

“It was great to teach you kids! Remember, for all of you pegasi, there will be a flight camp this summer, and since it is just a month away, if you wanna join, train hard, and I’ll see you in Cloudsdale! Catch you later!”

Flight camp?!

Scootaloo smiled widely to the friends on her sides, whom sighed happily, despite knowing that the orange pegasus would suddenly have much more on her mind than simple crusading.

Author's Note

Hey everyone!

Don't know if you have read my blog or not, but I will be going to Cambodia soon, in 2 weeks to be exact. I will try my hardest to squeeze in another chapter, but as of right now, I'm so busy with preparations, I don't know if I can do so. When I leave, the story will be put on hiatus until I return.

I'll be gone for 4 months, so try and not to forget me until then.

Much love! :)