One Last Try
“Again!” Rainbow Dash barked to Scootaloo. “One-hundred more wing-ups! Go!” She blew her whistle pushing her face down into the filly’s.
Scootaloo looked up at her hero, her surrogate big sister, her mentor, her tomentor, her whole reason for wanting to fly. From the ground the sky blue Wonderbolt felt taller than ever, she whimpered meekly tears trying to find their ways to her cheeks. She could not keep up this work out Rainbow expected.
“I thought...you said you wanted me to train you.” Dash chastised with pointed sarcasm. Scootaloo nodded vigorously pushing herself back up with her wings, her weak, weak wings. She began painfully trying to bend them to do more wing-ups. There was no feeling left in the appendages, which was good. Scootaloo feared that if she could feel them she would stiffen up and quit. Quitting would have meant disappointing herself; it also meant disappointing Rainbow Dash, at that was a fate worse than death. Sweat had long ago pooled on her brow and back but she pushed herself up commiting to the warm-up
Quietly counting her wing-ups Scoots’ mind began to wander. She could not even believe she had convinced Rainbow to help her. She could not believe that Rainbow Dash took the idea so seriously. And, she could not believe how quickly she face planted the ground. Fatigue pushed inward on the doors to her mind, making Scootaloo cringe and groan incoherently. She desperately wanted to follow what Dash’s training regiment but her body continually failed her. Biting her tongue and cheek Scootaloo forced herself back up tears finding their way to her eyes and down her muzzle. She kept pushing herself even when something extremely heavy forced her to the ground.
“Scootaloo! That’s enough!” Rainbow Dash shouted into her ear. She sat on Scootaloo’s back holding to the ground. The little filly struggled, still determined to do the wing-ups regardless. She was full on sobbing but had no way to control herself. She had to do this.
“Squirt, come on, give it a rest! That’s enough wing ups. Seriously it's fine.” Dash said grabbing her flailing head. She forced Scootaloo to look into her magenta eyes, eyes that the filly desperately wanted the approval of. Scootaloo couldn’t tell if the hard glare was worry or disdain that she saw sparkling back at her but it did not matter.
“I just don’t want to disappoint you.” She blubbered pitifully. Rainbow’s gaze softened and she rolled off of the filly much to Scoots’ relief. She picked her up by her chest and forced Scootaloo to stand.
“Listen squirt. You can never disappoint me. Never. So the only pony you need to worry about disappointing is yourself.” She wiped away some of Scootaloo’s tears as she spoke. It made her feel light and airy the way Dash was so willing to comfort her. “You have to do this for you, if you are really worried about flying, do it for you, not for me. I just want to help you do what you want to do.” Scootaloo cast her eyes away from her hero unable to look up at her with the way she spoke. Dash pulled her face up clasping a hoof to each cheek.
“You listenin’ to me kid?” she asked. Concern evident both in her voice and face. Scootaloo could only nod in response and give her nose a wipe with a heavy sniffle.
“Come on. You need some time to relax before I starting making you do glide practice. Let’s go over to Sugarcube Corner and see what the Cake’s have on special.” Rainbow Dash said ruffling her mane.
“Okay.” Scootaloo smiled up at her idol. Dash gave her a cheeky grin before booping her nose. Giggling the two pegasi made their way over to the confectionary shop at a slow trot. It was pretty early in the morning, especially for a summer Saturday, so nopony was walking around town except the odd shopkeeper. Scootaloo wondered if Rainbow Dash secretly liked the quiet time of early morning. It could explain why she was always taking a long nap about one o’clock. Shaking her head at something so ridiculous, Scootaloo almost tripped over a rough portion of the path through town. Rainbow probably just napped because she did her whole day’s responsibilities in the short four hour span from nine to nap time. That definitely sounded cooler, and way more astoundingly awesome than the alternative.
A seductive smell hit her nose with a forceful but enticing blow. Nothing smelled like Sugarcube Corner’s pastries, their delicious aroma would have floated Scootaloo into the shop had her wings not been numb. It was a succulent wholesome smell, that made her heart ache for the taste of danishes fresh from the oven in a way that made regular hunger seem stupid and ingenuine. On top of everything else, it was even better than usual, as if the moment was only going to come once in her lifetime and this wonderous fragrance would forever be the perfume of home that she would search for.
