To Seek the Sky
By: SilentBelle
A sky, reminiscent of sapphires, rubies, and topaz, not for its particular hue, but rather, for its flawless depth; that was the backdrop of this bright autumn evening. The sun was just above the horizon, numerous clouds aglow and most of the ponies in Ponyville were content to be inside their homes, bumbling about with the calm measure of ponies who had spent their day hard at work. No doubt, they would be talking to one another, sharing the drama of their days as they prepared their supper.
But one filly, perhaps a bit more energetic than the rest, had gotten up before Celestia's gorgeous sunrise. She had spent the entire school day on the edge of her seat, watching the slow tick of the clock's arms and repeatedly glanced out the windows.
Her excitement had been too much to contain that day, from the moment she had opened her eyes, her heart had started beating faster and her wings had been twitching sporadically with some unknown, nervous energy. A type of energy that had the filly stuck at school an extra ten minutes as she found herself under the scrutiny of her teacher Cheerilee.
* * *
“Scootaloo,” her teacher had said, once all the other ponies had left, “what ever is the matter? You haven't been focused all day.”
“I'm sorry, Miss Cheerilee, but, can I go?” the orange filly replied, her violet eyes were filled with a look of desperation and she wore a grimace. “I'll stay late tomorrow instead, I swear.”
A look of concern befell the teacher as she gazed upon her student. “What is it that you need do in such a hurry?”
“I, uh,” she glanced about nervously, “I can't say. I promised not to say anything. Please?”
Cheerilee let out a sigh. “Look, Scootaloo, I'm concerned. As your teacher I'd like you to tell me if something is troubling you.”
“Troubling me?” she said in confusion. “No, nothing's wrong, I just have something I need to do.”
The mulberry mare looked at her student with a measuring gaze. The pegasus swallowed nervously under the scrutiny, but refused to lower her gaze. “Well, alright then,” the mare responded after a moment, “but remember you have to stay after school tomorrow.”
The filly's eyes lit up. “Really? You mean it?”
“Of course. I'm your teacher, Scootaloo, I can tell when one of my little ponies really believes they have something they need to do.”
Without further ado, Scootaloo sprang from her seat and ran for the entrance. Not even stopping as she spun around, backpedaling out the door. “Thanks, Miss Cheerilee,” she said as sincerely as she could manage with a bright smile upon her face. The filly turned back around in a fluid motion and trotted off with youthful vigor before her teacher could even offer a reply.
Cheerilee watched as her young student ran out into the afternoon sunlight, already wearing her helmet. She wondered what the filly was up to. But that look in her eyes, she mused to herself, I'll find out tomorrow.
* * *
Aboard her scooter, Scootaloo sped onward, oblivious to the other ponies around her. They tried to make way for the speeding filly as she carved her own path through the crowd. With a deft act of dexterity, she managed to avoid toppling a few of the passersby, though in doing so, she clipped the corner of a cabbage-stand, nearly causing her to lose her balance. She heard the vendor shout out an indignant rebuke, but it was lost to the sound of wind in the filly's ears, and the pumping of her own heart. Feeling a little embarrassed at her slip up with the scooter, she sped onward, choosing to believe that the small debacle would sort itself out. After all, she had somewhere to be.
I can't be late, the sun sets earlier these days, she told herself as she forged onward, passing the outskirts of town. The constant buzz of her wings slowed to a more rhythmic hum, and her breath evened out to a consistent pace. She soon found herself reminiscing about that moment, only five days prior. The very source of her nervous energy.
* * *
“Listen up squirt. You know how I said I'd take you under my wing and be like a big sister to you?” Rainbow Dash asked, extending a single wing in emphasis. Scootaloo simply nodded her head, her eyes filled with anticipation. “And, since you can't fly on your own yet, I figured I'd ask if you wanted to come to one of my practice sessions. What do you say about next Thursday, around sunset? Maybe you could learn a thing or two from watching the greatest flier in all of Equestria.”
