Spotlight On: Will Scootaloo Ever Fly?

You can watch Brawny Buck's video here.

Regarding the possibility of other gifts, it seems the writers have already started to delve into that at one time or another: she can use her wing strength to propel herself on her scooter while towing her friends and various supplies and still move quickly. She and Apple Bloom are both gifted with tools. And she is acrobatic. These are all abilities on which she can focus.

That said, I do not think they and flight are mutually exclusive skill sets for Scootaloo. Meaning was well that I believe she will learn to fly. The main reason I believe Scootaloo will fly, but has not yet, is because Pegasus flight has been confirmed in 'Twilight's Kingdom' to be a part of their magic, but she and others have been focusing on the mechanics of flight instead.

As further proof of this, Twilight, who never flew before 'Magical Mystery Cure,' and who never had the theory explained to her in the level of detail she usually finds useful, is able to pull off an ascending Sonic Sparkleboom by the end of the premiere -- a move similar to the Sonic Rainboom, which was previously said to be only a myth or legend by some it's so difficult and rarely done. The only other pony we have seen pull it off is Rainbow Dash herself, particularly the ascending version, during 'A Canterlot Wedding.' Dash pulls off the ascending version in a moment of high emotion, and emotion is known to be tied to emotion (Celestia and Twilight using Dark Magic). Twilight pulls hers off while visibly using magic to enhance her flying ability, because having flown often over the course of the premiere, she has experienced flight enough to understand it better than she previously did. Want more proof? How about the fact that Discord does not always flap his wings to hover, or that when Celestia is raising the sun and ascending dramatically as part of the ritual, she is definitely not flapping her wings in a way that would allow her to fly higher?

Scootaloo's main concern regarding her flight is that her wings have not grown in, and she is therefore not strong enough to sustain flight, yet she has hovered and glided before, usually when she is in a high state of emotion. We have also seen Pegasi with smaller wings fly at some time or another -- the fillies who give Luna a wreath in 'Friendship is Magic,' Snowflake, and even to some extent Pound and Pumpkin Cake.

In my opinion, the twins even give the best example of the strength magic has for ponies: they have not learned any magic theory or the limitations that usually come with them, therefore Pumpkin in particular is able to use spells that would usually be considered advanced without a problem. She doesn't know that she should not be able to levitate objects or herself or phase through objects when what she wants to do means doing just that. And Pound has no idea he should not be able to fly. They have the means for doing so because they believe they can.

I use exactly this point in Second Gear, explicitly using it as a way for my MC, Gearhead, to realize how he can return to his 'normal' Earth Pony state after he has been an Alicorn colt (as 'Dusty)' for months. In both Alicorn and normal form, he had also been tutoring Sweetie Belle about her magic, and while he does not give her or Scootaloo their answers, he does hint at them. Gearhead himself knows the truth behind why certain beings can use their tribal magic while others cannot, because as Discord inadvertently revealed to him, it is a matter of self-perception / image and confidence. This is how an Earth Pony who only possesses a twisted version of a portion of a normal Unicorn's and Pegasus's magic can use both. I go even further with this through Dusty by having him learn to fly by activating his Pegasus or Alicorn magic (both limited to an active time of a mere 5 minutes), and then having him learn to hover and fly slowly normally -- and when he does this his wings actually become larger. He doesn't notice any of this at first, although the others around him do. None of them get a chance to mention it to him, though.

So everything in my post has been leading up to this one point: Pegasus magic is about confidence and self-image. Scootaloo has not been able to fly yet because she has been stuck imagining herself operating within the limitations of the physics of flight, therefore she believes her wings are too small or she is not strong enough to fly. Even when she was putting all that effort into flying in 'Flight to the Finish' she was still limiting herself with those same things, and imagining failure. If she imagined success and focused on that, she would succeed and fly, almost instantly.

Want proof? What is the first thing she does when she realizes she's dreaming in 'Bloom and Gloom?' Heartwrenchingly, it's flying. And her ideal image, which she uses to fight the Tantabus in 'Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?' She gives herself a pair of massive wings. She already has these images in her mind. Now she only has to use them in the waking world, and she will fly. I really do believe it's that simple.

Naturally I do not believe this means she has to abandon her other skills. She can improve on them all once she gets past her mental block and her self-confidence rises even more.