“It smells wonderful!” she chirped to her chaperone barely able to keep her voice steady. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here this early!” Rainbow Dash chuckled and gave her a playful push with a wing.
“Yeah. Ya have to get up prit-tee early to get the best breakfast, squirt.” she said. Scootaloo nodded merrily. She had completely forgotten the warm-ups and could not wait to sit to eat with her favorite Wonderbolt.
“Do I hear Rainbow Dash?” Mrs. Cake’s voice floated out from the shop as lightly and perfect as the smells of her oven.
“Dashie’s here? Let’s see its six-forty-three. She’s three minutes later than usual. I wonder what new trick she was practicing that held her up?” Came the overtly bubbly and just short of screaming voice of Pinkie Pie. Scootaloo felt suddenly exposed; having made Rainbow Dash late to anything made her feel sheepish at the minimum. She was happy it was nothing serious. Rainbow Dash, upon hearing Pinkie, had quickly fluttered up to the partitioned door that led into the small little display area. She stuck her head inside as she leaned over the half-door This left Scootaloo to simply watch and listen, becoming even more embarrassed that Dash was probably going to pay her bill, even though she had gotten a job with the Ponyville Press as a delivery pony. Her scooter was at least pulling its weight, not that she could say that for herself.
“Hi Dashie!” Pinkie chortled over Scootaloo’s thoughts. “Do you want your usual Saturday breakfast?”
“Yeah.” Dash responded her voice much more muffled than the pink baker’s. “But make it a double today.”
“Ooooh! Okay!” there was a rustling faster than even Pinkie’s talking, “Here you go: One double-nut cinnamon muffin, a banana, milk, and candied granola. Times two! Have a great day!”
“Thanks, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash responded gracefully before pulling her head out of the store. In a hoof she carried two rather large brown paper sacks. She immediately offered one to Scootaloo, who gingerly took it with pouty lips before she placed it on her back. Pride was a funny thing and it made her quite self-conscious, especially when it came to Dash. But, she was supposed to be Rainbow’s little sister, so letting her buy the food without complaining was the only thing Scootaloo could do besides to enjoy the meal.
They grabbed one of the barrel and wheel tables near Sugarcube and sat down to eat. Growling raucously, Scootaloo’s stomach reminded her that she was, in fact, quite hungry from this morning’s activities. She ripped open the bag and pulled out the muffin. It was still steaming and perfectly warm, perfectly mouth-watering, perfectly half-gone.
“Whoa slow down, Scoots. You’ll make yourself sick!” Dash teased. Looking up at her hero with a blush on her face she swallowed the giant bite she had been chewing. She noticed Rainbow’s muffin was even further devoured than her own.
“What about you? You are eating even faster than me?” She played back, reaching for her milk to try and rebalance her act.
“Well, I’m still bigger than you so I can eat just as fast as I like.”
“No fair.”
They laughed at each other for a solid skosh before returning to eat. By the time they finished Scootaloo only kept her eyes open via of sheer will. No wonder Rainbow napped all the time. She got up at exceedingly early hours of the day, worked her tail off, and ate like Celestia. She thought to herself that it would be quite alright with her if this was all that her mentor had planned for today. She did not have to learn how to fly right this instant it could be over the next week or so instead.
“Hey, wake it up kiddo. If we are gonna nap we are gonna do it up in the clouds.” She yawned at Scootaloo. Rainbow stood up from her barrel and trotted around the table and motioned for her to jump onto her back. More than happy to oblige, Scootaloo threw herself into the chromatic and soft as silk mane and had drifted off to sleep before Dash had even left the ground.
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Scootaloo woke up drearily to the bright sun and a yawn from Rainbow Dash. She rolled over to see her tutor stretch not unlike a cat upon the medium sized cloud where they rested.
“Now that. Was a good nap.” Scootaloo nodded at Dash’s assessment. It had been such a good nap that her wings were no longer numb nor were they sore. This pushed an intense bit of energy into her, so when Rainbow Dash floated away from the cloud in a low hover, she was bouncing waiting to see what the older pony had in mind.
“Okay, Scootaloo. You look ready for some flap exercises.” she said.
“You bet I am!...What are flap exercises?” Scootaloo asked realizing her enthusiasm did not equal knowledge no matter how badly she wanted it to.
“You don’t really try to fly. Instead, you beat your wings slowly but build up to as fast as you can. It helps stretch and strengthen flight muscles!” Rainbow Dash declared with a toss of her mane and a flourished spin.