“Really? You mean it?” the filly asked, her violet eyes were positively alight with a mix of admiration and excitement. For she knew that Rainbow Dash didn't often train where other ponies could see her. Perhaps it was because of that one incident where she ended up grounded in the hospital for a week. Regardless, the small pegasus leaped up and down, while her small wings positively buzzed in excitement. “This is going to be so awesome!”
“You have no idea kid,” her mentor replied with a mischievous smile.
* * *
Scootaloo let out a sigh, trying to calm herself as she made it to her destination: a grassy knoll out of sight of Ponyville. It glowed golden in the setting sunlight and she took her spot atop its crest.
Today was the day, and Scootaloo trained her eyes to the sky and her surroundings searching as she sat there. The filly had made it on time, she was certain. Now, only one key player remained.
I wonder what she's planning. That look she had in her eyes, it definitely means she's going to do something awesome, I just know it! The filly wondered away at her mentor's intentions with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. In an attempt to sooth her nerves, she took in the beautiful autumn scenery. A more stunning Thursday she had never seen. The sky had multiple clouds proudly floating in the encompassing topaz of the sun's rays.The turning autumn leaves caught in the crisp evening breeze, which blew softly across Scootaloo's violet mane. Though its winds were cool, they only served to feed the fire that lingered within her, as her eyes searched for a trace of rainbow colour in the sky.
If she had blinked, the small pegasus would have missed it, but a single movement caught upon the edge of her periphery. A streaking band of colours catapulted across the sky at incomprehensible speeds. Piercing through a series of clouds and leaving a trail of white mist in its wake. With a gasp of awe, the filly watched in wide-eyed wonder as her idol made her entrance.
Rainbow Dash lithely descended toward her lone spectator with a small smirk on her muzzle, relishing in the youngster's expression. Without even saying a word, the cyan pegasus shot upward in a splendid display of athletics. In mere seconds she managed to empty the sky of its clouds. Now, only the sunset sky remained, deep and limitless. And as her idol descended to the ground, Scootaloo could only begin to wonder at what spectacular sights she would see performed before the sun set.
“Hey kid,” Rainbow Dash called coolly as she walked toward the small hill, “if you thought that last bit was something, well, that was just me doing my job. Now I'm gonna show you what it really means to fly. It's my new trick that I've been training for, and you're going to be the first pony to see it perfected.”
“No way,” the breathless filly whispered. A new trick? Something as awesome as a Sonic-Rainboom? This really is going to be the best day ever!
Her blood pulsed faster as she watched Rainbow Dash leap effortlessly into the sky. A slow tension began to form in the filly's legs and up her spine as the mare barrel-rolled in a helix pattern, flying upward, until she was just a dot upon that endless sky. Scootaloo inhaled sharply. For in the next moment, the athlete began her stunt.
With an acceleration that Scootaloo had not thought possible, Rainbow Dash began her descent. The mare flared her wings as she plummeted, transforming the speeding dive into one of magnificence. She spiraled downward through the sky, quicker and quicker, the spiral pattern closing in on itself as a sonic barrier began to form in front of her.
But the pegasus did not let up, her wings beat powerfully at a relentless tempo and she spun faster as the ground drew ever closer. With the exertion of a true athlete, Rainbow Dash pressed forward with her stunt and Scootaloo looked on in fascinated horror. Terrified for her idol's safety, but at the same time, feeling utterly certain that Rainbow Dash would accomplish what she had set out to do. Scootaloo watched on with her mouth agape, her wings spread and her body tensed. For that mare was her hero, infallible, stunning and undeniably awesome.
Her certainty paid off, as it always had before, and just before the cyan blur hit the ground, a burst of colour spilled forth from pegasus' trail. A spiral wave of prismatic light flew forth and filled the now-darkened sky. It was brighter than the last rays of the setting sun, or the first peek of the moon from the eastern horizon. The colour swept across the heavens and the filly filled her lungs to cheer out at the spectacle of beauty before her.
But that wasn't the end of the stunt, there was also a vibration, that stirred the very air as the wave passed by, and Scootaloo felt it in every fiber of her being. She couldn't register the feeling accurately. If she had to describe it, she would have said it was like what shattering glass sounded like, sharp, sudden, and utterly unforgettable. In that moment her cheers dissipated in breathless exhilaration.
