Scootaloo was hurting, though it was the normal kind of hurt. She squatted in the middle of a field beside her collapsed scooter, all the while blowing on a red whelt freshly branded on her left forelimb. This foalish procedure was interrupted every now and then by an impulsive hiss escaping through her clenched teeth.
Try as she might, the filly didn't have the strength to glare angrily at the wooden fence that had blocked her attempt to jump a dirt ramp into the cattle pasture beyond. Scootaloo squeezed her violet eyes tightly shut, hoping against hope that the throbbing pain would pass quickly like it always did, before her stupid little body forced tears out of her eyes, before she risked looking like a weak sissy in the glistening afternoon, in open sight of Ponyville, or even in front of—
"Wowsers, kid!" The voice cracked from high overhead, accompanied by the cool flapping of blue wings. "When you take a bump, you sure as hay bounce!"
Scootaloo gasped. She shot up and stood on all four hooves, a stupid gesture that nearly plunged her aching body back into the uneven soil below. "Aaaaugh!" she shrieked, then covered it with a breathy cough. "Aaah-ha!" She smiled crookedly, spinning around with perky wings while looking up, up, up. "Rainbow Dash! Ahem... Doing the n-normal rounds, huh?" Scootaloo had to wheeze the words forth. Her grin was a twitching thing, a flimsy dam to the desperate urge to hiccup from pained sobs.
"And just what rounds are they and why are they so normal?" Rainbow Dash remarked as she hovered low around Scootaloo and her banged-up scooter.
"Erm..." Scootaloo squeaked, still smoothing out the edges of her strained vocal cords. "Ahem... y'know... weather flying?"
"It's Tuesday, Scoots. Raindrops and Cloudkicker are covering the climate shifts today."
"Oh! Uhm... I totally knew that!" Scootaloo leaned against the damnable fence like it—and that very moment—was absolutely nothing. "You just c-caught me off guard, is all!" She pretended to examine flecks of errant dirt on her orange hoof. "A single day doesn't go by without me knowing where you're flying and for what awesome reason! Eh heh heh!"
"Yeah, uh, you might wanna cut that out, kid," Rainbow Dash said, resisting the urge to chuckle, and failing. "It's a taaaaaad bit creepy."
"Oh... Uh. Sure thing, Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo blinked as Rainbow blurred over her head.
Rainbow perched on a fencepost and looked straight down at Scootaloo's wheels. "Whew..." She whistled, then glanced over at the filly. "Did you and the scooter have a fight?"
"If we did, I'd totally win."
"Hah... nice one." Rainbow Dash reached a hoof down and gingerly tapped the handles of the fallen thing like it was some bloated animal carcass. "This thing's been through an awful lot, hasn't it? I'm surprised it hasn't—like—exploded or something by now."
"Pfft, sometimes I wish it would." Scootaloo muttered as she kicked the thing up expertly so that her hooves gripped the handles. The pain in her forelimb was fading, but that didn't stop her from wincing. "Er, what I mean is, sometimes I feel like this thing weighs me down, and yet it's all I've got to... y'know... get air."
"Is that what you were doing just now?" Rainbow Dash asked the filly with an inquistive rise of her eyebrow. "Getting some air?"
"Er..." Scootaloo avoided Rainbow's glance, biting her lip. "Maaaaaaybe? Why?" She perked up suddenly, her wings buzzing. "Were you watching me?"
"More like making sure you weren't trying to launch yourself into anymore rivers, ya crazy talkin' kumquat!"
Scootaloo recoiled from that jab like it was a gunshot, and yet the memories that bled out of her were as equally merry as they were embarrassing. Images of a hiking trail, a dense forest, a damp cave, and a bevy of rainbow-colored waterfalls flickered through her mind. It was only recently that crazy circumstances—both real and dreamy—had led to her opening up before Rainbow Dash, an encounter that ended with the awesome pegasus taking the filly under her wing. Whether or not the gesture was merely metaphoric mattered little; Scootaloo had been counting each week that had passed since that dazzling event, though she would rather die than admit such to Rainbow Dash.
Instead she chuckled raspily and said, "Er, yeah, I-I could see why you'd be worried about that, Rainbow. But really, I wasn't about to throw myself into any raging rapids. Promise." Gulping, she smiled sweetly at the older pony. "Still, it's pretty swell to know you're looking after me."
"Hey, it's one of my jobs!" Rainbow Dash shrugged and leapt off the fence, hovering. "Not that I get paid for it or nothing, but looking after the ponies of this town is how I get my kicks throughout the day!"
Scootaloo giggled in a bubbly way that would normally shame her. "You're the best bodyguard anypony could ever ask for, Rainbow..."
"Just what were you trying to do anyways?" Rainbow asked. "Besides kill yourself, I mean."
"Er... yeah, uhm..." Scootaloo squirmed, eyeing the dirt ramp in front of the wooden fence with a great deal less enthusiasm than before Rainbow showed up to bedazzle the moment. "Just like I said earlier—"
"Trying to 'get air?'"
With a wince, Scootaloo admitted, "Y-yeah. There aren't many places to do that around Ponyville."
"What about the park?" Rainbow asked.
"Heh, everypony gets on my flank about riding my scooter through that place. You know that, Rainbow. Especially after that one time I drove straight over Rarity's picnic blanket—"
"No, I mean, don't you ever go there with your mom or dad?" Rainbow asked. "Isn't that what all the young pegasi are doing these days? They go out into an open field and let their parents toss them until they get a tail-wind and try flapping their wings?"
Scootaloo struggled to hide the mother of all grimaces. It must have worked, for Rainbow was staring at her blankly when she replied, "That's... not gonna happen anytime soon, I don't think."
"Hmmm... You're always having to look out for yourself, huh, kid?"
Scootaloo swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."
Rainbow smirked. "Well, I like that."
Scootaloo blinked. "You d-do?"
"Heck yeah!" Rainbow Dash plopped down on her hooves before the filly. "Going against the flow, falling down and picking myself back up, licking my own wounds when nopony else could..." Rainbow tossed her mane and smirked proudly into the blinding sunlight. "Yup! I learned from an early age that to do wicked cool things in this world, I had to do them by myself. So, round 'bout the time I grew up, I was ready to bodyslam the world into the mud, ya feel me?"
Scootaloo chuckled. "Yeah! I-I feel you." She leaned forward. "What'd you do when it came time for your parents to teach you how to fly?"
"Pfft. You kidding? I taught myself."
Scootaloo gasped wide. "You mean..." Her eyes twitched in astonishment. "You t-taught yourself how to fly?" She gulped. "All alone?"
"I didn't have much of a choice. Everypony in Cloudsdale wanted to take things easy, to give into boring routine, to live the slow and steady life. But not me! Even as a spunky little filly, I had no time to waste. I wanted to taste the thrill of speed and I wanted to taste it right away! So, why hesitate? I had to fight gravity at some point. I might as well have gotten it over with sooner than later!"
"Did it work?"
"Uhhhh... Equestria to Scoots! I'm the fastest flier in all the land for a reason, don'tcha think?" Rainbow Dash smirked devilishly. "I showed gravity who's boss and the skies haven't been the same since! Even the friggin' thunder trembles when I'm around..."
Scootaloo beamed. "Wowwwww... that's so awesome."
"I know, right?" Rainbow Dash "backstroked" through the air as if she was leisurely skimming the top of an invisible pool. "I figure that if life gives me feathers, I might as well show them off as much as I can. 'Seize the day!' That's my phelia... philemena... fillydelphia...?"
"'Philosophy?'"
"I know what I'm trying to say!" Rainbow Dash barked at her, then scratched the back of one hoof while saying, "Girl, the stories I could tell: they'd fill a book... one that I might actually be jazzed enough to read..."
"Huh..." Scootaloo gazed skyward with a drunken grin. "It all sounds so amazing." She gulped. "I wish I could hear about how your first flight went someday."
"Why 'someday?'" Rainbow Dash hummed. "I've got nothing to do this afternoon. How 'bout now, kiddo?"
"Really?!" Scootaloo gasped.
"Hay! Why not?!"
Scootaloo plopped her petite self down immediately. "I'm all ears, Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, well, could ya be all ears in the shade?" Rainbow Dash squinted towards a cluster of trees sprouting out of a distant hilltop. "This sun is baking me somethin' nasty, and I'm pretty sure I don't smell good when I'm cooked."
"...I knew I had to get out of the free-fall somehow or else I would have become rooftop ravioli!" Rainbow Dash dramatically gestured with her hooves as she squatted on a tree branch above Scootaloo. "What I needed was a pocket of warm currents to lift me up so that my wings could catch air again! Well, it was smack-dab in the middle of the summer, ya see. And I wasn't exactly a stupid pony. I had paid attention in school, believe it or not, and when I saw the edge of a glistening lake in my peripheral vision, I knew exactly what to do." She twitched left and right atop the branch as she said, "So I glided to the left and sort of spun myself into this angled vector, right? And that finally got me over the water. Well, turns out the sunlight reflecting off the lake's surface warmed the air up really good, and that gave me the boost I needed! Sooner than you could quote the Equestrian Pledge of Allegiance, I was soaring skyward like a rocket! Nyeaaaarghhh! Swoosh! Yeah! Fastest I had ever flown at the time, and I was just seven years old!"
