//------------------------------//
// Part 3 
// Story: Wings Of Glory 
// by cheesepuff 
//------------------------------//

Wings of Glory part 3 
By Andrew Esquivel 

As the 3 packed their things to set off on an adventure into the unknown (or at least unknown to Rainbow dash and Scootaloo) Dash couldn't help but wonder what twilight exactly had in store for them. The trip would be long, the weather would be harsh, but most importantly, they would travel by foot. The destination - Canterlot. Twilight had requested an audience with the one and only Princess Celestia, to ask if she would know any remedies to the problem that ailed Scootaloo. Because they had to walk to Canterlot, they would have to plan the trip for a number of days. And because the seasons were changing soon, the weather would surely pose a problem. But this did not stop the 3 ponies. They charged on to their destination, step by step, hoof by hoof. Hopping from place to place, town to town, even from city to city. But after a few days of hoof agonizing amounts of walking, they made it. All that was left was to find the castle, and beg for princess Celestia to help. Once they made it to the royal building, they proceeded to enter, only to be stopped by the royal guards at the entrance.
"Halt! Who goes there?" said the guard on the left, blocking her from moving with his wing.
"Twilight sparkle, princes Celestia's person student."
"And the other 2?" 
"Oh, these are my friends - rainbow dash and her uhh... daughter Scootaloo."
"Ah, yes. The princess is expecting you."
"Great, then we'll just be on our way"
The guard moved his wings so that twilight may pass, but as soon as she did, he blocked the path once more.
"Hey, what gives?" dash asked
"We were told that Ms. Sparkles was to be arriving, but we have no knowledge of any other 'guests'"
Twilight tried to explain to the guards what the situation was about so as to let rainbow dash and Scootaloo enter as well, but quickly found that she was getting nowhere with the argument. 
"I'm sorry, but we can't allow anyone into the royal building without approval prior to their visit, and furthermore-"
"That's quite enough gentlemen" said a voice from the end of the hall.
All the ponies looked back to see who the mysterious voice was that so rudely interrupted the royal guard. It turned out, that as a matter of fact, it was princess celestial herself. 
"Its ok boys, they're with me."
The royal guards looked back at the 2 pony's standing outside the door, and removed their wings from their path so that dash and Scootaloo may proceed. The 2 walked into the hall next to twilight and the princess. 
"Thank you princess for seeing us on such short notice." twilight said
"Of course my most faithful student. Now, from what I understand, you have a question to ask me?"
"Yes. We traveled long and far to seek your help with something."
"What ever it is, I'll be happy to assist you. Come with me to my study room so we can talk."
The 3 ponies fallowed the princess through the castle down long paths which were given light from the sun through the colors on the stained glass that preceded them. They walked in silence until they entered a room that was occupied by chairs and book shelves filled with texts from many years ago. 
"So tell me twilight, what brings you and your friends here to see me on this wonderful afternoon?"
As the ponies sat down on the chairs facing the princess, twilight responded,
"We've come here to ask for your assistance. Scootaloo was in an accident recently, and as a result of it, she can no longer move her wings. We were hoping that maybe you know a way to fix her."
The princess walked over to the young filly, examining her for a few moments. Then she looked back and sighed. 	
"I'm afraid I've seen this before" she said as she moved over to look out of one of the stain glass windows. 
"Every pony, weather they know it or not, contain some type of magic. Unicorns can harness their inner magic to do wonderful things such as using a spell. While earth pony's use their inner magic to help them with whatever special talents they have to help compensate for not having wings or a horn. Pegasus however, use their inner magic for another reason. As you can imagine, ponies even with wings, are large, and relatively heavy creatures, so their wings alone won't make them fly. Pegasi use their inner magic to help change their physical state in a way that helps their wings to make them fly. however, in rare cases, through a tragic mishap, some Pegasus pony's somehow lose their inner magic, resulting with the inability to fly, or in severe cases, the inability to move their wings at all. I'm sure you've looked into using your magic to heal her twilight, but the sad reality of the matter is that inner magic cannot be transferred from one pony to the next. Inner magic must come from inside one's self. Once the inner magic is gone, there is no known way to get it back. 
"So...what your saying is..."
"I'm sorry twilight" said Princess Celestia, "but I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
The 3 ponies sat there mouths a gap at the tragic news. Rainbow dash hurt by it most of all. Dispirit and worried, she ran to the princes only to be held back by her royal guards. 
"Please princess, there's gotta be something you can do!" she pleaded. 
The princes, while saddened by dash's emotion said once more, 
"I'm sorry dash. But there's nothing we can do."
