Flightless

-Crushed Dreams and Fulfilling Prayers

"Where did they run off to now?" Applejack looked around. She smirked slightly at Rainbow Dash as she continued to look around for her younger sister and her friend.

"Oh, I heard them out in the field. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe, and it's not too far away." Fluttershy put a reassuring hand on Applejack's knee from across the picnic. She smiled at the rest of her friends, yet there was fear hidden behind her face.

Rainbow Dash on the other hand was feeling pretty confident. She watched each of her three friends slowly as they smiled, laughed, and had a good time. They didn't seem at all like the kind of people to hate their friends for something as simple as love. They were much better than that, and Rainbow couldn't help but feel as if they would definitely support them full on. Maybe it was simply because she wished for that, but Rainbow was almost certain that everything would be fine.

"Would you like more tea, Rarity?" Fluttershy quickly picked up the tea kettle and thrust it in front of Rarity's cup which was midways to her mouth. Fluttershy's nervousness was beginning to get the better of her as she tried too hard to act normal.

"Um, sure. Thank you." Rarity smiled as she allowed Fluttershy to fill her halfway full cup. She graciously accepted her generous offer, and proceeded to drink the fresh tea.

"How about you, Applejack? Pinkie?" Fluttershy looked towards her other two friends with wide eyes.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie both looked down into their fully filled tea cups. They simultaneously shook their heads, but they both made sure they acted thankful for her offer.

Applejack's green eyes slipped their way over to Rainbow Dash who was now too beginning to feel nervous for Fluttershy's sake. Applejack looked at her curiously. She could tell that something was not right here, and Fluttershy and Rainbow were both keeping something from them that they didn't particularly want to share.

"Is there something y'all would like to tell us?" Applejack folded her arms peculiarly as she watched closely to both of their flustered faces.

"Now now, Applejack. No need to be so nosy, darling." Rarity could also tell something was up, but with her dignity, she didn't want to force something unpleasant out of her two friends. She brought a slender hand to Applejack's thigh and slowly rubbed her leg in a sort of way that would seem friendly to the naked eye.

Pinkie Pie rested her head upon her two hands as she looked around the seemingly awkward picnic. As she laid on her stomach, legs kicking the air, she let out a long and rather loud sigh.

"What's going on you guys?" She blew a string of curly hair out of her eyes as she looked up. She swayed her legs back in forth with anticipation as she could now tell that something was strange about the two.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Fluttershy practically hid herself behind her tea kettle, trying to avoid all the questioning eyes from her wondering friends. Her heart raced more than it should, and she couldn't seem to be able to calm herself down long enough to assure herself that she would be okay.

Although her mind was racing in so many directions, Fluttershy managed to look over to Rainbow Dash who was silently sitting down. She had no facial expression at all towards her friends, and as they each spoke, she looked them directly in their eyes.

"Dash?" Applejack squirmed under Rarity's moving hand. At this, Rarity realized what she was doing, and quickly snatched her hand away and began to pick "lint" of her blouse.

"Oh please, Applejack. Drop this nonsense already." Rarity said annoyingly without looking up from her shirt.

Applejack looked over the the beautiful lady, and without another word, let her head drop with disappointment. It wasn't that she was trying to be nosy, but it was just that she could see that there was something itching at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and she just wanted to help them with whatever it was that was bothering them so badly.

"No. No there is something that I need to tell you guys." Rainbow Dash finally spoke up, causing each of her friends heads to jerk up quickly in her direction.

Fluttershy turned quickly to her girlfriend, and with a small squeak, scooted closer to Rainbow Dash, just enough to wrap her hands around one of her muscular arms.

Rainbow Dash paused and watched each of her friends anticipating glares. She wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen, but it was the truth, and she needed to relieve herself of this silent burdening secret. Her friends deserved to know, right?

Rainbow let in a long deep breath, and as she slightly began to open her mouth Fluttershy quivered.

"Me and---"

Rainbow was suddenly cut off my a loud scream. A wail that sounded a lot like AppleBloom. Her cries made each of them stand up on their tiptoes as they began to frantically panic.

"AppleBloom?!?!" Applejack was the first to start running. Her legs didn't hesitate for a moment as soon as she was certain that it was her little sister that was calling out in such agony that it made their ears churn with pain for her.

"Applejack! Applejack!!!" AppleBloom came running straight into her big sisters arms from over the field. Tears streamed down her cheeks like mini waterfalls.

The rest of the group began to circle around the embracing siblings. Worry and fear struck each of them harshly in their guts.

"Wh--where's Scootaloo?" Fluttershy stepped forth, one tightly gripped fist against her lips.

AppleBloom looked up. Tears still strolling all over her.

"What's wrong, AppleBloom? Are you hurt? Where's Scootaloo?" Applejack rubbed her sisters face softly. She pulled her bands away gently, trying to calm her down as much as possible so she could actually respond to all of their questions.

"I--I'm fine. Sco--Scoota--loo.....she...she...." AppleBloom's words were so disconnected that it was almost impossible for any of them to understand her. But Applejack was close enough to make out what she was saying, although she still didn't completely answer to her last question. Applejack was sure, whatever it was, it had traumatized her.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both looked up with complete fearfulness. They frantically began to run around, tears filling up in their eyes as they searched for the unknown.

"Scootaloo!!!!"

"SCOOTALOO!!!!!"

Both mothers began to run down the hill that AppleBloom had emerged from. Distantly, they could both see something huddled down. Scootaloo!