"Age seven..." Scootaloo cooed, lying forward on her belly as she gazed up at the awesome storyteller. "That's so cool..."
"No, it was warm," Rainbow said with a playful wink. "Warm air is what lifted me up, or else I would be swimming with the lake bass to this very day."
Rainbow Dash chuckled; Scootaloo giggled too. Two hours had passed since Rainbow had begun weaving her stories of foalhood, and each minute of it fell deliciously upon the orange filly's listening ears. The Ponyvillean countryside bled red as a melting sunset kissed the western horizon beyond the shade of the hilltop oak tree.
"Most ponies my age flapped their feathers for the first time at elmentary flight camp," Rainbow Dash muttered, stifling a yawn. "I was too bored to wait for it. The way I figured, the sky was like a huge bully staring us all down, at least until we learned to become the boss of it."
"Yeah..." Scootaloo shuddered, her gaze falling to the scooter propped up against the tree beside her. "It must have come so easily for you."
"Hah! Totally!" Rainbow Dash said, smiling with her eyes shut. After a few seconds, however, her lids fluttered open, and she glanced down at the despondent filly beneath her. With a hint of fidgeting, she eventually spoke again. "But, y'know, that didn't mean that there weren't a lot of bumps along the way and crud."
"Hmmm?" Scootaloo's head tilted up with a placid expression. "Bumps...?"
"For real." Rainbow Dash jumped down and stood before Scootaloo. "You think you banged yourself pretty bad today? That's nothing like the falls I took."
"Oh, please..." Scootaloo waved a hoof with a nonchalant grin. "Only a baby would have cried after bumping into some stupid fence."
"For real, kiddo..." Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches and rested a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder. "I'm so busy being awesome these days that I sometimes forget what it's taken to get me here."
Scootaloo glanced at her hoof, blushed, then looked up at Rainbow. "Like what?"
"Oye..." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Faceplants, concussions, busted forelimbs, strained wings. You name it, I've done it, and taken it like a pro, too."
Scootaloo winced. "That sounds... painful..."
"Yeah, well, maybe at first." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Until I learned that pain—just like awesomeness—is pretty much the name of the game. You gotta take your peas with your porridge. Er... n-not that I eat much of either..." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Ugh. Whatever. That's something Rarity says, so no wonder it sounds stupid."
Scootaloo giggled. "It's hard to imagine you ever being clumsy."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash rubbed one forelimb with the other, her eyes searching the sunset through the windblown branches above. "I kind of was... for a while there... when I was young." She flung a frown down at Scootaloo. "But don't you tell anypony!"
"I-I won't!" Scootaloo leaned back with wide eyes. She furiously crossed her heart. "Promise!"
"But, all the bumps were worth it, 'cuz now... absolutely nothing can stop me!" Rainbow Dash rocketed up, spun five laps around the tree in the span of two seconds, and landed with a grass-tearing skid on the other side of Scootaloo, making the filly gasp. "Heh... Best Young Flier... Sonic Rainboom record breaker three times in a row... first class weather flier..."
"Loyal Protector of all Ponyville!" Scootaloo added with a bright grin.
"Dang straight!" Rainbow's teeth glistened. "Just as soon as the bumps stopped hurting me and instead started lifting me up, becoming the best, fastest, and most awesome pegasus there ever was became the only true option!" Rainbow slicked her prismatic mane back and said, "All I had to do was learn that I had to lose a few feathers to the wind for my wings to grow. From then on, it became easy to toss caution along with it."
"Really?" Scootaloo blinked. "Is it that simple?"
"Pretty much. Although..." Rainbow Dash leaned over with a glaring expression. "You don't wanna throw too much caution to the wind. That's how little ponies end up in river rapids."
Scootaloo shrunk from her, blushing. "Eh heh heh... Yeah." She gulped. "I'll try to remember that."
"Make sure you do, kid." Rainbow Dash leaned back, yawning. "Yeeeeesh. Where did the day go?"
"I bet your wicked cool stories chased the sun away."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Rainbow gazed thinly at Scootaloo with a tired smile. "I dunno about you, kid, but I bet there's a fluffy cloud up there somewhere with my name on it. I gotta be up early at dawn to show some morning rainshowers who's the boss."
"Well, alright," Scootaloo said in a breathy tone, nodding. "If you gotta go, you gotta go..."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Well, don't act like it's suddenly somepony's funeral or something. I'll totally track you down to share more stories another time."
"Your stories are great, Rainbow Dash. It's just that..." Scootaloo sighed as she kicked at a few random blades of grass beneath her. "I hope someday I'll have plenty of stories of my own to share. And I-I don't mean normal, boring stories, but stuff that'll be at least half as cool the things you've got to tell."
"Just give it time, kid. Though it's totally not your fault that you gotta catch up with me. Heck, you'd need a flippin' rocketship, if you catch my drift."
Scootaloo chuckled breathily. However, her smile was a weary thing as she said, "It's just that I'm getting close to my tenth birthday, and still I can't fly..." She winced. "What kind of a making of awesome stories is that?"
Rainbow Dash blinked at her. She looked towards the setting sun, the windblown pastures of Ponyville, then back at the young pegasus. "Tell you what, squirt. Got any plans for tomorrow afternoon?"
Scootaloo blinked. "Uhm... besides homework, cutie mark hunting, and riding on my scooter?"
"Well, if you got some free time, I'm totally not doing anything after three o'clock." Rainbow smirked. "What say I give you a few lessons so that you can catch a tail-wind of your own?"
Scootaloo gasped, her violet eyes exploding. "You mean, like fl-flying lessons?!"
"No, I mean ballet lessons. What do you think, ya overgrown cricket?!"
Scootaloo bounced in place, her tiny wings flapping so hard they buzzed. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, that'd be... th-that would be awesome! Do you really mean it?!"
"Heheh..." Rainbow Dash reached forward and ruffled the little filly's pink mane. "Right here on this very same hill, Scoots. I'll show you the ropes, and if you lose any feathers to the wind in your first or second glide, I'll lend you some of mine so nopony will be the wiser."
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'll be here in a heartbeat!" Scootaloo squeaked. "You can count on me!"
"Three o'clock sharp, kiddo!" Rainbow Dash stretched her wings out and coiled her lower muscles. "Be there or be square!" She shot up in a multicolored blur.
Scootaloo stood on her scooter and proudly saluted the sky. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!" She grinned harder than she ever had in her life. The weight of the smile pulled her downhill, through the sunlit valley, and down the beaten path towards home.
When Scootaloo arrived at home that evening, the house was empty. It was something that the young filly was all too accustomed to. Plastered to the refrigerator was a note from Scootaloo's aunt, explaining that she had to perform yet another double-shift overnight at the diner in downtown Ponyville. Below this were instructions for where Scootaloo could find the makings of a daisy sandwich, as if the filly hadn't somehow memorized how to prepare a million of them by then.
Scootaloo grabbed two slices of bread, toasted them, and pulled a bouquet of daisies from a jar. Usually, such a lonesome, quiet task would draw nothing but sighs from her. But this evening was different. The sound of Rainbow Dash's voice rang felicitously in her ears, and the prospect of getting personal lessons the following afternoon made Scootaloo's heart jump at every turn. She sat alone at the kitchen counter, smiling through her dinner, oblivious to the thick silence of the moment.
Trotting upstairs, Scootaloo sat at the desk in her room and wrestled with her arithmetic homework. It was the most futile attempt she had ever made at doing something in her life. Her violet eyes swam past the numbers and figures, instead imagining the blissful blur of grassy fields and green hilltops speeding beneath her soaring body in the golden sunlight. The crickets outside her bedroom window serenaded her distracted mind into drowsiness, and soon she abandoned her assignment about five problems early.
Taking a swift shower, Scootaloo then brushed her teeth and limped off to bed. The sheets were as cold and chilling as ever, but for once she didn't mind. Something warmed her from the inside out, like a good dream that hadn't been dreamt yet. The shadows didn't scare her, nor did the nightly stars brimming outside make her feel small or lonely. When she closed her eyes, she was doing awesome things, and she could already hear the whistle of the wind splitting to make room for her.
She carried her smile into the night, and slumber did not disappoint.
The very next morning, Scootaloo bounced her way to school. The giggles and playful shouts of the schoolfoals crashed like puny waves against the heartbeat pulsing heavily through her ears. Snips and Snails made a dumb joke, but Scootaloo paid it no mind. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tried teasing her, but she was oblivious.
When the bell rang and it was time to take lessons, Scootaloo sat at her desk with violet eyes locked on the nearby window, observing the birds beyond making pirouettes against the blue sky, imagining that she was twirling along with them. This didn't help her when Cheerilee gave the entire class a pop quiz on mathematics, nor the fact that Scootaloo had barely two-thirds of her homework assignment finished the night before. However, a low grade or two was suddenly the least of her worries. One had to take a few bumps in the pursuit of awesomeness, after all.