Dash began to beg, hoping for a preposterously slim chance that there was some way to solve this problem. As she spouted every idea she could come up with, the royal guards forced dash to a distance from the princess, until one of her ideas caught the attention of her majesty. 
"What about the elements of harmony? Can't they do anything?" 
The princess signed to her guards to let dash go as she walked over to her. 
"I'm sorry rainbow dash, but I'm afraid they don't work like that."
Dash quivered as she looking into the princess's eyes, and then looked away back at her daughter. Realizing that it was hopeless, she accepted the situation for what it was and began to walk out of the castle. 
"I'm sorry Scootaloo." dash said with her head swung low. "Let's just go."
Without any confrontation, the 2 fallowed dash out the building, disappointed at the result of their endeavor. 
"It's ok mommy" Scootaloo said. Those words only breaking dash's heart even more. But then, just as they were about to exit the building, a voice called from across the hall. 
"Wait!" it yelled. 	
The band of ponies, including princess Celestia stopped and gazed across the corridor to find that the sudden voice was none other than that of Princess Luna. She walked towards her sister with an urgent look upon her face. 	
"Luna, have you no manners? These 3 brave ponies have just been dealt the harshest tragedy they have ever come to know, and you just burst in here only to prolong their plight?"
Luna looked up into her sisters eyes and said, "Please sister, just listen to me for once! The elements of harmony CAN fix her wings."
The other ponies intrigued but shocked, listened in anticipation to what the fallen princess had to say. 
"Luna? What do you know of the elements of harmony?" Celestia said,
"Lots of stuff" her sister replied as she gathered the elements in her arms. 
"Each element is useless on their own, but when combined in the right order, they can do amazing things!"
"Preposterous" said princess Celestia, while keeping a close eye on her sister, "the elements were designed to imprison those who need to be banished from this world." 
"Yes sister, I know. But that's only when you combine all of them together. If you put only certain ones in a specific combination, they can do marvelous things!" 
As Princess Luna gathered 3 of the elements, she put them in order from darkest to lightest color, and told Scootaloo to come closer. 
"Come young filly" she said. 
Scootaloo, ever so nervous, reluctantly walked towards the younger of the two sisters and the elements. 
"Stand right here" Luna said, as she pointed out the specific location to Scootaloo. The orange pony did as she was told, and as she did, the 3 elements started to glow a fearsome shade of red. Suddenly, the colors of the selected elements burst into what became an extravagant display of bright and blinding colors, from which no pony could even begin to see. The light covered the room, and rays of what it shined glared out the windows. The luminescence lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but shortly after the brilliant display, the colors started to dim down and the ponies regained their ability to see. And see they did, only to find the most wonderful of things had happened - Scootaloo could move her wings once more. An ecstatic expression appeared on Scootaloo's face, as dash started to cry tears of joy. The mother and child ran to each other to be taken into their arms. Dash couldn't believe it. The quest she thought would never end had finally finished, and she couldn't have been more exited. 
Celestia still in awe of what happened turned to her sister and asked, 
"Luna, how did you know of these elements capabilities?" 
Luna just giggled and said, "well, you don't get trapped on the moon by these things for 1000 years and not learn a thing or 2 about them."
The sisters sat there and smiled at the glorious sight of what they had done. Dash, while still hugging her child, looked up through her teary eyes and said, "Luna...how can I ever repay you?" 
Luna just smiled and replied "teach her to fly". 
Dash grew a worried face, as she thought back to herself why this had all happened in the first place. Looking back at her daughter she said, "I don't know if I can. I'm too afraid to see her get hurt again."
Scootaloo looked into her mother's eyes, and with a bit of confidence she said, "Don't worry mommy, I won't get hurt."
Dash looked back at her daughters eyes and asked, "How can you be so sure?"
Scootaloo looked up, smiled and said, "Because I have the best teacher in the whole world."
Rainbow dashes heart suddenly grew strong. What was once the broken and shattered remains of her soul instantly became mended, as she let go of her child. Together, they thanked the sisters once more and started to walk out of the castle. Heads held high, and with the wind to their backs, Dash said to Scootaloo, "Feels like a good day to fly, doesn't it?"
Scootaloo gazed into the clouds and said, "It sure dose"
As the two entered the open world, Scootaloo and dash took off into the sun set, gliding into the air as they flew into the clouds. For the first time in a long time, Scootaloo felt alive, and it was all thanks to rainbow dash. Zipping through the air, it suddenly dawned upon Scootaloo; finally she had her new wings - her wings, of Glory.