She looked back for the source of the trick, for Rainbow Dash, all the while trying to figure out what words to use to describe the event. Awesome, breathtaking, impossibleawesomeliscious. None of those words could adequately describe what she had just seen. And then her eyes caught a sight in the sky she had never expected to see. A colourful, helix-shaped fissure, was affixed in the open air, proud and prominent. She split the sky, the filly thought to herself, that's impossible.
Scootaloo felt her legs grow weak as she collapsed in the wake of such a stunning event, not even bothering to muse over the sight before her, she just let her eyes absorb it, carving the image into her memories.
She wasn't too sure how long she had been sitting there, but with a sudden blink, the filly was wrenched from her trance as she heard a voice call out from behind her.
“Rainbow,” the excited, breathless voice called, “that was amazing! What did you do? Oh, hi Scootaloo, do you know where Rainbow Da-”
Scootaloo jumped up in surprise and a flood of questions began to fill her mind. What's Twilight doing here? How'd she get here so fast? Wait, where's Rainbow Dash? With a now-fanatical energy, the filly squinted against the low light of the moon, searching for her mentor. With a gasp the filly ran forward when she caught sight of Rainbow Dash, collapsed upon the ground in a small crater-like formation.
“Rainbow!” Twilight Sparkle shouted in worry, as the unicorn evidently shared the discovery. With a spark of her horn and a flash of magenta magic, she teleported next to her collapsed friend. She let out a gasp as she took in the sight before her. “Hang on Rainbow, I'll get help real quick!”
With a panicked flash of magic Twilight disappeared, just as Scootaloo closed in on her motionless big sister. The sight was unreal to the filly, even more so than the earlier stunt Rainbow had performed.
The filly waited, she was certain Rainbow Dash would get up in a mere moment and dust herself off with a chuckle. “Well, that didn't go exactly as I planned,” she could imagine the elder pegasus saying. But the mare remained there, motionless, with her eyes closed.
“No, your wings aren't supposed to be like that, tuck them in,” the filly called out a complaint. A hint of a strained chuckle could be heard beneath the sound of her cracking voice. “It hurts to sleep on them like that.” She moved in closer to the mess of blue feathers and rainbow hair. “Please, Rainbow, get up! Please! You've faced dragons, a manticore! You saved Rarity and the Wonderbolts! And you never fail.” The filly let out a sob against the ruffled blue coat of her big sister. “Please, wake up!”
Through closed eyes and racking sobs, Scootaloo lost perception of most of the world around her. She had heard Twilight reappear with a crack of magic and a few other voices she hadn't recognized, as well as the clinking sound of all sorts of equipment. She remembered being gently pulled away from Rainbow Dash and being held firmly at bay as she struggled to crawl back to the small crater. “Rainbow!” she had cried, “Rainbow!”
* * *
“Rainbow...” Scootaloo mumbled as she awoke, the memories of the evening before were merely a light haze, like a passing bad dream. Her face felt strained, as she sat up in a strange bed and looked about the room in confusion.
Where am I? she wondered while taking in the sights around her. She was alone in the frugal room, dimly lit up by an overcast autumn light spilling in through an open window. Green draperies fluttered on a cool breeze, spreading and collapsing, reminding Scootaloo vaguely of wings. With a shiver, the filly pulled the plain white blankets around her tightly and turned her gaze to the only other sight that held any interest for her.
Upon the nightstand, a glass of water stood with a straw in place for her. Thirst, the feeling came upon her suddenly. Why is my throat so dry? Without pausing, she ignored the question and emptied the glass of water as quickly as the straw would allow.
As the water flowed down her parched throat, so too did memories began to filter slowly back into her mind: Rushing through Ponyville on her scooter and coming to the outskirts of town, that grassy hill, Rainbow Dash appearing out of the sunlit clouds, and then that trick. The explosion of colours, that rippling shiver, and then the mare herself, collapsed and motionless. The filly flinched at the memory.