Recess came and went; it was all a delicious blur. Scootaloo was vaguely aware of Apple Bloom telling a tall tale about a pack of diamond dogs who had attacked the west orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, as well as some cockamamie scheme Sweetie Belle was cooking up about earning cutie marks in badminton. Scootaloo merely nodded her head and smiled, keeping her eyes plastered to the sky, manifesting in her mind all of the airborne potentialities that the great deep blueness had yet to yield.
Two and a half more hours limped by. School emptied out for the day, and if Scootaloo didn't have a scooter to anchor her to the earth, she might have flown straight into the edge of the troposphere then and there.
"For real?" Apple Bloom remarked with a bright-eyed blink as she strolled uphill next to Scootaloo. "Flyin' lessons?!"
"We're talking about Rainbow Dash, right?" Sweetie Belle said, trotting on the other side of the pegasus. "The Rainbow Dash?"
"Yup!" Scootaloo bounced on her scooter, grinning a crescent moon. "The one and only! It was totally her idea too! 'Three o'clock sharp atop the hill with the oak tree!' She's gonna help me get my first tail-wind ever!"
"Wow... You're not joking?"
"Absolutely not!" Scootaloo squeaked. "Before you know it, I'll be flying loops around the school's bell and listening to everypony cheering my name!"
"Hey, yeah!" Apple Bloom grinned wide. "That's soundin' pretty amazin' already!"
"Maybe you can finally teach Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon a thing or two about making fun of us all the time!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Heh, darn tootin'!" Apple Bloom smirked wickedly. "You could toss water balloons down on their manes from above!"
"Pfffft... Come on, you guys..." Scootaloo closed her eyes and spoke with a haughty expression. "Flying is a noble art for all pegasi, and not to be used for such simple, lame things."
"Awwwwwwwww..." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exhaled with drooped ears.
After a few seconds, Scootaloo opened her eyes, smirking devilishly. "I'd totally make stink bombs to drop on 'em instead!"
"Heheheh! Yeeeeha!" Apple Bloom bounced, her schoolbags shaking.
"So when's she gonna teach you how to fly?"
"Duh! I already told you!" Scootaloo squawked. "Three o'clock sharp! Atop the hill over there!"
"Well excuse me, Miss Ostrich!" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked. "I'm a unicorn, not a time keeper!"
"Ya reckon she'll show up right at three?" Apple Bloom remarked, shading her gaze with a hoof as she squinted up the sunlit hillside. "Applejack's always tellin' me how Rainbow Dash needs to buy herself a new watch."
"Pfft! No big deal! She made me a promise!" Scootaloo suddenly narrowed her eyes towards the sky. "At least, I think she did..." After a few seconds, she shook her head and grinned proudly. "Yup, I'm pretty sure that she promised."
"Wow, that's great!" Sweetie Belle grinned. "And while she's doing it, maybe she'll tell us the same amazing stories she told you yesterday!"
"Whoah whoah whoah whoah whoah..." Scootaloo skidded to a stop on her scooter, waving her forelimbs at the two. "Sorry, gals... heh... but she made this appointment with me alone, not all three of us."
"Awwww... Come onnnnn..." Sweetie Belle's eyes sparkled. "Can't we watch?"
"Uh uh! This is pegasus stuff!" Scootaloo tilted her chin up. "Highly dangerous. Highly professional."
"What's the harm in us takin' a gander?" Apple Bloom remarked. "We're yer friends and we'd love to see ya makin' use out of yer wings for once!"
"Nope. No can do. It's enough that Rainbow Dash is taking some of her sweet time to show me her awesome skills. It's like... like... a tutorship!" Scootaloo cleared her throat. "But if all three of us were to hang around, that'd be like... like... babysitting!"
Sweetie Belle glared. "Excuse me...?"
"Heh, she hasn't flapped her wings once, and already her head is in the clouds!" Apple Bloom said.
She and Sweetie Belle giggled uproariously.
"Just you wait and see!" Scootaloo pointed with a vicious grin. "This afternoon is gonna take me somewhere! Heck, maybe she'll even give me lessons the next afternoon! And the day after that as well!"
"Jee, I dunno, Scootaloo..." Sweetie Belle winced slightly. "What she's doing is nice and all, but Rainbow Dash is a busy pony."
"Shucks, all adults are," Apple Bloom said, kicking at the dirt with a modicum of lethargy. "If my sister didn't spend most of her time apple buckin', I'd pester her somethin' fierce..."
"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna let an opportunity as awesome as this go to waste," Scootaloo said. "Thanks for walking me this far, guys, but I gotta split. I wanna be there super early so I don't risk letting Rainbow Dash down!"
"Well, alright, Scoots!" Apple Bloom waved with a happy smile. "I sure do wish y'all luck!"
"Break a leg—er... uhm..." Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin while her brow furrowed. "Or would this call for breaking a wing...?"
"Hopefully neither, but if there're a few bumps along the way, it's nopony's funeral!" Scootaloo kicked at the ground, blurred her wings, and roared her way uphill atop the scooter. "I'll totally go hunting for cutie marks with you guys another time! I promise!"
"You just let us know how the flying went!" Apple Bloom called out. "Try not to run into any clouds!"
"Yeah! Avoid any and all cumulonimbuseseses!"
"Ew, what are you, a dictionary?!"
Scootaloo could not sit still. She lost count of how many times she trotted circles around the oak tree after resting her scooter up against it. Every now and then, she would stare up at the sky, her wings twitching as her smile scanned the heavens for a sight—the first sight—of her promised tutor. There was nothing to be seen, not even an errant puff of clouds. That was to expected; Scootaloo had shown up there immediately after school let out. It must have been two o'clock, if even. She was more than early, and yet there was nowhere else she wanted to be but there.
So, feeling it was best to save her energy for the air-splitting moments to come, Scootaloo plopped down in the shade and rested her hooves. Taking long breaths, she relaxed... at least as well as she could allow herself to relax. She kept her eyes fastened to the afternoon sky with never-ceasing vigilance.
At last, the hour came, and Scootaloo was beside herself with giddiness. Her wings twitched as she glanced left and right, looking for a piece of the sky that was bluer than the rest. The minutes drifted by, and nothing about the day changed. The sunlight glinted off the grass. The wind blew through the oak trees' leaves with a hushed murmur. The air smelled of the ripeness of spring, adding to Scootaloo's anticipation.
It wasn't until a cloud had passed across the sun—casting a brief shade over the emerald landscape—that Scootaloo realized that the first hour had already passed. She squirmed some more, this time with a tinge of anxiety. A breath left her, and she smiled upon the realization that Rainbow Dash must have been caught up in some last second cloud kicking. Perhaps Apple Bloom was right; Rainbow Dash, for all of her awesomeness, was still an adult mare with adult responsibilities. Scootaloo couldn't possibly be angry at her for that. She even giggled at the prospect of playfully teasing her with a jab or two once the pegasus finally arrived.
Then another hour passed. Scootaloo knew this because the mountains to the west of Ponyville were getting darker. The sun was starting to shine on the far sides of them, their sharp peaks splitting the golden rays into shredded fabrics of platinum light. She had stood up at this point, and had resumed her circular pacing from earlier, though there was considerably less spring to her trotting steps.
A cloud passed over, broke, then passed over again. The afternoon had become a shutterstop exercise in tedium. Scootaloo's weary mind snapped out of its growing ennui at the sharp sound of a distant, ringing bell. It was the clock tower at the far end of town. That meant one thing: it was six o'clock. Six o'clock and no Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and gazed towards the skies, her jaw hanging open as she breathed heavily in a desperate attempt to chase away the surmounting sighs. Her wings drooped just like her ears, lonesome and despondent and threadbare.
When it reached seven o'clock, Scootaloo had stopped pacing. She had stopped moving altogether. She laid down flat on the hilltop beneath the oak tree, her body as still and devoid of energy as the battered scooter lying beside her. The cool shade of the tree was worthless now; the sunset had sapped all warmth from the afternoon. Everything was cold and jaded, a crimson shadow to a silly day that had started with an even sillier bang.
Scootaloo gave the sky another look, her last one, and it was a squinting glance at best. A heavy sigh flared out of her nostrils, blowing at grass blades and dandelions. When she closed her eyes to the dying afternoon, it was with clenched eyes, a last-second gamble to fight the tears away.
"Maybe..." Sweetie Belle murmured as the last few rays of sunlight scattered over the mountain peaks in the distance. "Maybe she... h-had to rush off to Cloudsdale to take care of some tornado or something."
"Tornado season isn't until August," Scootaloo muttered, flicking limply at a few weeds with one lazy hoof. "Besides, she wouldn't be involved in making tornadoes unless it was Ponyville's turn to deliver a waterspout, and that was last year."
"Ya reckon there was a death in the family?" Apple Bloom said, leaning against the oak tree on the other side of Scootaloo. The two fillyfriends had wandered up to check on Scootaloo a few minutes past seven, and they were at a lost to lift her spirits. "Somethin' awful like that is always draggin' ponies away from their daily lives."