“Okay. I can do that!” she replied eagerly to her mentor.
“Alright. Ready? Go!”
Scootaloo began beating her wings up and down deliberately starting to speed up immediately. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Little slower.” She followed Rainbow’s instructions careful to watch for the command to start increasing her flaps. It took a while for Dash to tell her to speed up. Something about her had evidently caught the Wonderbolt’s attention. The magenta eyes of her coach narrowed as if she was deeply scrutinizing a suspicious pony, but she wasn’t looking at Scootaloo, but instead something right on top of her. What that was remained a mystery, “Alright start speeding up. Count to four eight times before you step it up a level, okay?” Dash said interrupting her thoughts.
Scootaloo did as she was told quickly building up the number of flaps per second. She reached her peak about the time Rainbow Dash had taken to hovering around her and the cloud in a circle, here eyes just as squinted with intend as before.
“Okay. When I tell you to stop. I want you to freeze your wings in place. Can you do that?” she asked Scootaloo. She nodded. She could do anything for Rainbow, no matter if it was getting her a snack of helping her ruin a Wonderbolt performance. It just so happened she already had those things on her resume.
“Annnnnd. Now!” Dash cried, and Scootaloo froze her wings mid-beat, keeping them a still as she could. Dash however, just floated there gaping at her.
“What?” she asked the prismatic flyer.
“Your wings! It’s no wonder you can’t fly! I thought I had been noticing something weird over the years but it never dawned on me what was going on!” Rainbow cried out joy as if she had discovered the answer to a riddle in a Daring Do book.
“M-my wings?” Scootaloo stammered, her self-consciousness causing her to start to move involuntarily.
“Hold it right there!” Dash demanded dashing over to her. She froze in place again as her mentor moved her wings into what felt like a particularly awkward position.
“Now. Hold your wings like that and flap down nice and slow like before.” she said. Dash’s voice was ripe with excitement her eyes dazzling with an awe Scootaloo had never seen before, not even when she had become a Wonderbolt.
Struggling to follow the instructions with how her wings felt, Scootaloo made a tentative flap. Deciding she might not be able to keep her eyes open to try this exercise, Scoots closed her eyes to concentrate on how her muscles felt. She made a few more and the stiff and uneven position her wings felt like they were in started to change. It felt more natural with every wing beat and she was rapidly picking up her pace. It was harder to mov her wings as fast but it was training and if this was where Dash said her wings needed to be then she would keep at it until it worked.
“Scootaloo. Please. Open your eyes.” Dash squeaked with what sounded like tears and pride. She popped open her eyes to see Rainbow wiping away tears, a huge smile on her face. Confused, Scootaloo tilted her head only to realize she was no longer standing on a cloud. She was flying. Dash was in front of her hovering backwards, she was flying forwards, out over open air with no assistance. Scootaloo instantly started hyperventilating.
“No no no! Don’t panic!” Rainbow Dash said grabbing her face in her hooves. “Just keep moving your wings just like that. You’ve got this Squirt!”
Her heart was racing at an immeasurable. Her joy not really a feeling but more of a state of being. She lurched forward beating her wings faster as the adrenaline of her first real flight took over.
“I can fly!” she shouted zipping past Rainbow Dash.
Sharp pain erupted on her forehead along with a shcrack! of bone hitting wood. Scootaloo looked up from where she was to find herself at the foot of her bed, quite stationary.
“OH, COME ON!” she yelled in torment. Tears began streaming down her face. Oh, how she hated that dream. The dream of actually finally doing what a pegasus would do, flying. Scootaloo easily sobbed for an hour the rapture of joy and flight having been stripped from her. Eventually she stood up on her bed and waited there for anything to happen, but it did not.
However, a strange idea came over her. Scootaloo rotated her wings until they felt exactly like they had in the dream. She gave herself a moment to breath before trying to do the exercise dream-Dashie had showed her, she even closed her eyes. She kept going, picking up beats per second as she desperately hoped it would work. She held her form until her nose touched something cool and hard. She opened her eyes to see the stone of the next house’s chimney.
Startled, she stopped flapping and found herself falling. She let out a shriek as she fell into a pile of straw kept at the base of the homes for roof repair. Rolling out of the bale, Scootaloo turned her eyes up to where she had been her window open perfectly facing the stone. She turned her gaze back down to her wings. It had only been a dream, right?