Where is she? That one thought took precedence over all else. She had to see her, Rainbow Dash had to be alright.
With a flurry of movement, the filly jumped out of the bed and onto the hardwood floor, using her wings to act as counterbalance to the motion. Her hoof-falls sounded extremely loud in her ears, but she ignored them as she rushed out of the entrance to her room.
The hall she entered was another place that she hadn't seen before either. Turning her head left and right, her eyes passed over a few different signs, and one in particular caught her attention. '2F' it read. The second floor, but of where? Where am I? And where's Rainbow Dash?
Continuing her search down the hall, she located a number of other rooms. When she peeked inside she there seemed to be nopony inside, just empty beds. Except for the last room at the end of the hall. Inside this particular room she found, while peering through the glass window, a silver-hued pony wrapped nearly from head to hoof in bandages.
The scene suddenly clicked in her mind. I'm in the hospital? A feeling of sudden panic descended upon the filly and she spun around searching as she back-tracked. In the next moment, she had managed to locate the stairwell that led down to the first floor. Nervous, and wary of being caught, the filly sneaked down the stairs as quietly as she could. She was painfully aware of every sound she made, every exhalation and every pumping beat of her heart.
She paused in the foyer to the first-floor hall as she heard a sound from the other side of the door. Gulping, Scootaloo ducked to the side and remained as motionless as she could while listening. Straining her ears, she could just barely make out the approach of two different ponies. Their conversation grew louder as they approached.
“A right mess it is,” a male voice said quietly. “I'd be surprised if she could ever fly again.”
“Oh, don't say that,” a softer mare's voice replied as the pair of ponies passed by the door to the staircase. “This is Rainbow Dash we're talking about, she's seen a lot of accidents and she always makes a full recovery.”
“A reckless daredevil. She's lucky she's alive with what she pulled off, if it weren't for Twilight Sparkle, she wouldn't have been so lucky. At those speeds most ponies would have crumbled to dust.”
“But she didn't, I'm certain she'll get better. We should always believe in our patients.”
“If she ever wakes up...” the stallion's voice fell out of reach of the filly's ears.
A shiver flowed down her spine as she tried to make sense of what she had just heard. She couldn't move for the next moment as the memory of her idol's motionless body bubbled to the surface of her mind.
No, she told herself, Rainbow Dash is going to be fine! She has to be, she's Rainbow Dash!
Steeling herself, the small pegasus pushed her way through the door into the first-floor hall. To her left, she saw the entrance to the hospital in the distance. So she spun to the right, searching for Rainbow Dash's room. She peeked into every room she passed by. Most of them had sleeping ponies on their beds, none of whom she recognized, nor did not wish to disturb them. Finally, she got to the end of the hall, and before her, the one unchecked room remained. With a gulp, the filly peered in.
A gasp couldn't be suppressed as it left her mouth. There, on the bed, covered in bandages, and casts on three of her four legs, was Rainbow Dash. Tears filled Scootaloo's eyes and she entered the room approaching her fallen hero. As she stepped forward she could see numerous get-well-cards already decorating the mare's nightstand, as well as some fabrics and flowers that were hung about the room in a comforting manner. Amidst it all, the injured pony silently drew her breaths.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” she managed to squeak out, almost jumping at the sound of her own voice. “Can you hear me?”
Scootaloo was met with no reply, but she didn't expect one. “Look, I'm sorry Rainbow. I'm sorry that you did that trick just for me. You got hurt because of me.”
Moving right up to the side of the bed, Scootaloo buried her face into the plain white sheets which smelled lightly of soap. She held herself that way for a while until she found words to speak again.
“Why? Why did you do it Rainbow Dash? It was so dangerous. Is it fun to do that? Is it thrilling to do a Sonic Rainboom? Why would you do something so dangerous? Can't you see that it makes other ponies sad when you get hurt. You,” she sniffed, “you big idiot!”
“How can you leave me alone like this? I thought you were going to be like a big sister to me,” she whispered hoarsely, “but sisters don't abandon each other! You're the element of loyalty, so how can you do that? How can you just leave all your friends and family like this?”