"That's just it..." Scootaloo spoke through one heavy exhale. "She doesn't have family members to deal with. She doesn't need any. She's her own pony. She always has been. She even taught herself how to fly." With a sigh, Scootaloo turned over and laid on her back, gazing at the sky, watching as the heavens turned as dark as the gnarled branches hanging over her. "Maybe that's what I need to do."
"What, get a family?" Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom flashed a frown at her.
"No," Scootaloo merely droned. "Teach myself to fly. It's what made Rainbow Dash so... talented, after all."
Apple Bloom swatted Sweetie Belle hard in the shoulder. Sweetie Belle hissed in pain while the farm filly stepped over to gaze down at Scootaloo. "Listen, Scoots, whatever kept her... I'm sure she had a good reason." Apple Bloom gulped and smiled. "Wanna come join us at Sugarcube Corner? Pinkie Pie's gonna be doing her famous jugglin' act! They're sellin' banana splits at half off for everypony who comes to watch!"
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle joined with a squeaky tone. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"Thanks, guys..." Scootaloo muttered, her eyes thin and jaded. "But I don't think I can really do 'fun' right now."
"Oh, Scootaloo..." Apple Bloom's face was long as she reached a hoof to her shoulder. "Please don't be like this. T'ain't nothin' to cry over—"
"Who's crying?!" Scootaloo batted Apple Bloom's hoof away with a venomous frown. "If you babies want your ice cream and juggling acts so badly, then what's keeping you here?!" She folded her forelimbs and shut her eyes. "I only had one place to be today. You two go on to Sugarcube Corner. I'll hang out with you some other time, honest." After a rumbling breath, she added in a low tone, "Some ponies know how to keep promises..."
Sweetie Belle grimaced. She opened her mouth to say something, but Apple Bloom held her back with a hoof on her shoulder. Sweetie Belle looked at her, and Apple Bloom quietly shook her head. With slumped shoulders, both fillies strolled downhill, their hoofsteps like quiet whispers against the surface of the darklit field.
Scootaloo laid there alone for the space of twenty minutes. Eventually, tired of being tired, she rolled over and exhaled limply against the grass. Picking herself up on tight limbs, she made to trot towards her scooter. Scootaloo stopped halfway, though, and turned around. Her ears twitched as she gazed at the pasture looming directly beneath the lofty hill.
Blinking a few times, Scootaloo tilted her nose towards the windy air of oncoming night. Her brow furrowed in thought. A wave of contemplation flew through her, laced with something that briefly made her wince, almost like fear. In a flash, she shook the chills off and pivoted towards the steepest edge of the hill. She planted her limbs evenly apart, the orange hooves digging firmly into the soft earth. The filly's left wing stretched out... and then the right. She felt the wind through her feathers, sensed the evening breeze tugging at the small, fragile, downy strands.
Closing her eyes, Scootaloo inhaled that wind. She embraced it. Then—with grace befitting a majestic pegasus warrior of olde—she galloped briskly forward into darkness. After four or five bounding steps, the earth gave way beneath her, for she was leaping, diving, plunging into the abyss beyond her eyelids.
For a blissful second, she was weightless. There was no daylight, no moonlight, no measure of time whatsoever, only a moment—a magical instant that propelled her forward on the steady, billowing currents of guile.
Then, there was the first pinprick of pain—then a second. Like invisible popcorn, her wings crackled in various places as she lost one, two, three, ultimately four feathers in a single gasp. She opened her eyes, and all she saw was earth. Scootaloo shrieked; she was plummeting. Her wings flapped, but they lifted nothing but a foalish yelp from her being. At the last second, she reared her legs and tilted her face away from what gravity was hurdling her towards.
When she landed, it was like two dozen schoolfoals had slapped her skull with all of their saddlebags combined. Their laughter came in the form of an unearthly ringing tone ricocheting through her brain as she bounced, toppled, and rolled to a bruised stop against the edge of a rippling puddle. Scootaloo forced her tearing eyes to open, almost certain that she'd be staring at a shallow pool of her own blood. Instead, she found herself staring into the surface of a pond that was still rippling from her clumsy collapse.
An orange face stared weakly up at her, marred by fresh scabs: battle scars of the filly's pathetic little war with her own naivete. The stars of night bloomed to life around her reflection, enveloping her, dwarfing her, hiding her in the shadow of all things, like the roof to an empty house that she trotted home to so many nights in a row. A few orange feathers fluttered down and landed on the surface, wading across the starlight, flickering at her, laughing in silence.
The reflection was snarling at this point, so Scootaloo punched it. Hard.
The pond splashed, dousing Scootaloo's face and eyelids. It was good timing. Sniffling, she pulled her aching body up and limped like a beaten dog back up the hill to her scooter.
"Mmmmf... stupid featherbrained idiot..."
Scootaloo wanted to think that she was speaking to her reflection, but the pond was out of sight by then. All she saw was the evening sky, and it was just as empty as the worthless blue afternoon that preceded it. She escorted her scooter like a drunken friend into the heart of Ponyville.
Maybe it was the shadow of night that had fallen over the streets of town. Maybe it was the fact that Scootaloo was staring only at her hooves as she trudged along the whole time. Whatever the case, Scootaloo didn't notice the ruckus stirring all around her until she was about two blocks deep into it.
Bodies galloped past her, murmuring anxiously and excitedly. Scootaloo glanced up, blinking while she did so. As her sight adjusted to the lamps overhead, she saw a mass of pony bodies gathering before the front steps of the Ponyville Central Hospital. Ponies were jumping, bouncing, hopping to get a good view of a public address that was happening at the building's entrance. Pegasi flew rapidly overhead, also trying to get a good view.
Scootaloo squinted. She paused and leaned on her scooter as she tried to make sense out of all of the commotion. While she did so, she heard the words of the ponies trotting on either side of her.
"...over twelve ponies, and in barely three trips too!"
"Amazing. Absolutely incredible. That means carrying four at a time!"
"I know, right?! One for every limb!"
"Is that how she got hurt?"
"No, it was much worse than that. I heard that part of the building fell on her."
"Oh dear Celestia! What about the flames?"
"I'm guessing first degree burns... maybe second..."
"Wow. She's done amazing things before. But this takes the cake!"
"I wonder if she's okay. Is that the Mayor? What's she telling everypony...?"
"I can't get close enough to find out!"
Scootaloo's heart was beating like a drum. With each second that passed, her jaw was dropping more and more. She heard a crumbling noise, followed by a warning shout.
Flashing a look to the west end of Town, Scootaloo gasped at the sight before her. Another crowd had gathered—much smaller than the one filing before the steps of the hospital. They stood at a distance, watching in numb amazement as firemares and firestallions fought to put out the last few smoldering fires of a horrible blaze that had consumed half of an aparment complex along the edge of downtown. All three stories were burnt black, with several shattered window panes hanging off their foundations. A chunk of the third floor was in the process of collapsing as the firefighters stood back, faithfully dousing the smoking refuse behind it with a long water hose.
Scootaloo blinked. She glanced at the ground below her, spotting flecks of black soot gathered along the tips of the grass blades. A fine powder of burnt ash rolled by in the nightly wind. Just then, her ears perked up in realization. A heavy gasp flew through her, and she dropped the scooter from her grasp like a dead weight.
"I d-didn't know..."
Gritting her teeth, Scootaloo trotted towards the hospital. That trot soon catapulted into a full-fledged gallop as the little filly fought, slid, and squirmed her way through the many adult ponies. She shoved mares aside and ducked beneath the limbs of startled stallions, not once pausing to receive the many flagrant grunts and insults thrown her way.
"I didn't know!" her voice cracked, her eyes quivering in deep pain as she threw herself through the thick throng of equines. "Please, let me through! I need to see her! I need to apologize!"
As Scootaloo burst through the final layer of onlookers, she saw the Mayor standing on the bottom steps of the hospital, addressing the crowd. "...are all recovering nicely, thanks to some timely heroics on behalf of one of Ponyville's finest citizens. I'll see that she's given a medal for what she's done today and—" She did a double-take in Scootaloo's direction. "What the devil...?"
"Where is she?! Tell me where she is!" Scootaloo stammered. She suddenly wasn't moving any closer to the hospital doors, for a police stallion had lunged forth from the Mayor's side and was holding the filly in place by her tail. "No! You d-don't understand! I didn't know!" Tears sprang from Scootaloo's eyes. She made no shameful attempt to hide them as she stuggled and writhed in the officer's grasp. "I was mad and I was angry and I was stupid b-because I had no idea! Please, you have to let me see her!"
"I... I-I'm sorry, young lady," the Mayor said, her face awash with both confusion and sympathy. "But I can't let you inside. Everypony's still recovering, and visitation is only for close friends and family members—"
"She promised me she would sh-show up!" Scootaloo sobbed, slumping weakly in the stallion's grasp. "She pr-promised me and I g-got so mad when she didn't show! I n-need to tell her that I'm sorry..." She covered her face and whimpered. "I'm so sorry for being mad..."