With a sudden jolt of adrenaline, they both sped their way over to the heap that was their Scootaloo. Fluttershy quickly rushed for her face. She picked her head up with her arm, and rubbed over her soft cheeks. Rainbow rushed for her chest. She pressed her ear against it to check for a sound. She was hoping that she was just not doing it right, because she heard no heart beat at all.

"Scootaloo!" Fluttershy wailed over the small girl. She pressed her head closely to her body as she rocked back and forth and cried as loudly as she ever had before.

Rainbow Dash tried to wrap her arms around Scootaloo's waist. She wanted to embrace her small body just as Applejack did with AppleBloom, and she wanted her to wake up and everything be okay. True tears began making their way slowly down the sides of her face. They slowly poured onto Scootaloo's lifeless body, and they dripped down her sides one at a time.

Rainbow and Fluttershy both couldn't believe what was happening. They weren't even sure what it was that was happening, but whatever it was they wanted it to go away. They wanted this to all be some horrid nightmare, that they would soon awaken from, sweating in each others arms, but smiling as they see that Scootaloo was fine.

But they knew that wasn't the case at all. This was reality, and they didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to handle this. They didn't even know what was wrong with her.

Fluttershy brought her hand over to Rainbow Dash's, and without lifting her head from Scootaloo, she embraced her hand within Rainbow Dash's and squeezed real tight. This only made Rainbow want to cry more. Her child, their child was unresponsive right before their very eyes, and there was nothing they could do about it. There was nothing...

"Hmm....?" A soft rustling came from the small body underneath the two crying lovers. They each quickly looked down to Scootaloo's face to see that her nose was wrinkled up, and her mouth was opening slowly.

"Scootaloo!" Fluttershy smiled as large as she could. Her eyes were burning as she tried to quickly wipe away her tears, but Rainbow beat her to it, and was now softly brushing away Fluttershy's tears.

The two smiled deeply at each other with such huge relief. The fact that their daughter was okay was the best feeling that they had ever had. Before they could even think, the two found themselves in a passionate kiss right before their three friends eyes. But even when they realized, they didn't stop to care, they were too taken in by their mutual happiness that they weren't worrying what their friends were thinking of them right at the moment.

"M-Mommy? What happened?" Scootaloo weakly began to pull her body up off the ground. Fluttershy and Rainbow both retreated from their kiss to look over to their daughter.

"Oh boy..." Applejack said as her and their other friends approached the three.

Rarity gasped, and Pinkie Pie stood with her mouth completely wide open. They all stared at Scootaloo who was now beginning to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable.

"What?" Rainbow looked up quickly, but before they could answer, she saw it for herself.

Fluttershy too seemed to have seen what everyone was gawking at. Sadness filled herself up inside and she wrapped a comforting arm around Scootaloo.

"What's wrong?" Scootaloo could feel herself starting to panic. She lifted herself into sitting position, and her eyes fell to what had happened.

Her prosthetic leg was broken into thousands of little plastic shards. Her eyes widened with horror at the sight. How was that even possible?

"How...." Her voice was weak, and she could barely make anything out.

"Rarity!" Rainbow looked up in anger at her prim friend. Her eyes glared heavily upon her, and Rarity was taken aback by Rainbow's harsh tone towards her.

"What!?" She took a small step back with fear.

"You gave me a cheap ass leg!!?" Rainbow stood up swiftly and marched her way over to Rarity. The thin woman moved behind Applejack for protection.

"Now Rainbow Dash! Calm down. I'm sure she didn't know." Applejack put her hand against Rainbow's shoulder trying to keep her from going off on the defenseless Rarity.

"No it's impossible! I got it from the best of the best. I swear! It makes no sense!" Rarity began to spew out in a panic.

Rainbow let herself come back to her senses, and she turned back to Scootaloo who was now crying to Fluttershy's arms by the loss of her one true dream.

At least she got to walk while she could...

"Wh-Why did you do something like that?" Twilight stood up harshly from the vision in her mind. She quickly approached Luna with anger in her heart.

"What do you mean, Twilight Sparkle?" Goddess Luna stood tall before the young priestess. Celestia standing behind her with a slight grimace upon her face.

"She Twilight Sparkle.." Celestia spoke up trying to get her attention, but Twilight was oblivious to Goddess Celestia at the moment.

"Tell me, Luna!" Twilight brought her hands to Goddess Luna's chest, and pressed against her in an attempt to intimidate the bold Goddess, but of course to no avail.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia boomed. She finally seemed to have gotten Twilgiht's attention, as the young priestess backed away from Luna, and bowed her head as if to ask for forgiveness.

"You have to understand, that my sister takes this very seriously." Celestia motioned a hand to her younger sister. Luna looked back with a blank stare, no expression visible upon her face. She was indeed as serious as it gets.

"But what do you mean? How was that serious what she just did?" Twilight's hands flared to her sides in anger, yet she tried to reserve it inside. Spike was standing blindly at the feud between his mother figure and the Goddess of the moon.

"In order to fulfill her prayers, I must do what is needed to be done." Luna looked blankly at Twilight.

"But why would you need to demolish her leg? That was her dream! She could finally walk! Why would you hurt the ones that pray out to you?" Twilight thrust her chest upwards. Her mind was so confused, she wasn't even sure of why she had to come and take this visit in the first place. She would rather be praying than this...

"In order to fulfill her prayers, I must do what is needed to be done."