She looked up, with now-glistening violet eyes, but there was no change upon her mentor's face. With a grimace she looked away, out the window. A partially cloudy sky could be seen from her spot by Rainbow's side. She noticed the weather patrol cleaning up the clouds, and it made her remember something.
It had been a cloudy day in Ponyville when she had seen a blur streak across the sky. In a matter of mere seconds, the clouds began to dissipate. As a rainbow hue flew from one cloud to another, separating them and busting them into naught but mist. It had been a sight to behold and at that moment, she had been filled with a sense of wonder. What could it feel like to move that quickly? To have that sense of freedom?
The filly let out a small sigh, she supposed that must have been the moment when she had decided to chase after Rainbow Dash. And as she had waited and dreamed over the course of a couple of years, she had also watched that mare the whole time. She had seen her accomplish so much, and every time it had hurt Scootaloo's heart a bit, even as her admiration grew.
“How?” she wondered aloud as she stared out at the distant pegasi outside the window. “How do you manage it? Aren't the kids supposed to catch up to the adults? Then why?” she asked, turning to face the sleeping culprit of her worries. “Why do you keep improving while I'm left behind? What's the point of this dream if I can't ever reach it? How can you be so... so... distant?” She turned her eyes away once again. “How will I ever be able to catch up?”
Looking out the hospital window once again, a bit of colour caught Scootaloo's eye. She squinted, trying to figure out what it was, when a memory resurfaced. She split the sky. She still couldn't believe it. That mare had done the impossible, she had left a permanent mark upon Ponyville's skyline.
And that very same mare was willing to show that stunt to me. Just me, and nopony else. And that look she had in her eyes...
Scootaloo's thoughts drifted for a time as she looked out the window at the prolific sky feature. The wind picked up and soon the entire skyline was cleared of clouds. The breeze played a hollow melody as it passed through the limbs of a nearby tree, upon which, a single golden leaf clung to its branch defiantly. It was as if the leaf were certain that it could weather through the winter on its own.
Defiant, like Rainbow Dash. Looking one last time at that mark in the sky, Scootaloo shook her head vigorously. She knew what that mark on the sky meant. At least to her.
“Hey Rainbow, I've got something to do. I'll be right back, I promise,” she said with a light smile, though her tone carried a shattered quality to it. She pulled the bedding back into place where she had ruffled it. “I won't abandon you, just like you won't abandon me. After all, that's what sisters do.”
With her teeth gritted, she marched out of the hospital room, her head held high, not looking back.
She made it all the way to the front doors when a voice called out to her. “Scootaloo, is that you dear? Hold up, are you feeling better?”
Scootaloo looked to see a pony at the front desk. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself and shook her head. Turning back around in a quick motion, she bolted out the front door.
“Hey wait, Scootaloo!” the filly heard as she ran out into Ponyville. She had already dashed out of sight by the time nurse got to the doorway. “Scootaloo! Oh dear, she's gone! That's not good.”
The orange pegasus sprinted as quick as she could to the outskirts of town with determination in her eyes. She knew where she had to go.
After twenty minutes, the filly found herself breathless at the top of a large cliff. Standing atop her perch, she could see that many-hued spiral cut into the serene evening sky. It was a sky reminiscent of sapphires, rubies and topaz. Not for the actual colours, but instead, for its flawless depth. The depth of a promise unfulfilled and a dream yet to be reached.
She heard a familiar voice upon the wind. It called to her, “Hey squirt, come and catch me. I know you can do it.” Spreading her wings, and with nervous legs, Scootaloo kicked off the rocky ledge and let out a mighty bellow, though her eyes never left that mark on the sky.
In a rush of wind, she felt as her body was caught in that majestic caress. There was a prickly sensation upon her flank, and in that moment, all her unanswered questions were fulfilled by the sensation, of being held within that flowing embrace.
It was a silent answer, and a silent understanding. For she now knew what it meant to fly.
End of: To Seek the Sky
Author's Note
This is a one-shot fic I wrote in an attempt to figure out at least one aspect of Scootaloo. Thanks for reading.