"Calm down, little one," the Mayor said, trotting over. "Everything is going to be okay. Are you alone? Is your mother or father around?"
"I..." Scootaloo hissed through chattering teeth, shaking her head. "I don't... I-I don't have..."
"It's alright, Mayor," drawled a warm voice from the doorstep to the hospital. "Let the lil' filly on through."
Everypony turned to look. Scootaloo glanced up, and instantly her wet face gasped with joy. "Applejack!"
The freckle-faced farm mare smiled gently from atop the steps. Her hat was missing, and her mane had an angelic shine to it. "Everythang's just fine, Scootaloo. Come right along, and I'll let you see her." Applejack turned her head. "Mayor...?"
The Mayor blinked. She glanced at Scootaloo, then back at Applejack. She smiled and quietly said, "Okay." She motioned her hoof in the air.
The police officer gently let her go. Scootaloo rocketed forward like a ball from a cannon. She practically threw herself into Applejack's forelimbs. A fleeting thought struck her mind, that Apple Bloom's older sister had never seen her this pathetically weak or distraught, but that contemplation dissolved as soon as the next few words limped from her mouth.
"Oh Applejack, I-I had no idea. I thought she was gonna meet me this afternoon. I waited for so long, and f-for what? I f-feel so selfish... so darn st-stupid and selfish..."
"There there, sugarcube..." Applejack hugged her dearly, stroking the small of her back. After a firm pat, she set the little pegasus evenly on her hooves. "Nopony could have expected what happened today. Life has a way of throwin' surprises about willy-nilly. You have nothin' to blame yerself for. Now follow me, darlin'." She made a bee-line for the far end of the brightly-lit hallway. "She's still awake, last time I checked..."
Scootaloo stumbled to trot after her. She still shivered from the fresh sobs that had wracked her body just a few seconds ago. "What... wh-what was it?" Scootaloo gulped. The smells, sounds, and black and white tiles of the hospital all coalesced into a strange, sterilized haze that engulfed her. "A fire? A huge blaze?"
"A mighty terrible one too," Applejack said. "The worst sort of fire that's struck this here town since the day that..." Her voice lingered on the edge of a painful wince. Gulping, Applejack straightened her expression and said, "It could have been a lot worse; let's leave it at that."
"And... and Rainbow Dash w-was there?" Scootaloo asked.
"You betcha. Quicker than a lightning bolt."
"She..." Scootaloo smiled weakly. "She saved ponies, didn't she?"
"One of the most amazin' feats of bravery I ever did see, and I was busy helpin' put the fires out at the time. I only saw a smidgeon of the stuff she did. Boy, I tell you what: Rainbow Dash loves to show off when it suits her, but when the time comes that she's gotta pull through for the rest of us, land's sakes, does she deliver..."
"She isn't... erm..." Scootaloo's wings coiled tightly at her side as she fumbled to say, "She isn't hurt bad, is she?"
Applejack flashed her a kindly smile. "Nothin' she can't bounce back from, sugarcube."
"But—"
"Don't ya worry none. The last thang Rainbow needs to hear now is a bunch of fuss over her bruises. She'll be right as rain in a week or two. You have my guarantee."
Scootaloo shuddered, glancing through the windows into various wards as they approached a stairwell. "It's just... so crazy. One day, we're having this normal talk on a hilltop. And then, the next day, she's risking her life for other ponies."
"Life's mighty frightenin' at times, Scootaloo," Applejack said as the two ascended the stairwell and approached another, even longer hallway on the second floor. "It's a good thang we've got brave ponies like Rainbow Dash to depend on, ya reckon? Ponies like her—they can teach us to depend on each other, and ourselves in turn."
"Yeah..." Scootaloo took a deep, warm breath as they approached an open door to a mass patient ward. "Yeah, she t-totally can..."
Applejack suddenly stopped in her tracks. She turned and gazed quietly down at Scootaloo.
The filly sniffled. "What?"
"Oh, nothin'..." Applejack murmured. "Reckon yer ready, darlin'?"
Scootaloo blinked. She sniffled again, taking the time to rub her face dry with a forelimb. After a few deep breaths, she composed herself, and smiled thankfully up at Applejack.
Applejack smiled back, then proceeded into the room. Scootaloo followed.
There were several groups of ponies in the room, all murmuring in hushed little clusters on either side of a long promenade of curtained chambers. The continuous beeps of monitoring equipment resonated across the walls of the place, accompanied by the rhythmic clops of nurses' and orderlies' hooves against the tile floor.
As Applejack trotted ahead, Scootaloo glanced left and right in wonderment. She saw ponies lying in beds, their limbs bandaged in several places. A few of them were being treated closely by doctors who were finishing up the last few hours' worth of triage. Others were sitting up, wearily engaged in pleasant conversations with relieved loved ones. Scootaloo even saw a family gathered in a corner. A mare and her two foals closely hugged a stallion who sat on the edge of their bed. They murmured loving words to one another, joined by their warm breaths and thankful tears.
So engrossed was Scootaloo that she barely noticed the huddle of bright bodies looming directly in front of her. Applejack cleared her throat, and Scootaloo looked ahead in time to see the farm mare flinging a curtain open, exposing several mare friends gathered around a single bed.
"Well, lookie here!" Applejack chirped, but not too loudly. She grinned wide as she gestured with her head to the little orange figure that had followed her up to the second floor. "Seems like I've picked up a stranger! Would any of you ponies happen to know this lil' varmint?"
"Scoooooots!" a raspy voice rang forth from the small partition. "What's up, girl?"
Scootaloo blinked awkwardly. She saw Twilight's face, and Fluttershy's and Rarity's and Pinkie Pie's. Gazing left and right, she was helpless to find a pair of ruby eyes. At last, her eyes fell upon a body in the center of the bed whose color lit up the heart of that cold, sterilized place like a kaleidoscopic candle.
"Rainbow!" Scootaloo instantly gasped. She galloped over to the bedside, serenaded by the breathy laughs of Pinkie and Rarity as she bounced and struggled to stare at even level with pony atop the mattress. "You're okay! Nnngh!" She jumped again, flailing. "Are you okay?! I... I-I can't see..."
"That's c-cuz I didn't get to give you the flying lessons for you to hover up here," the voice replied. It was a frighteningly hoarse thing.
"Here you go, darling," spoke Rarity's eloquent voice. Along a curtain of silver magic, a simple chair slid over. "No need to fumble all about..."
Scootaloo mounted it like a star atop a Hearth's Warming tree. She immediately froze in place, her face pale.
"Hey there, sq-squirt..." Rainbow Dash smiled back, or at least she would have if there weren't so many wires and breathing tubes in the way. "Hmmm... wh-what do you think of this ridiculous getup?" She rolled her eyes. "They say it's because I breathed too much smoke. I think the truth is that I sucked all the awesome from the air today... hehehehe—hckkt!" She coughed and wheezed.
"Rainbow, you're..." Scootaloo's eyes twitched as she raised a hoof halfway towards the bedside in an uncharacteristically dainty gesture. "You're... y-you're..."
"Just taking a little breather..." Rainbow Dash managed, then winked through the tiredness that was glazed over her eyes. "Literally. Heheh..."
The mares standing around her and Scootaloo chuckled.
"Weee!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place, cheering. "Thatta girl, Rainbow Dash! You exercise them blue nostrils of you! Now you'll have no excuse to avoid scuba diving with me next time we hang out!"
"Er... one th-thing at a time, okay, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash muttered. "And, hate to be a buzzkill, but could you lower your voice some? These other ponies in here are totally trying to relax and jazz..."
"Whoops!" Pinkie shrank down, squatting on her haunches. "Sorries! Consider my mouth zipped like a suitcase before spring break!" She ran a hoof across her mouth and clamped her jaw shut for emphasis. "Mmmmf-mmmmf!" Twilight rolled her eyes at her and smiled.
"Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo bit her lip, trying to avoid the sight of Rainbow's bandages, tubes, and more tubes. "The first I heard about what... about what happned... I... I wanted to run all the way up here. Really, I did..."
"Ya shoulda seen her, Rainbow," Applejack said with a dry chuckle. "She nearly plowed over a whole bunch of crowded folks. Heh... she'll be makin' the hoofball team in ten years. That's for sure."
"And I wanted to tell you, Rainbow..." Scootaloo's face winced as she prepared to unleash the inevitable. "I wanted t-to tell you that... that I'm s—"
"Yeah, you hold that thought, kiddo," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof. "But we were kind of in the middle of an important conversation when you blew in here like a volcanic wind." She tilted her head up slightly so she could gaze at Fluttershy. "Now, you'll promise to feed him plenty of lettuce while the nurses are forcing me to catch Z's in this goddess-forsaken place, right?"
"You have my word, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a smiling nod. "My home is Tank's home. I'll even make sure to read him copies of Daring Do and nuzzle him every night before bed."
"Erhm..." Rainbow shifted in bed, her eyes suddenly bright and darting. "Why... uhm... w-would you think that's a g-good thing to do with him... er... Fluttershy?"
"Hmmm..." Fluttershy giggled under her breath. She took one glance at Scootaloo and winked at Rainbow Dash. "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. Dr. Fluttershy has it all taken care of."
"At least that's one bit of bedside manner we can all count on," Rarity said, then gestured a dramatic hoof towards the far lengths of the ward. "Do you all see how dreadful this place is?! So crowded! So terribly garrish!"
"Rarity..." Twilight gently chided. "This is the best that the hospital could afford with how many injured ponies they received just hours ago!"
"Yes, I'm quite aware." Rarity's teeth chattered as she rubbed her forelimbs. "But does it have to be so terribly cold in this place?! It's as if there's an invalidic herd of wendigoes in the next ward over!"
"I'm sure they'll move Rainbow Dash to a warmer, more solitary room as soon as the opportunity presents itself," Twilight said, then rolled her eyes before smiling at Applejack. "I swear, does everypony think this place is a prison?"
"I dunno. Reckon Rainbow Dash was due for a vacation."
"Speak for yourselves." Rainbow Dash stirred in bed, making as though she wished to sit up. "As soon as I get a chance, I am so out of here! Nnnngh... I've got a crapton of clouds to kick and... guhh..."
"Mmmmf!" Pinkie Pie waved her forelimbs and gestured at Rainbow Dash. "Mmmmff-Mmmmf!"
"Rainbow, please!" Fluttershy hoarsely whispered. "Don't even pretend to joke about moving around now!"
"Gahh..." Rainbow Dash slumped back down. In so doing, her wings twitched, and Scootaloo was startled to see how many feathers had been stripped loose from her bandaged limbs. "Ughhh... who am I kidding?" Rainbow Dash breathed nonchalantly into her tubes as if she was merely recovering from a paper cut. "I'm pooped."
"If you need the bedpan, darling, I do believe I can—"
"Figure of speech, Rarity. Jeez..."
Everypony chuckled happily.
"We're just so glad that you're okay, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said with a tranquil grin. "We're so lucky to have a pony as loyal as you."
"Yes..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Yes you are." She turned and smiled tiredly at Scootaloo. "Now, ya lil' scamp, you came up all the way here. Did you have something to say or am I gonna have to drop-kick you all the way home? I'm pretty sure it's past foals' bedtime or some nonsense like that..."
"I..." Scootaloo blinked steadily, gazing at Rainbow Dash's smile in the midst of her many bandages and wires. "I-I..."
"Yeah? Spit it out."
Scootaloo's ears drooped. She smiled, a slow and melting thing. Her voice murmured, "I'm just so proud of you, Rainbow Dash..."
A joint chorus sounded up all around them: "Awwwwwwwww..." Followed by a flippant giggle or two, which merely summoned an anguished groan from the spectral pegasus in the bed before them.
"Ugggggh... Really, you guys. I'm b-burned enough as it is." Rainbow coughed and squirmed against the covers. "Was this planned or something? Rubbing some orange, feathery salt in my wounds?"
"I dunno, Rainbow," Applejack remarked as she picked her hat up from a nearby chair and hoofed it from limb to limb while speaking. "She was liable to piledrive the entire town if they didn't let her through to see you earlier."
"Heh... that's my Scoots..." Rainbow Dash said with an amused eyebrow-wag. "Not settlin' for less. I was just like that when I was your age, kiddo..."
"Hehehe..." Scootaloo leaned forward, her face bright. "Did you really fly straight into a burning building?"
"I've flown into worse things, girl," Rainbow rasped, though she winced. "Wish my body believed me as much as my brain does. But, hey... live and learn..."
"And there're so many ponies who now have a chance to do just that!" Scootaloo bounced atop the chair. "Live an learn! All thanks to you!"
Rainbow Dash's ruby eyes blinked. She waited a few seconds before humming, "Yeah... Tons of ponies. You don't even know..."
"I heard you grabbed—like—one pony for each leg!" Scootaloo beamed, unaware of the bodies stirring all around her. "That's just so cool! You're like... like... more awesome than all of the Wonderbolts combined! Who'll bet that they'll induct you in a second after they hear that you saved every pony in town from a fiery, burning death?!"
Rainbow Dash stared at her. Her smile was an obscured thing beneath all the tubes. Scootaloo could hardly see it at that point. "Yes... Uhm..." Rainbow's eyes glanced towards the mattress. "Well..."
"I wanna be like you someday, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo murmured aloud. "But, that's just the thing." She gulped. "As much as I try, as hard as I work to get there, I just don't think it's possible. Who could possibly be as awesome and amazing as you? I mean, you're a hero! You're the pony of the hour! Not just this one time, but over and over again and—"
"Y'know, I... uhm..." Rainbow Dash suddenly yawned. "Tell you what, guys. I'm starting to feel it. I mean really feel it..."
Scootaloo blinked. Her smile dripped off her face. "Feel what?"
"If ya don't mind..." Rainbow Dash curled her forelimbs up to her chest. She was shivering heavily. Scootaloo hadn't seen it until that very second. "...I think it's about time I got some shuteye."
"But..." Scootaloo squinted. She glanced up at the ponies, and they were all gazing into the walls and curtains of the place. "But..." She stammered, "I-I just got here. And Rainbow—"
"Goodnight, Scoots..." Rainbow buried her head into her pillow, shutting her eyes to them, the ward, and everything. The dull beeps of monitoring equipment filled the dry gaps between her shaky breaths. "Goodnight, everypony..."
Scootaloo reached a limp forelimb towards her. "But—"
"Scootaloo..." Twilight's lavender hoof grasped the foal's. She looked at her with a calm, emotionless expression. "We should let Rainbow rest now."
Scootaloo blinked up at her. "We should?"
"She's had a long day, Sugarcube," Applejack said, her tone matching Rainbow's. It was anything but merry at the moment. Even Pinkie Pie and Rarity bore dull expressions as Scootaloo's sight flitted past them. The filly also heard what sounded like a deep sniffle from Fluttershy. "Here, darlin'..." Applejack picked Scootaloo off the chair and ushered her quietly—but firmly—towards the hallway outside the ward. "How about I walk you home? Would you like that? I bet your aunt would."
"I... uh..." Scootaloo murmured dazedly as she trotted towards the exit. The bodies of other visitors filed along with her as everypony allowed the patients to retire for the night. "Thanks, Applejack, but..." Scootaloo cast one last glance behind her shoulder. "I know my own way home..."
Twilight and her friends were trotting solemnly away from the far end of the room, their heads bowed as if departing from a funeral. A paralyzing chill overwhelmed Scootaloo. She saw a shade of blue—like a dull sky on the onset of a lonesome evening—and then a nurse trotted by, drawing the gray curtain over the last shred of Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo did not go home.
Applejack returned to Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie Pie trotted to Sugarcube Corner, and Rarity made off for Carousel Boutique.
Scootaloo found a bush outside the front of the hospital and hid behind it. She watched from a distance as Twilight and Fluttershy had a standing conversation for over thirty minutes after visiting hours had ended. At some point, Fluttershy broke down in tears, her whole body quivering. Twilight leaned in and gave her a comforting nuzzle. She gave the tearful pegasus some warm words, smiling the entire time. Together, the two trotted off towards the opposite end of Ponyville, leaving Scootaloo alone with the crickets and starlight.
The little filly didn't know what to do. Her aunt was undoubtedly working another late shift at the diner, and wasn't worried about where Scootaloo was. Unless, of course, word of the fire had spread to every corner of town—which it probably had—then Scootaloo's aunt was likely worried sick.
Still, it wasn't enough motivation to make Scootaloo budge from that spot. She sat there for the better part of an hour, staring up at the second floor of the hospital, as if expecting at any moment for Rainbow Dash to come bursting out of a window, fit as a fiddle, with blue wings spread wide and full of wholesome feathers, giving a victory shout as she prepared a path for dawn to follow.
Rainbow Dash was utterly fine one second—talkative and chipper—but then tired and sullen the next. Was it something Scootaloo had said? Something she had neglected to say?
With a groan, Scootaloo bent over, smacking her skull several times with two petite hooves. She cursed herself for not being a clever pony. But, for the most part, she just cursed herself. This was now twice in one day that she felt intensely guilty over something, only this time it was a great deal more troubling, because there was so much confusion to go along with it.
Ultimately, with a defeated sigh, Scootaloo turned around and trudged towards the far end of the village under lamplight. She found her scooter lying abandoned in the middle of the road where she had dropped the thing earlier when she felt the need to sprint hysterically through the gathered crowd. For the life of her, Scootaloo couldn't instantly put her hoof on exactly what it was that made her react so emotionally. So many things in her young existence were confusing, especially the things most directly pertaining to the filly. It aggrivated her. It frustrated her. It—
"Everything's so still, Lyra. It's so hard to believe that this was utter chaos just eight short hours ago."
Scootaloo gasped. She ducked behind a lamp and gazed down an adjoining avenue at two mares standing before the yellow-taped-off space before the burnt-out apartments.
"How many families do you think are now homeless because of what happened?" Bon Bon murmured, leaning her soft mane against Lyra's head. "Could it have been arson? Dear Celestia, I hope not..."
"I'm pretty sure it was just a freakish accident, Bon Bon," Lyra replied calmly. "And I wouldn't count every family as 'homeless.' This village is full of strong, resourceful ponies. Either they'll bounce back, or they'll have loved ones to help them get back on their hooves."
"Can we be certain of that?"
"Heck, can't ever be certain of anything, love. But I, for one, am glad things turned out as they did..." Lyra's voice trailed off momentarily. She gulped and added, "For the most part."
Bon Bon shuddered, leaning even closer into the crook of Lyra's neck. "I... I just can't believe this happened..." She swallowed and said, "So close to home... and to such tender-loving ponies so close to us..."
"I know, Bon Bon. I know, darling..."
The first of several quiet sobs escaped Bon Bon's lips as she stammered, "They were so young. D-did you h-hear about them? So young. Oh, it's so awful... so very awful..."
"Shhhh..." Lyra turned and cradled Bon Bon's face in two forelimbs. "Bon Bon..."
"I just don't kn-know what I would d-do if I lost you, Lyra," Bon Bon sobbed, her face awash with tears in the pale starlight. "I would die. I w-would absolutely die..."
Lyra kissed her tears dry and nuzzled her closely. "I love you, Bon Bon. Tragedy may be forever, but I count this as a good day, and I love you."
Bon Bon sniffled and allowed the unicorn to rock her gently in a deep embrace. "I love you too, Lyra. Oh Goddess, I love you so m-much..."
Scootaloo watched quietly. Soon, the voices of the two mares drifted away like feathers in the wind. Scootaloo found her thoughts churning within her, shifting with each heartbeat. Her eyes danced between the stars, until a sharp gasp escaped her lungs. With a gaping jaw, she spun and faced the distant hospital. Without hesitation, the filly mounted her scooter and kicked her way speedily back to the silent medical center.
Twenty minutes later, along the top floor of the dimly-lit hospital, a glass panel slid open. Fumbling—grunting with effort—an orange shape tossed her way into the hallway, landing in a feathery heap. Scootaloo immediately stood up, glancing down both ends of the passage while she sweated and panted frantically. After a few moments, she caught her breath, calming her own nerves.
The hallway was empty, not to mention dead still. The white tiles of the floor contrasted the black ones with a pale reflection of cold starlight. A random door or two showed hints of illumination from under their frames, but otherwise the place was locked down in dim, nocturnal mode.
Scootaloo stretched her limbs, reaching up to carefully close the window pane unassumingly behind her. It had taken her several minutes to climb the oak tree positioned along the east face of the hospital building, and yet even more minutes to summon the courage to scale the long branch that gave her access to the second story.
Now that she was inside, the air felt far chillier than the night did. It was practically jarring. With slow and steady steps, Scootaloo snuck her way down the hall, eyeing each door in hopes that she would spot a ward that looked familiar. When she rounded a corner, she heard the clopping sounds of a nurse trotting up a stairwell.
Panicking, Scootaloo looked all around. She saw a garbage can. The filly almost leapt in—stopping herself at the last second upon seeing a glaring "biohazard" sign. Cursing under her breath, she flung herself towards the nearest door, twisted the knob, and dashed in. Shutting the thing as quietly as she could, she pressed herself against the nearest wall within the shadowy place, holding her breath in.
Several hoofsteps increased in volume, peaked, then grew soft as the nurse trotted directly past the door and disappeared down the far end of the hallway outside.
Scootaloo exhaled long and hard. Then, as the thumping sound of her heartbeat dwindled, she became aware of another, far steadier sound. Curious, she tilted her ears towards the far end of the room. Not only did she hear a familiar vitals monitor, but there was a snoring breath. A loud snoring breath.
"Rainbow...?"
Scootaloo pivoted about, blinking into the darkness. The shadows cleared before her, and she became aware of several curtained chambers lining her in a procession that led to a far wall.
"Huh..."
This was where Scootaloo wanted to be. Not pausing to count her blessings, the young filly trotted down the length of the ward, passing by rows of sleeping, coughing, stirring patients in their separate booths. When she reached Rainbow's spot, she hesitated slightly. Then—taking a deep breath as if diving under water—she dipped beneath the curtain and emerged on the other side.
The monitoring equipment propped up beside Rainbow's bed shone a tiny, tiny green light on her sleeping figure. The snoring was the loudest here, delightfully grating in the middle of all of that solemn stillness. Scootaloo approached the bed, hesitantly at first. She could faintly make out Rainbow's body curled up in a fetal position, her bandages wrapped tightly around twitching limbs as she slumbered away in the middle of the mattress. Scootaloo saw no sign of the breathing tubes Rainbow had worn earlier. She didn't understand why they were missing, but could only guess that the nurses and doctors felt that she didn't need them anymore. By how viciously Rainbow was snoring, Scootaloo imagined that they must have been right.
She grabbed a chair from the side of the chamber and slid it over to Rainbow's side. Jumping up, she reached a hoof out to shake Rainbow's shoulder. She stopped halfway, though, biting her lip as a trembling sensation ripped through her body. At last, Scootaloo sighed, hanging her head as a low mumble ran up her throat and exited her mouth.
"This is stupid," her lips formed. "I'm stupid. What am I even doing here?" Lethargically, she turned and prepared to leap down from the chair. "Sweet dreams, Rainbow D—"
"Nnng-Guh!" Rainbow snorted and shot awake. "I would n-never stomp on Tank's shell! What ever g-gave you that idea... Flutter... shy...?" She blinked several times, her tired ruby eyes focusing slowly on the startled, orange form in front of her. "Sc... Scoots?" She blinked again. "Scootaloo?"
"Uhhh..." Scootaloo smiled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. She gave a little wave. "H-hi there..."
Rainbow Dash stared at her. "Where... How did you...?" She glanced at the closed curtains around her bed, at the darkness permeating the entire, stone-still ward. "Did you just sneak in here?"
"Uhm..." The shadows hid Scootaloo's deep, red blush. "Maybe..."
"That... That..."
"PleaseforgivemeRainbow!" Scootaloo blurted, waving her petite forelimbs. "I only meant to—"
"That's so cool!" Rainbow's voice cracked. She coughed, coughed again, then smirked, lying her head on the pillow to glance sideways at Scootaloo. "Super stupid, but also super cool."
Scootaloo blinked. "Really?"
"Heh... Yeah. What'd you do? Climb the rain spout? Sneak in through the cellar?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You didn't... fly, did you? I mean... I wasn't conked out for that long, was I?"
"Er, no..."
"You didn't earn yourself a cutie mark in squirrel herding while I was under or nothin', I hope..."
"Naw, I climbed the tree to get to the top floor," Scootaloo whispered.
"You mean that big friggin' oak with the scary lookin' branches?"
"Mmmhmm! You bet!"
"Hah!" Rainbow Dash wheezed, struggling through another cough as she winced from her bandaged wounds. "You've got guts, kid," she said hoarsely into the shadows. "I'm really impressed. Then again, that may be all of the meds they've pumped like molasses straight into my veins, but st-still, I can't help but be amazed..."
Scootaloo chuckled breathily, smiling an awkward smile. "I'm glad to hear that. I really am."
"You're totally screwed once they find out. You know that, right?"
"Yeahhhh..." Scootaloo winced, avoiding Rainbow's gaze as she hissed through her teeth. "Well, you only live once, r-right?"
"Always b-been my failsafe... filibuster... fairvilla..."
"'Philosophy."
Rainbow coughed. "Thanks."
"Anytime."
Rainbow took a deep breath, cuddling the pillow closer to her exhausted cheek. "Mmmmm... well, since you came up all the way here to wake me out of a weird dream involving Tank, suspenders, and a crapload of green pipes... Perhaps you could explain yourself."
"Hmm?" Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow, blinking.
"Well? Out with it, squirt..." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Why are you here, risking your neck this late in the game?"
"I..." Scootaloo bit her lip. "Because I had to see you, Rainbow Dash."
"See me?" Rainbow chuckled, coughed, and chuckled some more. "You saw me earlier, kid. Wasn't that enough for ya?"
"This... this is different, Rainbow," Scootaloo stammered.
"Yeah? How so?"
Scootaloo opened her mouth, hesitated, then firmly said, "I need you to tell me what happened today."
Rainbow stared at her. The next few seconds drifted by far slower than that lonesome afternoon. Then, like a break in the blue sky, Rainbow's voice dripped forth, and it was a frighteningly dry thing. "But you already know what happened today, Scootaloo."
"No, Rainbow Dash, I don't."
"What do you mean, you don't?" Rainbow squinted. "It's all very simple. There was a fire; ponies were in danger. I flew in, saved the day, and had my flank handed to me for my good samareitanism. Simple as that. Cut. Print. Publish. Smiles."
"Rainbow, it's... it's not just that," Scootaloo quietly said, though she trembled in the execution. "And you know it."
Rainbow Dash's nostrils flared. She looked away from the filly. "And just what do you know...?"
"Me?" Scootaloo's face hung softly from a pair of warm eyes. "Rainbow Dash, you're not just an awesome pony—but you're an awesome pony who knows how awesome she is! You're the only pegasus in all of Equestria who can brag about everything and not have to regret it! Cuz it's all true! The heroics, the stunts, all the cool stuff you do—it's all true! So what's to hide?"
"I don't hide," Rainbow Dash's voice grunted. "Only cowards hide. So am I a coward now?"
"I... I didn't say that, Rainbow...!" Scootaloo murmured, shaking her head with incredulous eyes. "You're the bravest pony there is!"
"Well, maybe I should be a coward instead," Rainbow grumbled. "Cowards have... better sense than to get their hooves dirty when it's none of their business..."
"Rainbow, please..." Scootaloo leaned forward from the chair. "Will you tell me what's bothering you?"
"You're bothering me, pipsqueak. Okay?" Rainbow sighed. "I never thought I'd see the day, but you're really pushing it..."
Scootaloo reeled back from that, her heart beating through her little orange chest. Her eyes watered, but she stood her ground. She didn't think it would happen, but she didn't utterly collapse after hearing Rainbow Dash say such a thing. Instead, she glanced down at the edge of the bed and muttered, "Rainbow, when... wh-when you took me under your wing..." Scootaloo sniffled. "Y-you made it clear that you were willing to be an older sister to me..."
"Yeah?" Rainbow droned tiredly. "What about it?"
"Well, I've seen Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with their families, and... y'know what?" Scootaloo frowned, her jaw clenched. "Sisters don't k-keep secrets from each other! They share the truth! And I want... I-I need you to share the truth with me!"
Rainbow flashed her a look, and it was beset with a burning glare. "You want me to be a big sister to ya? Huh? Then go home!"
Scootaloo made a face. "Huh...?"
"What, you deaf or something, kid? This is me being your big sis and tellin' you to scram!" Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and sighed heavily. "Look, for real, Scoots, this was all silly from the start."
"What... was all silly—?"
"I mean you sneaking in here all commando like! It's... it's n-not right!" Rainbow groaned. "I care for you and all, but you shouldn't be doing this! It's only gonna get you in trouble. Hay, it'll probably even get me in trouble."
"But... But Rainbow..."
"Go home, Scootaloo," Rainbow said, laying her head down on the pillow and closing her eyes with stubborn finality. "Before I have a mind to call the nurse on you. I need to sleep and so do you."
Scootaloo gaped at her, eyes wide and moist. In sluggish fashion, she turned around, hopped off the chair, and limped towards the far end of the chamber. She lingered just before the curtains, her limbs shaking.
Rainbow Dash pretended to be falling asleep.
After several heavy breaths, Scootaloo spun back. She galloped over and mounted the chair in one leaping bound.
Rainbow Dash instantly sat up, squinting. "What the—?!"
"Rainbow, I'm not leaving until you talk to me about what happened today."
"Darn it, pipsqueak!" Rainbow snarled. "For the last time, don't make me call the—"
"Rainbow, my parents are dead."
Rainbow Dash froze in place, blinking at the filly.
"Maybe... m-maybe you already knew that," Scootaloo murmured. "Heck, I'm sure everypony in town knows that, even if they don't ever talk about." She hung her head towards the empty space between them. "It's... not nearly as sad as it sounds. They both died when I was really little. I used to cr-cry a lot about it, but not so much now. These days, I'm just... I guess I'm just numb about it all, y'know? I mean, I have it okay. I live with my aunt, but she's super-busy having to earn money for the two of us, much less just herself and the apartment that we both live in. I don't see her often during the day, cuz she's always slaving away at odd hours of the day or night for the bits to get us some bread... heh."
Rainbow watched as the filly before her ran a hoof through her pink mane, shaking the last of several foalish shivers away.
"The point I'm trying to make, Rainbow, is that I don't... I-I don't have many ponies who I relate to. I don't talk to many of the villagers around here, and I there are even fewer whom I make friends with. So..." With a deep gulp, Scootaloo tilted her head to stare squarely at Rainbow. "If you ever wanted a pony to talk to, a pony who wouldn't share all of your feelings and secrets with other ponies, cuz she doesn't have much to gossip with or gossip about as it is... well... th-this is your chance..." She took a sheddering breath. "And I'm your pony..."
Rainbow Dash stared at her. Her mouth hung open, producing nothing, until it began to quiver, and then what came next was a whimpering little squeak, like that of a child, accompanied by a glistening tear from one eye. "I let t-two ponies die today, Scootaloo..."
Scootaloo listened quietly, gazing tenderly.
"A mother..." Rainbow Dash gulped, but it didn't make the next few words coming out of her mouth any less shaky. "A m-mother and her foal. The mare was barely twenty years old... and the baby... three months? Four? I dunno. It doesn't make a difference. Everything burned just the same..." Rainbow Dash hissed painfully as another tear trickled down her face. "Everything b-burned because I... I wasn't fast enough to g-get to them when half the building collapsed..." Her eyes became thin slits brimming with tears as she snorted and sniffled. "I wasn't f-fast enough I... nnngh..." She shook her head as her body made gentle thrashing motions atop the bed. "I w-wasn't strong enough!"
Scootaloo held a hoof over her small mouth, but that couldn't stop her from murmuring the truth. "You s-saved a dozen ponies, Rainbow Dash. You did your best—"
"No, darn it!" Rainbow Dash hissed through clenched teeth, her tears staining the bed. "D-don't you get it?! I d-did my best b-but my best wasn't good enough!" She brought her bandaged forelimbs to her face and muffled her sobs. "All m-my boasting... all my stupid gr-grandstanding, and f-for what?! I'm supposed to be th-the fastest flier in all of Ponyville! I've broken sonic rainbooms and k-kicked dragons in the face, and I can't manage to save a lousy mother and her n-newborn child from a collapsing nursery?!" She hiccuped and shuddered forth a woesome noise. "Mmmmm—I'm not awesome, Scootaloo. Ponyville lost two ponies today, b-because I lost them! I'm a loser..."
"Oh, Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo smiled sweetly.
"I'm a horrible l-loser and I let two ponies die—"
"You're no loser, Rainbow." Scootaloo leaned forward and planted her hooves on Rainbow's limbs. "You've won the hearts of every pony in this town." She inhaled sharply, then gently added, "Including mine."
Rainbow Dash's sobs quieted, allowing a muted shudder as she trembled under Scootaloo's consoling touch.
"Sometimes..." Scootaloo sniffled herself, though her expression was utterly warm and placid. She stroked Rainbow's shoulder as she said, "Sometimes, I-I think we need to throw more than caution to the wind in order to stay off the ground. We gotta throw away the stuff that hurts, like the bad stuff that happened today, or the pain I feel over my parents..." Scootaloo winced ever so briefly, but it was all washed away by the firmest of smiles. "...or else we won't catch any air to begin with."
Rainbow Dash's forelimbs parted just enough for her to cast a painful, vulnerable glance at the young filly. She sniffled and said, "I... I d-don't know how, Scoots. I mean... I-I thought I could. I r-really thought I was able... but... but after today...?"
"We can teach ourselves to fly, Rainbow," Scootaloo said. "But maybe we stand to forget how sometimes, and... y'know... getting back up takes more than just going at it alone."
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She merely heaved upon the crest of another sob.
Scootaloo smiled as a tear trickled down her own cheek. Nevertheless, she said, "You once said that you were willing to take me under your wing." Swallowing, she held Rainbow's hoof, squeezing it gently. "Right now, for j-just this moment, let me take you under mine." Scootaloo dryly chuckled. "I know they might not be very big now, but, together, I think we just might be able to fly right—"
Rainbow Dash suddenly engulfed her in a tender hug, burying her face in the little filly's soft coat. "Shuddup, ya little scamp," she whimpered, her voice muffled. "They're big enough... they're b-big enough..."
Scootaloo smiled. Closing her eyes softly, she leaned against the bed, absorbing all the sobs Rainbow Dash had to give. As the minutes crept by into that soft darkness, the noise of the wholesome moment dwindled to a low hush, all the while Scootaloo loyally dried every tear that rolled down Rainbow's face, tossing them into the glow of the coming morning, like feathers lost to the wind.
Author's Note
I cheated on this.
This was originally written for the Kaizo Petra arc of End of Ponies. However, that, and many other elements of the original run, would ultimately get trashed for a far simpler plan. As a result, I had this little... story arc lying naked in a gutter of my mind somewhere. Actually, it existed somewhere in the annals of Google Docs. I've just been too lazy to look it up. So I re-wrote it from memory, lulz.
I think it's a lot better now. There's actual structure and thematic overtones to it. Still, this is a very lazy work of literary farts, crafted in about seven hours of manic drive.
So, long story short, thanks for reading, and hopefully my future projects will prove a great deal more worthwhile.
